A SERIES of disturbing reports concerning elderly and disabled wheelchair accessible taxi passengers who were allegedly seriously injured, stranded outdoors overnight and subjected to degrading treatment while travelling in the Frankston and peninsula region is under investigation.
Brotherhood of St Laurence Frankston staff said complaints had been lodged with the Victorian Taxi Directorate over the treatment of four clients, while Taxi Services Commissioner Graeme Samuel is also looking into the allegations.
In the most recent incident, a 75-year-old woman who has multiple sclerosis and is confined to a wheelchair was forced to spend the night in a bus shelter at Carrum Downs in “freezing” conditions after the taxi she booked failed to arrive.
Marice Hanary-Gleeson said she had booked a wheelchair accessible taxi a day in advance to take her home on the evening of this year’s AFL grand final following a game of bingo and had then made multiple follow-up calls throughout the night when the taxi didn’t show up.
She waited in a bus shelter on Frankston-Dandenong Rd “petrified and freezing cold” until 5am when she was able to catch the first 901 bus service of the day to Frankston.
Mr Samuel described the incident as “completely unacceptable” and said he had spoken to Frankston Radio Cabs about the matter.
In a previous incident, an elderly woman’s leg was broken when her wheelchair tipped over while travelling in a wheelchair accessible taxi.
Earlier in the year, two disabled passengers were strapped together by their legs in the back of wheelchair accessible taxi.
Brotherhood of St Laurence staff said the middle-aged man and women were “clearly very distressed” but where not able to verbally communicate with driver. A BCL staff member intervened and demanded the driver properly secure the wheelchairs.
BSL Frankston senior manager Michael Hillier said the incidents were likely only the tip of the iceberg and illustrated the difficulties people with mobility issues faced.
“Several serious incidents have occurred this year where our clients have been seriously injured because they haven’t been secured appropriately,” Mr Hillier said.
“For instance, strapping two people physically together rather than securing their wheelchairs to the base of the vehicle. These incidents can be frightening and degrading, and importantly, pose a serious risk to health and safety.”
He said the problem appeared to lie with “inexperience or poor training of drivers”.
There have also been growing problems with bookings following the introduction of a new centralised booking system by Frankston Taxis.
“We have a good relationship with Frankston taxis, who have worked hard to help manage our transport needs for our community activities,” Mr Hillier said. “However, since they centralised their booking system, we have noticed a decline in their understanding and responsiveness to the needs of our clients.
“Sometimes we have had bookings in place two days in advance, especially on the Mornington Peninsula, and the driver doesn’t show up, meaning the person not only misses out on the activity, but occasionally is out of pocket too if they have pre-paid for an event.”
Frankston Radio Cabs general manager Kevin Dunn said the company was treating the allegations very seriously and was awaiting the findings of an investigation into the most recent incident.
However, he said the company and drivers did all they could to ensure timely and safe transportation of all passengers.
