Excerpt from Taxi diaries 2;
Be Careful out There !
It's Halloween weekend and I'm ranked across the road from the base
on Douglas street at 1.35am on Fri night/Sat morning. A big stocky lad
walks in to the base and the base operator directs him over to my cab.
He exits the base with arms flailing and Two girls following him over to
my cab, they are all aged about Twenty-five, he sits in the front seat and
the Two girls sit in the back.
The Two girls seemed OK, one was short in stature and the other was tall,
the fella now sitting in the front was Pissed as a coot and it took him a full
minute to get his seat belt buckled, while the girls in the back asked;
"Would Thirty Euro get them up to Grawn and then back out to Blackrock ?",
I agreed to the fare and we drive on, as soon as we Turned the corner on
to White street, Langer Dan now slouched in the front seat turns up the
radio full blast, I turn it down and say to him; "Don't do that".
Next he starts haggling the agreed fare saying; "I've only 27 or 28 on me"
and again turns up the radio to full blast, I turn it down again and turn
looking at him and tell him; "If ya do that again I'm gonna put you out",
we turn on to Georges Quay and he again turns up the radio, I pull in by
the kerb and shout at him; "THAT'S IT !, FOOK OFF !, GET OUT !",
he looks stupid at me and says; "Wadda mean ?",
I again shout at him; "I MEAN FOOK OFF OUTTA MY CAB"
and I open his seat belt for him and he opens his door and exits,
I say to the girls in the back; "It's Him that I'm putting out, ye are welcome
to stay if ye wish" but they follow the drunk out of the cab, as the girls are
just finished exiting yer man now out on the street is up with his boot and
kicks up against the side door and window of the cab.
The Two girls drag him away and I'm hoping/praying that he hasn't left a
dent in the car. I'm outta the cab and over to inspect what damage has
been done as the Trio head off up Georges Quay.
As I'm out of the cab I see a nasty little dent that his boot had taken on
my passenger door and decide it's time for the Gardai.
I turn only to see yer man coming back along at me and shaking off the Two
young ones trying to restrain him. As he shakes them off, I think to myself
'Bollicks, I'm Caught, Fight or Die !' as I'm on the wrong side of the cab
with no escape route, he Wobbles on his legs and his arms are flailing
all over the place. In a Split-Second I reckon that I could 'Take him' and
bring back my leg in to Fight stance, I pick my spot 'Lower Right jaw' as
he was on the footpath which was giving him a big height advantage.
He stops about Two meters in front of me and I wait for him to take just
one more step, but the girls again come to my rescue and pull him away.
As soon as they pull him backwards, I nip across in front of my cab and
in to the safety of the drivers seat. I immediately ring the Gardai telling
them the tale and whilst on the phone yer man comes charging back at
the cab, I accelerate away and he sprints the length of Georges Quay
chasing the cab. As I'm on my Bluetooth Loudspeaker phone to the Gardai
I tell her that; "I'm now turning on to Parliament bridge and yer man is
on foot chasing me on the road",
She says to me; "We need you to be in a stationary position so as we can
send a vehicle to you".
I tell her; "I can't stop because yer man who kicked my door in is running
after me on the road".
Eventually yer man gives up the chase half way down the South Mall and
I reverse trying to get him to take the bait and chase me again as I knew
the Guards were on the way.
In my rear view mirror I see him meet up with the Two girls again at the
junction of the South Mall and Parliament street and the trio heading in
the direction of the Taxi feeder rank for the Grand Parade.
I leg it down Father Matthew street and miss the unmarked speed bump
which on exiting over it at speed crashes the nose of my cab noisily in to
the road, Thankfully no damage done.
I speed over Father Matthew Quay and over to the feeder rank where the
trio are just getting in to a Taxi. I pull up beside their taxi blocking his exit
and I roll down my window and Beep at the driver, the Irish driver rolls
down his window and I shout at him; "YER MAN THERE JUST KICKED IN
MY DOOR AND THE GUARDS ARE ON THE WAY".
The Taxi driver puts them all out straight away and I stand out to watch
where they go, still waiting for the Gardai to arrive.
Yer man heads off over the pedestrian bridge from the Grand Parade on
to Sullivans Quay and the Two girls hug each other on parting as the
smaller girl heads off back along the South mall and the taller girl goes
after yer man over the bridge.
The Gardai ring me and I tell them the situation whilst driving up the
Grand Parade and along Tuckey street, South Main street after yer man.
I drive around Cove street, Mary street, Etc, but no sign of either of them
or the Gardai.
Just as I was giving up all hope while driving back along a very narrow Cove
street, here is yer man walking along the footpath toward me after
acquiring a Golf Umbrella from somewhere. I see him ! He see's me !
I can't reverse at any kind of speed because the street is too narrow, so I
decide to try and simply drive by him, just as I approach him he turns his
umbrella and catches it by the end and whacks it off my front windscreen
as I pass shattering the glass on the lower passengers side.
He legs it along Cove street and on to Mary street, I reverse the car trying
to turn it hastily and catch the corner of the footpath with my exhaust pipe
causing an awful bump, Thankfully again with no damage done.
I chase after him and see himself and the taller girl run off through the
pedestrian bollards at the top of Mary street and on to Douglas/Abbey
street, where I can't follow as it is a One way system.
Again I drive around waiting for the Gardai and trying to spot them.
As I drive along Sullivans Quay I see a squad car coming over South Main
bridge and I follow it in to Cove street and up in to Mary street.
I see the tall girl walking down Mary street in floods of tears and covering
her face with her hands. I flash my lights and Beep my horn at the squad
car in front of me, they stop and I shout over to them;
"THAT'S THE GIRL WHO WAS WITH YERMAN".
The Two guards exit their squad car and run after her and apprehend her.
I'm asked to stay by my vehicle, which I do as they question her trying to
coerce her to give up the name of her 'Friend', she is bawling her eyes out
screaming out loud how she had never been in trouble with the guards and
she had no money and she didn't know yer man, Etc..
As I'm stood there by my cab at the top of Mary street, yer man walks down
through the pedestrian bollards still with umbrella in hand toward my cab
and the parked Garda squad car.
I shout over to the Guards; "THAT'S HIM, THERE !",
Yer man, totally pissed/stoned eventually evaluates the scene and legs it off
over past Red Abbey, one of the Guards Jogs back to his squad car (Not half
fast enough for my liking) and drives after him. He stops at the corner of
Dunbar street and I can hear noise down the road as seemingly yer man had
run in to the waiting arms of Two Garda officers walking on the street.
After yer man was arrested by the Gardai on Dunbar street I was asked to
come over to identify him, which I did from a discreet distance and then
returned to where my cab was parked, the tall girl was still in floods of tears
being interviewed on the roadside by the Lady guard, I walked over to them
and told the Guard; "Actually she didn't do anything, it was the other fella
who caused all the damage to my cab, if anything then this young lady
helped me by trying to restrain him from attacking me on Georges Quay".
The arresting Guard walks over to me to take my details and tells me that
yerman put up a fight before being arrested and that he has a job working
for one of the national creameries, so it seems that I might actually get a
few quid off him for the damage to the car.
The Guard tells me that he will ring me later on in the morning and adds
that I can work on if I liked.
The tall girl is released by the Lady Guard and the Guards walk off back to
their squad car, I sit in to my cab and reverse down Mary street to where
the girl is still sobbing and walking in toward town, I roll down the window
and ask her; "Are You OK ?",
She sob's; "I've no money",
I tell her; "Don't worry about it, Jump in, I'll bring you home".
There was an Icy atmosphere in the cab and most of the journey out to
Blackrock was in silence and pleasantries on departure were brief.
I hadn't come to realize fully at the time that this young lass had probably
saved my life by restraining yer man on the roadside, when I had taken the
decision to fight him, I was under the impression that he was incapable of
throwing a coordinated punch, but after watching him sprint the length of
Georges Quay, Parliament street and half of the Mall and then taken Two
Gardai to arrest him, I think that I was wrong in my original presumption.
If I had fought him then I would have Lost and Lost big time.
I'm Fifty, he is Twenty-five, he is Bigger and Stronger than me and also
pissed/stoned enough not to show any mercy in a street fist fight.
I might have been Killed or taken life threatening injuries or disabilities.
It was only the next day before I realized that I had dodged a Bullet !
The Guard rings me at 4.30am and tells me; "As soon as we got to the
station and I heard yer mans name I knew him as a 'Right Boyo', he has
a bit of Previous and he is up in court again in mid November for other
charges".
So that seemed like my chances of getting a few quid off him for the
damage to my cab were gone flying out of the window.
As it turned out financially I didn't do too bad, the insurance company
covered the cost of the windscreen replacement without affecting my
No Claims Bonus and my panel beater guy hammered out about 90% of
the dent for nothing saying; "Don't worry about it, I'll catch ya another time".
Very nice of him, (Paul Sheehan, Marina Terrace just off Albert road.)
So all in, I lost an Hours work on Fri night, spent a few hours on the phone
and drop off's to panel beater in getting all the repair work done and just
left with a very small dent in the front passenger side door which thankfully
passed the Taxi suitability test on Wednesday morning.
And most importantly, I Live to Fight Another Day !