Do ye ever hang out with customers when not working?

[taxi1990]

I think you are being a bit paranoid about it to be honest.

are you saying we arent trustworthy if we go on dates with customers? if so, why not? if I owned a shop and met a customer in it doing her shopping, can I not go on a date with her if she asks me out?

Paranoid?  You're probably right.  But, as the saying goes, sometimes they really are out to get ya 

We're different from shop owners.  We're PSV drivers and, as the judges keep saying, have extra responsibilities & duties of care towards our passengers.

we have responsibility to get them home safe but I have yet to read in the rules where it says we cant hang out with them when we are off duty. I know a few drivers who met their wives while driving a taxi.

[Octavia1]

1990 ...put this idea to bed now an wake up....
You can be arrested nowadays for  even "staring at a female or a transgender ape for too long ....
You can buy a doll in Ann summers ....much safer an hygienic.....
but quick ..
..ther goin up wit inflation
 

[taxi1990]

1990 ...put this idea to bed now an wake up....
You can be arrested nowadays for  even "staring at a female or a transgender ape for too long ....
You can buy a doll in Ann summers ....much safer an hygienic.....
but quick ..
..ther goin up wit inflation
 

More like I should wake up and say yes to more dates from customers.

I avoid ones with obvious issues, that friend of Belkers would terrify me because alcoholic women, I cant deal with at all. but I kind of regret not saying yes to a date from this polish customer of mine a few years back  she was my type but I had no interest in dates at the time. saying that, she started going out with a drug dealer so maybe I was right to not go on the date.

[John m]

190 you need to be careful .I use to Drive Bridget Mulligan to the Diabetics clinic to have her eyesight tested to the place in the lane off Thomas Street .She invited me to the Boxing in the National Stadium one Wednesday and I said OK .We arrived in the Stadium free in and we sat in the third row .Bridie went to the bar or at least I thought she did until the Second bout was Womens under 55 years old Middleweight fight .And Bridie was fighting some woman from Drumcondra Ladies Boxing Club .Bridie won by a stoppage in the Second round .We went to the Pub beside the Chipper near the Flats and her brother Frankie see her with a big bruised face and he thought I had clattered her .He came running at me with a bar stool and Bridie had to knock him out so she could tell him she had been fighting in the Stadium and she showed him her trophy .

[taxi1990]

No boxers, got it. 

[Cool Boola]

Imagine that old saying”Did you drop yer hand” applying to this day and age? 

[silverbullet]

Courts
Taxi driver who sexually assaulted passenger after she passed out is jailed
When victim questioned driver’s behaviour she was dragged from vehicle and left on side of road

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Gerard Gunnery Snr (60) pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the woman in Dublin city on December 23rd, 2017. File photograph: Collins Courts
Declan Brennan
Fiona Ferguson
Fri Jan 29 2021 - 15:21

A taxi driver who sexually assaulted a late night passenger after she passed out in his car has been jailed for four years.

The victim told gardaí she woke up to find Gerard Gunnery Snr (60) assaulting her. He then became aggressive and threw her out of the car, leaving her in a heap on the side of the road.

The accused, of Ellenfield Road, Whitehall, Dublin pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the woman in Dublin city on December 23rd, 2017. Evidence was originally heard in the case last November and Gunnery Snr was then remanded in custody.

On Friday Judge Karen O’Connor commended the courage of the injured party and noted her powerful victim impact statement which outlined the profound effect the offending had on her and how she continues to live with the “devastating” impact of the defendant’s behaviour.

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She said the offending had been a massive breach of trust in his role as a taxi driver. Holders of public service vehicle licences had certain responsibilities and these had been breached, she said.

Judge O’Connor also said the woman had been taken advantage of when she was vulnerable. She noted when the victim questioned the taxi driver’s behaviour she was dragged from the vehicle and left on the side of the road but still managed to take a picture of his registration plate.

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She took into account the defendant’s age, health, testimonials and previous good character.

She noted he was now a registered sex offender and that incarceration would be particularly difficult for someone of his age in these times with lack of visitation rights but said a custodial sentence could not be avoided.

Judge O’Connor imposed a four and a half year sentence with the final six months suspended.

At the hearing last November the victim addressed the court and said that a regular girls’ night out in town turned into a nightmare when she woke up in the front seat of the taxi parked outside her home.

Neighbours later told gardaí they heard a woman shouting “get off me” and “stop, don’t touch me” and saw the driver pulling the woman out of the taxi. She was screaming that her leg was stuck under the taxi and he came out and “threw her out of the way”.

She was found on the ground crying and screaming. The court heard she suffered bruising to her elbows, kneecaps and her jaw.


Gunnery Snr made a statement to gardaí claiming that the woman had told him to “go for it” and that he wouldn’t have touched her if she hadn’t said that.

“I am really sorry. She was drunk. I was sober,” he told gardaí.

In her victim impact statement the woman told Gunnery Snr that “you took advantage of me when you should have taken me home”.

She said she suffered crippling guilt and shame and entertained thoughts like “I drank too much, my skirt was too short, my knee high boots were too inviting”.

She feared that her attacker was still out driving a taxi and knew whereabouts she lived and said she still suffers flashbacks and becomes upset if she sees a silver coloured taxi. She said Christmas time last year is difficult because of her fear of drinking and being “in town” again.

Lawyers for Gunnery Snr asked Judge O’Connor not define him for these “ten minutes of a life” which was otherwise “all of good”.


Dominic McGinn SC, defending, said his client’s actions that night were “completely out of character”. He handed in testimonials describing Gunnery Snr as a hard working, “good man” with a “kind heart”.

Mr McGinn told the court that his client has “not fared well” during the last two months in custody. The court heard Gunnery Snr was the victim of an attack by a fellow inmate and underwent surgery on a cancerous growth on his face.

He said his client had also had “significant difficultly” accessing medical care.

There was another guy on Ellenfield Road who had his taxi targeted in a case of mistaken identity.

[Cool Boola]

Thats 2 years ago. Wonder what the latest is?

[Firewall]

A client and myself hit it off good. He gives me work and when he's out pays for my meals and invites me into the clubs with free food/drinks all night. He's a gent and we have the craic in the car. Been to his house for dinner with his family, he's a good friend now more than a client.

[taxi1990]

A client and myself hit it off good. He gives me work and when he's out pays for my meals and invites me into the clubs with free food/drinks all night. He's a gent and we have the craic in the car. Been to his house for dinner with his family, he's a good friend now more than a client.

Thats more like it.   

[Belker]

Imagine that old saying”Did you drop yer hand” applying to this day and age? 

I don't think today's young lads do the 'Drop the hand' thing anymore ?

In this day and age, God only know what you might find down there !!   

[watty]

A client and myself hit it off good. He gives me work and when he's out pays for my meals and invites me into the clubs with free food/drinks all night. He's a gent and we have the craic in the car. Been to his house for dinner with his family, he's a good friend now more than a client.

Firewall, I am NOT suggesting anything untoward in your case but sometimes this is how drug dealers get the guillible to transport drugs for them.

[John m]

A client and myself hit it off good. He gives me work and when he's out pays for my meals and invites me into the clubs with free food/drinks all night. He's a gent and we have the craic in the car. Been to his house for dinner with his family, he's a good friend now more than a client.

Firewall, I am NOT suggesting anything untoward in your case but sometimes this is how drug dealers get the guillible to transport drugs for them.

Nice one Watty .Doctor never had to perscribe medicine for you to treat Stupit .Very observant Watty well spotted a good point .

[watty]

Happened to a (non-taxi) friend of a friend. Got the full 10 years because the judge said he was middle class and educated (leaving cert)!  I think he musta had a bad barrister as well...

[John m]

I heard of a case dont know if it is true or not dont know the driver involved .He use to pick up a lad regulary he had a few regulars .He noticed one of them searching down the back seat said nothing but after he got out he lifted the seat to find a stash .He left it there and checked after he picked up another regular and it was gone .He realized he was being used to distribute stuff .So he changed his phone number and avoided the regulars .In fact he got stickered up and told them he now only done their work no private work .