Driver charged woman whose waters broke in taxi (UK)

[watty]

Taxi driver made pregnant mother-of-four, 43, pay £40 clean-up fee after her waters broke in his cab - then forced her to wait while her 12-year-old son got cash from an ATM

A mother-of-four was ordered to pay a £40 clean-up charge by a cabbie - after her waters broke in the back of his taxi.  Cherise Gwilt, 43, was heavily pregnant when she caught the cab for a shopping trip to Hanley in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, with two of her children on Thursday, May 10.  But Ms Gwilt had to wait in the taxi as her 12-year-old son was sent out to withdraw £40 from a cash machine, after telling the driver that her waters had broken.  The taxi had stopped near the Poundstretcher on Town Road where the family was just about to go shopping.  But instead Ms Gwilt was taken to Royal Stoke University Hospital by ambulance - and gave birth to little Dottie Mai less than three hours later.  Now taxi firm Lucky Seven has pledged to reimburse Ms Gwilt after blaming the incident on a 'miscommunication'.

Ms Gwilt, from Abbey Hulton, Staffordshire, said the birth has now become a 'touchy' subject.  She claimed she had already handed over a £10 note for the £4.60 fare.  Ms Gwilt said: 'When the taxi pulled up outside Poundstretcher my waters broke as I was getting out of the car.  'The driver told me I would have to pay more but I was having contractions and my children were panicking.  'I sent my son to the cash machine and the taxi driver took the money. I had to wait for someone and my partner ended up arriving just before the ambulance.  'It was absolutely horrendous and when you have a baby you have this idea of what it will be like.  'People look back on the birth of their children and it is nice but this is a touchy subject because of what happened just hours earlier.'

Partner Martin Hyson had always planned to meet Ms Gwilt in Hanley.  Mr Hyson, 39, said: 'When I got there Cherise was in tears, standing in the middle of Hanley.  'The taxi driver said the charge was company policy but I told him there was a time and a place. What happened to Cherise was disgusting.  'Cherise had to have a caesarean section and less than three hours later she had the baby.'

Lucky Seven said the incident was a 'genuine mistake'.  Manager Zahir Ahmad said: 'I have spoken to the driver who thought the passenger had soiled the vehicle and he thought it was urine.  'We do have a soiling charge because if that happens the driver then cannot work.  'We do not charge customers if their waters break. It was a misunderstanding. We don't usually get many emergencies and the driver thought it was urine.  'We are happy to reimburse customers if a driver has charged them incorrectly and this was a genuine mistake.

[watty]

Personally, I'd charge her 40 quid for calling the baby 'Dottie Mai Gwilt'

[Rat Catcher]

£40 is rather cheap. Blaxies over here charge up to €140.

[Dr. Martin Gooter Bling]

its one of those situations if she had of offered to pay the soilage charge i'd tell her not at all don't worry about.
if she got sarky i'd turn the screw.

[Tony]

I'd have charger her too ffs, who the fuck would wanna clean up  liquid abortion off their floor mats

[Belker]

I'd have charger her too ffs, who the fuck would wanna clean up  liquid abortion off their floor mats

If'n she had had the baby in the cab then ya could have kept the infant as security untill she paid the soilage charge !

[Belker]

its one of those situations if she had of offered to pay the soilage charge i'd tell her not at all don't worry about.
if she got sarky i'd turn the screw.

I'm like that too, the more they refuse to pay, the more likely it is to end up in the Garda station !

In the above case I reckon the driver was 'Acting de Maggot' and his base bailed him out to save face.

[Belker]

Personally I detest being around heavily pregnant women, not that I have anything against heavily pregnant women, but just go and be heavily pregnant somewhere else far away from me !

I had a MyTaxi job last Christmas which I accepted too fast, only realising after that the destination of CUMH meant Cork University Maternal Hospital and at 4am in the morning it only meant one thing !
Out she waddles from her home doing the 'Blow thing' and holding her enlarged tummy, thankfully hubby is in tow. "CUMH" he sez "And Fast as you can". I drive on as quickly and smoothly as is possible avoiding every bump and ramp on the roads, I say to the husband; "I take it that this is a medical emergency ?", He sez 'Yes, it is", I tell him; "That's grand, we might be a few KM over the speed limit on the Link road and we might breeze through a few Red lights in Wilton, but the Gardai won't prosecute me if it's a medical emergency".

[mercenary for hire]

Ken, you've said that before..... but we have absolutely no exemption from the traffic laws in any medical emergency. I dunno where you got that idea. We are not ambulance drivers.

[Belker]

When the Gardai were brought to question a few years back fer cancelling Penalty points fer their Buddies, it was found that the vast majority of the P.P. cancellations were fer "Medical Emergencies", which of course was totally Bogus as most of the cancellations were fer family members, but that too was all swept neatly under the carpet !

I can't see any judge awarding me Penalty Points fer breaking minor traffic laws to get a customer 'In Pain' to an A&E ward, and most likely if'n you were to encounter a Guard on the road, then you would be given a 'Flashing Blues' escort to the hospital.

[mercenary for hire]

Depends on the judge, if you were unfortunate enough to mess up and crash with a pregnant woman in the car they'd be quick to try and do ya. Cops don't like taxi drivers in my experience. I wouldn't trust them to cover yer hole.And if the lady was that close to popping she should be in an ambulance with the professionals.

Not the lads in the Capri Tony.

[Tony]

If I seen a fat puffing yolk coming towards my car I'd be leaving her there in a cloud of smoke

[Belker]

I'd have charger her too ffs, who the fuck would wanna clean up  liquid abortion off their floor mats

If'n she had had the baby in the cab then ya could have kept the infant as security untill she paid the soilage charge !

On reflection, maybe that might not be the best idea, depending on the mothers nationality and welfare status, she might be happy to leave the baby behind with the Taxi driver 'Left Holding the Baby' rather than pay the 140 soilage charge !

[Tony]

 OK Kenny with yer meical runs or whatever ye call it,
The only people who can break red lights or speed for any emergencies are members of the emergency services. The public are not entitled to ever break them, medical emergency or otherwise. The rules of the road have to be complied with at all times. If a normal person breaks a red light to bring an injured person to hospital and ends up causing another accident injuring another person then they will have broken the law and will face prosecution for dangerous driving. Even a Garda or ambulance driver off duty is not entitled to do that.

[Tony]

Depends on the judge, if you were unfortunate enough to mess up and crash with a pregnant woman in the car they'd be quick to try and do ya. Cops don't like taxi drivers in my experience. I wouldn't trust them to cover yer hole.And if the lady was that close to popping she should be in an ambulance with the professionals.

Not the lads in the Capri Tony.

That tune is stuck in me head now ya bollix