A cab driver was left stunned during the season of goodwill when Scotland Yard’s latest crack crime- fighting expert threatened to have his badge for plying for hire
in London.
Scotland Yard is famed around the globe for its ability to sniff out a crook and has an illustrious history which counts Detective Jack Slipper, who pursued the Great Train Robbers, as one of its most famous coppers.
Officer T115 was clearly determined to keep the proud tradition of law enforcement in London alive when he the refused to accept Laurence Rolfe’s word for it that he was legally doing
his job.
The LTDA member said officer Scrooge threw his passengers out of the taxi at Haymarket on Friday, December 19, because “he was not on a rank,” when they got in.
Like a tenacious terrier, officer T115 demanded his badge and bill so that he could report him and have him stripped of his licence. The cabbie said: “He was just being completely stupid. But what annoyed me the most was that he said he was going to make me lose my job.
“I dropped a passenger in Jerymn Street at the junction with Haymarket and another bloke came running up and got in the cab. But the officer said you are not going to take him. I said ‘what?’ He said ‘you have to be on a rank’ and I said ‘no I don’t.’
“At one point about 20 people were gathered round wanting a cab because it was the last Friday before Christmas and everybody wanted to get home.”
It was only after a lengthy period, that he finally agreed to let Laurence take his passengers, but only as long as they stood on a corner away from the cab and he drove up to them to collect them again.
But the officer became even more confused about the law when Laurence pointed out to him that a minicab which pulled up behind the taxi had been illegally hailed.
Laurence said: “He said he would have to investigate. He was a sergeant too! He was just being an idiot. I was thinking if he is a sergeant then what are the rest of them like? I wanted to say to him go on take me down the station and we will all have a laugh. In the end he made the bloke stand on the corner and I had to drive up to him and pick him up. The passengers said they were going to report him.”
Source: Taxi
