By Julie Armstrong

A CARLISLE taxi driver has been suspended by his boss after a 16-year-old girl claimed she was left to walk a mile alone at midnight.

The teenager booked a cab with Carlisle Drivers on Tuesday night after babysitting for a friend in Harraby, who gave her £6 for the taxi – the fare she said it had cost the previous time she made the journey.

But the girl said she was told this was not enough to reach her home in the Warwick Road area. She said the driver insisted she get out of the taxi on Eastern Way at 11.50pm.

She then endured a frightening half hour walk home looking over her shoulder in the dark, she said.

The passenger’s father, Tony Harrison, 48, said: “I was fuming. For any human being, never mind a taxi driver, to insist a young girl walk that distance on her own at night, I think it’s an utter disgrace.

“She was quite frightened and on the phone all the way home to her friend, so as not to feel alone.”

The suspended driver has worked for the Carlisle Drivers firm, based at Atlas Works, Nelson Street, for a few years.

Tony Young, a director at the firm, said: “We do not condone this behaviour, and the driver in question has been suspended until we get to the bottom of it. He may have to go before the licensing panel, and it’s possible his licence may be revoked. If it was one of my own brothers who treated a customer like this, he would be subject to the same procedure.

“It is in the drivers’ rules and regulations that in such a situation they should continue the journey and if necessary discuss payment with the parents.”

He added that many of his drivers had been conned by passengers who knew they did not have the sufficient fare.

Caroline Tindall, chair for West Cumbria Rape Crisis, gives talks in schools to advise on personal safety. She said: “That is not a responsible attitude in this day and age.

“Well done to his company for suspending him.”

A Carlisle City Council spokesperson said: “When complaints are received about Hackney Carriage licence holders, our licensing section investigate the matter. No one has contacted us to make a complaint about this alleged incident.”

If the licensing section think there is just cause to take action, they look at the driver's previous licence history and issue a warning letter. In the most serious incidents they take the matter to the Licensing Committee.

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