Taxi

  • NY cabby demands $120 after 6-year-old boy barfs in taxi

    Posted: October 25th, 2010 - 7:52am by Doug Powell

    In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, author Douglas Adams recommended a towel -- always take a towel. I carry a small one in my knapsack along with a spare diaper (not for me), identification documents, an adapter cord to hook my Mac computer up to a projector, computer, and an array of cords.

    None of these would help if I was about to barf in a taxi, although a bigger towel may.

    The New York Post reports that a Manhattan (not in Kansas) mom became worried sick when her 6-year-old son vomited in the back seat of a taxi -- and then even more upset when the crabby cabby called the cops after she refused to pay a whopping $120 cleaning surcharge.

    Shamie Cuthbert, 29, said she and son Jacob hopped in the cab near Lincoln Center on Saturday night and were heading home to Washington Heights when the boy said he wasn't feeling well and threw up.

    "I leaned over into the front of the cab and said [to the driver], 'As soon as we get home, my husband will come down with cleaning products, and I will clean everything up,' " Cuthbert told The Post.

    "I expected [the cabby] to be polite about it. Instead, he went sort of crazy and screamed, 'This isn't right! You need to give me $120, or I can't use my cab! I am going to lose a lot of money today!' " the stunned mom said.

    She said cabby Nahidul Islam, 33, dialed 911 as soon as he pulled up at their building.

    As they waited for the cops, Cuthbert began scrubbing the seat with the Seventh Generation cleanser, paper towels and Febreze that her husband had brought down.

    "[Islam] was standing there angrily smoking a cigarette while I cleaned the cab," she said. "The mess wasn't atrocious, and when I was done, it was much cleaner than when we got there."

    Police arrived, and an officer informed the driver he could make no demand for $120.

    The cabby did not receive a ticket over the incident.

    Islam told The Post that Cuthbert merely pushed the mess around and that it would cost $120 to pay a crew of "Mexican cleaners" in Queens who specialize in removing vomit from taxis.

    If a New York cab can have video-display advertisements in the back, maybe they can invest in some barf bags – like on airplanes.
     

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    hitchhiker's, new york, Taxi, towel, Vomit
  • Barfing Oktoberfest drunks face taxi cleanup fees

    Posted: September 20th, 2010 - 7:29pm by Doug Powell

    If someone’s going to barf, why does it always seem to be at the beginning of a road trip?

    Less than an hour into our final 13-hour leg to return to Manhattan (Kansas), Sorenne hurled up waffles and curdled milk from the Sleep Inn breakfast earlier that morning (but do like the Sleep Inn, friendly and good value) all over herself and car seat. It had been a barf-free five weeks on the road, so perhaps it was inevitable.

    The Lysol spray we got at a truck stop seemed to mask the odors, but with 90 minutes remaining, it was strawberry barf.

    Today was spent cleaning.

    It’s probably too much to expect of an almost-2-year-old, but revelers who drunkenly vomit in taxis must cough up the cleanup costs, according to an Oktoberfest-related court decision published by a Munich district court on Monday.

    The case involved a lawsuit brought by a taxi driver in the Bavarian capital following a nasty 2009 incident in his vehicle, a court statement said.

    After picking up a Munich couple on their way home from the city's annual beer festival, the driver said the man threw up in his vehicle, which cost a combined €241 for cleanup and missed work.

    The taxi driver attempted to charge the passenger, but he alleged that the driver had not obliged his request to pull over, and had berated him instead.

    The ruling, made on September 2, is effective immediately, meaning drunken revelers at this year’s ongoing 200th Anniversary Oktoberfest celebration should think twice before they stumble into a cab.

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    Barf, Cleanup, oktoberfest, Sorenne, Taxi, Vomit
  • Parents not liable if kids vomit in cab: German court

    Posted: July 13th, 2010 - 5:07pm by Doug Powell

    Two years ago, flying home from Florida, I was sitting beside the one daughter who accompanied us and, as we landed, just like daddy sometimes, she hurled.

    I was a pro, collected every drop in the barf bag, disembarked the plane and deposited the stuff in the first garbage can.

    A month ago, 19-month-old Sorenne barfed all over Amy as she was getting ready for bed. I went in to help and immediately began barfing myself.

    Who can account for these things?

    A district court in Munich, Germany, ruled yesterday that parents should not be forced to foot the bill for cleaning costs if their child suddenly throws up in a taxi.

    The ruling on the case of a couple whose nine-year-old daughter was sick in the back seat of a taxi after they had asked the driver to stop as the girl was unwell.

    The driver demanded 190 euros (239 dollars) for cleaning as well as 800 euros to hire a replacement cab.

    The presiding judge urged the parties to settle the case amicably, according to a press statement, saying it would be "sensible" for the parents to pay for the cab to be cleaned.

    However, the parents of the nine-year-old refused.

    The judge ruled that there is no "absolute liability" for children.

    "If a child is sick in a taxi and therefore soils it, the parents are only liable if they knew their child was nauseous and still did nothing to prevent the damage," the court ruled.

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  • You barf, you pay; $50 vomit tax for Chicago cabs?

    Posted: September 26th, 2009 - 6:16am by Doug Powell

    Chicago cab drivers are demanding that riders who throw up in their cabs get slapped with a $50 fee.

    The cabbies said Thursday they want to the city impose the penalty because of the work -- and hours lost -- that comes with cleaning a passenger's vomit.

    Mayor Richard Daley said his administration will listen to the drivers' request and review their recommendations.


     

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  • Barf in UK taxi ... you pay

    Posted: March 30th, 2008 - 7:47pm by Doug Powell

    Passengers who throw up in the back of a cab could get charged more than double – as well as face a hike in taxi fares.

    The so-called soiling fee will be increased from £40 to £100 in South Ribble if the council gives the go-ahead.

    Cabbies in the South Ribble Council area have asked the authority to consider putting up the fares for the first time since September 2006.

    Drivers say that the rising cost of fuel and insurance premiums – as well as an increase in the number of inebriated passengers – means it is costing more to stay on the road.

    Now anyone who forces a taxi off the road by soiling it through their drunkenness could be hit with the £100 charge.

    Vomiting customers are currently charged £30.
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