A 72-year-old San Fernando woman is calling for stricter checks and balances on PH taxi drivers after one of them and his “passenger” stole her money, jewellery and medication on Monday.
The terrified Les Efforts mother yesterday begged not to be identified because she was still terrified that the heartless bandits, who got her purse with her personal documents, could possibly now target her at home.
The incident happened around 1.30 pm Monday, after the woman left home to purchase groceries and fill her Chronic Disease Assistance Programme (CDAP) prescription in San Fernando.
She recalled that while walking along Mucurapo Street towards the Broadway taxi hub, the driver of a white wagon blew his horn. She said she stuck out her hand and when the driver stopped she asked to be taken to her home.
“He waited for me to pick up my bags. He told me that he had to pick up a family near where I live. I got in and there was an elderly man in the back seat and another man sitting in front.
“He dropped off the man in the back seat and when he reached a short distance from where he was supposed to pick up the family, he stopped,” the woman recalled to the T&T Guardian yesterday.
She said the area where the driver stopped was quite lonely and had two vacant lots overgrown with bush.
She said there was no one else in sight when the front seat passenger got into the back seat and tussled with her for her handbag.
She said no one could hear her cries as the men ripped a chain off her neck and yanked off her 45-year-old wedding band given to her by her late husband, or the 60-year-old ring passed on from her mother.
After scuffling with the woman and grabbing her jewellery, the men put her out the car and drove off with her handbag containing $800 and her medicine, and her bags of groceries.
“I was glad they did not damage me,” she said, although she was left with a mark on her face.
She said she later walked into a garage but the men there were of little help. She then went to a brokerage firm where one of the employees assisted her and eventually took her to San Fernando police where she made a report.
Getting to the police did little to calm her nerves, however, as she said as it was not the first time she had been robbed. She said a young boy ambushed her and stole a bracelet from her several years ago while she was walking home. However, her son was able to recover it from the suspect.
“It is a dangerous place to live now for people like me. We live in an ageing society and a lot of elderly people have to be on the streets.
“We need a more regular police patrol around here and we need the PH taxis to be stopped, or some checks and balances need to be put in place to see who are the real taxi drivers and who are not.”
Like the woman, her neighbours are also worried about crime, saying strange people had been walking throughout the neighbourhood in recent times.
They believe these individuals have been surveying their homes and recording the times residents came and left.
A neighbour told the T&T Guardian that recently her husband caught an intruder snooping around their home at around 3 am. She said a gas tank was subsequently stolen.
As her children played in the front yard, she kept a close look at them, even though she just installed new chains and locks on the gates.
Police: Use Legitimate Taxis
Assistant Commission of Police Irwin Hackshaw is warning commuters against travelling with PH taxis, as he says criminals are using the trade to carry out robberies and other crimes.
Speaking to the T&T Guardian yesterday, Hackshaw said PH taxis were illegal and commuters should not encourage the practice by travelling in those vehicles. He said the only legitimate taxis were those that bore registration numbers beginning with “H.”
“PH taxi drivers are operating illegally, but in this society people have their own choices of what type of transportation they like to use. Yes, I understand that most of the genuine taxi drivers work within a time limit and the other option is PH, but the public is advised to use only legitimate taxis to travel from place to place,” he said.
He said some criminals were planning strategies to rob citizens using “P” cars.
He advised people who are victims of such crimes to try to get a proper description of the drivers and the vehicles and report the crime to the nearest police station. Hackshaw said police were continually cracking down on PH taxi drivers wherever they were found, but noted not all taxis picked up passengers at the designated taxi hubs.