The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A WEEK after tourists accused a taxi driver of defrauding them in a viral video, Transport and Housing Minister JoBeth Coleby-Davis said road traffic officials suspended the driver’s licence.

Police reported questioning the driver, Cousin Clarence, last week but said they could not proceed with their investigation because no official complaint was made.

“I don’t know if they advanced it further,” Mrs Coleby-Davis said yesterday, “but from the road traffic standpoint, the tribunal I think suspended the licence because there were other things that were raised during his conversation with the acting controller that advised us that maybe he overcrowded as well.

“For those matters, the tribunal had suspended it, and I think they are in communications with police to determine if any charge would be pressed if we do anything else.”

The driver refused to comment on the suspension when The Tribune contacted him yesterday, saying: “I have nothing to say without my lawyer.”

In a video last week, a woman claimed her family paid the taxi driver to take them to several places, but he left them stranded.

She also alleged that her daughter’s belongings remained on his bus and were never returned.

The driver later defended himself in a voice note, claiming he only left the people after they failed to return on time.

“I don’t want nobody think I obligated to stay there and wait until they decide they want to come back,” he said. “That’s not how it work. I running a business.”

He also denied that anyone in the group left their belongings on his bus.

Wesley Ferguson, president of the Bahamas Taxicab Union, told The Tribune he was not surprised by the incident because such matters always happen in the industry.

He said incidents of potential fraud could be minimised if the government implemented a code of conduct for taxi drivers.

Asked about the status of the code, Mrs Coleby-Davis said yesterday: “We have been working on the complete document, and I spoke to the chair of the road traffic board who advised that they are trying to have that ready for September, but because I wouldn’t have control, that’s Road Traffic Authority Board that has that portfolio.”

“I just get the draft, and we review it and we discuss and so hopefully we have that by the end of the year.”