A BBC presenter has been fired for telling a taxi firm not to send an Asian driver to pick up her daughter.
Sam Mason, 40, told a cab operator: “A guy with a turban on is going to freak her out.”
When her request was refused, she snapped: “You’ve managed it before.” The taxi worker was so outraged she recorded the conversation and passed a copy of it to The Sun.
Full Story Here:The Sun Newspaper
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s a good Job she did’nt go to the Rank outside of Central Station, Neewcastle!!!LOL
The Taxi office worker must have been one of those nasty PC Brigade lefties!!!
BBC should hang their heads in shame!…
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
I am no Rasist, but I have just read this article and listened to the recording & I have to say I do have a great deal of simpathy for Sam Mason on this matter because, had BBC Radio 2 presenters Russell Brand and Jonathon Ross not caused such a big stir with their prank, then BBC Bristol may not have acted as they did after all the call did not go out on the radio station for viewers to hear as it was a private booking being placed and nothing to do with her job.
This was a private matter that became public after it was put in the papers just like we all now know now only 1 listener actually heard the Russell Brand thing and complained and the rest of the moaning minis jumped on the bandwagon of bible bashing do gooders after it became a newspaper story.
If Sam Mason had just booked the vehicle & the driver had arrivied to pick-up her daughter and her daughter had refused to get in the vehicle because she was scared of the driver would Sam Mason have been sacked the answer is NO.
Then would the driver have been happy about wasting their fuel on a no job, I think we can conclude would be NO.
Every customer has the freedom to choose what they want to order and race should never have been brought in to this private matter as Sam Mason knows her daughter who clearly fears for her safety around certain people and I am sure we all remember the case of the aeroplane that was delayed when passengers refused to travel with someone that they thought looked dodgy, but were they racist no they were not the newspaper put the spin on the fact that the person looked like a terrorist.
In our world today their are to many people who play the race card when it is not an issue unfortunately and we do live in a mad world of fear and so maybe just maybe Sam Mason`s Daughter does fear certian types of people and her mother wanted to protect her daughter genuinely was the issue here not race.
I wonder how much the Newspaper pays for its stories to anyone who supplies them is the question I would ask, and did money get paid to the supplier of this story to the newspaper I wonder?
As someone once said everyone is looking for that 15 minutes of fame.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@thelighthousekeeper, Andy Warhol! coined the phrase “15 Minutes of Fame” but I don’t think it was the one that comments on this site! That one’s a Taxi driver the other one was an artist! Not much Difference really.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@thelighthousekeeper, My Daughter uses BLT to go from the City Centre to the Quayside Regularly. She got an Aisan Driver who Could not find his way .It took 30 minutes to get from Northumberland road to Chase. He was very apologetic and only charged her £2.60 but in future she will ask for a local driver.Is she being Racist?
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if you use a cheep taxi you are bound to get cheep service and i bet she didnt tip.we dont need crap work like that.it is not service your daughter wants its a taxi for free £2.60 come on get a grip sad twat.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@driver, Hey Kieth! She gave the driver a Fiver And don’t call me a sad twat!OK
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
I am a Newcastle PH driver and picked up a couple of lads from a house in 2nd ave in Heaton a couple of weeks ago.
When I asked them where they were going to they told me they were going to the “Quayside” and asked me if I knew where it was, “Of course I do” I replied.
It turns out that the previous week that they had ordered a BLT and the “Foreign” driver that was sent to pick them up didn’t know where the Quayside was and couldn’t find it in his satnav until one of the lads noticed the driver was trying to spell Quayside with a “K” “KEYSIDE” !!!!!
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YES YOUR RIGHT AND THAY DONT KNOW WITCH SIDE OF THE ROAD TO DRIVE ON
THAY HAVE COST THE TAXI TRADE A LOT OF MONEY AND CHARGE MORE THAN BLACK CABS.GET THEM OUT AND SEND THEM BACK
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IAM NOT RASIST I HATE THEM ALL
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
Oh deary deary me i dont think you can be saying that ! mr shanks wont be happy if you come on his driver recruitment site saying this and that !! his best one yet i think anyway was ” i know how hard it is out on the streets for you lads ” like he is your best mate or its so so easy at blt its so good i will give you 2 weeks free rent just to show you all who cant see what he is doing ???
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i’ve spoken to most of the foreign drivers at central. they are all horrid, like some of the english ones. but the point is, the customers do not want a foreign driver-FACT! how do they get NTC badges?????how???have they past the test?????how can their crime record be checked???
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@central parked,
“they are all horrid, like some of the english ones”
Are you perfect?
Are you sure?
Anyway fair point, how the hell did him that used to drive the white Berwick P*ssat (Central)got a NT Badge last week really beats me, Miracles do happen, lets hope I win the Lottery on Wednesday, because I now believe in Miracles!
Now howay Central Parked stick your real name on here, I did, show the rest that Central are men and the rest (BLT Boys, LITTLE SILVER, “The Hacks”)are little Girls with user names!!!!!!
Regards
Stephen
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ahhh, the brown, white passat. yes, he should not be here. not because of where he was born, but because he nicks fairs, over charges and gets lost. and more importantly the good folk of shields don’t want him or his silly car. as to my identlty, clues only. i own my car and its not green.
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When will something be done about the parking on South Parade? Last night I was stopped by the police as I was driving down South Parade trying to get to the rank. I was threatened with a ticket for illegal parking. When I told the copper the only reason I was stationary was because he had just stuck his hand in front of my car and told me to stop he told me to drive on.
The previous night the police stuck a parking ticket on a van which was partially blocking their view from the back lane but they ignored a van which was illegally parked on the taxi rank.
They seem to forget that it is us who remove the shite from Whitley Bay while they threaten us with parking tickets. Perhaps they wouldn’t be so keen if we all took a Saturday night of and left them to clean things up when people are fighting because they can’t get a taxi.
Why can’t the council use some of the profit they make from the taxi trade and block the road off at weekends the way they do on bank holidays. This would make it easier to get people home and make it easier for the police to do their job.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
A lot of this Berwick argument is really about “Race”, many of us go on and on about Berwick Hacks, but really we want to have a go at the core and that is “foreign Drivers”, many customers at the big Offices have requested not to have a foreign driver, but offices go and ignore this, and that results in customers going elsewhere!, it’s not being nasty, I could’nt find my way around Kandahar in Afghanistan, and I bet the Whiter than White Hacks (NT & NC) could not either..be honest, but the fact is we are not their and they are here!!
No local Driver has challenged this because he will be branded a Rascist, and their is always someone from a galaxy far far away ready to play the race card!.
Lots of customers are now saying “I am glad your British”, and these are people from all classes, this is replacing the old time favourite “have you been busy?”.
One example recently was a British Driver with a “Proper Badge” sacked from a Office for complaining about a foreign colleague at the office..A out of town Hack! ( This Office was NOT BLT, Central or EC by the way), the Driver was from a Country described by George W Bush (U.S President) as a “Axis of Evil” Country, this Driver had a Anti Western Badge on his Car!, the issue…This Bandit picked up a Lady in her 50′s to take her to the Airport, she was not going to Ibiza either, a very close relative of hers, a serviceman had been killed last year in action in the drivers respective Country, she was attending a memorial further South, she had made conversation with this Driver, usual of Weather, Trade and Sport, he asked her why she was going and she told him and he laughed at her!, and pointed to his Badge, this made the “Proper driver” mad and he had a good old ding dong at the Office, but Political correctness and greed over looked him!
(This Office was NOT North Tyneside based)
Can you imagine our parents, grandparents getting into a Taxi in Newcastle in 1943 and it was driven by a Nazi?????, they would have dragged him out and sorted him out!!!
Not just the Taxi trade but what is going on out their?, I am sick of hearing People like Cops, Teachers, Health care staff say “I am not Rascist BUT…..!”….that means to me that you have a opinion and your frightened to spit it out!!!
Regards
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
I feel sorry for Sam mason because if she had been standing in a taxi rank and a black driver was next she is within her rights to pass it on and not use it and wait for a white or English driver if she feels safer so whats the difference that happens a lot when passenger`s who see the driver that`s next wearing a turban they wait for a white English driver
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@p smith, That doesn’t just go for foreign drivers, I’ve often been on a Rank and seen punters hang back til a certain driver has gone,then they have explained to me that they didn’t like that driver.When you are getting into a car with someone you have a right to a choice if you don’t feel safe with a particular driver,wether he be short,fat,ginger,black or white!
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@paul j, It also goes for vehicle types, a lot of people prefer a saloon car to a multiseater on the rank so will hold back till i saloon car turns up.
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to paul j. i agree with your reply and that was the meaning that you have the right to refuse and the same go`s for the driver who`ever they may be can also refuse the punter if they look dodgey would they sack a black or Asian person or driver for not wanting to be picked up or carried a white person the issue on the pc brigade should cut both ways.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade