An Indigenous woman claims that when the taxi she had ordered declined to pick her up, it was racially profiling.
Sari-Ella Thaiday, an Australian beauty influencer, recently called a taxi company to request a pick-up from a location in Cairns, North Queensland.
Thaiday, however, claims that the Cairns Taxis-provided taxi did not stop when it saw her waiting at the designated spot.
The woman from Erub, Saibai, and Yidinji shared her experience with her 184,900 followers on Friday in a TikTok video.
I’ve never discussed this before, but I will now,’ Ms. Thaiday added. I won’t ever take a taxi in Cairns again because of this.
Ms. Thaiday claimed that she called the company again after the taxi “just drove off” to let them know the cab had not stopped.
According to Ms. Thaiday, the taxi driver ignored their request to stop because they “reported a problem.”
According to Ms. Thaiday, the taxi company rudely interrogated her and asked if she was intoxicated or had enough money to cover the cost of the fare.
If I didn’t get a chance to speak with the taxi driver, how is he/she supposed to know if I am intoxicated or have any money? Why did they just drive away when they saw me? Mrs. Thaiday answered.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander woman claimed that when she requested a taxi from the same location through a different person, the taxi company refused.
Ms. Thaiday claimed that at the time, taking a taxi was the only way to get home (she now uses Uber), and that the experience left her so upset that she “sat in the gutter and cried.”
Similar experiences were reported by TikTok users, who called the “entire (cab) system” a “nightmare.”
One user said, “Sometimes they pull up from a distance just to check who they’re picking up then they just take off, nek (next) min sends cancellation by text.”
One user revealed how they hail a cab after having their request declined by drivers: “We used to have our non-Indigenous buddy to order the taxi and flag it down for us then we’d race to it.”
The cabs in Cairns are extremely racist! A third customer complained, “they had my boyfriend and his buddies pay before the trip since the driver feared they didn’t have money.”
A corporate representative told Daily Mail Australia, “We are as worried about this situation as the guy in the video.”
“The individual has not contacted Cairns Taxis for us to look into this issue,” the statement reads.
“All complaints against drivers or contact centre agents are properly reviewed, and the necessary steps are taken to stop such situations,” the company said.
Every call is logged for quality and training reasons, including the date and time so that Cairns Taxis may look into any incidents.
We were not granted this chance, however. In order to take the proper measures if this occurrence indeed occurred, we would want to find out who the taxi driver and operators were.