A woman has claimed that her taxi driver “abandoned” her in the middle of the night while she was being followed by two men.
Horse groomer Ciranne Muir had ordered a taxi home after spending her Friday evening at a pub. However, as the 36-year-old was heading towards her ride, she found herself being ‘stalked’ by two men.
Ciranne, who hails from Eton Wick in Berkshire, explained the cab driver had messaged her saying he was early. As she replied she was walking down – and explained that she was being harassed by two strangers – the driver allegedly then cancelled the trip, before charging Ciranne £6 for the inconvenience.
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“I felt like the driver abandoned me. It's not as if I didn't say anything, I messaged pretty much saying 'please help me, I'm being followed by someone, I'm on my way,” she explained.
“As far as he knows, anything could have happened to me. It could have escalated quickly. It wasn't just one, it was two men.
"It left me really annoyed.”
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Ciranne was heading home at 12.50am, and was less than five minutes walk away from the pick-up point.
As she walked down the road, she claims a cyclist was following her and asked where she was going, and just as she managed to shake him off, a driver pulled in next to her and called her 'darling'.
Ciranne said: "It was a Friday night [early hours of Saturday] and I went to meet my friend. It's £10 cheaper if you walk across the bridge into Eton, then get a taxi from Windsor.
"This fella on a bike was shouting at me, going on. A weirdo bloke on a bike following me. He was saying 'where are you going?' I'd booked the cab and I was walking quickly.
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"He started asking where I'm going and the typical cr*p that men say.
"I don't know where the bloke on the bike went, but then the next minute, a guy in a car pulled over.
“They were shouting out the window 'hi darling - looking good.'”
She added that she then got notified by the cab driver that her journey had been cancelled.
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“I got charged £6, even though I messaged him a few times saying 'look, I'm on my way, I'm being followed'.
"A few times I said 'I'm on my way - I've got a guy following me'. He didn't address it at all. I thought he'd asked me where I was to come and get me out of the situation.
"Luckily for me, I'm quite tall and in a difficult job, so I'm quite strong, but what if it was a smaller girl, somebody who's quite socially anxious or younger?”
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After repeated complaints to the cab company, Ciranne was refunded her money – but she feels her driver should face stronger punishment for leaving her in a dangerous situation.
“Some of the drivers are lovely, but it was the way it was handled. The driver should have been told off about the situation,” she said.
"They just sent me an apology template. It took them a week to get back to me."
The taxi company in question has been contacted for comment.
If you have been affected by this article, visit Plan UK for more information and advice.
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