Mum issues scary warning after taxi ‘speeds off’ with her sleeping nine-year-old son in the back alone
A MUM has issued a scary warning after a taxi “sped off” with her just her nine-year-old son in the back.
Jenna explained that she had booked a taxi to pick her, her husband and their two kids up just after midnight on New Year’s Eve.
But as they started getting in the car, the taxi ended up driving off, with Jenna’s nine-year-old son sleeping in the back.
In a video on TikTok, she explained that her son was getting in the taxi roadside, while his dad was walking around to get in the front passenger seat himself.
“So dad went round opened up the door for him, got him in,” she said.
“That was the first mistake, never ever again will I ever.
“I’m quite bad with things like that to be honest. I usually make sure that I’m in there.
“But yeah, never again will they ever go in a car without us in there first ever again.”
As her son got in the car, Jenna and her daughter were still coming out of their friend’s house, saying goodbye.
“Dad said to the driver ‘Won’t be a minute, just waiting for the other ones’.
“So he closed the taxi door, walked around the taxi… and he’s looked at the drive to see whereabouts I am.
“And during this time he’s literally just sped off like so fast.”
When Jenna’s son had been put in the taxi, he was “really sleepy” as he had fallen asleep inside the house.
“Then I just heard all this shouting and in my head I thought the taxi’s gone without, just without any of us,” she recalled.
“Then I thought oh he’s drove off with the bags.
“So I’ve gone to the bottom of the drive and seen my partner literally chasing after this car.”
She tried the driver’s number, after he’d called her to let her know he was outside when he first arrived, but accidentally rang someone else in a panic.
“At this point my son’s been in the taxi and he’s woken up a bit, he’s come around because this car’s speeding up with him,” she continued.
“And he said to the driver, he said ‘Excuse me, you’ve left my parents’.”
His dad was still running after the taxi at the time, at which point the car stopped and he managed to open up the door.
Jenna then started saying to the driver: “What the hell are you doing? You just drove off with a child in the car!”
She added that the driver “didn’t give much of an explanation as to why he drove off”, but Jenna said she’s also emailed the manager of the taxi company to complain.
“My little girl is seven and she was just screaming after this taxi,” she said.
“She was going, ‘Oscar my brother. He’s being kidnapped. He’s being kidnapped!’
“And she was sobbing her heart out crying in the street.
“Just a really horrible, horrible, horrible experience.”
She concluded by saying she’s hoping her tale will act as a warning to other people to always get in taxis first before putting their children in.
“Main thing is everyone is safe,” Jenna added in the video caption.
“Hopefully this was an mistake, although hard to believe.
“I am not tarnishing all taxi drivers the same, appreciate there are some brilliant ones, but that just wasn’t our experience this day.”
She also revealed in the comments section that she’s reported the situation to the non-emergency police line, and is planning to report to her local council’s licensing department.
“This has never crossed my mind, I’ll be making sure I’m in the car first…” one person commented on the video.
“This is terrifying, I can’t imagine how scared you must’ve been.”
“I am sooo sorry this happened to you,” another said.
“This is why i’d never get a taxi or Uber by myself,” a third commented.
“I’m 5’1 so can’t do much if I need to fight.”
“Omg this is awful hope your son is okay,” someone else said.
“Can’t imagine how petrified u all were.”
“Thanks so much, he is fine thankfully,” Jenna replied.
Fabulous Online has contacted the taxi company for comment.