Tensions mount as Gold Coast cabbie charged

Racial tensions among cab drivers on the Gold Coast are reportedly at boiling point after an Indian driver was charged with kidnapping five female passengers.

The 24-year-old driver was charged with five counts of deprivation of liberty after he allegedly held the five women over disputed fares, the Courier Mail reports.

The charges have angered Indian drivers on the coast, with strike action being threatened over the perceived victimisation of their colleague.

Police say the driver picked up five women earlier this month and drove them from Southport to Surfers Paradise.

"When they reached their destination, the driver asked for payment but the passengers have disputed the amount," a police spokeswoman told the Mail.

"It's alleged the driver then locked the doors of the taxi and drove the passengers around Surfers Paradise."

One of the alleged victims used a phone to alert police who then charged the driver.
He will appear in Southport Magistrates Court on April 7.

An Indian taxi driver told the newspaper the man should not have been charged.

"It is impossible to lock someone in a cab so I don't know how it is kidnapping," Gurwinder Singh said, adding that Indian drivers were being abused by passengers on a constant basis.

The CEO of Gold Coast Cabs, Martin O'Riordan, confirmed to the newspaper drivers felt they were not being treated fairly and that there was some unrest amongst them.

"The Indian drivers believe the police don't listen to them as effectively as other people in the community because of their racial background," Mr O'Riordan told the Mail.

He confirmed strike action has been threatened..


ninemsn 29 Mar 2010

Locking the doors is false imprisonment, a criminal offence.

There is a total ommission by the mass media that racism DOES exist in the Indian community.

There is (unjustified) pressure for Australians NOT to be racist against the Indian community but not the other way around.