MUM: STOP TAKING US FOR CRUEL RIDE
A SEVERELY disabled Gold Coast child is repeatedly being left roadside because a taxpayerpaid taxi company won’t pick him up.
Young Samuel Amiet has been left stranded waiting for a cab dozens of times in the past year. The nine-year-old suffers from cerebral palsy, CRMCC syndrome, epilepsy, ASD, Perthes Disease and gastrostomy. He is in a wheelchair, cannot talk and is fed through a tube.
His family was last year granted the State Government’s School Disability Transport Scheme, which allows disabled students to be transferred to and from school as part of a taxpayerpaid contract with Gold Coast Cabs.
The scheme was considered a god send for Samuel’s mother, Simone, who damaged her back after constantly lifting her son and his chair in and out of the family car.
“He is like a nine-year-old newborn,” Mrs Amiet said. “I had no other option but to use this service.”
In the 18 months the family had been on the scheme, she said Gold Coast Cabs had repeatedly failed to arrive on time for school or to pick up her son, leaving the Upper Coomera State College student stranded.
Gold Coast Cabs disputes the claims and says at no time has a driver failed to show. When a driver was late it said it made every effort to contact Sam’s parents.
The response angered Mrs Amiet: “I can count on one hand the number of times they have shown up on time. It is either ridiculously early when no one would be at school to meet him or they would show up well after the first bell.
“My child is non-verbal and has seizures and they are contracted to provide this service. It is gobsmacking. He is not a parcel.”
Mrs Amiet said Samuel was regularly left waiting with a teacher’s aid for over half an hour. “It got to a point where I was ringing and ringing and got no reply, so I had to grab him. One hot afternoon I got there and he was in a pre-seizure state. I have been given guarantees again and again, but each time have been let down.”
Gold Coast Cabs said it had since offered a permanent driver to further assist: “Gold Coast Cabs has structured processes and enforceable requirements in place to ensure every driver delivers the highest quality service we pride ourselves on. We constantly seek ways to improve our service and deliver the best possible experience for all of our customers particularly those with accessibility needs.”
However, Mrs Amiet said she was told by a customer relations manager yesterday that Samuel would be picked up only “50 per cent” of the time in the afternoons because it could not force drivers to accept jobs as part of their contract.
Mrs Amiet became so frustrated last month she posted her frustrations on her Instagram account.
Replying to the post, Gold Coast Cabs said it was “embarrassed” and that it would investigate.
Despite the promises Mrs Amiet said the problem continued: “You get an ‘oh sorry, we forgot’ or ‘no driver accepted the job’.
“Samuel isn’t the only one in his taxi. Often there is another little boy left standing there waiting and we are certainly not the only ones on the Gold Coast.
“I wanted to speak out because for many families this is our only option.”
The Department of Transport and Main Roads said it had contacted Mrs Amiet to obtain further details and had asked her to lodge a formal complaint so the department could investigate further.
ANY parent reading Simone Amiet’s plight today will feel her pain and anger.
Her young boy Samuel suffers from cerebral palsy, CRMCC syndrome, epilepsy, ASD, Perthes Disease and gastrostomy. He is in a wheelchair, cannot talk and has to be fed through a tube, and the family is reliant on him being picked up before and after school by Gold Coast Cabs as part of the taxpayer-funded School Disability Transport Scheme.
Mrs Amiet says she can count on one hand the number of times Gold Coast Cabs showed up or showed up on time to collect her son in the final school term last year and the first term of 2019.
Tired of phoning the taxi company for a please explain, she took her anger to the media. Her goal is for Gold Coast Cabs to show decency and help other parents of disabled children who do not have a voice.
The Bulletin sent Gold Coast Cabs a series of questions yesterday.
In part of its response, the company said: “In Sam’s case, while a driver may have been running behind, at no time has a driver failed to show. In these instances, we have endeavoured to contact the parent and notify them appropriately. We have also offered a permanent driver to further assist with ensuring the best possible service for Sam.”
The statement left Mrs Amiet seething. She says she has counted at least 20 times when a taxi failed to show on time and she has been forced to pick up Samuel herself.
In between the Bulletin sending its questions at 12.30pm and
Gold Coast Cabs replying at 5.05pm, the company contacted Mrs Amiet.
She said a customer relations manager phoned and apologised.
In contrast to the Gold Coast Cabs statement given to the Bulletin, Mrs Amiet said she was told the company could only guarantee Samuel would be picked up in the mornings and half the time in the afternoons because it cannot force drivers to accept jobs as part of their contract.
Even then she said the company stressed it would have to pay the driver extra to ensure he or she turned up on time each morning. She was told the company could not find a driver to commit to the weekday afternoon pick up of Samuel outside school.
The State Government would not tell the Bulletin last night how much the contract was worth. However, the Bulletin understands there are potential contractual penalties for wrongdoing and the Government will investigate.
Many families are at the mercy of companies like Gold Coast Cabs to transport their children and Mrs Amiet says the system does not work.
She believes taxi drivers think transporting disabled people is too taxing a job when hassle-free fares were available.
Worst still, she fears what will happen to those kids when other disability taxi schemes end in late June.
In the meantime, Gold Coast Cabs has a responsibility to pick up disabled children like Samuel and take them home safely.
It is paid thousands of taxpayers’ dollars to do so and should honour that deal. If it can’t it should hand it over to someone else and forget about tendering for these types of contracts in the future.