Radio host’s recurring nightmare taxi ride
Jay-Jay Harvey says a scary taxi ride at the weekend in Auckland is not the first time she has been frightened by a driver’s behaviour.
Recounting her bad experience in the early hours of Sunday, the radio host not only detailed how a taxi driver indecently assaulted her and attempted to follow her into her apartment block, but also a previous incident where a driver tried to kiss her.
She was travelling about 4 kilometres from a Ponsonby bar to her home about 1am when the incident happened.
Harvey, 43, told Stuff via email that part of her wished she had not posted about the incident because she was now feeling the pressure to report the incident to police.
‘‘I’ve read some of the comments and have been shocked by how many women have had similar experiences. They are all encouraging me to report the incident so I feel such a huge obligation now.’’ She said the police had called her and she was waiting until she had calmed down enough to make a statement.
The Edge breakfast host said a prior incident involved a driver who knew she was going to be home alone. ‘‘He parked down the end of my dark driveway, turned off his car and tried to kiss me. I was so scared.’’
Of last night, she said she usually took an Uber for safety reasons but last night just jumped in a taxi outside the bar.
‘‘He kept asking me if he could touch my breasts ... He was asking if I would be his girlfriend and I was feeling uncomfortable and nervous. ‘‘I was laughing to make him assume I thought he was joking. ‘‘We pulled up outside my apartment block and he told me he would let me off my $17 fare if I would hook up with him and then he reached over and started fondling my boobs!! I pushed his hand away and said no.’’ Harvey said the driver got out of the car to follow her to her flat.
‘‘Swipe card in hand, I opened the sliding doors to my block with him a few metres behind me, then bolted up the stairs which he could not have accessed without a swipe card. I got inside safely and watched out the window as he stood in the middle of the street looking up trying to figure out which flat I was in. Then he got back into his cab and drove off.’’
Describing her assailant as ‘‘a creep’’, Harvey speculated whether he drove taxis ‘‘for the purpose of preying on drunk girls?’’