Mum’s taxi for New Year’s Eve
A lone girl walking home in the dark got a Whangamata¯ mum worried enough to start a free pickup service.
In the lead-up to New Year’s Eve, Tracey Clark cruised the streets in her grey Honda Avancier station wagon, looking for girls needing help to get home safely.
She even went out for three runs while most were celebrating the new year.
And those policing the Coromandel Peninsula town said there were cases of young, sometimes drunk, teenagers separated from friends and not making it home on time.
Visitors flood beachside Whangamata¯ in the leadup to New Year’s Eve, and throngs of teenagers walk the streets or gather at Williamson Park.
‘‘Even as an adult, I wouldn’t want to be walking home alone – not at this time of year,’’ Clark said.
‘‘I didn’t like the thought of all of these girls just being out there without any help.’’
The mother of five started her taxi mission on Saturday night, as she drove her youngest daughter, Cheyenne, home from work around 9pm.
They saw a girl walking home by herself, decided it wasn’t cool, and turned back to take her home.
Clark went out again at 1.30am, then did runs for two more nights, some with Cheyenne.
In total, she picked up about 15 girls – ‘‘which isn’t much but, hey, it makes me sleep better’’.
She hopes to organise a group to offer the service next year.
Her passengers had been drinking but weren’t rolling drunk, she said, and they were all visitors relying on Google Maps to get back to their street.
One apologised for not having any money, but Clark wasn’t charging.
‘‘She took my number and she texted me the next day, and she made me a pizza,’’ Clark said.
Clark wasn’t bothered about the hours as she’s a bad sleeper, and she also did about a year-long stint as a taxi driver in Whangamata¯ .
It was great that everyone got home safely this year, said Senior Sergeant Andrea McBeth, who oversaw Whangamata¯ ’s New Year’s Eve policing.
However, some groups lost friends along the way and police got calls from parents worried about kids who hadn’t arrived home when planned.
‘‘A couple of them were young girls,’’ McBeth said.
‘‘They had been going between groups of friends at Williamson Park, so no-one has accounted for them.’’
One case which stuck in McBeth’s mind involved a 14-year-old girl who had pre-loaded at home, with her parents’ knowledge, before going out.
‘‘She doesn’t usually drink . . . There’s some real risk about her ability to make decisions while influenced by alcohol,’’ McBeth said.
‘‘We appreciate people want to socialise at that time of the year. That’s totally understandable. But there is some concern.
‘‘If you don’t know how your child is going to respond to alcohol, you let them drink and then let them go out into a big, crowded area.
‘‘When they lose their friends, they’re at greater risk of being a victim.’’
McBeth hadn’t heard about Clark’s pickup service – and didn’t know of any others – but thought there would be a demand for some kind of shuttle.
However, she warned anyone doing it to be aware of their own safety and who they let into the vehicles.