Police slammed over 5am wake-up call that was false alarm

FARE: Man was told he would have to pay for a taxi bill that was not even his

A Dundee man has hit out at police after receiving a 5am wake-up call from officers demanding he pay a taxi fare – that was not his.

Steven Thompson, of Brownhill Street, was woken by a loud banging on his door shortly after 5am on Tuesday morning.

Mr Thompson said he was then confronted by two officers demanding he pay a taxi fare he had supposedly dodged – despite obviously having just been woken up.

The noise also woke Mr Thompson’s two children, aged seven and four.

He said: “I received a knock on the door from two police officers who demanded I open my door to pay for a taxi.

“I said I was just out of my bed and what was the problem but the female officer just demanded I open my door without any warrant.

“There was a bit of back and forth but she was totally unprofessional and demanded I pay for the taxi.

“When they left I looked out the living room window so the poor taxi driver could confirm I was not the culprit.

“The driver clearly said it wasn’t me but I didn’t receive any apologies from the police officer or her partner.”

Mr Thompson said he complained to Police Scotland about his treatment but was told there would be no apology.

He said: “All I wanted was a sincere apology for waking my children and the unpleasant attitude towards the situation, nothing more, nothing less.”

Mr Thompson added: “My children were quite shaken after all this.

“I just feel that the situation was dealt with completely unprofessionally and deserve an apology, seeing that said taxi driver identified me as not the person he had in his cab.”

A spokeswoman for Police Scotland’s Tayside Division said: “We received a report that a man had failed to pay a taxi fare.

“An inquiry was carried out at an address in Brownhill Street, Dundee, at 5.10am on Tuesday 27 June and it was established this was not the man in question.

“Tayside Division aims to deliver the highest possible standards of policing and if the individual concerned feels we didn’t meet those standards, he has a right to complain.”

Complaints should be logged at www. scotland.police.uk/about-us/policescotland/complaints-about-the-police/

“All I wanted was a sincere apology for waking my children and the unpleasant attitude towards the situation