Launceston taxi driver 'gets on with the job' after being assaulted, robbed

The man, who has chosen to remain anonymous for privacy reasons, has been driving taxis in the region for almost three decades.

Now working on behalf of Taxi Combined, up until last Saturday night he had never been attacked on the job.

However, that all changed when a routine job turned sour. After picking up a young girl from the Target car park at Mowbray about 9.15pm, he was then directed to drive to the nearby Mowbray Heights Primary School.

Here, he said he was met by a group of about nine people - including the girl's boyfriend - who got into the taxi. The couple requested the man drive them to New Street, Invermay.

After a short five minute drive they disembarked, with the young girl paying cash for the $15 fare.

However, as the driver got ready to head to his next job, he said the male passenger became aggressive.

"They had got out of the car. The window was down, and he was standing behind me," the driver recalled.

"He kept asking her 'have you given him the money?'. She had given me $50 and I gave her $35 change.

"But then the guy reached through the window with his right hand. He grabbed the money in my pocket, but I grabbed his arm so he couldn't get it out. I had about $250 on me.

"I grabbed his arm and he started hitting me in the back of the head."

After being hit numerous times, the driver was able to get away. During this time, the man who assaulted him dropped some of the money he had stolen. However, he still got away with about $150 of the driver's nightly earnings.

Shaken, but uninjured by the assault, the driver contacted police.

"The only reason I called the cops was I wanted to get my money back," the driver said.

"I was in a car accident, so I can't run anymore. I couldn't chase after him."

On Sunday, police made an appeal for information about the incident. While a police spokesperson confirmed a specific line of inquiry was being followed, as of Wednesday no one had been charged for the assault and theft.

The driver said he was lucky the man didn't have a weapon, admitting things could have been a lot worse.

"I'm fine. He didn't hurt me," he said.

"It could have been ... if he'd had a weapon. I talk to people, they've had screw drivers pulled on them and everything.

"I worked for another eight hours after, that night.

"[Police] haven't caught up with him yet, but hopefully they do."

Taxi Driver Association of Australia president Michael Jools said the attack was just another reminder of the need for better protection for essential and vulnerable workers.

"Certainly, in the bigger cities, there are in-taxi cameras and alarm systems, but till now there has been an assumption that the rest of the country is safe and secure," he said.

"These times brings out the best and worst of society. Now is a good time to improve taxi security."

The association has also welcomed the recent state government announcement that Tasmanian taxis and Ubers will require QR codes for its passengers to check-in from Friday.

Introduced after a taxi driver transported a passenger infected with the Delta strain of coronavirus to the Launceston Airport, Mr Jools said the measure would give drivers more peace of mind more broadly.

However, with similar practices already mandatory in NSW and Victoria, he said more details were still needed to ensure the measure worked effectively in Tasmania.

"If a person refuses to scan their QR code, can the driver refuse the fare? If the intending passenger refuses to scan, something fishy is going on," he said.

"The other query that comes up, is the QR codes are generally allocated to a specific location - like a shop, factory or restaurant.

"There doesn't seem, as I see, any method or picking up the start and finish of a trip. That, I think, is a failing in what the governments are doing around the country.

"Because they are certainly picking up a static entry and exit from the shop, and they know the location. But they aren't picking up, as I understand it, the exist at a different location."

Mr Jools said the association was working to produce a new operating system which would create a QR code at the start and finish of each trip.

"I think that's very important from a tracing point of view," he said.

"We could then advise government, or the Health Department ... and provide details of the driver, taxi, passenger at the start and the finish."

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