Who should cough-up when you throw-up in a taxi?
Saturday evening. 6.30pm. I'm going home in a taxi with Arch, aged two.
He opens his mouth and vomit pours out of it. "Oh no" I say.
He opens his mouth again. More vomit. "Oh no," I say even louder.
The cab driver hands me tissues but the situation is beyond tissues. Nothing short of a bucket will do. I feel helpless, as though I should be able to prevent sick from getting on the back seat of his car - but what can I do?
As we turn down our road, I ring my husband and ask him to bring some cleaning kit out of the house. When we pull up, I swap him a sick-ridden child for some cloths, get on my hands and knees and scrub the seat as vigorously as I can.
By the time I have finished, it doesn't smell and there are no solid bits but it's wet.
"I'll have to take the car to be cleaned," says the driver woefully. "I can't take passengers with the seat like that."
"Do you want me to fetch my hair dryer?" I suggest.
He's not amused.
"Does this mean you've lost a night's work? Let me give you some money," I say.
The fare is £8. I empty my purse, but all I've got is £12.50 in total. I give him that. The driver is even less amused. My husband empties his wallet. All he's got is another £2.
"I'm sorry," I say. "I simply haven't got any more. I don't know what else I can do."
The driver goes off with a sour look on his face and I stand on the pavement feeling dreadful and perplexed.
If I've lost him a Saturday night's work and caused him to incur the cost of having his car cleaned, am I responsible? Should I have given him £100? I baulk at the idea, but why not if that's what I've cost him?
Do minicab drivers have insurance to cover loss of earnings when toddlers puke on their back seats? Or is that all part of the risk they take in picking up members of the public, one they just have to endure?
To be honest, I'm glad I didn't have £60 in my purse, as I often do, because if I had had, I would have given it to him without really knowing if I should have.
Does anybody have any views on the rights and wrongs of this situation? Am I mean, or do I have an overdeveloped sense of responsibility? I'd really appreciate your thoughts.
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Hi Jo
You tried to do everything you could - bear in mind that his experience of people vomiting in his cab is probably drunken people late at night - I am sure that he does not usually get such an apologetic vomiter!
I am sure that they must be aware that this risk exists - part of the territory, you did what you could.
Caroline x
Hi Jo,
Some taxis have a sign in them (especially black cabs that work in the city centre) which say that you will have to pay a hefty fine if you vomit in them. That is, obviously, entirely about drunk adults and not about ill babies! I think if you are drunk and you vomit you should pay - but there is nothing you can do about a kid who is ill, especially one not really old enough to tell you he's going to be sick! I remember a time when a friend of mine vomited out of the window of a taxi when we were driving at 70mph - it splattered over the cab - the driver told us we could choose - either we clean it or we pay a fine. So at 3am we were outside one of our friends houses as he attempted not to wake his parents finding water and sponges, but we managed to clean it up and avoid a fine!
I think it was kind of you to clean and give him some extra cash - you could have chosen to argue that it was his bad driving that caused Arch to vomit in the first place!
I am with the disgruntled taxi driver on this one. Whether it's a baby or a drunken lout - sick is sick and it cost him a night's work which could be up to £200.
Most taxis do have a sign in them about vomit and cleaning bills. You probably did your best to help clean, but I would imagine the smell would be almost impossible to get out unless proper cleaning materials are used.
It would have been cruel, as Caroline suggests, to put any blame on the driver for this. I'm afraid we have to take responsibility for the actions of our own children.
I think you did as much as you could. As you say, if you'd had more money on you, you'd have given it to him.
No cheque book in the house? No exchange of phone numbers? No drive to a cash machine? I don't think you did very much at all.
I've been in taxis where friends (glad to say never me!) have been sick from drinking and it depends on the taxi driver. If your driver really was so bothered he would have kicked up a bigger fuss or drove you to a cash point. A black cab driver once just chucked my friends out straight away but once one was really angry and stopped in the middle of the road until we figured out a way to pay £40. It seems incredibly decent that you cleaned it up but as it was from a baby, maybe he had a heart and decided these things happen? He could have asked you for a cheque or drove you to a cash point if really his whole night of work was ruined due to a damp seat. Possibly if your partner wasn't there things might have been different, I've had some horrific taxi rides when it's been just me or my girl friends.
Thank you all so much for your comments. I really appreciate them. I have done another post, in which I respond to you and also find an answer: http://bit.ly/Tg3p8