Woman says taxi driver left her on the side of the road New Year's Eve

A 23-year-old Winnipeg woman says her cab driver abandoned her on the side of the road New Year's Eve.

Jaylene Irwinsaid she was told to get out of the cabmore than six kilometres away from her house at 2:30 in the morning.

Irwin was out celebrating in downtown Winnipeg with with friends, but ended up needing a ride home.

She hailed a Duffy's taxi outside the bar.

"He asked for my address and once I gave it to him he said, 'Oh that's too far,'" she said.

"I pretty much was like, 'Please, there's no other cabs.And he said OK. So we started driving and immediately he wanted me to pay for the cab right upfront," she said.

Irwin said she promised the driver she would pay him when they arrived in Westwood, and showed him the cash she had on her.

But halfway there, the driver suddenly pulled over at the corner of Portage and Ferry, and told her to get out.

"I was shocked at first for sure. There's nobody around.I'm in tiny heels and a skirt. And you're going to kick me out? He's like, 'I can'ttake you. You have to get out,'" she said.

Irwin saidthe cab driver told her he had another call he had to go to.

I definitely felt like my life could have been put at risk.- Irwin

Watch:

Taxi driver left her far away from her destination in 27 C

6 years ago

Duration 2:19

Irwin said she promised the driver she would pay him when they arrived, and showed him the cash she had on her. But halfway there, the driver suddenly pulled over and told her to get out.

It was 27C, with an extreme cold warning in effect.

"To get out of the vehicle, that's putting myself at risk as well," she said.

"But being by myself, I just didn't know what kind of person he is," she said. "I felt like it would probably be safer to actually get out of the vehicle because of how angry he was. He's just like, 'you have to get out, you have to get out.'"

Irwin refused to pay the cab driver, andstepped out into the coldand tried to call her mom, but her phone was on silent.

So she started walking. That's when a group of men pulled over, offering her a ride. Reluctantly, she accepted.

"I definitely felt like my life could have been put at risk," she said."I'm lucky that those guys came by and picked me up and were nice enough to drive me home," she said.

CBC News made multiple requests through phone and email for comment from Duffy's Taxi, but did not receive a response.

This isn't the first time this has happened,according to one volunteer that works to get women safe rides home.

"I'm terrified to hear that she had to be saved and picked up by Good Samaritans. What if they weren't, you know?" said Christine Brouzes, withIkwe Safe Rides.

"I worry about the women and young girls that go missing of all cultures and backgrounds."

Brouzes said poor treatment of women is "rampant" in the taxi industry.

"When I first entered into this, I thought it was a couple of bad apples that were making a bad name for all the other good taxi drivers," she said.

"I'm not going to say all taxi drivers are inappropriate, but it's an awful lot."

Brouzes said she's heard of several similar situations like Irwin's happening to women over thisholiday season.

"I'm not surprised at the behaviour of the taxi driver," she said.

Brouzes saidmore needs to be done, including retraining cab drivers on safety procedures.

A spokesperson for the city would not comment on whether or not it had received a complaint from Irwin, citing privacy.

Kalen Qually did say that Winnipeghad received 108 complaints aboutvehicles-for-hire from January to November 2018, and that a taxi driver can't refuse to drop a passenger off at their destination unless they believe there is danger to them or their personal property.

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