Dunedin taxi drivers converged on a dark City Rise street to help the city's youngest owner-driver after he was allegedly assaulted by an intoxicated passenger.
The 4am Thursday incident was the third time in just two weeks that the industry had rallied to support a driver allegedly attacked by one of his passengers, reinforcing fears of a new trend.
Ivan Larsen (25) last night said he was abused by one of the two middle-aged men he was driving along Russell St after he refused to drive them to their door.
The men were not prepared to pay the full fare, so he dropped them near their destination when the fare hit the $10 they were prepared to offer.
At that moment, a friend of the driver's called to ask for a ride from the Octagon. This made one of the men angry that he would not drop them off on the way to his next fare. The alleged assailant cursed and punched the side of the car and then the windscreen before holding his box of beer as if to throw it at the window.
Mr Larsen jumped out of the car - "if he was going to throw it, I didn't want to be behind the glass" - and the man lunged at him and grabbed his throat.
The driver fell back in to the car. His friend, who was still listening on the mobile phone, hung up and called for help. Other Dunedin Taxis drivers and the police arrived moments later.
Police found the alleged attacker nearby.
Mr Larsen said he was shaken but not hurt in the incident, which he said should not be seen as typical of a night shift he enjoyed too much to leave. Most Dunedin people were friendly, even when drunk, he said.
Dunedin Taxis manager Simone Green said she could count on two hands the number of assaults involving the company's drivers.
Four happened over the past year, two in the past week.
"So, is that trend increasing? Yeah, and most of the incidents are related to alcohol," Ms Green said. "There seems to be a prevailing view that we are safe here, and maybe we are, but this sort of thing has to make us ask `how safe are we really?'."
Government moves to make in-car cameras compulsory might further protect drivers from violent passengers, but even low-level abuse should not be tolerated.
A 49-year-old Dunedin man was charged with common assault and bailed to appear in the Dunedin District Court on Thursday.
