78-Year-Old Taxi Driver Fined $800 For DUI
After smashing his taxi into a parked tractor-trailer on Front Street earlier this month while driving drunk, a 78-year-old taxi driver was fined $800 and given a one year driving ban.
Neville Smith from Southampton this morning [Sept 11] pleaded guilty in Magistrates Court to driving whilst impaired and was fined $800 and disqualified from driving all vehicles for twelve months.
Mr Smith was involved in a traffic accident on Front Street on 4th September 2012 in which his taxi had crashed into a parked tractor-trailer.
The Court heard that when Police appeared on the scene and asked Mr Smith if he had been drinking, he replied: “Yes. I’ve had a few Cockspurs.”
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Category: Accidents and fires, All, Court Reports, Crime, News
Bermuda is another worrlllllddddd!
So. A man who could potentially injure a paying passenger/tourist….is given the least fine you can give?!?!
I’m sorry, but this is ridiculous. Shouldn’t there be an careless driving fine? endangering passengers? is there nothing more for taxi drivers than a regular driver?!?!?
I guess it’s no worse than the ferry boat captain huh?!?!?! give em a year, he’ll learn his lesson…ha should never be allowed to drive a taxi again, period
D BIRRRDDD GOT HIM!
hahaha this comment made my day…
ban him for life for driving taxis, them drivers dont care about the roads anyways, stopping short for a customer instead of turning around when its safe. lol d bird def. got him, a%**hole, wish i was in the taxui when this happened i would have beatin the dust out of him!!!
Hopefully the Taxi people revoke his Taxi license….
Nope, wont happen I bet. So now we have Ferry boat drivers, bus drivers and taxi drivers all driving vehicles used for transporting the public all driving under the influence. All should have been axed or made an example of since they drive the public. Instead – slap on the wrist, no deterrent here.
A light slap on the wrist. $2000.00 much more appropriate. Give him something to think about without taking his means to earn a living taken away.
dun r u buggin…..the bird got u too by the sounds of it lol….the guy is 78 bredren!!!! 78!!!! he is retired! and should not even be drinkin BIRD in the first place!
This is a ridiculous fine ! why does the general public get fined $1000.00 and a person in whom we entrust our loved ones to take when they have been drinking get a fine under this ???..he should have his taxi license revoked at the very least and double the fine !
I am sure there a lot more taxi drivers driving under the influence. So CADA and the BPS are encouraging people who are out drinking in clubs to take taxis..so what happens when the taxi driver is impaired as well?
Looks like we’re all better off staying at home!
ord driving after drinkin too !! lol
Wow comments! The guy is 78 years old already. By drinking as he did, being fined, and license taken away, do you think he really has much left to make a living from? The fine could have been zero and it would still be a sentence where he’ll likely extremely struggle for the next year. Even after the year is over, it may be he isn’t taken back, then he really won’t have much left after for the rest of his days. The penalty is fair and reasonable. Sheesh, harsh much, commentators?
Yea, because Government threw away our pensions years ago that’s why a 78 year old has to still work. This guy should have gotten a higher fine and banned from driving Taxi’s. I don’t care how old he is, he endangered lives. At that age, he knows better. When I got a DUI when I was 20 I got fined $1000 and I learned my damn lesson. This guy was drunk in the middle of the day, gets into an accident because of it, and you want him to have a lesser fine than the rest of us because he’s old? Plus he’s a taxi driver who had an accident while driving a taxi that could potentially have had an innocent person/family (including children) in the taxi and he should get a slap on the wrist like a child? Something is not ticking upstairs.
thank you…my thoughts exactly !
BYE-STAN-DER an shutchamouf!
1st – minimum fine is $800 from my understanding.
2nd – the old ones are the worst ones! i hope he never gets to drive again! “o could you not make noise” “dont touch d door” “dont touch d windows”.
Bye-Stand-er ..you are right..LMAO
The old cab drivers are the worst..I was out on Friday night and hired a cab..the guy was driving below the speed limit. When I asked him if he could drive at 40 mph…he started yelling.
I kept my cool for a while and then I let him have him. I told him that he should be home in his bed or in a rest home! LOL
There should be an age limit for taxi drivers and there should be annual mandatory driving test taken every year after they reach the age of 70.
Oops..my comment was directed at BWAT…not Bye-Stand-er!
Drunken Skunk. Act your age rather than your shoe size. Be thankful there is not age limit on stupidity.
@The way it is..it was probably one of your relatives that was driving the cab…apples don’t fall too far from the tree!! Your comment on acting my age rather than my shoe size indicaes that you are of limited intellect….
If you can’t repsond better than that, then STFU!
The majority of cab drivers are dimwits…especially the ones in the 70+ range…some of them have been driving for years and don’t even know any of the local landmarks.
There should be mandatory tests for all drivers taken in order to obtain a taxi permit as well as driving skills tests when they reach the age of 70. And perhaps, random drug and alcohol testing as well.
Cockspur for breakfast aka De Rooster next time follow ur nose it always kno’s aka Fruit Loops! Lol
soooooo how long has been driving drunk before finally being caught???…some things jus make you say …..hmmmmm????
This story isn’t funny but the irony is amazing the same person who is supposed to get you home safely after drinking to prevent accidents got in an accident as a result of drinking
SUPERR CHICKENN !!! Brrk brrk brrk brrk brrk BRRKURB !!!!!
This old fool should have been locked up.
They needed to make an example out of this… shoulda been fined 2000 (ATLEAST) and stripped of his taxi license. Especially when the scenario is as ridiculous as this.
… a parked… tractor… trailer? add an extra $500 on top just to shame him
This man should never drive taxi again….the laws in Bermuda are shameful.
COCKSPUR WON’T PAY YOUR MORTGAGE OR RENT ! DUHHHHHHHHHH !
I surely hope that his taxi license gets revoked, seeing as though people have been denied a taxi license for less!
This is totally ridiculous. I agree that older drivers who should be retired are the worse ever. They don’t work for the customers they work for themselves. They need to move over and let the working class do these jobs. No wonder unemployment is so high. Those who shouldn’t be still working are. They had their time now move on and let the working generation do just that –work.
A few weeks ago the police made a public announcement about the recent increase in drunk driving. About the same time Warner decided to reduce the standard fine from $1,0000 to $800. Do magistrates ever have any clue at all what is going on? All the worse in this case. He was driving a taxi and crashed it in a drunken stupor. For chrissake. Are we going to keep giving him licences until he kills someone?
Imagine a person (in that photo) wedged in between there…it is only a matter of time – do any of you remember the cyclist that was hit Cupmatch eve? – He was SEVERELY injured.
My point is drunk or not these taxi drivers are consistently the worst drivers on our roads and I take it personally everytime I see one cross over the yellow line into my lane (looking back to his fpassengers or talking on the phone)or pull a u turn for a potential fare…i treat it as a potential assult on my person and if capable the case would go to court BUT more likely for me beating the snot out of one of these guys,,,
I’m sorry but @ 78, it’s time to retire and let someone else buy the taxi permit. You made your way, now its time to let someone else take over.
um sorry but am the only one that realized he hit a PARKED trailer… lmao they really should have made an example out of him because once i got into a taxi and idk if the woman was tired or drunk but she kept swerving and i was watching in the mirror and her eyes kept closing… i said excuse me stop the taxi and let me out ill walk b4 i let u kill me thanks but no thanks.
The guy drove a vehicle drunk and could have killed someone, but got a smaller penalty than a dude on a cruise ship with some pot.