Anzac taxi ban `rank’, say old diggers: [1 Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 05 Apr 2002: 3.
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Abstract
The taxi drivers get up early to wash their cabs, decorate them with Australian flags, ferry the veterans in the march and then provide them with dinner at theRSL club in Dee Why before returning them home. Full-time taxi driver Marie O’Connor, 75, who has been driving the veterans for the past 20 years, said: “We can’t do it without the police. The veterans, the darling pets, look forward to this all year.
Full Text
FOR 45 years a fleet of taxis from Sydney’s northern beaches has ferried ageing and crippled war veterans through the Anzac Day march.
But changing safety standards, and mounting fears of litigation, mean the tradition could be over.
Sixty Manly-Warringah taxi drivers voluntarily gave time, money and fuel to support the annual event. But the drivers have been told police can no longer provide an escort to whisk the motorcade into the city. Organisers say that without police assistance, they will not be able to keep going.
Staff at Collaroy’s RSL Veterans Home, Australia’s largest, said it would be impossible to get the veterans — many in their 80s and 90s, some incontinent and unable to walk — up at 4am and leave them assembled on a city street without toilets.
The taxi drivers get up early to wash their cabs, decorate them with Australian flags, ferry the veterans in the march and then provide them with dinner at theRSL club in Dee Why before returning them home. Full-time taxi driver Marie O’Connor, 75, who has been driving the veterans for the past 20 years, said: “We can’t do it without the police. The veterans, the darling pets, look forward to this all year.
“We pick them up, take them home, give them a hug. We are all proud to be involved; it is an absolute privilege.”
Retired doctor Malcolm Stening, 89, who served throughout World War II, said: “Being able to go in a taxi gives us the opportunity to participate. It is important for ex-servicemen to show their respects on Anzac Day.”
The police officer at the centre of the row, Sergeant Alec Vogt, VIP co-ordinator for Traffic Services, said to make the motorcade safe by contemporary standards would use more specialist resources than were available.
Illustration
Caption: Free ride: Politicians`Darling pets’: Ms O’Connor and Dr; Photo: Photo