VICTORIA -- A Victoria taxi driver who was fed up with a belligerent passenger’s behaviour drove his cab straight to a local police station on New Year’s Eve.
The intoxicated passenger allegedly refused to wear a mask and was touching the taxi driver’s face during the ride. After the driver asked the passenger to follow COVID-19 health orders and the passenger refused, the cabbie took his vehicle to the Victoria Police headquarters, where officers were waiting for them.
The passenger reportedly refused to leave the vehicle at first but was eventually removed from the cab and taken into police custody.
The man was served three fines under to the COVID-19 related measures act (CRMA), including abusive or belligerent behaviour, failing to comply with the direction of an officer and failing to wear a facial covering.
VicPD says that the three fines – which are $230 each, totalling $690 – marks the largest number of CRMA fines given to a single person by Victoria police officers to date.
The man was also ticketed for being intoxicated in a public place and was held in VicPD cells until he was sober.
Victoria police say that officers responded to 102 calls for service on New Year’s Eve, including more than a dozen calls related to gatherings, which officers broke up under the CRMA.
