Chauffeuring robbers, naked passengers, and backseat antics

Timaru Taxis drivers have spent 75 years delivering people to destinations throughout South Canterbury and beyond, but as reporter Lauren Pattemore discovered, there’s more to the job than just driving.

It’s a job where employees take on the role of counsellor, driver and friend, but for Brian Christian being a taxi driver has also led to his unwitting involvement in two bank robberies.

The Timaru Taxis driver, who began with the organisation in 1996, said he knew ‘‘there was something funny going on’’ when a passenger hopped into his vehicle in May 2010 and asked him to go to a bank on Church St and wait for him while he went inside.

He returned several minutes later and hopping back in the taxi, the passenger asked to be driven to the then Westpac Bank at Northtown Mall.

After his visit there, the man asked Christian to drive him to the police station, where he handed himself in – all within the space of 25 minutes.

‘‘It made national news at the time,’’ Christian said.

The man was later sentenced to nine months’ home detention for robbery, attempted robbery and making a false statement.

The incident was just one of many memories Christian has of his time driving for Timaru Taxis – a career which has included plenty of colourful characters and many stories and where ‘‘99% of the time people were really good’’.

The taxi company will celebrate its 75th anniversary next weekend at the Richard Pearse Tavern.

The great work stories began early on for Christian – who said when he began the job, he picked up a couple on a Saturday night from the former Cains Tce depot, in Timaru.

‘‘They hopped in the back seat and all the way out to Temuka the front seat kept vibrating, and I was getting shoved in the back,’’ he said.

‘‘I thought ‘something a bit funny is going on there’.’’

When the young woman got out of the taxi in Temuka, she was in a ‘‘state of undress’’, Christian said.

Then, when the man walked around to the driver’s door, he asked Christian ‘‘how much?’’.

‘‘When I told him, he put his hand in his pocket and his trousers fell down, and I couldn’t do anything for laughing.’’

Meanwhile, Daph Campbell started working for the company in 1975, her father working at the company for 25 years before her.

‘‘It was nice for him that someone in the family took over from him,’’ Campbell said.

Her career included plenty of great tales, included a pickup on a Saturday afternoon.

‘‘One of the funniest things was about 4.30pm one Saturday,’’ she said.

‘‘I picked a guy up, and he came running out to the car, and he was stark naked.

‘‘He said ‘you were too quick – I didn’t have time to get dressed’.’’

She said she had met some ‘‘lovely people’’ in her taxi-driving days.

‘‘When I first started driving we were taking out ‘68 Falcons. A young guy also bought in an orange Leyland – we used to drive that sometimes.’’

And in more naked tales, Peter Campbell, a driver since 1986, said he remembered a woman passenger who would strip off her undergarments, and leave them in the vehicles.

While the company is based in Timaru, its drivers have travelled throughout the South Island – from trips to the casino in Christchurch, to Queenstown and Dunedin.

Timaru Taxis managing director Steph Dyce recalled someone getting into her vehicle and saying, ‘‘take me to Tākaka’’.

‘‘You never know where you’re going to go, where you’re going to end up or what characters you’ll pick up,’’ Dyce said.

Some of these characters involved prime ministers and All Blacks, she said.

The latter were picked up mostly on a Saturday night, according to Christian. The former includes Simon Bridges, Bill English and Jim Bolger.

‘‘Quite a lot of them [prime ministers] like to have a big old yarn, they want to know all about Timaru,’’ Christian said.

However, the most common trips involved transporting the people of Timaru around Timaru.

Campbell said you become a ‘‘marriage counsellor extraordinaire’’ when working as a driver.

‘‘People tell you things you could never repeat,’’ he said.

‘‘A lot of time people want to tell you their problems, but you learn pretty quickly it’s not a good idea to comment on them,’’ Christian said.

Christian brought to light a quote from American comedian George Burns, ‘‘too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair’’.

‘‘The only people who know what’s going on is the taxi drivers,’’ Christian said.

‘‘A lot of the oldies you become friends with. They look forward to their cab ride,’’ Campbell said.