Doncaster taxi firm hits back at driver pictured flytipping rubbish in country lane

Pictures of the incident were widely shared on social media after an angry motorist encountered the Absolute Cabs driver in Holme Lane near to Thornhurst Manor, north of Doncaster

When he challenged him about the pile of wood at the side of the Volkswagen taxi, the cabbie reportedly replied: “The country’s a s*** hole anyway” before driving off.

Golfer Ian Evans, who took photos of the incident, reported the flytipping to Doncaster Council and Absolute Cabs who have responded in a series of lengthy posts on social media, defending the cabbie – who has only been identified as ‘Driver 23.’

The firm even posted a detailed graphic headed “this is the story” with timings, maps, routes, the speed the taxi was travelling and testimonies from customers in a vid to debunk the allegations.

Mr Evans, who was on his way home after playing golf at Thornhurst Manor last Friday lunchtime said: “I was driving back towards the A19 when I spotted this car pulled up.

"As I drove past, he was taking stuff out and throwing it in the ditch.

"I said: ‘what are you doing, it’s out of order, you are flytipping’ and his exact words to me were: “The country’s a s*** hole anyway” and just carried on.

"Another driver behind me witnessed what was going on too. When I told the driver I was taking photos of him and that I would report him, he just carried on saying ‘do what you want’ before driving off.

"It is absolutely disgusting.

“When I called Absolute Cabs to complain, they were just defending him and saying there was no proof. I’m not randomly going to take photos of a man and plaster them all over Facebook for the sake of it.

"The guy was flytipping loads of wood and didn’t seem bothered at all.”

Absolute, which is based in East Laith Gate, took to social media to defend itself against the allegations, making a number of lengthy posts, sending a driver to the scene, sharing photos of other cases of flytipping in the area and posting videos of the lane where the incident took place.

A spokesman said: “You may be surprised about the level of detail we can drill in to when investigating a matter.

"When there is public concern, it is always a good opportunity to test how robust your processes are and we took the step of contacting ALL customers who had travelled with Driver 23 at the time prior to the alleged fly tipping event.

"Our customers that we called gave their accounts of their journeys and we asked them if there was anything unusual about the journey and whether they used the boot of the car.

“We asked the customers whether there was any wood in the vehicle, over the rear seats or in the boot and specifically if they used the boot as part of the hire. One lady laughed and said “well, I was on the way to the races with my girlfriend in the rear seat and we would have been very upset and complained immediately if there was wood in the car.”

"As for Driver 23 we await to see evidence that he has actually deposited wood and left it at the road side because his customers are saying he didn’t have any in his car.

"What has transpired is how one social media post publicly shaming a driver for an allegation that should have been made as a “report” to the local council to investigate, has ended up putting this driver’s safety at risk due to 2.5k shares humiliating the man, shaming him without allowing the event to be investigated first.

"We have done our part and spoke to all the customers served to ascertain independent reports that may corroborate the allegation, however, we have found that they do not.”

Mr Evans says he has since been bombarded with phone calls from the firm and added: “I told them I didn’t want to speak to them anymore. They kept calling up and defending him and making all sorts of statements on Facebook.

"I told them they were just as bad as he was.”

"I’ve reported to Doncaster Council and I’m leaving it to them to sort out now.”

The wood has since been removed.