Australian town's only taxi driver banned from roads over drunk-driving

The north Queensland mining town of Collinsville has a big problem - its only cab driver has twice been booked for drink driving and has lost his licence. And now others who have been caught drink driving are blaming the fact that there's not a taxi in town to get them home from the pub. Collinsville, 80km southwest of Bowen, has a permanent population of about 2500, but that is vastly inflated by fly-in, fly-out workers.

Bowen magistrate Athol Kennedy, alarmed by the number of residents facing drink-driving charges, recently called for the speedy processing of the cab driver's application to get his licence back. Mr Kennedy cancelled taxi driver Joseph David Webster's licence for a month last March, after he pleaded guilty to driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.109. Webster claimed to have had a couple of cans of beer before picking up a fare. At the time, police prosecutor Sergeant Dave Blundell said residents would have trouble getting home from the pub.



Solicitor Kevin Baxter told the court Webster could not find another driver and his suspension would mean more people fronting the bench on drink-driving charges. "It will have severe repercussions on the town," Mr Baxter said. And that's exactly what has happened, according to police. Last month, the magistrate queried why the town's only taxi driver still had not had his licence restored and asked police to see if they could fast-track the process.

After Mr Kennedy directed Bowen's Sergeant Adrian Geary to make more inquiries, he returned with bad news for Collinsville - Queensland Transport rules stipulate that cab drivers with drink-driving convictions must wait a year for licence renewal applications to be processed. And there's been more bad news. Webster has again been booked for drink driving.