Updated: The alleged offender was arrested by police late on Tuesday night and charged with indecent assault and common assault.
It is a story many women know too well.
Alone and eager to get home, a woman hails a taxi under the basic expectation it will transport her from one side of the city to the other in exchange for monetary payment. Once inside the cab, she is then forced to endure, rebuff or escape the inappropriate advances of her driver.
When this happened to 26-year-old Emma in Sydney on Sunday night, neither the police nor the taxi company took her complaint seriously.
Instead, she was left feeling "completely humiliated" after a police officer told her other women might have welcomed the opportunity to get a cheaper fare.
Emma, who did not wish to use her surname, had just returned to Sydney after visiting Brisbane. She caught the airport train to Central Station shortly before midnight and then hailed a cab near Railway Square to take her to her home in Glebe.
She placed her bags and suits in the back of the car and jumped in the front passenger seat, alongside the driver who she described as being "in his late 50s or early 60s".
Almost immediately she said he started repeating a string of words before he leaned over and tried to kiss her.
"He kept saying 'you're very sweet. I love you. The girls are very sweet. Like honey. The men like the girls'."
The driver repeated the phrases over and over again during the 10-minute drive as she grew increasingly anxious, she said.
As they neared her home, Emma said the driver then reached over, grabbed her arm and attempted to kiss her.
"I said 'no' and he said 'you're like honey – I'm trying to taste the honey'."
Emma said she then demanded the driver pull over as soon as possible, and paid for the ride with a credit card, making sure she received a receipt which listed the driver's details.
"It wasn't too far from my house but I live in Glebe and I don't like walking through there at 11.30 at night."
The following day Emma attempted to report the incident at Glebe police station but was told she had insufficient grounds to lodge a formal complaint.
She said she was made to recount the episode in the reception area in front of a number of other people who were waiting to see police.
"He didn't take me into an interview room to tell him what happened. I found it pretty confronting because there were a bunch of people standing behind me listening."
Emma said the police officer then advised her she did the correct thing by exiting the taxi as soon as possible, but that she had no grounds to lodge an official complaint because the driver had stopped harassing her once she requested him to do so.
"It doesn't really make sense. The fact that he did it to begin with was inappropriate."
Emma said she was then told "other people might have liked it and they might have let it go further to get a cheaper fare".
When she queried what might have happened if an underage girl or an intoxicated person had found themselves in the same position she was told: "That's just how the world is".
"I felt completely humiliated and like I'd been reprimanded almost. It's not what you want to feel when you report that sort of thing because you have to find the guts to walk in [to the police station] to begin with."
Superintendent Paul Pisano, from the Leichhardt Local Area Command which covers the Glebe area, said he was "disappointed and outraged" at the handling of the incident.
Superintendent Pisano said he was informed of the incident around lunchtime on Tuesday after one of Emma's relatives contacted the police station. He said detectives were now conducting a formal investigation into the taxi driver.
The officer who initially dismissed Emma's complaint would also be subject to disciplinary action, he said.
"My message is do come to police with these sorts of matters with the expectation that action will be taken, unlike what happened in this incident," he told 2UE radio.
Emma said she planned to return to the police station to make an official statement on Tuesday afternoon.
She said she also reported the incident to the NSW taxi complaint hotline and was given a case number but was advised it could take months for the case to progress.
Roy Wakelin-King, chief executive of NSW Taxi Council, said he was "very angry" at the handling of the complaint. He told 2UE radio he would personally ensure the details of Emma's complaint would be followed up to identify the driver.
lisa.visentin@fairfaxmedia.com.au
