Taxi men vow to drive on after ordeal

TWO taxi drivers who were held hostage last weekend have said they are determined to go back to work following their ordeal.

Michael White was captured, stripped and almost drowned by three balaclava-clad youths in Castlepollard, Co Westmeath, while fellow taxi driver Martin Fagan was also attacked by the same gang. At 11pm on Saturday night, Mr White was parked at a taxi rank in Castlepollard, a small town just inside the north Westmeath border.

In an interview on the Marian Finucane show, he said: “I got a call to pick up a fare to go to Oldcastle. I drove up to the tennis court and I was jumped by three young lads wearing balaclavas and one of them had a handgun.”

He was ordered out of the taxi but managed to kick his moneybag under the car while doing so. He was bundled into the boot of the taxi, a Toyota Avenis.

The youths, who are in their late teens or early 20s, stopped the car five minutes later and demanded money from Mr White. With the moneybag left on the road, there was only around €30 in Mr White’s car.

Then they pulled him out of the boot and told him to put his fingers under the lid of the boot. “They were going to slam down the lid of the boot and break my fingers. So I folded my arms and refused to put them down,” Mr White said.

He told the youths the money bag must have fallen out when he picked them up and they returned to the original spot. The youths got between €250-300 but still weren’t satisfied.

The taxi raced off again with Mr White in the boot. The youths demanded him to strip because they thought he was carrying a tape recorder.

He faked a heart attack, gasping and spluttering and one of the three youths became worried. But the eldest said Mr White was faking and drove on.

“Eventually, we finished up at a little place called Stonetown bridge. At that stage they told me they were going to drive the car into the river with me locked into the boot and they were going to drown me,” said Mr White.

But when the driver attempted to reverse the car into the river, he locked it at right angles to the road and couldn’t move it.

“So they put the gun to my head again and forced me to ring Martin Fagan in the other taxi,” said Mr White. Fagan was the other taxi driver employed by Co Westmeath man Hugh Nolan. When Mr White called him about a breakdown at Stonetown Bridge, he asked his passenger for permission to make a detour. But when they arrived, both were assaulted by the youths. They stole money from them and, after setting the first taxi on fire, drove off in Mr Fagan’s taxi.

Despite their ordeal, both men are eager to return to work. “Ah, it would take more than a few half-wits like that to put us out,” said Mr White.