Taxi driver in Hobart insulted and attacked by couple after refusing free ride

A Hobart taxi driver is shaken after a horrific ordeal outside the Northgate Shopping Centre in Glenorchy.

The incident occurred when a man and a woman approached a taxi and asked for a free ride.

The driver refused and demanded payment in advance, which caused the woman to become angry.

“She kicked the doors of the taxi and slammed them shut with great force,” the driver told Pulse.

The two then ran into the shopping center, came out again a few minutes later and allegedly started throwing hot coffee and drinks at the taxi.

The driver said the couple then allegedly threw chairs and shopping carts.

It is the latest incident in a series of racially motivated attacks on Tasmanian taxi drivers, a problem that the Hobart Taxi Drivers Association says is getting worse.

As Pulse first reported, four teenagers were accused in April of attacking several parked taxis and their drivers under the cover of night.

The story prompted former premier and current chair of the Migrant Resource Centre, Peter Gutwein, to undertake a 350-kilometre journey from Burnie to Hobart to raise awareness of Tasmania’s multicultural community.

Anyone who witnesses an attack is urged to contact the police.