A taxi driver has responded to a complaint by freelance writer Roger Crombie that he missed his flight after waiting for a cab for almost two hours.

Kimmie Mello, a representative of the Bermuda Taxi Owners Association and Affiliates, advised anyone travelling to the airport to pre-book their taxi several hours ahead, and said for those people catching the 7 a.m. flight to New York, the cab should be booked the night before.

He said he took exception to Mr. Crombie's claim that he could not make it to the airport in time for his 11.45 a.m. flight from his Ferry Reach home due to a lack of available cabs. "I live in St. David's and so it takes me about eight minutes to get the airport, and it probably takes Mr. Crombie the same," said Mr. Mello. "I'm not going to miss a plane because I can't get a taxi. There are about 50 taxi operators listed in the telephone book. How many of these operators did he call?"

Mr. Crombie told The Royal Gazette that he had tried to call Radio Cabs several times, but found the line constantly engaged. He said he rang Island Wide Taxi Services, who were very helpful, but did not have enough cabs available.

In the end, Mr. Crombie said Island Wide contacted a number of drivers waiting outside of the airport, but all refused to leave the line to travel the few miles to collect him.

Eventually, Island Wide did manage to get someone to go to Mr. Crombie's residence, but by the time he made it back to the airport, it was too late. He was not allowed to get on the flight.

But Mr. Mello also questioned whether Mr. Crombie's home was easy to find for taxi drivers and he said everyone should try to make their homes easily identifiable for cab drivers. "Cabs sometimes have difficulty finding addresses, particularly when it's dark early in the mornings or late at night," said the cab owner. "We have been asking for them (Government) to make it compulsory for folks to have numbers on their homes to make them more easily identifiable. Sometimes it is impossible to find addresses, so we think the public needs educating on how best to secure a cab." Mr. Mello admitted that people did sometimes experience problems while trying to hire a cab, but said the industry was working with Government to make improvements.

However, he said the majority of cab drivers did not believe the problems were as severe as Government made out. And Mr. Mello said it was unfair for Mr. Crombie and others to refer back to the death of 17-year-old Canadian visitor Rebecca Middleton, who was murdered in 1996 after accepting a lift home from strangers when her cab allegedly repeatedly failed to show up.

Mr. Mello said taxi drivers were not to blame for her death. "On that occasion, the taxi driver did turn up to collect Rebecca and her friend, but he could not find them, and he radioed that into the dispatcher," said Mr. Mello. And he said that particular cab driver even went to another venue in St. George's where the dispatcher believed Rebecca and her friend may have been, but he did not find them. The Royal Gazette was unable to contact Mr. Crombie last night to respond to Mr. Mello's comments as he was off the Island.