Don't put us at risk, taxi drivers tell police

By BRIDGET CARTER, ELIZABETH BINNING and NZPA

The head of the Taxi Federation is writing to the Police Commissioner asking for an explanation about why taxis are being used for 111 calls.

Police revealed last week that missing part-time model and student Iraena Asher made a 111 call in the hours before she disappeared and that police ordered her a taxi.

Federation executive director Tim Reddish said the police had never told the group that they used taxis for 111 calls.

Mr Reddish said drivers were not trained to deal with the situations arising from police calls, and sometimes they might not want to respond to a police referral if they felt it placed them in danger.

He would be writing to the Police Commissioner, outlining the federation's unease about the situation.

"We are not back-up to the police officially or unofficially and never have been. It is just not on."

But Inspector Barry Smalley of the police northern communications centre said calling taxis in certain non-emergency situations was nothing new.

"We often call cabs for people; it depends on circumstances."

The commissioner's office and the North Shore-Waitakere-Rodney police were expected to make a statement today about the issue of taxis being ordered as a response to 111 calls.

It was unclear whether the taxi for Iraena Asher arrived, and last night her family told the Herald they believed the company used was either Cheap Cabs or Discount Taxis.

Both companies said they had no knowledge of any Sunday night callouts to Piha.

It has now been more than a week since the Ponsonby 25-year-old was last seen, acting strangely under a light at Piha before walking into the middle of the road around 2am.

About 15 police officers were at Piha yesterday trying to speak to residents they had not able to contact during the week.

Although police were still making inquiries and searching Piha by helicopter, they had called off the land search.

Ms Asher's sisters yesterday dispelled rumours that she had been drugged, kidnapped and photographed in her underwear while socialising at a Piha Rd flat.

They claimed she never took hard drugs and said her behaviour could be confused with someone who had.

They believed the night she went missing she was ill from bi-polar disorder. The last serious episode from the illness came four years ago when she spent a month in hospital.

It was a condition which made her very unstable when triggered by emotional stress, Tamara Asher said.

"Her emotions are very erratic. She can be from very, very up, with lots and lots of energy, and then she can go down to very depressed.

"She could climb mountains with that manic state of mind."

Missing person inquiry head Detective Senior Sergeant John Sutton said that, after counting pills which Iraena Asher had with her at Piha, he believed she had not been taking her medication properly. Too many were left over.

* Act Party spokeswoman Muriel Newman said the case raised questions about whether police emergency response was being compromised.

She had heard that in some areas, emergency services had been cut because police officers were guarding prisoners.

Dr Newman said that when a woman was distressed and calling for help, fobbing her off was totally unacceptable. She called for an independent inquiry.

A spokesman for Police Minister George Hawkins said he would not comment on the matter.