Warkworth retiree touched by soldier's offer to pay her $151 taxi fare back from hospital

A Warkworth woman stranded at Auckland's North Shore Hospital after being taken there by ambulance three weeks ago is beyond grateful to a young soldier who offered to pay her $151 taxi fare home. Photo / Greg Bowker

A Warkworth woman who found herself stranded at North Shore Hospital in the early hours of the morning is beyond grateful to a young army soldier who offered to pay her $151 taxi fare home.

Lynda Maddock, in her 70s, was taken to hospital by St John ambulance at about 12am three weeks ago after having problems with her pacemaker, which was making her heart race and causing her breathing issues.

She had left her house in a hurry without her wallet or even her shoes.

But after being checked out by the doctors and the pacemaker had working correctly again she pleaded with the doctors to let her return home.

Her 86-year-old husband was on his own at their Warkworth home and she also had a number of rescue animals she looked after.

But as she left the hospital she realised she had no transport.

She approached a taxi, but the driver refused to take her because she had no money on her to pay the $151 fare upfront even though she had told him she had the cash at home.

"The taxi driver just wouldn't accept the fact that I could pay when I got home, but of course he didn't want to drive all the way to Warkworth in case it didn't go right. And I guess I didn't blame him, but you know I didn't have my purse or anything with me."

Maddock returned to the waiting area "in a bit of a state" and started to cry.

"I was in tears, I was. I didn't know what to do. A lot of my friends are also elderly and there was no way on this planet I was going to try and get them up at that time of the morning to give me a lift home." She also did not own a mobile phone.

It was at this point one of two men dressed in camouflage army gear stepped forward and said "look I will cover the cost".

The man, called Mark, was in his early 20s and dressed in army gear appeared to be supporting a colleague also in what looked like an army uniform.

He gave the taxi driver his credit card details as a back-up until Maddock was able to give him the cash when she arrived home after the 40-minute drive. When she gave the taxi driver the cash she also asked him to let Mark know his card was not used.

"I didn't have any options. What do you do? I am the only one that drives here - it was just such a nice thing for him to do."

"It was an incredible gesture."

Maddock said she was unbelievably grateful to him for his "extreme kindness".

The New Zealand Taxi Federation Inc executive director John Hart said taxi drivers were entitled to ask for the fare in advance and, if it was not forthcoming, could refuse the ride. However, he said it came down to the driver's discretion and some were more wary than others.

"I would say that the majority of taxi drivers would take the person in those circumstances, I would hope they would but he's within his rights."