Echuca-Moama Taxi Group faces charges after two passenger deaths

A regional taxi company has been taken to court following the deaths of two passengers who were travelling in wheelchairs. See what happened.

The safety watchdog has taken a taxi company to court over the separate deaths of two passengers who were travelling in wheelchairs.

WorkSafe made an appearance on Tuesday at the Echuca Magistrates’ Court to begin proceedings against the Echuca-Moama Taxi Group Pty Ltd over incidents in 2021 and 2022.

The transport provider is facing four counts of failing to ensure that customers were not exposed to health and safety risks.

Magistrate Russell Kelly said he would set the matter down for a committal mention in May.

The charges come after a 63-year-old woman died on February 6 2021 when her wheelchair allegedly tipped backwards while she was travelling in a taxi in Echuca.

In June last year a similar incident happened when a 75-year-old man was travelling in a taxi in Echuca and his wheelchair allegedly tipped backwards.

He was taken to hospital with a fractured sternum, where he died from complications on July 5 2021.

It has been alleged that in both incidents the company failed to provide and maintain a safe system of work and failed to train taxi drivers in line with the manufacturer’s instructions for the wheelchair tie down system.