BURNED IN TAXI-CAB.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18679, 8 April 1924, Page 9

BURNED IN TAXI-CAB.

LITTLE CHILD'S DEATH. PETROL TANK IGNITES. ! . A terrible scene, in which a child was burned to death in a blazing taxi-cab in the presence of her parents, was described at an inquest at Glasgow on Marjorie Jean Hunter, aged four. Mr. James Robert Hunter, a Glasgow optician, stated that he, his wife, two children, and a servant girl attended a j pantomime and were returning home by taxi-cab. The cab stopped for want of petrol. "The petrol tank was under the floor inside the cab," said Mr. Hunter, "and we had to raise our feet to allow the driver to fill it. The driver had th« lighted oil side lamp of the car in on< hand and a petrol tin under his arm. "He placed the lamp by the side oI the tank, and then poured petrol into th« tank. Then he held the lamp forward, apparently to see • if. the tank was full, and immediately • there was a blaze, and the car became enveloped in flames. "I tried to break the window, but the door was opened from the outside, and I fell into the street. I next saw the servant lying with her head on the footboard and her feet jammed by the tipup seat. I released her, and my wif< and elder daughter escaped through thf other door. The car was, now a mass of roaring flames, and it was impossible to save Marjorie. Her body Wasf found when the fire had been extinguished. "My elder daughter and the servant are still seriously ill from burns in hospital, and I and my wife were also inMr. Hunter denied that, the driver reMr. Hunter denied that, the driver requested them to leave the cab before he refilled the petrol tank. The taxi-driver stated emphatically, however, that he asked the passengers to leave, and that they refused because the weather was bad. He denied that he carried tha lamp, and said that when the petrol tin was empty there was a blinding flash. The verdict bf the jury was that the driver used the lamp and did not request the passengers to leave the car. They made a recommendation that licenses should not be granted for public motor vehicles where the tank was beneath the flooring.