After hearing about Felicity’s nightmare at Britomart, I wrote to Maxx and requested an official response. They responded in due course, and told me they had forwarded it onto the train operators, Veolia Transport Auckland Ltd. To my surprise and their credit, they emailed me this morning with an official response. This is what they had to say:

Thank you for your correspondence regarding difficulties one of your contributors experienced following the Justin Timberlake concert on Friday 23 November.

Unfortunately on the night in question there was an incident with a freight train, which caused the last Veolia service of the night to be cancelled. As always in these instances, our staff make every endeavour to provide alternative transport (buses/taxis) for affected passengers with the aim of delivering them to their destination with as little delay as possible.

This was also the case on the night in question, and every effort was made to find a suitable disabled taxi with a hoist. None was able to be found. As always, the efforts of our staff are dependent on the availability of buses and taxis.

With regards to your comment about better planning for these instances, we prepare for these eventualities as best we can – and have available a number of different providers of alternative transport that we are able to call on – however we are, as previously noted, dependent on the vehicles and drivers that are available at the time in question.

It was our understanding that the passenger concerned appreciated the extensive efforts of our staff to ensure that she arrived at her destination safely.

Yours sincerely,

Customer Services Team
Veolia Transport Auckland Ltd.

I’d like to personally thank Veolia Transport for their professional and empathetic response. I understand they’re not a taxi company, and as such can’t necessarily whip hoist vans out of a hat, I just hope that stories like Felicity’s perhaps make preparing for such events a little more prioritised.

May I suggest contacting Re-Li-On-Us Mobility Transport, the only 24/7 hoist taxi service in Auckland City!