A six-year-old girl and her mum were thrown out of a cab at 1am in freezing conditions when an NHS approved driver refused to drive through a puddle.
Riki Hall had to carry her epileptic daughter Riven in the sleet when contracted driver Sheila Cooke said the ankle-deep water across the road would ruin her car.
The Sun reports that Riven had been admitted to Nevill Hall hospital in Abergavenny, South Wales, after a series of fits, and was sent home in the taxi at 11.15pm.
The vehicle was just a mile from their home in Franksbridge when the driver stopped and said she could go no further because she did not want to get the car wet.
"Riven was asleep on the back seat in her pyjamas when the driver stopped. She said she had a new turbo fitted and didn't want water getting into her exhaust," mum of three Riki said.
"She said we could either walk or she'd take us to the nearest town - but I just wanted to get home."
Riki, 32, said she got wet feet carrying Riven through the puddle but said the water did not come past her ankles. The furious mum eventually got Riven's grandmother to come out and collect them.
Sheila Cooke admitted that she should have given Riki the option to return to hospital and apologised.