June Barton, 87, walked from Manning House to the hearing specialist, after she became worried she would miss her appointment.

“I was absolutely saturated, they had heaters trying to dry me, my clothes and my walker,” Mrs Barton said. 

Mrs Barton, who uses the service on average five to six times a month, has been forced to walk to appointments on multiple occasions because the taxi she booked had failed to arrive. 

She believed the quality of the service had declined ever since the call centre was relocated to Coffs Harbour.

Mrs Barton receives a Department of Veterans Affairs pension which entitles her to free taxi fares for medical purposes. 

“I could use community transport, but it requires a booking, two days prior,” she said.

Mrs Barton’s daughter, Barbara Ward, said the nursing home residents relied heavily on the taxi service and due to health issues she was unable to drive her mother around.

“The taxi has told us if we need a booking for 8.30 they cannot do it, because they have the school run,” Mrs Ward said.

Residents of Manning House claim the Nowra Radio Taxi Co-operative is falling short in its obligation to the public and the service is no longer adequate.

Brenda Toomey had also had her fair share of taxi hiccups.

“I had my son and two grandchildren visiting from Sydney, we ordered a taxi for an hour before the Bomaderry train was to leave, they didn’t come until well after the train had gone and we received no apology, no anything,” Mrs Toomey said.

President of Nowra Radio Taxi Co-operative Ben Forde said taxi services not turning up was not acceptable however, sometimes there were queues. 

“Turning up late sometimes happens, particularly the conditions last week”, Mr Forde said.

“What I have found, there is no street address for Manning House, however now we have put in the details at our call centre for that address.

“If there is a problem they need to contact us, we can’t fix what we don’t know about.”