“THE SUN REAL HOT, I was looking for you to come back down the road every since. Thank God you here, cause the sun real hot . . . .”
Around midday, on Tuesday last week, this sentiment was expressed by an elderly woman as she got into a vehicle at a St Thomas location joining other passengers.
She was talking to the driver who in a mannerly tone asked her to sit down and place her many bags properly in front of her before he pulled off from the spot.
Before he did, he asked her: “Mums, you good?” To which she replied: “Yes, you can go ahead.”
With soothing music, the well-dressed driver continued on his journey. He was picking up and putting down passengers; sometimes at bus stops, sometimes at the top of gaps or in front of houses.
From the look on their faces, some were just as glad to see him as the elderly woman was, because “the sun [was] real hot”.
But while this van appeared to be a saviour for these passengers, it was operating illegally as a public service vehicle (PSV). It was a pirate van.
