Colin Dawson was the first paraplegic to get a taxi drivers licence in the Northern Territory, but it was the last thing on the 17-year old’s mind as he lay in Sydney’s Royal North Shore hospital with a broken back following a motorbike accident nearly 40 years ago.
He recently achieved another first…installing hand controls in his Tesla car that he operates as a private hire service in Alice Springs. But it has been a long journey to where he is now.
Along the way were hurdles including one major issue with the local GP when it came to getting the necessary licence that would enable him to drive a taxi and issues with the NDIS.
Most of his business comes from lawyers and doctors doing fly-in and fly-out to the local communities and recently took the British High Commissioner on a three-day trip. And he just bought his second Tesla, and given the job of driving to Shane Schinke, an incomplete quadriplegic.