A black cab driver has been hailed as a hero after intervening to protect a woman from two strangers who attempted to trick him into believing they knew her, refusing to let her leave his vehicle and insisting on taking her home safely.
Amy Jones, 27, says the cabbie's quick thinking potentially saved her from a terrifying situation after the men tried to coax her into an unknown property
The driver had grown suspicious when the two men, who had flagged down his cab, claimed to be helping Ms Jones.
They then gave an address that was not hers and dismissed her visibly distressed state as simply being drunk.
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Ms Jones told Liverpool Echo: "The taxi driver refused to let me go inside and demanded to take me home.
"I have no idea what would have happened if I'd gone inside that house."
She is now desperately searching for the driver who came to her rescue, hoping he can fill in the gaps of that frightening night.
The only detail she can recall about the vehicle is seeing "cab 66" displayed somewhere, though she remains uncertain what this reference means.
Ms Jones left Superstar Boudoir nightclub | GOOGLE MAPSShe added: "I don't know how to find him,.
"If it wasn't for that taxi driver I don't know what might have happened, I want to find him so I can ask him details of that night."
The Liverpool John Moores University student was able to charge her phone in the taxi after discovering it was past 4am.
It also left a significant period of time unaccounted for since she had called her friend at approximately 2.45am.
The ordeal began on Saturday, March 14, when Ms Jones visited Superstar Boudoir nightclub on Stanley Street in Liverpool city centre.
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Ms Jones went for a takeaway on Dale Street when she was picked up
|GOOGLE MAPS
After becoming separated from her group inside the venue, she decided to head home alone and stopped at a takeaway on Dale Street to purchase a kebab.
It was inside the food establishment that her condition rapidly deteriorated.
"I started to feel strange," she recalled. "I was paranoid I could hear people saying my name. I remember saying in the kebab shop 'I think I've been spiked, can you help me.'"
Her eyesight failed, nausea set in, and she sensed something was seriously wrong, leading her to believe her drink had been tampered with earlier that evening.
Ms Jones is looking for the taxi driver
|GETTY
Distressed and crying, Ms Jones attempted to walk home to Marybone when a man approached her on Dale Street, offering to help.
"I was scared, I told him to leave me alone but he told me he wanted to get me home and seemed genuine," she explained.
The stranger hailed a black cab and requested the driver take her home, but then climbed into the vehicle alongside another man.
The pair provided the cabbie with an address that was not Ms Jones's home.
During the journey, which she recalls feeling lengthy despite her blurred vision, she overheard them discussing her intoxicated appearance. When the taxi stopped, both men attempted to persuade her to enter an unfamiliar property.
Ms Jones said: "They got out when the taxi stopped and tried to get me to go inside a house with them. I had no idea where we were, the taxi driver refused to let me go inside and demanded to take me home. I have no idea what would have happened if I'd gone inside that house."
A spokesman for Merseyside Police said: "We can confirm that we received a report of an alleged spiking in the early hours of Sunday, March 15, although at this stage there is nothing to corroborate that any criminal offence has taken place."
Are you the taxi driver or do you know who it was? Get in touch with me at george.bunn@gbnews.uk.