A St Ann taxi driver died at the St Ann's Bay Hospital last week when he became ill after being ticketed by traffic cops in the parish.

On December 7, the cabbie had to be rushed to the hospital by the police who had given him a $800 ticket for having too many passengers in his car.

While rumours are that the taxi operator had a heart attack and died at his steering wheel after getting a $15,000 traffic ticket, the police from the St Ann's Bay Traffic Department say otherwise.

A sergeant, who said he was on the scene, said the "weight of the ticket" was far less than being speculated. "The ticket was $800," the policeman said. "Some rumours out there state that it was as high as $30,000."

The officer said that the incident took place along the Dunn's River main road when the driver, called 'Whiteman', was stopped in a routine traffic check.

"He was stopped for the check. He had too many passengers in the vehicle so he was ticketed for the offence," the sergeant said. "We noticed that he started getting ill afterwards, so we asked him if he was OK, then we rushed him to the hospital."

The policeman said that he heard that the cabbie died shortly after arriving at the hospital.

Commended cops

The sergeant told THE STAR that the cabbie's mother commended the police for rushing her son to the hospital, as she said he was sickly and was not taking his medication.

THE STAR was, however, unable to contact her or to get further details from the St Ann's Bay Hospital regarding the incident and the cabbie's possible cause of death.

The post-mortem report is still outstanding.