He had picked up some men from a Christmas party in Burradoo.

“They wanted to go up to the Gib and they said you can sing for us all the way. I said well I’ve got news for you, I’m not taking you anywhere.”

One of the men was outside and assaulted Barney following his refusal.

It has been anything but dull for Barney over the past 12 years he has worked for Southern Highlands Taxis.

During that  time he has picked up members of the English cricket team from Sydney and taken them to Bradman as well as having been witness in a couple of criminal cases.

Twelve years ago, the former truck driver joined the company.

He decided if he was getting up at 4am to drive trucks in Sydney and returning home at 8pm, he may as well “spend the 12 hours in the cab driving round here”.

But in spite of the change, he’s still an early riser- often getting up at 2am to start his shift.

“Laurie’s good to work for, you meet a lot of people and I do wheelchairs (wheelchair accessible vehicles). It’s good to help other people out.”

Southern Highlands Taxis owner Laurie Stewart said they often had people ring up and ask specifically for Barney.

Barney was one of the first drivers to become accredited to drive the wheelchair accessible vehicles.

Over the past 12 years, he has seen plenty of changes.

One of the more welcome ones was the installation of cameras in the vehicles.

He also remembers when jobs were broadcast over a two-way radio and the operators in the map room used marbles on the map for each car to keep a track of their location.

“Everyone knew what everyone was doing. They [operators] used to work hard in there.”

Nowadys, everything is computerised.

Mr Stewart said operators back at the base could see on the screen where cars were and even at what speed they are travelling.

While Barney has not lived in the Highlands all his life, he has enjoyed living in the area for the past 12 years.

“They’re nice, people down here.

“You can tell weekends, they come down here for weddings and they haven’t got any patience whereas locals you know them all.”

And what does he think about the traffic?

“We complain about it here but gee you go into the city and then you got something to complain about.”