Two young Winnipeg women say they won't take cabs again, after a Duffy's Taxi driver took them to a part of the city they didn't ask to go to, then locked them inside the vehicle.

Jade Solvason and Kaitlyn Sylvester, both 18, said they and a third friend hailed a cab to go from a local bar to the Richmond West neighbourhood on April 18.

The girls said they quickly realized the driver was heading in a different direction, toward the Elmwood neighbourhood.

Kaitlyn Sylvester, left, and Jade Solvason say they and another friend asked a Duffy's Taxi driver to take them to the Richmond West neighbourhood on April 18. Instead, the driver headed toward Elmwood and locked the taxi's doors when they asked him to stop. (CBC) When they asked the male driver to stop, he locked the taxi doors, they said.

"To me, that just didn't feel right," Solvason told CBC News on Tuesday.

Said Sylvester, "We were all panicking. We were hysterically crying. We were so, so terrified because we just had no idea where we were."

The trio called Duffy's in a panic. The dispatcher told them to call 911.

The driver finally stopped the cab in Elmwood when the girls called police, Sylvester said.

Language blamed for incident

Winnipeg police say the issue in the teens' case was language, as the driver did not understand where they wanted to go.

A similar incident last month involving a woman in a Duffy's cab was also attributed to a communication breakdown.

The girls have filed a complaint with the Manitoba Taxicab Board, which is investigating. A spokesperson for Duffy's Taxi said the company is also investigating the girls' claims.

"The locking of the doors is not appropriate, in my view," said Bruce Buckley, the taxicab board chair.

Buckley said the teens did the right thing by calling police.

"The fact that they had to call 911 before they got his attention is worrisome," he said.

Solvason thinks drivers need better training. In the meantime, she said she will no longer take taxis in the city.