taxi's on strike

[Neil]

Originally Posted by cashman

To be pedantic, Its Hackney or Private Hire, Both are classed as a Taxi, The Hackney has to have a meter n charge the said rates, or at least that was the case early 80s when i had a hackney.

Are private hire allowed to ask you what you are usually charged or are they supposed to tell you the fair when you book the taxi?

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Neil

Are private hire allowed to ask you what you are usually charged or are they supposed to tell you the fair when you book the taxi?

If I was ever going on a different trip than I usually took, (I knew the far from home to Ossy Con) I always used to ask the cost when booking. A lot of people don't know but only an Hackney Cab can pick up on the street, Private Hire can't, they have to be booked through an office

[cashman]

Originally Posted by Neil

Are private hire allowed to ask you what you are usually charged or are they supposed to tell you the fair when you book the taxi?

Have never worked Private Hire, So aint sure? logic says in the name "Private Hire" They can please themselves. Jaysay is correct saying only Hackney can pick up on street.

[Sunflower49]

Not quite on topic-but has it become commonplace to for taxis to charge the fare in advance?
I became very hostile with a driver some weeks ago-a firm I've used for about ten years. He tried to charge me upfront for a short journey that I make often. The fare is usually about £6 and he wanted £10 upfront.
I am open to it in certain situations but he told me most taxi drivers do it now, which I think was a lie.

[accyman]

the only place i have expericenced this is when coming home from blackburn and that was only because they were doing an out of town trip .They dont usually ask for money upfront on local trips

looks like its time to either put a complaint in about teh extra cost and your dislike of paying upfront or find a new firm that dosnt assume your going to run and not pay

[cashman]

Originally Posted by sugarmouse0707

Not quite on topic-but has it become commonplace to for taxis to charge the fare in advance?
I became very hostile with a driver some weeks ago-a firm I've used for about ten years. He tried to charge me upfront for a short journey that I make often. The fare is usually about £6 and he wanted £10 upfront.
I am open to it in certain situations but he told me most taxi drivers do it now, which I think was a lie.

If yeh used em regular fer years i would suggest ringing the company n asking the question. I would also ring the authority who is responsible fer licensing em.

[Sunflower49]

Out of town trips are fair enough I agree. I would want some insurance in that instance if I was a driver. I'm not amused by the idea that they may do it for other times though.

I found a new firm straightaway-I was very annoyed and told him that I was never using them again, and would let everybody I knew about their lack of respect for loyalty as I had used them for ten years.

He wasn't saying he was going to charge me extra-he said he wanted £10 upfront and if it was less he would return the difference. At first he protested he hadn't seen me before-then admitted that he recognised me but had picked me up from my old address so hadn't made the connection.
I said regardless of this, I was a woman on my own going a short journey. Had I been in a group and wearing a hoodie I would be more empathic but I found it insulting.
The journey was short and I had booked them for it many times before.

I didn't give him the £10-I gave him £6. I made him drop me off before the address I'd asked him to go to, and when I was getting out I noticed his meter said £7 something pence. He said 'You owe me money' and I said 'I don't think so do you' and got out.

Originally Posted by cashman

If yeh used em regular fer years i would suggest ringing the company n asking the question. I would also ring the authority who is responsible fer licensing em.

I think I will-I just couldn't be bothered at the time but I should. I was on first name terms with the main operator and often had a chat with him when I rang up-I even stopped by to see him if I was passing, I've always used them to pick me up from work, and after shopping and stuff. This adds to why it angers me that this happened!

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by accyman

the only place i have expericenced this is when coming home from blackburn and that was only because they were doing an out of town trip .They dont usually ask for money upfront on local trips

looks like its time to either put a complaint in about teh extra cost and your dislike of paying upfront or find a new firm that dosnt assume your going to run and not pay

When I lived in Hassy we went to a do at the Corporation arms in Burnley, we had got to the final of a national pool completion at Hammersmith Pally and were spending the cash, four of use went in one car and we were getting a taxi home after, around 2am a Pakistani gentleman came round to pick us up, we never asked him the price but when we got back to Hassy he wanted to charge us £20 (this was over30 years ago) we got him down to £15 and as he dropped me of on Blackburn Road, he asked me the quickest way back to Burnley, I said sure mate, up to the lights turn left follow the road will take you straight back to Burnley, off he went turned left, even though there was a sign saying Blackburn

[Judith Addison]

I haven't been driving for the last two years due to medical reasons so use taxis quite a lot - I regularly use Hyndburn Cars who I find entirely reliable. As a woman travelling on my own I always feel quite safe. I'm aware that some other firms charge lower fares. When I went with Hyndburn Cars to Manchester airport and told them what some other firms charged they said they didn't know how they could do it for that price as they wouldn't even be covering their costs. Occasionally I use other firms, e.g. to come home from ASDA. Leaflets come regularly through my door advertising cheap fares. However, when you get home and ask the fare, some invariably ask, "What do you usually pay?" Although they advertise a cheap fare on their leaflet, in practice they try to charge as much as they can get away with. A few months ago I took a taxi from the rank on Holme Street - it was just after midnight and they said the fare would be double. I took this as gospel and paid. Later I mentioned this to Hyndburn Cars - they said if I'd rung them to pick me up they'd just have charged standard rate. So I prefer to stick with them!

[DtheP47]

Hot off the press: Just in from the Forts ..cabbie from Altham Cabs tells me it's all sorted Another 50p on all fares.
Seemingly a few skirmishes between the cab co's..handbags and a few smashed windscreens..
The big 4 cab companies have settled on the 50p increase.

[Studio25]

Originally Posted by sugarmouse0707

...I became very hostile with a driver some weeks ago-a firm I've used for about ten years. He tried to charge me upfront for a short journey that I make often. The fare is usually about £6 and he wanted £10 upfront...

It won't happen once you get to my age. I bet their decision criteria on whether to charge at the start of the trip or the end is "Can she run faster than me?"

Originally Posted by sugarmouse0707

...He wasn't saying he was going to charge me extra-he said he wanted £10 upfront and if it was less he would return the difference......

Which he's allowed to do (legally). If you agree to conditions before the journey, including just agreeing a price, then it's a contract: At the end of the journey, that's what you pay.
If there's no contract then at the end of the journey and they try to rip you off, just pay what you're used to paying plus 50p. The fact that you've tendered anything at all means that it becomes a civil matter and the police won't get involved unless it becomes a breach of the peace.

[lancsdave]

Originally Posted by Judith Addison

Iand told them what some other firms charged they said they didn't know how they could do it for that price as they wouldn't even be covering their costs.

Everybody knows, it's just that the benefits agency prefer to stay behind a desk than get out and check

[Mick]

Please be careful when naming cab firms or they could sue the site
if you say something bad about them on open forum

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by lancsdave

Everybody knows, it's just that the benefits agency prefer to stay behind a desk than get out and check

Head nail hit Dave

[Studio25]

Originally Posted by Mick

Please be careful when naming cab firms or they could sue the site if you say something bad about them on open forum

Only if it's defamatory. They can't (successfully) sue the site if someone types something bad that is the truth.

Maybe a better warning would be "Don't say anything about companies unless you are willing and able to defend your statements in court".