Taxi Driver Online

A friend of mine [taxi driver] is having some concern, he has been up infront of the LA with re. asking for cash up front, from lets say certain fares who look a bit dodgy,iffy, not trust worthy, fares within the LA area that is. The Enforcement Officer [ ex Policeman] has said that it is illegal to do so. what are your thoughts,

It is not ilegale to ask for cash up front we do it all the time in the borders, you are entiteled to do it, say you know what the fair is, for eg £25 and the punter gives you it you just tell them that if the fair is less they will get the change if its more they must make up the diferance, its only comen sence, we have punters that go 18 miles from our rank and the fair is £24.80 to the center of there town, but sometimes they want to go to the far end of the town and the fair is £27.00, or there could be 4 in the car and they might want a multy drop and the fair could reach £31.00. but the thing you dont want is a runner so lets just call it insurance, and comen sence

according to the law the only time you can ask for up front is when a wait is involved and you can ask for deposit on waiting.

usualy enforcement officers being intelligent, turn a blind eye to monies up front, yours obviously aint a clue.

sorry cannot help but give sympathy.

Thanks for that, but wot we on about in your mail to which we all know is about out of town jobs, my query is within the LO area.

I think you should be able to ask for a certain % of the fare up front, but maybe not the full amount as you might end up taking more than the fare comes to. Which could be viewed as un-lawful.

I have always thought that if you don't like the look of the mush, don't pick them up. But I agree that's easier said than done.

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IDFIMH

the fare I was on about is in our area, and after 24 years of doing the job you lern to trust nobody mind you the courts help here and inpose a £1000 fine if the runner is cought. And the excuses used if you dont want to take them is iv a run in 5 mins or im hired or if that fails just say no.

I have been reminded by a contributor that section 11 taxis are paid up front, of course they are

and taxi shares are paid up front.
yes they are.

Might I suggest you ask your friend to ask the ex policeman, under which law it is an offence to ask for money up front? Then perhaps you can inform us all here on TDO, as I am sure we would all be very interested. On the other hand, perhaps you might wish to tell us the licensing authority in question and i'll ask him myself.

Regards

JD

Unfortunatly he has now got other problems now, so shall just leave that at the moment,
a few weeks ago in the very early hours of a Saturday morning he was pulled by a police T5 for picking up on a taxi rank [he is a hackney and there is always a police van parked a few feet away who never bother the taxis] a bit too near the zebra zig zag lines, the T5 officers checked his meter for sealing, did a dvla check, took his id badge off him because it had been covered up, not displayed properly, the traffic police also told him that his fare chart was in an illegal position, the fare chart was in the same position as passed by the taxi testers to be ok, ie away from his front airbag, slotted in the front windscreen, near tax disc, he was held at the police stn till all work had finished in town, to which somehow the taxi enforcement officer magicaly appeared to give him his id badge back in the early hours, now which of the taxi policemen in the hack ranks have got the personal telephone number of the Enforcement Officer's home phone number, you tell me. some of us think this exercise was pre planned

He received his summons yesterday, it's rather long, there maybe more to it, but I didn't have chance to read it, unfortunatly this matter will be going to court so I suppose we can no longer talk about it

as I have said to you before, certain drivers of hacks in this city are out to run other certain minority of hacks off the road, I know I am one of them on their list, they are looking out for the smallest complaint they can report you with.It was said when this new Enforcement officer came into the job he was going to make an impression together with his eyes and ears on the ranks

only heard the other day that a driver was hauled in to the council for not picking up two lads carrying a drunken girl, another driver reported the matter and he had to go in to explain why he hadn't taken them, to which the council agreed he was in the right to refuse, all time consuming and treat like little kids

another incident came to light again the other day, a WAV driver was approached by a wheel chair passenger, it was a London cab, she asked to sit up by the driver, wheelchair to be put in the back of the cab, he told her you can't sit in the front, no seat, you will have to sit in the back, so she went away and took the normal saloon behind on the rank, the woman complained to the council, he was hauled up infront as having refused the disable fare, you can't win

Why dont you get a petition up and get the licence officer suspended for being over zeouse

what a sad post.

Unbelieveable really, are you a member of a TOA or are they?

Captain cab

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Just to let you all know the above text was wrote awhile ago, the Enforcement officer was sacked in this case. The matter has now been withdrawn by criminal protection services [CPS]

The driver was origionaly held at the police station for 3 hours for the crimes as listed above, finger printed, dna tested and interviewed and grilled by the Enforcement officer in a police interview room
A plea of not guilty was given as the matter was going to court, extensive photographing of the area to which the charges related was taken over a period of time at weekends showing the complete shambles of the area with police vans and police cars parked on pavements, on double yellow lines around the small area, pics of other taxis picking up near the zig zags on the taxi rank with police stood talking turning a blind eye to what is going on

his total costs runs into thousands because he had to employ a solicitor, the charges thrown out, the Enforcement officer sacked, it was a stitch up by the Enforcement officer, oh and no appology from the council

Going back to the original point of money up front, if you get a bus, go on a plane or take a ride on the train you always pay first before travelling no matter how far you're going.

I know it's one of my standard recommendations, but I would ask your mate to really think about a complaint to the Ombudsman.

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IDFIMH

I think thats the way he is going about it