Taxi Driver Online

UK cab trade debate and advice
It is currently Fri Mar 29, 2024 12:52 pm

All times are UTC [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 17 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next
Author Message
 Post subject: boot luggage
PostPosted: Wed Feb 06, 2019 11:21 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Sep 07, 2006 8:26 pm
Posts: 8518
Question -
If you pick up a fare from a rank or off the set, and they have luggage, and you put that luggage in the boot of your vehicle and then take the passengers to their destination, and they get out and pay you and you drive off with the luggage or shopping, who is at fault, you or the passenger? What do you think should happen next?

_________________
Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: boot luggage
PostPosted: Wed Feb 06, 2019 11:24 pm 
Offline

Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 4:06 pm
Posts: 24116
Location: Twixt Heaven and Hell, but nearest Hell
your fault.....

_________________
Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: boot luggage
PostPosted: Wed Feb 06, 2019 11:29 pm 
Offline

Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 7:36 pm
Posts: 1384
I think both parties have to accept some responsibility, as for what happens next, you should make every effort to return the luggage, failing that I would probably inform the council/police. ( you never know what the customers might say/do)


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: boot luggage
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 3:53 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Sep 07, 2006 8:26 pm
Posts: 8518
wannabeeahack wrote:
your fault.....

My fault ? :?

_________________
Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: boot luggage
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 9:02 am 
Offline

Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:27 pm
Posts: 19640
An interesting point. I know it is in our conditions that we are supposed to check the vehicle for items after every hire but as far as I am aware we are told to hand in lost property to a police station and we are entitled to a sum up to 5% of the value of the goods that have been left. However if some one has left all their luggage in your car I would think the police would be a bit annoyed if you took it to the station. For me it would depend how far I had got before the customer realised. If I was just up the road, I would just take it back. If I had gone several miles I would charge the metered fare and tell them to complain to the company or the council if they didn't agree.

_________________
Grandad,
To support my charity text MAYORWALK to 70085 to donate £5


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: boot luggage
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 11:12 am 
Offline

Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2016 7:56 pm
Posts: 2466
grandad wrote:
An interesting point. I know it is in our conditions that we are supposed to check the vehicle for items after every hire but as far as I am aware we are told to hand in lost property to a police station and we are entitled to a sum up to 5% of the value of the goods that have been left. However if some one has left all their luggage in your car I would think the police would be a bit annoyed if you took it to the station. For me it would depend how far I had got before the customer realised. If I was just up the road, I would just take it back. If I had gone several miles I would charge the metered fare and tell them to complain to the company or the council if they didn't agree.



Police up our way will not accept anything left in vehicle as it costs too much to store it.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: boot luggage
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 12:24 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2006 11:47 pm
Posts: 19115
Location: Stamford Britains prettiest town till SKDC ruined it
heathcote wrote:
grandad wrote:
An interesting point. I know it is in our conditions that we are supposed to check the vehicle for items after every hire but as far as I am aware we are told to hand in lost property to a police station and we are entitled to a sum up to 5% of the value of the goods that have been left. However if some one has left all their luggage in your car I would think the police would be a bit annoyed if you took it to the station. For me it would depend how far I had got before the customer realised. If I was just up the road, I would just take it back. If I had gone several miles I would charge the metered fare and tell them to complain to the company or the council if they didn't agree.



Police up our way will not accept anything left in vehicle as it costs too much to store it.



same here BUT there is a thing in law called theft by keeping and if you have not made an adequate attempt to return the luggage then you would be in trouble with the police and licensing authorities as there would surely be some sort of complaint

_________________
Taxis Are Public Transport too

Join the campaign to get April fools jokes banned for 364 days a year !


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: boot luggage
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 12:48 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Sep 07, 2006 8:26 pm
Posts: 8518
We have the same here, the police don't want to know and the council have no facilities. Over the years I have seen drivers prosecuted for stealing by finding, ie handbags and mobile phones, but my real point of interest is with items placed in the boot. My view of this is that when the driver places things in the boot belonging to the passenger, at that point it becomes his responsibility to make sure the passenger gets them back at the end of the journey. He, in effect, is in control of their property, and there should be no charge made to the customer for it to be returned.

I am not talking about items left in the vehicle. I am interested in your views.

_________________
Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: boot luggage
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 8:08 pm 
Offline

Joined: Wed May 16, 2012 6:33 am
Posts: 13823
MR T wrote:
My view of this is that when the driver places things in the boot belonging to the passenger, at that point it becomes his responsibility to make sure the passenger gets them back at the end of the journey. He, in effect, is in control of their property, and there should be no charge made to the customer for it to be returned.


I think you're right, and if driver is aware that the customer has luggage then it's the driver's responsibility to make sure the luggage leaves the car at the end of the journey.

Of course, a clear cut case would be if the passenger alights and is waiting for the driver to open the boot, but the driver forgets, is in a hurry and drives off.

Less clear cut maybe if the passenger alights, forgets about the luggage and wanders off, and the driver has forgotten as well, and drives off. But here I suspect a licensing committee would say that whatever the passenger did the driver still has a duty of care with regard to the luggage.

So unlike Grandad I would say that it's always the responsibility of the driver to return the luggage FOC. Or, if that's not possible, to treat it as lost property.

Recall a couple of years ago a suitcase was left behind in a local cab. Don't know precisely what happened, but obvious that the driver couldn't return it. So he phoned police, and they said to take it to police HQ in Glenrothes, 20 miles away (I think local station would have been closed at that time). Luckily for the driver a police van arrived by chance, and the driver persuaded them to take the suitcase there and then.

Don't know precisely what happened, and these things are rarely subject to any formal action, but would the driver have been liable for any cost of recovery or any other losses arising? Can't recall exactly what happened, but it was possibly a tourist passenger taking a train to Edinburgh, possibly for a flight abroad, so could cost a fair amount to recover the suitcase, and they might had have to miss their flight, for example, incurring huge costs and inconvenience.

On the other hand, I doubt if a train company has any liability with regard to luggage left on a train, because the staff have no involvement and each passenger's luggage is more obviously their own responsibility. (I mention that because it's often something that impacts on taxis, for example returning to the station to look for lost luggage, maybe left on the platform.)

Of course, it all depends on the individual circumstances. A few years ago I took this head-the-ball from Fife to Aberdeen after he'd been thrown off a train. He told me his life story on the way up - basically, he'd gotten into trouble in Aberdeen with drugs, and moved down to London to get away from it all, start a new life etc. Anyway, he'd now decided to return to Aberdeen, after more bother down south - he was showing me this bandage on his leg from some sort of stabbing injury.

Anyway, when we got to Aberdeen, you've guessed it, he wanted to go to two different addresses before going to his original stated destination. Felt a bit sorry for him, and was a bit worried he'd kick off too, so agreed to do the trips (and according to him he'd no more money apart from the cash he'd given me up front). First stop was in and out fairly quickly, but second stop he disappeared into this tower block, and I'm sure he'd went to do some kind of deal - he said he'd been clean in London, but was threatening to go back on drugs once back in Aberdeen.

So I waited and waited, and waited for more than half an hour in the end. I'd have been offski long before that (as I'd gotten all the money I was going to get), but problem was he'd left behind this big, heavy suitcase, which seemed to contain his whole life.

So in the end I just drove off, and took the case to the nearest police station, and handed it in as lost property. I told them roughly what had happened and about the guy, and who knows what was in the case - don't know if they maybe opened it after I left.

Anyway, I never heard anything more about it, so I assume the case was returned and there was no criminality involved.

But from the point of view of the discussion about left luggage, I think I did all I reasonably could here - I wasn't leaving the car and trudging around a tower block looking for the guy, who was probably off his face by then anyway.

(For anyone who happens to know Aberdeen, the block of flats was in Torry, and I took the case to Nigg police station. Can't recall the address, but looking on the maps and on Streetview it was probably something called Balnagask Circle. Not huge tower blocks, exactly - probably twelve flats per block - but preferred taking the suitcase to the police station rather than chapping on all those doors [-( )


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: boot luggage
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2019 12:17 pm 
Offline

Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 4:06 pm
Posts: 24116
Location: Twixt Heaven and Hell, but nearest Hell
MR T wrote:
Question -
If you pick up a fare from a rank or off the set, and they have luggage, and you put that luggage in the boot of your vehicle and then take the passengers to their destination, and they get out and pay you and you drive off with the luggage or shopping, who is at fault, you or the passenger? What do you think should happen next?

_________________
Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: boot luggage
PostPosted: Sat Feb 09, 2019 12:29 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2003 7:30 pm
Posts: 53921
Location: 1066 Country
Sometimes when things don't go properly it's the fault of no one.

Should the question be does the punter pay for the return trip or should the driver swallow it.

IMO in this case the driver should swallow it and maybe get a customer for life.

_________________
IDFIMH


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: boot luggage
PostPosted: Sat Feb 09, 2019 12:32 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2003 7:30 pm
Posts: 53921
Location: 1066 Country
Quote:
Police up our way will not accept anything left in vehicle as it costs too much to store it.

It's part of our licensing conditions that we take stuff to the police, and there is never a problem when we do.

Surprised that's not the case UK wide.

_________________
IDFIMH


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: boot luggage
PostPosted: Sat Feb 09, 2019 6:53 pm 
Offline

Joined: Wed May 16, 2012 6:33 am
Posts: 13823
Sussex wrote:
Quote:
Police up our way will not accept anything left in vehicle as it costs too much to store it.

It's part of our licensing conditions that we take stuff to the police, and there is never a problem when we do.

Surprised that's not the case UK wide.


Yes, wondered about that. Suspect it's more a case of police being reluctant to take lost property rather than the strict legal position.

Suspect it's easier in the cities where there's possibly dedicated civilian staff for this kind of thing, particularly during office hours.

Smaller town late at night and officers more likely to have to deal with it, so probably not keen, particular if item of relatively low value.

And on the occasions I've actually gone to police they've sometimes been a bit like some of the punters who've lost stuff - they seem to think it's the driver's fault, rather than the pish-head (usually) who's lost the thing, and possibly just being a bit awkward because they don't like dealing with that sort of stuff.

Have heard the same from plenty of other drivers, which is why I normally put more effort into trying to get lost property back to the punter rather than taking it to the polis [-(


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: boot luggage
PostPosted: Sat Feb 09, 2019 8:26 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Tue Oct 23, 2007 1:39 pm
Posts: 1544
MR T wrote:
We have the same here, the police don't want to know and the council have no facilities. Over the years I have seen drivers prosecuted for stealing by finding, ie handbags and mobile phones, but my real point of interest is with items placed in the boot. My view of this is that when the driver places things in the boot belonging to the passenger, at that point it becomes his responsibility to make sure the passenger gets them back at the end of the journey. He, in effect, is in control of their property, and there should be no charge made to the customer for it to be returned.

I am not talking about items left in the vehicle. I am interested in your views.


I agree with you my learnedly friend. But with regard to 1847 it does say

For securing the safe custody and re-delivery of any property accidentally left in hackney carriages, and fixing the charges to be made in respect thereof.

So it kind of implies you can make a charge, but I wouldn’t personally charge them.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: boot luggage
PostPosted: Sat Feb 09, 2019 9:23 pm 
Offline

Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2010 7:35 pm
Posts: 1855
The thing to do if you go to a police station and they won't accept lost items is just leave them there !
Their problem then.


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 17 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

All times are UTC [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 54 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group