Taxi Driver Online

Claims Barrow taxi firm's ads 'misled the public'

https://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/18476114 ... ed-public/

A TAXI firm has been accused of misleading the public in online adverts.

Several ads posted on social media by Acacia raised concerns the firm was attempting to copy other Barrow taxi companies.

The firm had posted notices urging passengers to call numbers almost identical to other firms, which would redirect to the Acacia taxi office.

A number of taxi companies in Barrow have hit out at Acacia for the adverts, including Street Cars and the newly-formed Furness Taxis.

Officers from Cumbria Trading Standards have told the company to stop posting adverts drawing comparisons to other firms following complaints about potentially misleading information.

Many of the posts have now been changed to make it clear they are advertising Acacia services.

In one post on Acacia’s Facebook page, the firm listed its number as 01229 838 838, similar to 01229 838383, the number for A1 Taxis.

Another post listed Acacia as ‘Street Cars Ltd’.

A spokesman for Street Cars said: “We’d just to like to make it clear that is nothing to do with Street Cars and is a clear misrepresentation from Acacia Taxis.

“It’s disappointing they seem to have attempted to con the public and take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to boost their business in this manner.

“This pandemic that has affected so many and cost so many lives in the area and we would hope all operators in the trade would be able to act responsibly and reasonably during these difficult times.

George Harkin, who recently launched Furness Taxis, said: “We are growing the business day by day because we have the public’s support however please ensure you are not fooled by other taxi firms who are trying to fool the public by mimicking our name and phone number.

“The public have a right to know they are being fooled.”

Cumbria Trading Standards confirmed Acacia had been told to stop posting the adverts.

A spokesman said: “Cumbria Trading Standards has received a complaint regarding a local taxi firm and potential misleading information displayed online.

“Officers have spoken to the firm and provided relevant guidance, and the firm has ceased posting any further misinformation.”

Councillor Tony Callister, Barrow Borough Council spokesperson for licensing and public protection, said: “We received a complaint about a local taxi firm in relation to their marketing activity.

“As this is not a licensing matter we are unable to take any further action.”

Several taxi firms stopped operating when lockdown measures were introduced at the end of March but a number of companies have now reopened and resumed service.

Acacia Taxis has an office in Barrow's Crellin Street.

The Mail tried to contact Acacia but received no response to requests for comment.

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IDFIMH

Maybe too embarrassed to try and justify their stupidity.

I suspect a case of someone thinking he is much smarter than the rest when in fact he is as thick as pigs sh**.

These things never work, and in many cases leads to bad stuff happening in return.

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IDFIMH

Ah, yes, the good old 'passing off' trick, which is defined in law as: "Making some false representation likely to induce a person to believe that the goods or services are those of another." (Or at least that's one definition.)

Knew that had been mentioned before on here, so used the search function to find that definition.

And, funnily enough, last time it popped up was in relation to the new Ubaro app in Barrow, and I suggested Uber might be interested in that regard. Not sure if Ubaro still around, or was that the app that changed its name and/or simply became part of an established firm?

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=34459&hilit=passing+off

Anyway, previous to that I also suggested that a controversial figure in the Wigan trade, previously associated with Crusader Cabs, was now associated with a company registered as Uber Taxis Northwest Limited, but looked like it had zero connection with the real Uber:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=33126&p=382663&hilit=passing+off#p382663

Not sure what happened to that either, but I'd put money on Uber Taxis Northwest *not* being used as a trading name at present.

'No one was misled' - Barrow taxi firm hits back at criticism

A FIRM has hit back at other taxi companies after being accused of ‘misleading’ the public.

Acacia Taxis in Barrow received advice from Trading Standards following posts on its Facebook advertising its services with company names and numbers construed as similar to others in the town.

Furness Taxis and Street Cars both criticised the company following the posts.

But Acacia, which has been in business in Barrow for 43 years, has now explained its posts.

One advert listed services under the name Street Cars Ltd, similar to the other firm in Barrow.

But, according to Companies House, Acacia registered that company before the rival firm, which was established last year.

Barrow Council said it received a complaint to its licensing department, which was referred to Cumbria Trading Standards.

There was no suggestion the company does not own the alternative numbers, which redirect to its taxi office, and that are similar to other firms.

In a post on Facebook, Acacia said: “Acacia has been accused recently by a newly set up taxi business of copying their firm and phone number.

“The numbers we advertised do in fact belong to Acacia and are being advertised solely on our Acacia taxis page, no one was misled in any way.

“Healthy competition has always been in the taxi trade so the premium phone numbers you buy can make a difference and getting a number close to others could be beneficial.

“We wish any old, new and upcoming business all the best in their future endeavours.”

A number of Barrow taxi companies stopped operating at the start of the coronavirus crisis but Acacia has continued it services with safety measures in place.

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IDFIMH

Well this is all very messy


Furness Taxis was literally set up during lockdown, and Street Cars seems to be the former Barrow Cars that got together with the Ubaro app to form Street Cars. About nine months ago

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=34459&p=393783


Wonder if Street Cars was aware of that? As I said at the time, the name sounds a bit dated when they've teamed up with an app-based service, but the fact that Acacia already had that name registered may or may not be a factor.

But just because a company name is registered, I don't think that's the end of the story. It may just be a dormant company. When it comes to 'passing off', actual trading names used and known to the public are probably more important.

Funny thing, too, there's no mention of the registered company in Acacia's Facebook statement (see below), although the newspaper article makes it sound as if it was Acacia who had made that point.


Again, I don't think ownership of the numbers is the point, if it's about passing off.

Anyway, this is the full statement. I'm assuming there's nothing else, but certainly no mention of a Companies House registration here.

Tried to post that lots of times last night. Kept getting an error message, thought it was a problem with the forum software/database

Yet couldn't work out why others seemed to be able to make posts

Seems the problem was with the post on the Acacia Taxis Facebook page, which I copied from there and tried to paste it above. But there were a couple of smilies in it (one was a loveheart, which is why I've included that word in brackets in the post above) and I'd just included them in the post, and the forum here was rejecting them, but the error message was unclear as to what the problem was.

Anyway, doubt if it's problem that occurs very often, but just in case anyone ever gets an error message when trying to paste stuff from elsewhere

For what it's worth, this is the error message that kept coming up - as clear as mud


Obviously I was aware that the smilies were there, but thought they'd either appear in the message as something else, or not appear at all. Not that they'd cause this error message, which made me think there was a problem with something else

Is there anyone who thinks this firm wasn't trying it on?

If I was ever to own a firm (no f***ing chance in a million years) I would name it after the last 6 numbers in the main phone number.

Thus a firm with a number 123123 would be called 123 taxis/cars.

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IDFIMH

I wonder what you would call our firm with the number 656565?

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Grandad,

65 Taxis maybe?

I'm seeing it as 6 56 56 5

So 56 Taxis, although maybe that's just me showing my age

But interesting that the graphics used on the firm's Facebook page use the format 43.43.43

Which looks a bit daft to me. Of course, quite common to used spaced numbers on rooflights etc:

43 43 43

But don't know about this:

Clueless graphics.

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IDFIMH