Taxi Driver Online

Deighton family left fuming after taxi fare almost doubles for return journey


Meal out leaves Deighton family with bad taste

A FAMILY meal out left a Deighton couple with a sour taste when they got the bill for the taxi home.

Rochelle and John Parchment were faced with a bill for £22.60 for the journey back from the Golcar Lily on Sunday – almost double what they had paid to get there four hours earlier.

The couple, their three children and a cousin, had booked a cab with Timmy’s Taxis of Sheepridge Road, to take them from their Warrenside home to the Bolster Moor pub and restaurant. They were joining eight others members of the family to celebrate Rochelle’s sister Briony’s 40th birthday.

The minibus fare for the six of them for the seven-mile journey was £12. After the meal their son stayed behind, so five of them booked a ride home with Mount Taxis.

On arrival back at Warrenside they were shocked to be told by the driver that the fare on the meter was £22.60.

Rochelle said: “I was furious. Had I been informed that the taxi was metered, I would not have taken it.

“I pointed out that there were more of us in a larger vehicle on the outward journey, but the driver just said ‘it is on a meter’. They did not mention the meter when we booked the taxi.

“People are struggling financially these days and this is a heck of a lot of money for a taxi.

“I think the public have a right to know when they are going to be metered. People should be given the right information so they can choose if to take the taxi or cancel it.”

Rochelle told her mother, Clr Christine Iredale, of the incident. Clr Iredale is chairwoman of Kirklees Licensing and Safety Committee.


She said: “I was unaware that private hire cars were metered. I feel the amount she was charged was extortionate.

“If taxis are running on meters then the public should certainly be informed. It is a simple enough thing for a taxi firm to ask if the customer is aware that the taxis are metered when they ring up.”

Clr Iredale added that she would raise the matter with the Licensing Office, with a view to it being discussed at a full meeting of the Licensing and Safety Committee.

Mount Taxis was set up over 50 years ago and has over 50 vehicles. All of them are private hire and all have had meters for many years.

The company’s Beverley Hall said that Mount had a large regular client base and that it was not feasible or practical to say that the taxis were metered every time they answered the phone.

She added: “They are all metered, there is no deviation. It is a fairer reflection of the time and distance involved.

“Our meters are not hidden, they are clearly displayed.

“Mount Taxis has a good reputation for being reliable, on time and legal. We do everything by the book and can produce every document for every driver.

“We operate in a certain manner and this is reflected in our price.”

Mrs Hall added that, at the time of booking, the Parchments had said that six people were travelling back to Deighton and so a people carrier had been sent.

She said that the charge was in line with Kirklees’ licensing tariffs.

Read More http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/

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

That's the root of the problem. Even a licensing chair doesn't have a clue, so what chance the public?

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

I think the root of the problem is that the good councillor is a relative

CC

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

Are taxi drivers not struggling also or do the general public think we are immune to financial demands

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

I think the cab fare was probably cheaper than losing a driving license for drink driving.

CC

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

They'd be complaining even more if they'd been charged £22 "off the meter"...

Why didn't they book a return with the same desperado who took them there?

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

he was probably covering work for skippy

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

And they would have needed a people carrier anyway because there aren't many five-seater taxis going around.

So it was a people carrier, seven miles, on a Sunday and perhaps on rate 2, thus £22 doesn't seem particularly steep.

And the meter issue is a red herring, because if she was so worried about the price then why didn't she ask in advance, whether or not there were meters involved - surely she doesn't expect all businesses to charge the same?

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

Sometimes I think they expect to pay bus fare rates for taxis ffs. Thats only £4.40 each what the devil do they want

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

Its just typical of many a punter...its ok for them to make heaps of cash off the backs of others yet they expect Taxis and PH to be cheap to the point of stupid..Doh!

Tight fu**ers.

Were they Aussies?

To go 7 miles in a vehicle for 5-8 passengers in my borough is £23.20 and we haven't had a rate rise for 2 1/2 years.

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Grandad,

Complete and utter idiots with a totally unjustified complaint!!!

And this type of ridiculous view is probably the worst example of hypocrisy, duplicity and double standards that the cab trade has to put up with on a daily basis and it really does enrage me!!

They went to the Golcar Lily which is located on Slades Road, at Bolster Moor near Huddersfield. The pub’s website is; http://www.golcarlily.co.uk/golcar-lily-menus.html

They went to celebrate a birthday of one of their party and looking at the menu, with drinks added, it’s unlikely that they would have spent less than £20 a head and possible £25 to £30 a head, depending on how much they had to drink. And as they had licensed transport there and back, it’s fair to assume that most were drinking. So the total bill would have been a minimum of £120 for the six of them and possibly as much as £180 at the top end of their possible spend.

BUT THE LICENSED DRIVER HAS TO TAKE THEM BACK HOME WITH PROBABLY MORE THAN ONE DROP FOR A PITTANCE!!

They asked for a vehicle to carry 6 people, which they had dispatched to pick them up. That’s £3.77 per person to transport them back home on a Sunday!!! How much would they each want to work on a Sunday? Do any of them ever work on a Sunday?

There really is little correlation to the fare per person and what they have spent at the pub, but our trades seem to be going backwards in terms of fare price structures!!

So why didn’t they take the bus?

I dare say that if they had all taken the bus, it would have meant, walking to the bus stop near the Golcar Lily, waiting for it to arrive, travelling into Huddersfield, walking to another bus stop to changing buses to go to Deighton, waiting for that bus to arrive, travelling to Deighton and then walking home. Estimated total time of travel on a Sunday; anything from one and a half hours to perhaps three or four hours!!

And here’s the real irony!! The combined bus fares could easily have been more than the taxi fare!!

These people don’t know they’re alive!!!

This complaint is an irrelevance!!!

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
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When debating on the TDO Forum.

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Grandad,