Hull taxi drivers are fighting back because people are multi-booking - and you could be blacklistedClubbers struggling to get a cab are exploiting phone apps to multi-book cars, leaving drivers out-of-pocket and themselves blacklisted.
With East Yorkshire private hire firms increasingly investing in sophisticated computer software, people can now book a cab from their smartphone in a few seconds.
But more people, frustrated at long waits for cabs, especially on weekends, are using the apps, as well as phones, to book more than one car to increase their chances of getting a lift.
Some people are booking four or more cars and jumping into the first one that arrives, which is shortchanging drivers and adding to waiting times.
Now, drivers - backed by firms - are fighting back and refusing to accept fares if they realise they have been multi-booked.
Jon Wray, owner of Willerby Cars, said: "It's become easier for people to multi-book because of the mobile phone apps. It's mainly young people who want a cab to take them into town on a night. It's disgusting people are doing this. It's not fair to the drivers who are losing money.
"On a weekend, I will have 14 drivers out. At least half of them will get no-show jobs. A good number of them will have multi-booked and got into another cab. It's happening on a regular basis."
Mr Wray said Hull Cabbies Banter, a closed Facebook group for drivers, has received scores of posts describing how drivers, upon realising they have been multi-booked, made the collective decision to refuse fares.
Mr Wray said: "I think that's brilliant. Fair enough, no one gets any money. But that person won't be going to town that night.
"I turned up at one job and saw my fare getting into another cab. I rang that company and the owner was as disgusted as me. She got on the radio and told the driver, so that the fare could hear, that they're now barred from both companies."
Being East Riding-based, Mr Wray says the problem hits his drivers especially hard.
"With us being in the sticks we might have to travel five or ten miles to pick up a fare," he said. "We turn up, expecting a tenner fare and no one is there. We've wasted fuel and there's loss of earnings on top of that."
Mr Wray says his phone operators are now drilled to do all they can to weed out potential multi-bookers.
He said: "It's got that bad we are now saying to people, 'will you definitely be at such and such place?'. We'll clarify it a couple of times."
A spokesman for 65 Cars in Princes Avenue, west Hull, who asked not to be named, also condemned those who multi-book.
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http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/hull-tax ... 1g6GuAD.99
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