Taxi Driver Online

Taxi firm faces court over late pick-up

A HOLIDAYMAKER is taking a taxi firm to court after a driver failed to turn up in time to drop him and his wife off at the airport.

Phillip Woods, 56, of The Maze, Eastwood, ordered a taxi to take him to Southend Airport so he and wife Christine could get off to Menorca.

After waiting for more than an hour, Mr Woods gave up and driving to the airport himself - paying £160 to keep his car there for a week.

He now wants Andrews Taxis, based in Chase Road, Southend, to reimburse his parking costs.

Mr Woods said: “I wanted a taxi to pick us up from our home and was told it would be ten to 15 minutes. This came and went so I rang them back and was told the same thing, but there was still no sign.

“I rang repeatedly and was told at one point that it was at Tesco, which is round the corner from my home. But the taxi never came.

“What made it worse is they were very rude and indignant on the phone, which is bizarre for a company in the service industry.”

Mr Woods said his own three mile journey to the airport on Friday, July 1, took just eight minutes.

He said: “When you’ve got a plane to catch and there’s a risk of missing it, how long do you wait?

“If they had been upfront and said no one was free, obviously we would have sorted an alternative but they said it would take 20 minutes maximum. They agreed to pick us up and then just didn’t show.

“I don’t want to hold a grudge. I just want my out-of-pocket expense paid.”

Mr Woods applied for a county court judgement to be issued against the firm so they could reimburse him for his parking costs.

It found in his favour, but due to an administrative error by the court the firm has asked for the judgement to be set aside so the case can be re-heard.

John Watson, managing director of Andrews Taxis, said: “The journey in question was an instant booking, not pre-booked. We always recommend to all our customers who are travelling to a time-critical destination, like an airport, that they pre-book a car.

“If they don’t, they risk traffic issues and the roads being busier than expected.

“All our phone calls are recorded and Mr Woods was never told the car was five minutes away. He was advised the taxi was running late and that it could be up to 20 minutes.”

source: http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/1495899 ... e_pick_up/

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

I can understand the customer being annoyed BUT did he panic when the taxi didn't turn up as quickly as he had hoped and if it was only a short hop to the airport surely if they had allowed for check in time they would have still been ok even if the taxi was a few minutes late

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

I have found that the nearer the destination the customer lives the less likely the customer is to allow any what if time then bitches when there's a problem, when taking a booking for trains coaches or planes our base gets the departure time and tells the customer what time we will be picking them up to make sure that even if there is a hitch they will still be on time, if the customer chooses to set the pick up time later than advised they are told emphatically we take no responsibility if they miss there train etc.

That only works with advance bookings. This chap rang for a "taxi for now". A complete muppet imho.

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Grandad,

I suspect there's a reason why he had to ring for a car ASAP someone let down at the last minute maybe if that's not the case then I agree he's a total plonker for not pre booking.

That is the beauty of recording the calls.

Many times punters recollections bear no relation to the truth.

Which is why CCTV is such a bonus.

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IDFIMH

Holidaymaker who threatened to sue taxi firm after he had to drive himself to the airport faces being counter-sued


A HOLIDAYMAKER who threatened to take taxi bosses to court after he had to drive himself to the airport is now being sued by the company.

The Echo told in December that customer Phillip Woods, 56, of The Maze, Eastwood, wanted Andrews Taxis to reimburse his parking costs after he paid £160 to leave his car at Southend Airport - just three miles away from his home - for a week.

He had ordered a taxi to drop him and wife Christine off for their flight to Menorca - but the couple faced an hour wait.

As Mr Woods did not book a cab in advance, Andrews Taxis, based in Chase Road, Southend, said his journey was subject to traffic levels and other potential delays.

He eventually dropped the claim - saying ill health prevented him from continuing with the case.

The firm has now taken the decision to counter-sue for costs, believing that evidence stacked against Mr Woods was the real reason behind his U-turn.

John Watson, managing director of the company, said: “Once all the evidence was sorted out, including voice recordings and the GPS tracking logs, Mr Woods decided to stop the claim.

“We can only assume that, in the face of overwhelming evidence contradicting his version of events, it wasn’t how he first thought of it.

“Otherwise, why would he decide to drop the case? He clearly didn’t realise that everything is logged here.

“Now what should have been a £10 taxi fare is going to cost him hundreds of pounds as we are counter-suing for costs.”

Andrews Taxis is now suing Mr Woods for £260, which is the cost of setting the case aside.

Mr Woods insisted a call handler told him a taxi would take just 15 minutes to reach him, but when the story first broke the firm denied this was true.

Mr Watson added: “My advice to anyone travelling to time-critical destinations is to always pre-book a taxi.

“If they don’t, they risk traffic issues and the roads being busier than expected.

“Get yourself organised and don’t blame everyone else if you don’t.

“The claim certainly caused us a lot of inconvenience and has been costly which is why we’re claiming those back.

“But I don’t think it has actually affected our business’s reputation. We haven’t noticed any loss of custom.”

Mr Woods told the Echo he was suffering from a number of health issues which meant the claim was “the last thing” on his mind.

After being informed of his response, Mr Watson said: “I am sorry to hear of Mr Woods’ ill health and I will take this into consideration.”

source: http://www.basildonstandard.co.uk/news/ ... nter_sued/

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

We had a customer on Saturday night who didn't want their return journey but they didn't let us know so the car was dispatched. It was a £32.00 fare. When told that they still had to pay they claimed that they tried ringing to cancel and the phones were engaged etc. I told them that all calls are logged, even missed calls and that there are 4 lines and they have never all been busy at the same time. She decided to pay up.

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Grandad,

Ha ha I love outcomes like this.

He eventually dropped the claim - saying ill health prevented him from continuing with the case.

The firm has now taken the decision to counter-sue for costs, believing that evidence stacked against Mr Woods was the real reason behind his U-turn.

why am I not surprised

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector