Taxi Driver Online

Taxis in Folkestone might be becoming more expensive - here is how to avoid paying more

https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-new ... re-1606206

"Make sure the meter is on and don’t forget to ask your taxi driver to give you a discount if this ridiculous proposal goes through”

Taxis in Folkestone may be about to get more expensive, but there’s something you can do to avoid a higher fare.

Taxi firms across the town are currently allowed to charge whatever rate they like, as long as it does not go above the council’s rate limit.

Meters in Folkestone’s firms’ taxis currently display the fares customers owe, but a proposal from Folkestone and Hythe District Council means that meters might show a higher price customers need to pay.

According to the new plans, all taxi meters will show the rate recommended by the council, regardless of whether or not the taxi firm is charging less for the ride.

It will be up to customers to ask for, or self-employed drivers to charge, discounted rates.



Jake Sackett, owner of JJ cabs, said that if the plans do go into force that he wants customers to remember to ask for the discounted fare at the end of the ride.

Taxi rates at JJ Taxis currently start at £2, however should the new rule come into effect, meters will say that the ride begins at £3 and will continue to rise at a faster rate than the firm charges.

“All this will do is affect my customers,” said Mr Sackett.

“I think the council want transparency across the whole taxi trade.

Don't forget to ask

“But they are saying their rates are the correct prices and that’s what we should be charging but they also say we can charge whatever we want.

“If you get in a car and you forget to ask for that discount and the driver does not remind you, you are getting charged more.

“Why do they have to ask? It doesn’t make sense.

“If because they are drunk and they forget to ask for the discount, they are not going to remember the discount and the driver is going to take the extra. It’s human instinct.”

Should the new rule be approved, he advises his customers to always ask their driver to give a discounted rate.

He said: “Make sure the meter is on and don’t forget to ask you JJ Taxis driver to give you a discount if this ridiculous proposal goes through.”


Council's statement

A Folkestone & Hythe District Council spokesman said the proposals are aimed at removing confusion as to the rates different Folkestone firms charge.

The proposals are not yet finalised, but once they are approved, members of the public and people in the taxi trade will be asked to put forward their comments during the public consultation stage.

The spokesman said: “Private Hire vehicles offer pre-booked journeys and passengers should be told the estimated price of their journey at the time of booking, Hackney Carriage drivers base their price on the meter fare.

“Some taxi companies (operators) wish to offer their passengers a lower fare, which is perfectly acceptable.

“However, they currently tend to have alternative tariffs on their meters alongside the F&HDC rates.

“This has proved confusing for passengers who see different pull off rates in different vehicles depending on which company they use, they also charge different amounts per meter.

“The pull-off rates can vary from £2.00, £2.40, £2.60 to £3.00.

“Drivers, operators and the Council often have to deal with customer complaints regarding over-charging as it is not clear to them why different drivers are charging them different amounts.

“Folkestone & Hythe District Council propose that all vehicles with a meter, display only the F&HDC rates once the new policy has been published. Drivers will be entitled to offer a discount on the final price of the journey if they wish. It may be a company discount or their own choice.

“FHDC considers this a fairer way to display and price journeys and so far the drivers have been very supportive of this change.”

Suspect this article won't be too popular with regulars on here, but on other hand it's maybe a tad 'much ado about not very much'.

As council's statement makes clear, obviously lots of discounting going on, and meters reading *two* different tariffs, so think they're just telling the trade that meter should be activated at all times and should show council tariff, and any discount after that is up to individual drivers and firms.

So in essence just bringing the area into line with what happens elsewhere.

And a nice bit of free advertising for one of the discounters.

discounting is always a major factor in competition between cabbies it is often the only way many of them know

ask skippy

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

Thick as f***ing pigs sh**.

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IDFIMH

What a turbomong, I bet he's the first one the have his meter changed displaying the higher fare. I cant understand these idiots who want to work for nothing??

Having been a ph driver in Shepway (now changed name at a cost of tens of thousands of ££££s), cab fares in the area have always been a race to the bottom. why not charge the meter rate and make some profit instead of working for nothing?

Private hire cars don't have meters in the area. My pull' off fare sued to be £5 otherwise it wasn't worth going out for. with most of the area being rural and full of sheep, over 50% was dead mileage. Never a chance of a return fare or picking someone else up. No radio circuits on the marsh either, and few of the Folkestone cabs would work the marsh as it was too rural for them. Leave them fighting round the town for the pittance.

So let me get this straight.

When a driver gets to the end of a journey and says that’s eight pounds sixty, the punter hands over a ten pound note and says keep the change, ( it happens!) the generous driver will say i will tip you the passenger sixty pence, just give me eight pounds?

I never, ever, haggle at the end of a journey. If a punter wants to haggle at the beginning of a job, I might deal. Probably won’t but I might, if there are flying pigs overhead.

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Former taxi driver

We have an owner driver here who has decided to undercut all the others on airports. Strange as airports are already the worst paying jobs around. They have told me that they are now getting more airport bookings than a few months ago before the discount started. I didn't like to say that we are all getting more airport bookings now because people are going on holiday.

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Grandad,

Looks like JJ's charging around £1.20/mile on the airport runs, eg Heathrow £110, which according to Google is 93 miles from Folkestone. (That's for a car, MPV around £20 extra.)

Very little in way of night-time premium, and starts very late, eg New Romney £25 standard for car, £28 after midnight

http://jjtaxis.com/fare-guide/

On short runs they seem to charge their own tariff during the day starting at £2, then after midnight charge the 'Shepway single tariff', so that seems to mean they only charge the council daytime tariff after midnight

Also suggests on website that no fare rise since 2012, although there was a small increase in out of town prices last year



But don't worry, it's all about empathy



Certainly very competitive, but suspect from experience that maybe not so empathetic as it's made to look. Maybe JJ's stance is to generate a bit of holier-than-thou free advertising to help the phones ring, but if a stranger gets into a car on the rank then wouldn't be surprised if full fare is charged

JJ runs quite a few ph cars as well as hacks. No meters in ph cars.

It really is a race to the bottom in that area. Airport at £110, it's actually 101 miles to LHR, so though he's getting £1.10 per mile per loaded mile, he's getting nothing for the empty dead run back, so if his running costs are about 45p/mile to use old government stats, and my own calculations with different cars comes out at much the same, the driver is getting £20 for his efforts. 5 hours driving @ £4/hour? Is it worth it?

It amazes me how many people have no real idea about how much it costs to run their car.

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Grandad,

https://yourtaximeter.com/

I use this for all out of town journeys

That's what we charge, hasn't changed in over 15 years.
Applies all the time except Fri/Sat when theres an extra £10 added regardless of distance !