Taxi Driver Online

Ooft. Well if this guy is as fragile as he sounds in the article, advise he doesn't read the comments on the Grimsby Telegraph's website

23 comments already, and zero in the way of sympathy, as far as I can see

Most flak directed at the Telegraph for publishing this in the first place, and also more personal criticism as to why he left it so late to book a car for a funeral

(And a couple of claims that it's 20 minutes walk from his home to the crematorium...)

And, I mean, those photos - is the Telegraph being over-sympathetic, or a hint of taking the pish?

Anyway, I'm sure there are people on here who know more about these things than me, but if the app took the booking initially, it's a bit off to subsequently cancel. Or did it actually accept a booking? It's not clear, and kind of sounds like the app kept him hanging on for 40 mins until it said they couldn't do the job.


Man 'devastated' after nearly missing brother's funeral because he couldn't get a taxi

https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/news ... ng-7690096

Shaun Johnson booked the seven-seater taxi at 3.25pm for the 4.30pm funeral


Image: GrimsbyLive/Donna Clifford

A Grimsby man said he was left "absolutely devastated" after a taxi did not arrive to take him and his family to Grimsby Crematorium where he was due to give the eulogy at his brother's funeral.

Shaun Johnson, whose brother Mickey died suddenly on September 9 aged just 41, booked a seven-seater taxi via the Links Taxis booking app at 3.25pm on Thursday, October 6, to take him and his family from the Nunsthorpe estate to Grimsby Crematorium where the funeral was due to take place at 4.30pm.

But 20 minutes before the service, he was notified that the booking was cancelled, leaving him, his partner, two children and stepdaughter without transport to Grimsby Crematorium. Links Taxis have since told Grimsby Live that they had tried to get in touch by phone twice before then to explain that all of their larger vehicles were out on school runs, but the phone number on his app account was wrong.

Shaun said he was able to book a taxi for 4.30pm, but he missed his brother's coffin being carried in and had just ten minutes to deliver the eulogy. Shaun told Grimsby Live: "Mickey passed away on September 9 unexpectedly - he was only 41.

"My dad asked me to deal with everything and arrange his funeral. Mickey was supposed to be my best man at my wedding next year and our agreement was that he would be my best man as long as I did the speeches at do's. With him passing away, a deal is a deal, so I said I'd do the eulogy."

"At approximately 3.25pm I went onto the app and booked a seven-seater for us. I sat there waiting, looking at the app, and it said it was finding me a driver. Then all of a sudden, at about 4.10pm, we got a message saying the car was cancelled. So I had 20 minutes to try and get there, but every taxi firm we rang said they didn't have a car in our area. It was a nightmare," he continued.


Image: GrimsbyLive/Donna Clifford

Shaun said they managed to get a four-seater taxi at 4.30pm - but his brother, partner and stepdaughter then missed the entire funeral because his brother had to pick them up to take them to the crematorium.

"I emailed [Links Taxis] the next day to say how disappointed I was in them, and they didn't even acknowledge me. They said they tried to ring me over the weekend, but over the weekend is no good. It's just not on, it's not fair. My partner and my brother missed the entire funeral because he had to go and get them. So he missed the speech, he missed everything," he said.

Shaun said he usually "never has a problem" booking taxis via the app and that the events of the day of the funeral has left him feeling like "he has let [his brother] down" and has impacted his mental health.

"I was crying, I was stressing, I thought I'd let him down. When I got into the funeral I got a load of earache from everyone. I was so angry, I really was. I had all this planned in my head to give him a really good send-off and because my head was scrambled, I said about ten lines. I didn't even do it properly. I feel like I've let him down and it's affected my mental health.

"I haven't had an apology from them," he added.

But a spokesperson from Links Taxis told Grimsby Live that they attempted to call Shaun to inform him that no seven-seater taxis were available following his booking, but that they were unable to get through.

They said: "The person booked a taxi through our app and when he booked it, he booked a four-seater plus luggage which we would automatically send a six-seater taxi to, or something bigger. When it dropped into the screen, it was in the middle of our school times and all our six-seaters were on school runs, so the person who was running dispatch tried to call the person twice, but the phone number that was attached to the app is not his new phone number, so we couldn't get through."


Image: GrimsbyLive/Donna Clifford

On a strict reading, as the bereaved portrays it it reads like the app never actually accepted a booking.

However, Links Taxis seems to accept there was a booking accepted, but they couldn't contact him when they couldn't get a car, because he hadn't supplied the current number..

So I'd guess there was fault on both sides, but obviously difficult to assess these things without precisely knowing all the ins and outs

We often get booking taken by our app which we can't actually do. The operator immediately cancels the job via the app messaging so the customer gets the cancelation straight away. However some customers just rebook on the app even when we tell them we can't do the job. Sometimes this goes back and forth 4 or 5 times before they accept that they can't have a car.

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Grandad,

Yes, Grandad, I suppose it's a tech/automation-related thing, to a degree at least.

So if something doesn't work, you tend to just keep retrying, in the hope it will eventually work, although if you actually talked to a human being you might be persuaded to do otherwise.

Reminds me of leaving the lottery tickets till the last twenty minutes or so when there's a huge jackpot, and the website just won't respond, but I'd keep on trying, although it was rare that I'd actually get through before the 7.30pm cut off

Someone in the comments has asked...


To be fair, I think the press have always taken a shedload of photos if they actually use a photographer, and in the days of paper-only publications, they'd maybe just use one or two at most because of space limitations. But with an online publication, they effectively have a blank and unlimited canvas, so can post a ton of photos.

Which is why there are often articles on here with several photos that don't look particularly different, and which would never be included in an actual newspaper, but a website's a tad different.

A couple of my favourites on here with the identikit photos:

First, the HCD from Babergh:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=35473&p=398582#p398582

But probably the most memorable one is the Oxford HCD rep. Four different photos, and slightly more variety than the Babergh ones. But I think it's just the look on his face...

www.taxi-driver.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=34536

If only he could have used his mobile for what it was actually invented for i.e. ring the f***ing office and enquire.

But he didn't want to do that, he just tried to book via the app and hoped for the best, and now wants to blame the world for his own mistake.

Commiserations for his loss, but he is a f***wit for going off to the press.

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IDFIMH