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PostPosted: Fri Mar 15, 2024 5:52 pm 
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One for the Glasgow drivers in view of the recent podcast...

And lots of parallels between Cardiff and Glasgow in terms of size, population, nightlife and the like.

On the other hand, I'd bet the demographic of the average Cardiff HCD is a tad different from the demographic of the average Glasgow HCD 8-[

Quite interesting the stuff below, though, because it goes into a bit more detail than usual about possible technical issues and the consequences thereto :?


Taxi drivers in Cardiff will be required to take card payments from this year

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wale ... e-28825684

Cardiff Council said the majority of people it asked in a survey said card payments should be brought in

Black and white cabs in Cardiff will now be required to take card payments as well as cash from this year. Cardiff Council's public protection committee met to discuss the proposal at a meeting on Wednesday, March 13, with one member saying the update to the council's policy was "long overdue".

However, some councillors said that the updated policy suggested that hackney carriage drivers could only go to work if they had a working method of taking card payments, raising concerns that drivers with technical faults would be penalised. The committee eventually agreed to the proposal, which will come into effect from September 1, despite attempts by two members to amend it.

Cllr Marc Palmer said: "I think this is probably a long time over due legislation to be honest." Cardiff Council carried out a survey which asked members of the public and taxi drivers what they thought of the proposal. Of the 252 taxi driver respondents, 42% thought there should not be a requirement to accept card payments; 33% thought there should; and 24% were unsure.

Of the 700 public respondents, 84% thought there should be a requirement to accept card payments. Cllr Palmer said the results show that "this is something that is needed and I think the way that people live their lives now... we need that contactless method." His committee colleague, Cllr Sean Driscoll, said: "I am no fan of a cashless society, but... people who use taxis are clearly in favour of it and it gives people a choice.

"We are a capital city and we need to move with the times." In the report put to committee members, it shows that one of the conditions considered in a 2022 report on card payments suggested that drivers must notify the council if there is a fault with their card payment system and that they should arrange a repair or replacement within 48 hours.

However, on review of the proposed conditions, the council stated: "The requirement to notify the Licensing Department within 48 hours of a fault may cause confusion as it is a requirement that the device is operational at all times." Cllr Helen Gunter proposed an amendment, seconded by Cllr Jon Shimmin, that drivers would be required to notify the council within seven days if their card readers had a technical fault and that they should still be allowed to work during this time.

Cllr Gunter said she was "broadly in favour of the policy" but said the amendment was put forward to negate the risk of drivers losing out on business if they hadn't got a working card machine. Cllr Shimmin pointed out that whilst some card readers could be fixed or replaced in a matter of days, people could be waiting up to five days for a replacement purchased online.

He added: "[With] other businesses you don't say to them 'your card reader isn't working, you have to stay at home'. It isn't fair to say that to taxi drivers." Licensing team manager at Cardiff Council, Dan Cook, said the new requirement would reduce the need for customers to be dropped off next to cash points and improve their safety in such circumstances if this was at night time.

He also said: "As fewer and fewer customers are carrying wallets and cards... we have received comments that customers preferred to use private hire [taxis]." He also said there were a number of card readers on the market that had fail safes built into them, like the ability for people to use smart phones as card readers and an option for customers to be sent a text message to facilitate a payment through their phones.

On the proposed amendment, Mr Cook added that it would be "very difficult" to enforce a condition to report a technical failure with a card reader and correct it within a set time frame. He said it would be "unenforceable" if the condition was set to seven days.


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 15, 2024 5:52 pm 
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It's quite a complex area, obviously, but problem with the likes of this stuff is that allowing drivers to work with faulty card readers (say) would mean that as regards using 'no card reader' as a pretence to cherry-pick then it would make zero difference - a driver could just say their reader isn't working, or whatever, and that does the same job :?

And cherry-picking has always been a particular problem in Cardiff anyway. Or, at least, it's always been reported quite often by the Cardiff press and treated quite seriously by the council...


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 15, 2024 9:27 pm 
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raising concerns that drivers with technical faults would be penalised.

Penalised by whom?

The council sets the rules, the council enforces the rules.

So set the bloody rules to allow flexibility should a driver encounter a technical fault.

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PostPosted: Fri Mar 15, 2024 9:29 pm 
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StuartW wrote:
It's quite a complex area, obviously, but problem with the likes of this stuff is that allowing drivers to work with faulty card readers (say) would mean that as regards using 'no card reader' as a pretence to cherry-pick then it would make zero difference - a driver could just say their reader isn't working, or whatever, and that does the same job :?

And cherry-picking has always been a particular problem in Cardiff anyway. Or, at least, it's always been reported quite often by the Cardiff press and treated quite seriously by the council...

I think a driver would get away with it once, but if the same driver has a history of rule-breaking, then hopefully he will not.

What B&H does is put the condition on the vehicle license, not the driver's license (yes they are often the same person).

But to quote you a few years ago, do we allow drivers to work without a meter if it's not working?

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PostPosted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 11:18 am 
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Sussex wrote:
But to quote you a few years ago, do we allow drivers to work without a meter if it's not working?

Well I can't remember that, so good job you have a better memory than me :lol: :oops:

But if it was made compulsory, then maybe it should be incumbent on drivers (or plateholders :? ) to have some sort of back-up in place if they're not willing to stop working if they had technical issues.

I've certainly got two mobile phone accounts for that reason, and would probably get another card reader to use as a back up if they were made compulsory.

Of course, no doubt at some point in the future it may well effectively be a waste of time coming out to work if you don't have a functioning automated payment facility.

Certainly on the nights here where it's all students, I wouldn't bother coming out unless I had a card reader. And even at the best of times, not having one would lead to a lot of hassle (as people increasingly assume that you will take cards without asking), or at best a lot of lost work.

Not sure how any driver in the big cities can hold out from getting a card reader, to be honest, although things must be a tad different to how they are here these days :?


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PostPosted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 5:05 pm 
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Not sure how any driver in the big cities can hold out from getting a card reader, to be honest, although things must be a tad different to how they are here these days :?

As I mentioned in the Glasgow thread, most drivers do have card readers, it's just that many drivers say they haven't for very local work.

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PostPosted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 7:27 pm 
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As I keep on telling punters, pretty sure that locally 100% of the drivers have card readers, but they'll say they don't (or say it's not working) if they don't want the job :?

No doubt there are still some real dinosaurs in the bigger cities who genuinely don't have them, but similarly I'd guess it's more often than not just a pretence to 'broom' a job.

But until they're compulsory it's impossible to clarify the number who genuinely don't have them. As per locally, I'd guess the more genuine drivers think it's more who don't have them than the real number.

I mean, Auld Jim may be known as a driver who doesn't take cards because he doesn't have a reader and can't work the technology. But who's to know that that punter who got into his cab isn't a £100 card job? :roll:


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2024 9:44 pm 
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Policy is now in use, and shock horror the world hasn't ended.

https://www.wales247.co.uk/taxis-in-car ... ss-payment

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PostPosted: Fri Nov 01, 2024 2:27 pm 
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When card readers were mandated here in Chester, they were added to the vehicles license conditions. If a driver’s card reader is not working they have to inform licensing within twenty four hours and they then have seven days to rectify the problem or explain to the LA why they haven’t. We had a few drivers try it on at first but when I explained to the one in front of me the rules I told him I’d email licensing for him. An hour later he came up to me telling me he’d reset his machine and it’s all ok now. :---)


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