Taxi Driver Online

From the Brighton and Hove Argus, August 2003:

Taxi rip-off

I was nearly caught out while trying to get a taxi from Brighton railway station.

I was desperate to take a taxi to Gatwick Airport and approached the only two taxis there for a price.

One looked in a little book and gave me the amazingly high price of £66.

The other said he would charge £70 from the same little book.

As I stood there in disbelief, another taxi was dropping off a customer so I approached him to see if that was the right price.

He said his company only charged £35 but he was not allowed to pick up from the station.

However, if we walked down the road to his taxi office, he would be able to take me if he was booked.

Thankfully what he said was true and I arrived in time for my plane and was charged the fair price of £35.

Why don't all Brighton taxis charge the same price as they do in Edinburgh or is this the way Brighton treats its visitors?

-Peter Jackson, Edinburgh

Should have said it's on the clock guv, what you see ya pay.

POSTED BY MR SCANNER

Two ways of looking at this.

1: The exclusive rights of those with permits charge different prices on roaders from the station. That could mean that there is competition between those taxis on the Brighton station rank. So, that does not mean that there is a cartel within the Brighton station rank as it was proved that different prices were quoted. Also, of course, Hackney Carriages can charge whatever they want for journeys ending outside the authority area.

I would also say that there is a higher percentage of independant hacks (not working with a radio) at the station rank.

2. The hackeny carriage that was dropping off, but not permitted to pick up at the staion charged the same rate that would have been quoted if the job had come via his office. He could have quite easily quoted whatever price he thought fit at the time, as he was entitled to. If I get a path job roader I do not charge the same rate as my office quotes. I qoute a fare price that is slightly above the office rate, but not excessive .And of course the office rates for roaders are set at a competitive rate and not fixed (BY ANY JTC!!!) .So the customer was actually lucky to have bumped into that particular driver. If it was me I would have charged £40 (Gatwick is a 60 mile round trip and of course you are coming back empty)

Where the actual complaint comes from is that the customer expected all the hacks to charge the same price... now that WOULD be a cartel. The cusotmer actually got a very good price.. so why the complaint??? ANd I thought theis at the time it was printed in the local paper.

Would he have complained and taken the trouble to write into the paper if all the taxis on the Brighton ranks each quoted the same price of £70??

So really dusty. I dont see the point in you quoting this piece of news on here. Unless you are trying to show that there is a cartel working here. I mean.. the different prices quoted shows exactly that there isnt.

I'm afraid the customer was being ripped off, or maybe even fleeced. Anyone who charges double the going rate, is trying to con the punter.

These people will never learn, you con someone one day and you think you have had a result, but you have lost a punter. That punter tells others (via the paper), and now many more think you are rip off merchants.

The saving grace was that the punter in the end got a reasonable cab to do the job for the right price. Thus it shows that there are many gooduns out there, but alas too much [edited by admin].

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IDFIMH

I thought that was the point of meters?

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IDFIMH

Just exactly how much is it to Gatwick from Brighton?

The five operators quote prices on their websites, ranging from £35.00 to £35.00.

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IDFIMH

Hi Nidge... Im glad someone asked this.... ( thanks for the email funnys keep em comming )

If it were metered..........

Brighton Tariff (single tariff) 2.20 flag then 1.80 per mile thereafter.
No progressive tariff for dead retrun miles as there was about three years ago which clicked in at about 12 miles

Gatwick approx 28 miles one way. Total return miles 56

= Gatwick one way trip first mile 2.20 then 26 miles @ 1.80=£50.80

Heathrow approx 70 miles one way. Total return miles 140.

= Heathrow one way trip first mile 2.20 then 69 miles @1.80 = £126
So, if all the companies actually priced these airport runs as they should be as per the meter then the customer would be paying more than the £35 and £85 that they are all charging. As it is, the companies run these airport charges as a special rate, and have always done so.

Now of course some on here will start shouting "Cartel!! Cartel!! but what is happening is that the customer is actually getting a very good rate which is being set at its lowest rate possible by all the companies. Any lower then I would seriously question the cab company that ran at an even lower rate.

"Cartel!! Cartel!!!" Saved you doing it Sussex

And dont forget that this price is one way with loads of dead mileage.

I trust my reply to Nidge answers any accusations that you are making Sussex

Accusations me, perish the thought.

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IDFIMH

How about making some proper comments on the information I have given

yes scanner I think it was an own goal as well.
right until it comes to consulting the black book

why are all the ruddy books black?
why do they exist?

still all hackneys should be the same not cartel but regulation, but I aggree with your posting thrust

I thought I had.

I think it stinks, the cartel is there for the cartel. Any pretense that it's there for the drivers is rubbish.

It divis up the work, so that operators can have always their alloted share, without fear of losing a big account.

What it needs is for a new company to start, hopefully following de-limit, and then they can take the supermarket work the cartel don't want to pay for. This will then give them a base to grow, and hopefully flourish.

Or better still, the OFT will be asked to investigate what's going on.

I hope it's the latter.

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IDFIMH

Further to my previous post, a colleague from Brighton has just given me one of the reasons why the cartel operating there is bad for drivers.

A driver on one of the 'infamous five' had for a long while advertised in the local press for Airport work. He is/was fully licensed as an operator.

From one of those advertisements he gained work from one of the 'infamous five'. The operator was not best pleased, and with the help of the other four, that driver was blacked from all the other operators.

The more posters on TDO look into this myer, the more it stinks.

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IDFIMH

You really are bitter and twisted Apart from anything else where do you think the requested £20,000 would come from ...THE DRIVERS POCKET SUSSEX. I really can not keep up with you at times.

I repeat what stated before. WE LET TESCOS CUTOMERS CALL WHOEVER THEY WANT You cannot get any farer than that. But of course...for the sake of making more posts to reach your 6000 posts goal you will disagree with that

I am shocked that you fully back the issue of drivers paying for work. I mean you constantly shout "Leach! Leach!" and yet here you are giving your whole weight for it.

You are a complete hypocrict. You are full of jealousy. You are a lone ph driver that belongs to no organisation You want to join a club and are so frustrated that you cant I remember people like you from my schooldays

I actually believe that you post for the sake of it.!!!!!