x-ray wrote:
I just wish there was more enforcement to stop it happening here in Chester. Not a huge problem but certain drivers from certain backgrounds think it is acceptable. When they’re reported for it they play the race card, couldn’t understand them or they were abusive towards them. I think we need more ‘test’ cases, but then they’d cry entrapment.
Yes, quite a grey area. The wording here is any other 'reasonable excuse', which could potentially cover anything.
Which was why I was questioning a few days ago whether a fare to dodgy area (in Hull) could be refused on those grounds - if so, certainly the kind of thing that could be open to abuse, most obviously to avoid undesirables or short fares.
Recall when there were roadworks and diversions near our station asking our LO if it would be reasonable to knock back a fare of a few hundred yards (ie on the flagfall) when the trip *back* to the rank would be nearly five miles (and the driver could easily have waited a couple of hours for the fare).
Think he actually said it would be reasonable to knock it back, which surprised me, but unfortunately the situation never actually arose, so didn't have to test the theory.
But which begs the question, how far would the detour need be to justify knocking such a fare back. Of course, it's hardly unusual for that kind of thing to happen, but not normally so that the journey back is ten times the length of the journey there.