Taxi Driver Online

Woman's fury at un-fare refusal

TWO Exmouth taxi drivers could have broken a Victorian law after refusing to drive a 35-year-old local woman from The Strand to her town centre home. The woman, who does not want to be named, had been out with friends when at the end of the evening she tried to take a taxi from The Strand rank to her home in Dagmar Road - less than a mile away.

The woman claims she was forced to walk home after two taxi drivers refused her request to take her home - saying the job was not worth the small fare. Their refusal could have broken a Victorian hackney carriage law - which works on a 'cab rank principal' and states drivers must take jobs whether they like them or not.

The 35-year-old Dagmar Road resident said she had decided to take a taxi because her feet were aching after a day at work and she felt uneasy walking home in the dark. She said: "If it's light I am happy to walk home because it's not far. "On this night I wanted to get home quickly so I went to the first taxi in the queue.

"When I told the driver where I wanted to go, he laughed at me and said it wasn't worth the job. He said 'I am not going up to Dagmar Road for £2'. "When I went to the next taxi driver, they laughed and said 'are you having a laugh?'

"I said I was tired and this was a taxi. I was told to go to the back of the queue because the driver had been in the queue for 20 minutes and didn't want to go to Dagmar Road for £2. "I was furious. It shouldn't really matter whether I was going around the corner or not."

Several of The Strand taxi drivers this week told the Journal they would have been happy to have taken the £2 fare and driven the woman the short distance home. Will Robertson, from Estuary Taxis, said: "My attitude is a job's a job. It doesn't matter how short it is. It's all money. I would have taken her. "If you refuse to take someone, you are giving the money to someone else. I would rather have it myself."

A 43-year-old taxi driver, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "We take everybody on this firm. If she had the money, we would take her.

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IDFIMH

Refusing fares because customers are only going a short distance is on the increase. It happens in Manchester on a regular basis and it is well known by Manchester licensing unit and cab drivers who the culprits are.

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

I agree, the same is becoming increasingly more common here too.

regards

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

All that said, if I was at the back of a very long rank, I would be quite happy to do a local.

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IDFIMH

It is a common occurence round here at night during the day people mostly go to the cabs at the back of the rank anyway if i'm sat front rank i'm glad of anything that comes my way !

Aren't you PH? What would you be doing on a rank?

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Grandad,

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IDFIMH

he said IF he was on a rank....

So in theory the guys at the back are really the guys at the front and they could be kept working indefinately providing the jobs are all going locally. lol

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.