Taxi Driver Online

Discretion and the lack of it, how about thinking thank god it's not me in that chair, ok so you lose 5 minutes time, big deal, is it that busy to worry about, I think certain ppl should hang their heads in shame, ok the rules might be one thing, but kindness is another, and if you can't help someone less fortunate than yourself without expecting cash reward what does that say for you.


Cab drivers and ppl who drive cabs again isn't it.

I would suspect that the contract for the job would be formed as soon as the driver has agreed to do the job, I of course could be wrong. If you were only hired once the meter is on what would happen with all those drivers who don't put their meters on cos they have already agreed a price or those that are covering a fixed rate fare under contract?

_________________
Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

if they can attack me then they arent disabled, or they are hitting me below the nipple line...


seriously, if you had ONLY wheelchair jobs all day you could lose 3 hours drive time...and they shouldnt drink and drive wheelchairs

_________________
Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

the real problem comes when the drivers are (properly) employed/PAYE/on the books and on £6/hr (say) and lose 1/3rd of available working time pulling/pushing ramps/chairs.....

_________________
Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

So if I'm hailed by Hotel / Retaurant staff (as you frequently are) and told to wait whilst people in a restaurant are 'getting ready', which ranges from 10 seconds to over 5 minutes.

Now according to your books Grandad I should do it for nothing.

If another fare approaches me, which they tend to do during the night, I turn them down and say 'Sorry, but I don't want to be paid I'm happy sitting here for free'

I can tell you're not a Taxi driver.

There's being helpful, and there's taking the pizz out of yourself.

if your a "limo" service on higher rates maybe waiting time is of no consequence, when your on the meter, or on a fixed quote/lowest wins it certainly is, why should I sit about for nowt?

_________________
Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

I ask where they are going.

_________________
IDFIMH

I would have said you were hired from the point that you were unable to accept another fare.

CC

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

From memory, and the likes of Mr GBC could put me right, but the London tariff allows a run in fee for some radio jobs, or maybe just on accounts.

Any way are we saying the London taxi trade couldn't charge a run in fee for wheelchair bound punters?

_________________
IDFIMH

You have the choice of either waiting for the fare or taking the other fare or driving off. If the fare isn't ready and someone else wants the car, you take them.
Put it this way, if I were to be getting into a taxi and found that the meter was already running, I would ask the driver to either start the meter again or I would get another taxi.

_________________
Grandad,

then again, theres waiting time, and theres "the clock" option on a meter, which will rack up fares at each traffic light, junction and palican crossing....

_________________
Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

If that's the case then what's the point of the legislation?

If a disabled person can't get into a bus, say, then you just say, 'tough, they're being treated equally to able-bodied people'?

The way I see it is this. You turn up at a pub for someone, who is taking the Mick and don't appear for twenty minutes. You put the meter on long before that.

That's equality of treatment, but if the person turns out to be disabled and you spend five minutes loading their wheelchair then you shouldn't charge for the additional five minutes of your time.

Of course, it would be difficult to quantify the time spent loading the chair and thus subtracting it from the meter, but in practice it's normally the case that the hire would be more immediate, in which case the disadvantage to the wheelchair user is quantified simply by not activating the meter until they're loaded.

The same would apply to London 'run-in' fees - if that's legal then there's nothing to say that a disabled person can't be charged this if it's charged to an able-bodied person, but the time spent loading the chair shouldn't be charged, because that would discriminate on account of a person's disability.

I don't really get your point about the wheelchair ramp into a shop, but in essence my point was that it's costing the shop more to provide it, just like it's costing a cab driver more to load a wheelchair, but it seems unlikely that a shop could charge a disabled person more to use the ramp to offset the additional cost to the shop, ditto taxi drivers.

_________________
Dundee rocks. Almost.

Quite.

Thats the key phrase.

If drivers from other parts of the UK are happy to give their working time for nowt, then hats off to you.

I don't.

I've never had any disabled people question the meter reading, in fact I usually get a decent tip for the help I render at both the start and end of the journey.

Yes, it's £2 for a phone booking, which is charged as an 'extra'.

I believe some account work carries a run in of up to £4.20 though, but that's agreed between the client and the supplier.

M.O.P's booking a taxi in advance pay the £2 extra as far as I am aware, wheelchair or not.