Taxi Driver Online

Anger over hike in minicab fares
http://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/news/


SOME minicab firms in Basingstoke have been criticised for jacking up fares by as much as 50 per cent during the cold snap.

But a boss at one of the firms in question has defended the increase, saying its drivers were putting themselves at risk in the treacherous conditions.

Among those who contacted The Gazette to complain was Zoe Curtis, of Falkland Place, Popley, Basingstoke.

She said her mother Deborah Lane, 50, who is agoraphobic and very shy, was caught out after a shopping trip to Asda in Brighton Hill last Friday.

Laden with shopping, she was charged £12 for the estimated 800 yards to her home in Quilter Road, Brighton Hill on the basis of time-and-a-half.

Ms Curtis, 29, said: “I thought, with all the weather, it was really taking advantage of the situation.”

The owner of the company concerned was unavailable for comment before The Gazette went to press.

The passenger of a different company – Elite Cars – also contacted The Gazette. He said he was charged a 50 per cent surcharge when returning with bags of shopping for two disabled neighbours who are in their late 70s.

The 60-year-old, from South Ham, said: “It must be pleasing for them to know that the extra cost deprived two elderly senior citizens of some much needed cash from their small state pension.”

Jodi O’Connor, a partner in Elite Cars, based at Crockford Lane, Chineham, defended the extra charges. She said all customers were notified before the booking was made, and the company had changed fares back “as soon as it was possible”, even though conditions down many side roads they had to negotiate were still treacherous.

She said: “The road conditions were so dangerous out there that the drivers had to have some compensation for being out there.”

The complaints relate to some, but not all, private hire vehicles, which unlike the black Hackney Carriage taxis, are free to set their own fares.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, which licenses private hire vehicles, confirmed it had received two complaints, but in both cases the firms had warned customers of the higher charge before the journey.

Licensing manager Linda Cannon said: “The law does not regulate the fares that private hire companies can charge their customers. It is up to each individual company to decide.

“There is nothing to stop them charging higher rates as they are doing fewer journeys per hour and having to face difficult road conditions.”

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

Got two choices at the time, pay it or don't get in the motor.

Got two choices now, use that firm or a firm that didn't hike up the fares.

Question is did the firms charging normal fares have any cars out?

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IDFIMH

We did.

Three to be precise.

They could have used a licensed Taxi that run on a meter, you know the ones, the lads who didn't overcharge their customers because it snowed.

Just like the London Minicabs do every time theres some form of emergency like weather or bombings.

Didn't you say in another thread that you gave up one night after having to charge more than normal due to the snow?

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Grandad,

How can I charge more when I run on a sealed regulated meter like the other 25'000 London Taxis?

Stick to Limo legislation.

Come on GBC be honest. The fare you were talking about would have normally been one price but because the snow and ice meant that the job took longer the fare was more than normal ON THE METER. That is only the same as a PH charging more than normal.
You couldn't even lie straight in bed could you.

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Grandad,

If they can find one.

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IDFIMH

It was nothing to do with snow and ice, it was down to road closures.

Or are you suggesting, that London Minicabs don't chop and change their prices when it suits?

Perhaps we should do free rides when the traffic gets a bit heavy? FFS.

The fares are regulated, we don't make them up as we go along . . . unlike your shady co operators.

Of course I forgot you're the world expert on the London taxi trade, with all your experience of being a Taxi driver.

Stick to Limo's and cheap hotels in Sussex Gardens, leave the most famous, highly regulated, best earning trade to those that have put the effort in to be licensed to work there.

Whatever the reasons were, What would the fare have been had you been able to have done the job normally and how does that compare to the £27 you charged? Now obviously you expected to get paid more because the job took longer than usual so why shouldn't minicabs get more when their jobs take longer. Of course one difference would be that the minicab would have given the price up front if asked but your customer would only get the price at the end.

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Grandad,

It's going right over your head isn't it?

They make them up on the day, taxis fares are tightly regulated.
Spot the difference.

Just like the day of the 2005 bombings when we all worked at the metered rate, and the scabs were charging £100 for trips into Central London from Hammersmith.

They always do, at every opportunity they can.

Its called taking advantage, and thats why they're Minicabs and not Licensed Taxis.

No it isn't going over my head at all. If a passenger asks the price when he phones for a minicab, he is given a price. That price stays the same doesn't it? The passenger can either take it or leave it.
When a passenger flags down a hackney, he will pay the fare on the meter which can be one price one day and another price the next due to traffic conditions. But I won't know that it is going to cost me more today than it did yesterday will I?
I would guess that on the day of the bombings if you had to go anywhere near the areas that were affected your prices would have been more than the day before simply because of the congestion and road closures that you like to blame.

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Grandad,

The bombings made my journeys twice as quick.

You are missing the point.

Its called being fair and honest, words alien to the Limo industry with their booking scams and made up prices.

Customers need to be protected from the racketeers who double the prices because it snows.

What’s next?

Its 2am and there’s a queue at the PH office. Let’s double the fare because we can with our captive audience.

Mrs Smith has too many bags of shopping, let’s double the fare as we can because she has to get home.

The trains are out on strike again, let’s double the fare because we can.

Taxis can't as we're bound by legislation. It’s that simple. We play the game and work within the parameters set by our licensing authority.

If the greedy coonts that put their prices up because of the weather were that busy, the drivers (just like the Taxi driver from Hampshire who posts on here) would have been earning a fortune without ripping off the punters.

But let’s all hope the punters remember, and just like the robbers from Hammersmith in 2005, the crooks will be no more as we go through 2010.

Playing fair by the rules, honesty, legislated . . . remember those Grandad, that's the basic difference between Taxis and Minicabs.

They are playing by the rules that apply to their type of license.

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Grandad,

Exactly.

Make 'em up as you go, charge what you can get away with, take full advantage of whatever the circumstances allow you to, and use the 'if they don't like it, lump it' defence.

Can you see the ever so slight flaw in that?