Taxi Driver Online

Blind woman left 'stranded' after taxi driver shortage

Thursday, December 30, 2010

A blind Plymouth woman was left stranded after being let down by a city taxi firm, her husband has claimed.

Trevor Hunter is furious that Plymouth Taxis apparently reneged on an assurance that a black cab would be available to take him, his wife Francesca and her guide dog Honey home from a Christmas meal.

Despite the fact that Francesca, 59, is registered blind and faced a dangerous trek home over treacherously icy pavements, Mr Hunter said a Plymouth Taxis employee suggested she walked.

Trevor, 58, said: "She was assured that it would be quite in order to leave the booking and just ring when we were ready.

"The driver also assured us that it would be quite in order to call for a cab when we were ready to leave.

"Imagine our surprise when, on ringing Plymouth Taxis to book our return journey, we were told that they were not taking any more bookings as they were short of cab drivers.

"When asked how we were to get home, the response was akin to 'Walk'.

"Bearing in mind that the roads and pavements around the north of the city have been described as treacherous, we were more than just a little disgusted at this treatment."

Francesca said: "Prior to Christmas Day, I hadn't been out of the house for over a week, and I wasn't going to miss my Christmas lunch.

"We live only half a mile or so from the Jack Rabbit pub, but apart from being blind I am not very steady on my feet and have brittle bones, so if I fall I have to go to hospital for X-rays.

"We have used Plymouth Taxis for years because a black cab is easier than a private hire car when you rely on a guide dog."

The Hunters were eventually taken home by private hire firm Taxifast.

The Herald also received a separate complaint about Plymouth Taxis from reader Tina Freshwater.

She claimed that on Christmas Day a frail elderly friend of hers took a Plymouth taxi to her friends to spend Christmas with them.

She said that on the outgoing journey the driver was 'very kind' and helped the elderly lady with her parcels.

But Ms Freshwater claimed that on the return journey the driver refused to take her friend to her front door and unloaded her packages, leaving the woman about 500 yards from her door.

She said: "After recently having fallen on the ice, she was already very nervous and by the time she had struggled home was very distressed.

"I believe that maybe Plymouth Taxis should look at the service some of their drivers give, and reward the good and discipline the bad."

Plymouth Taxis chairman Graham Couch told The Herald he would launch a full investigation.

"We are very sorry; we don't like anyone getting upset," he said.

Mr Couch said there are 98 drivers in the black cab co-operative, but they had been short of drivers and inundated with calls on Christmas Day.

Source; http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Co ... ticle.html

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

Me thinks that this Plymouth Taxis employee needs re-training!!!

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

Surely the fact that the firm is a co-operative should mean that drivers will turn out when they are urgently needed.

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IDFIMH

This was christmas day and I suppose that it is possible that some drivers had the day off. It is also possible that some others have come down with the flu bug or something similar. Also because according to the report on the roads, some drivers who were planning to work simply couldn,t. I would hazard a guess that for the first complaint, because there was no vehicle available, that the person trying to arrange the taxi would have got quite agitated and the person answering the phone was not able to placate them. He allegedly told them to do something "akin" to walking home. That could have been just one of a number of sugestions that probably also included ringing another company. For the second complaint, maybe the roads had got worse from when the passenger was first picked up and, again, the driver probably considdered the road to dangerous to drive along.

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Grandad,

That's the best written article I have read in a long time that deals with conjecture, guesswork, speculation, assumption, supposition, imagination & inference.

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

The first one may also have received the answer: 'Yes sir, we'll send a car as soon as we are able. We're currently working with an hour's wait but we'll get there earlier if at all possible.'

Is it possibly the only time since last Christmas that either of these fares have phoned for a cab, along with the other multitudes who only use cabs once a year but expect instant service on that particular night?

No doubt the telephonist was at fault to a degree but Joe Public must be aware that on rare occasions you get taxi 'queues' in the same way that you get butcher's queues on Christmas Eve.

I found on christmas day that we were much quieter than usual and the only fares I turned down were the ones who wanted the popular times and wouldn't wait everyone who was prepared to be patient got a taxi was it a case of the customer expecting to get priority treatment and not being prepared to wait for the next available vehicle

Like them people who phone up and say "I use your firm all the time". When you look back it's been a year since they last used you.

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Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Believe me, don't get Mercury X2

And then their next question is 'Are you new?' 'No, I've been using this rank for 10 years or more!'

Never seen you before how long have you worked on here??

_________________
Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Believe me, don't get Mercury X2

yeah, LAST new years eve.....lol

I am glad that you appreciate my efforts.

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Grandad,