Taxi Driver Online

In which way do local councils gather evidence for any complaints made against a licensed private hire driver ???
A friend and fellow driver has just recieved a letter from glasgow city council to appear at a hearing regarding an overcharging complaint. Now this supposedly happened on the 28 of january and he has just been informed now. How the hell he is going to recall an event that far away is beyond me. Also, im beggining to think about how easy it is for any person at all to just note your plate number and write in a complaint about you , even though you may have done absolutley zilch towards them, and there are plenty of idiots at the weekends who would do just that for nastyness, so where does the buck stop,,do drivers get ``blacklisted`` every time they appear on a hearing ??? is a simple complaint enough to get an innocent driver in trouble ??? Is passenger testimony alone enough to warrant a warning ???

From memory Trigot didn't you say you drove PH, thus the fare you charged has got nothing to do with your council. If the customer was overcharged then its your PH firm or the courts that the redress should come from.

But if you friend just goes and says he can't remember because of the delay, then I can't really see what the council can do. He should also insist on seeing any written complaint before he comments on it. Maybe he should also take a small recorder into the hearing.

But best say nothing.

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IDFIMH

A friend of mine runs a PH company, they logged in a job on the computer, the person who they was picking up got into another PH firms vehicle, when the origional PH driver got to the pick up point the person was not there but saw the other vehicle setting off, so logged in as no pick up, the other PH company denied they had picked up cos nothing in their booking system, the passenger later then proceded to report the matter to the council that he had been over charged

The council queried this with the PH company who took the booking, but to save any hassle or appearing at the council the over charge was paid even tho they never did the job. infact they paid the full fare back of I think it was £9.20

It seems to me in this job anyone [the passenger] can make any complaint even with no witness, he did this, he did that, he drove like this, he was rude,he overcharged us, he spoilt our perfect night out cos he was a miserable taxi driver, the list goes on, but it seems the council are judge and jury and you are in the wrong. till you come up with a reasonable answer.

I suppose to some the £9.20 isn't worth the aggro, but surely the LO is a complete tit for not believing both you and your firm.

If the LO thinks your firm is that bad, then why does he give them a license?

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IDFIMH

this is exactly what infuriates me and no doubt other folk in this trade, the seemingly oppressive nature of local licensing authorities, in this day and age of the new buzz word of ``freedom`` and ``democracy`` maybe our central government need to turn their attentions to local government bodies,,and put and end to their taliban like oppressive regime towards taxi drivers,,,!!!!!!!!!!
we pay out of our arses every nickel and dime to LA`S in various fees and costs,, and still we get treated like s***.

another point worth mentioning here is that the day the La starts to believe ph firms and their drivers then that will be the day they go out of business. They justify their fat juicy salaries by fining , hassling, and repremanding us and to show the public that they are for the good of all mankind . What a load of bollocks.

Hi
Is your mate a member of the Greater Glasgow Private Hire Association? If not he should be or the company he works for should be, if its GPH then they are members.

It might be worth the driver speaking to the Secretary, Kenny McCleod, he knows a lot about these matters.

Also it would also be worth while getting the driver to ask the council for more information so that he can get evidence of the job etc, if he is a GPH driver then this information about the job i.e.

Time of pickup
Time of dropoff

and where/to should be on the job. The company can print off the events and also the job for that driver.

regards
RadioMan

Congratulations, this passage sums up just about every L.A. in the land.
They use the powers because they have then & the more work they give themselves the more civil servants they can justify

Cheers