Just before last year's festivities the tariff was increased and meters changed. The taxi tariff is the maximum fare to be levied for hires within the licensing area.
The trade worked a flanker and changed the time of reversion to normal tariff from 0800 hrs on the 2nd to the previous midnight. This left a local private hire company out of step and a panic ensued. Drivers were called into the office and ordered to provide a hefty discount from the metered fare in order to comply with regulations. There was no way to ensure whether drivers would do this, and I have to admit to not knowing if any complaints were made.
But there again, would the public be aware of this breach of regulations in any case (I believe that where meters are fitted they must be used within the licensing area. Or perhaps this only applies to taxis and, if so, it would beg the question why? And remember, it would be illegal under commercial legislation to charge more thn an advertised price anyway.).
Now, I'm not aware that the meters in the fleet have been altered to take account of this anomaly. If this is the case, and they haven't, then the public is once again at risk of being ripped off by unscrupulous drivers.
Now the protest may be made that this is outrageous, and I'm besmirching the company concerned. But this company is the same company which allowed a driver to driver for 21 and a half hours, returning at the end of his shift down the dangerous A9 and placing other road users at risk; it being only luck that an accident didn't happen and an innocent member of the public injured or even killed. So, let's dismiss such protest.
So the question is, have the meters been changed?
If not, why has the council, who is aware of the tariff anomaly, not insisted that they be changed?
And if they haven't been changed, the question also remains: Given the harsh economic circumstances, and the squeeze on all our trade, can these particular private hire drivers, and we are just talking about these specific drivers from this one company here, possibly be trusted not to rip off an unsuspecting public?
So, have the meters been changed?
