Taxi Driver Online

Disabled Barking man endures taxi fiasco


A disabled man who waited three hours for a taxi before wheeling himself home has spoken of his distress.

Stephen White used his London Taxicard to make the initial trip from his flat in Lawes Way, Barking, to the town centre, where he enjoyed an afternoon of shopping with his partner.

But when the 55-year-old rang for a return taxi journey with Computer Cab – the company which operates the subsidised black cab service for disabled users – he was told there were none available and he would be contacted when one became free.

“As I was on my own and couldn’t face traveling along busy roads in my wheelchair on my own I waited,” said Stephen, who was then sent text messages every ten minutes asking him if he wanted to continue waiting near Vicarage Field Shopping Centre.

“After about 30 minutes I phoned again and said I was still sitting on my own waiting, and they said they were still trying to get a cab.”

Stephen felt he could not wait inside any of the neighbouring shops in case the taxi arrived, and so waited on his own outside.

“At about 8pm and after several irate phone calls I again phoned them and said they were taking the mickey – it doesn’t take three hours to allocate a cab,” he said.

“I was angry and upset. I couldn’t believe that they’d leave a disabled person in the middle of Barking for three hours.”

Stephen then started to make his own way home, wheeling along the busy A123 until finally he was rung, and a driver came to pick him up from the Movers Lane junction.

“We are incredibly proud of the Taxicard scheme and the service we offer,” said Alan McDonald, the operator’s public sector account manager. “On average we carry out 100,000 trips per month across approximately 88,000 Taxicard customers.

“However, on this occasion it appears we failed to offer the exceptional service experienced by most. We are saddened by this and are in contact with Mr White to ensure this does not happen again.”

source: http://www.barkinganddagenhampost.co.uk ... _1_4199039

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

Sometimes there are more people wanting a taxi than there are taxis avalable. This is news why?

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There's no excuse for animal abuse. If you ain't vegan you are an animal abuser.

Having to wait is a great equalizer, It transcends the Inequality usually associated with Disability and makes each person truly equal.

I think a fella in a wheelchair waiting three hours to go home is a news story.

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IDFIMH

The customer should have been informed that he would have a long wait if he insisted on having a taxicard driver and given the option if he wished of booking a cab at the regular fare.

It's a Hackney only circuit, the despatchers have no idea when a cab will be avalable. All the drivers are "Taxicard drivers"

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There's no excuse for animal abuse. If you ain't vegan you are an animal abuser.

What a strange thing. Are you saying that if a punter rings for a cab for say noon, the dispatcher won't know if they will have a vehicle but will just take the booking?

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Grandad,

That's exactly what I am saying. All the drivers are self employed and don't work exclusively for Comcab, how can they know if one will accept the job?

Very few drivers will accept an advance booking, maybe if it was an airport or something, but a wheelchair job going a mile down the road, it ain't gonna happen. Jobs are despatched 10 mins before due time no matter how far in advance they are booked.

They do have 2000 drivers on the circuit so jobs are USUALLY covered, can't be guaranteed though

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There's no excuse for animal abuse. If you ain't vegan you are an animal abuser.

Comcab have a legal duty to ensure all their customers are served the same.

If they can't cover the work then they should give the contract to those that can, maybe a local firm.

Or pay a driver to do the job based on the mileage from where they are, not where the pick up is.

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IDFIMH

Local firms in London with wavs? Good luck with that

The councils used to pay a run in. They don't anymore because of the Tory cuts

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There's no excuse for animal abuse. If you ain't vegan you are an animal abuser.

I'm guessing Comcab make money out of this contract.

Surely to save some poor sod waiting three hours they could subsidize the job.

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IDFIMH

They do exactly that. When they can't find a driver, they offer premiums on the job. With the best will in the world there will be times that they simply can't find someone to cover the job.

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There's no excuse for animal abuse. If you ain't vegan you are an animal abuser.

& there in lies the problem , why are they subsidised? the bloke is disabled & probably gets a good "wedge " a month mobility allowance ( & that's what its there for ), yet to fooking tight to call a normal taxi,? deserves it inho , greedy t***

You really are in the wrong trade.

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Grandad,

how? sorry mate i suck up to no one, why do all taxi drivers try & do everything as cheap as possible ? i honestly cant understand at all , reality :
the bloke is disabled
tries to get the cheaper option
to fooking greedy to pay for a normal taxi
waits 3 hours or so
gets mobility allowance every month
just a tight fooker imho , fook him