Brings to mind what Fife Council said recently about leaving 'vulnerable' women who can only pay by card.
Of course, there are two sides to every story, but funny that the firm had already blacklisted him (on a 'whitelist'
) and the card was declined
Partially blind Lincoln man 'abandoned' outside closed pub by taxi after card was declinedhttps://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news ... ed-3703630The well-known taxi firm has explained whyA man from Lincoln has told of his fear after he was left by a taxi driver at a closed pub in the pouring rain when his bank card was declined.
Ben Cheney, who only has three per cent vision across both eyes, decided to head to the Birdcage Pub in Baggholme Road on December 7, where he is a regular.
A member of the bar staff arranged for him to get a taxi home with Direct Cars, which was booked to arrive at the pub for 12.45am to take him back to his home in Norfolk Street.
But another customer actually ended up taking the ride and the 22-year-old ended up climbing into that person’s taxi, which arrived 15 minutes later.
Direct Cars discovered Ben was in the taxi and when his name was run through the firm’s system, he appeared on a “white list”.
Bosses say he was on this list for failing to pay taxi fares in the past – something Ben denies.
Because of that the driver pulled over just after setting off and told Ben he needed to pay upfront.
Ben's card was given two chances, but both times it was declined and so the driver was instructed to head back to the pub and drop him off where he had been collected from.
Ben says he explained his situation regarding his disability and his fears, but says he was still 'abandoned' anyway.
He told Lincolnshire Live: “I was isolated. There was no one around to help. I was scared.
“I don’t have a smart phone. I don’t have another way of contacting someone apart from text or phone.
“I don’t have all my contacts - only 20 to 25.
“That significantly reduces the amount of people who you can get to help.”
Ben, who uses a cane to get around, took shelter from the rain just outside the pub, which had now closed with all the staff going home, and tried to contact a friend to sort out a route home.
A friend managed to arrange a taxi, but Ben was told it would be another hour’s wait before it arrived so he decided to head home in the dark of the night through Lincoln alone.
Luckily, he managed to bump into three women en-route, who lived nearby, and the trio walked him home.
He said: “I felt reassured. It restored my faith in humanity. There were three of them and that made me feel safer.”
However, he is not happy with Direct Cars and says he will only use them now as a “last resort”
A friend of Ben also contacted Lincolnshire Live to say his friend estimates that he was outside in the dark and the rain for almost two hours before he got home and says it left him feeling "very unsafe and vulnerable".
Direct Cars says that because of Ben’s alleged history of not paying fares it had no option but to leave him as there is no guarantee that taking someone to a cash machine will mean they can get the money for the fare - and could mean it ends up coming out of the driver's pocket.
A spokesperson for the firm told Lincolnshire Live : "He is on the white list – He has to pay up front because he has had taxis before and not paid up.
"All of our drivers are self-employed so if the customer doesn’t pay, they don’t get paid.
“There were two cars booked from The Birdcage – he got in the wrong one.
"When our driver did attempt to get payment from him twice, the payment was declined."
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