Sussex wrote:
Maybe from a street hiring, but not necessarily from an office job.
I try to take a common sense approach, and normally don't set the meter running until everyone's in and ready to go.
But if, for example, at the station and after a two hour rank wait you load someone's luggage into the boot, but their friend has gone to the ticket office or shop to query something or buy food, and they don't actually get in for five to ten minutes (pretty unusual, but similar things do happen), I'd generally start the meter running after a reasonable period.
When I worked for offices I'd usually give them a few minutes after the booking time, but of course it all depends on the length of the job etc. Ten minutes isn't too much on a two-hour airport run, but maybe different on a short trip on the flagfall, which was one mile here when I started
But, of course, it's potentially fraught with difficulty, as quite a few articles on here demonstrate. And which the bureaucrats in Melton might not appreciate, but if they're saying you should wait for ages without putting on the meter then they're effectively putting drivers in danger, in my opinion at least, because I don't think it's unreasonable to activate the meter after a reasonable period of time.