Taxi Driver Online

Third 'dog bites man' story today

Obviously not good service, and not good for the person involved, but, I mean...

And can never understand these people who go running to the press with tales of their personal misfortune, but supply said press with photos of them smiling and having a good time...


Nottingham Cars fail to collect woman and left her 'completely stranded in Nottingham'

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/loc ... an-7307354

She was told repeatedly that someone was on their way


Image: Hannah Jones/Nottingham Post

A veteran was left "stranded" after missing her train when a taxi company failed to collect her. Hannah Jones, 37, moved to Canada 15 years ago where she served the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, but she recently came to Nottingham for a few days to visit one of her brothers.

As her brother had to be at work one Monday morning, Hannah decided to book a taxi with Nottingham Cars three days in advance from her brother's home in Carlton to Nottingham Train Station on the morning of Monday, May 23. The train was due to take her to London so Hannah could make her flight back to Canada.

She said: "Everything seemed fine and I got a confirmation that they would pick me up. I booked it for an hour before my train was going to be there and Google said it was going to be a 15 minute drive so that would give them plenty of time if they were late."

However, despite making the booking in advance, Hannah explained the taxi did not arrive on time, and she said she was repeatedly told that "someone is on their way" and that "they will be there soon".

Hannah explained she was then told by the company that they were not sure if they were going to make it. "I said I booked it in advance, 'you should have taxis available to fulfil your bookings', I was quite annoyed" said Hannah.

"I wasn’t really familiar with the buses and stuff but I knew there was a bus stop around the corner. I made it to the train station just as the train was taking off, I was completely stranded in Nottingham."


Image: Hannah Jones/Nottingham Post

As Hannah's train ticket was for that specific train she had to buy a new train ticket which cost her £137. As Hannah is retired she is on a fixed income. She said: "I couldn’t afford it but I had to buy it.

"It really ruined my time in Nottingham, I had a fantastic visit up to that point, but that really soured my experience. I asked for compensation and they refunded me my £10 booking fee but they had no apology or anything for the £137 I was out for."

"It’s not a way to run your company. It gives Nottingham a bad name and I just thought I deserved some sort of compensation for the ticket," Hannah added. Despite getting into London later than expected, Hannah was able to make her flight.

Up until the Monday morning, Hannah said she had a "fantastic" weekend in Nottingham, visiting lots of the tourist spots and a board game cafe. Nottingham Cars did not wish to comment.

"I said I booked it in advance, 'you should have taxis available to fulfil your bookings', I was quite annoyed" said Hannah.

the general public have no idea how taxis operate in real life

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i started out with nothing and ive still got most of it left

The lady should claim all her additional costs from the so called taxi company, once the booking had been accepted it was a contract and they failed to fulfil that contract and so are libel.

So if I accept a booking to pick someone up from say Heathrow and on the way down there is a bad accident and I get stuck in the traffic and can't get to Heathrow to make the pick up then by your thinking I would be liable for the passengers subsequent costs.

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Grandad,

In a nutshell yes but in your case I would expect you to have made alternative arrangements (subcontract out) and inform the passengers of the problems.

What about the incident at Stansted a few years ago. A driver from here went to do a pick up and unfortunately died whilst waiting in the arrivals hall for the passenger. I suppose he was liable as well?

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Grandad,

The firm let the lady down.

But FFS they didn't hang, draw and quarter her.

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IDFIMH

No, but his estate might be liable

Seriously, though, all this kind of stuff might be covered by a force majeure type scenario, so that 'extraordinary events' might excuse non-performance of the contract. So if you're on your way to a pick-up, and there's an earthquake, nuclear war breaks out or you're hit by an asteroid, sort of thing, then you can't be sued for breach of contract because the events were extraordinary and unforeseen.

Of course, road accidents or a dead driver aren't quite as dramatic as an earthquake, or whatever, but probably more likely to excuse breach of contract than overbooking leading to a lack of available cars, say.

And, of course, because the likes of the scenario in the article are informal oral contracts rather than written ones, any force majeure term or similar would be implied rather than express.

But it would be interesting to see if there's anything like that in the likes of the Uber contract that users sign up to. You know, the thousands of words that users agree to, but almost certainly don't read

On the other hand, I doubt if anyone ever tries to take legal action on the basis of the likes of the scenario in the article, so the precise legal position is no doubt a bit vague, and almost certainly rarely litigated.