Llandudno mayor banned by taxi firm after spat over late cabhttps://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north- ... m-27384659A taxi firm has banned a town's mayor after a spat over a late cab. Cllr Greg Robbins, who became mayor of Llandudno in May, booked Premier Cars on Sunday evening to pick him up from the Cross Keys pub in the town.
It was ordered on the app to come in 45 minutes but the taxi firm said it was hit by delays due to busy traffic around the Rag N Bone Man concert at Stadiwm CSM in Colwyn Bay. They contacted him at around 6pm to say it would be 20 minutes late.
He called the taxi firm back to say it was not acceptable and he would report them to licensing for an "inability to work". He hung up so the call handler called back to apologise and establish if the taxi was still wanted.
At this point the Conservative cllr said "believe me, I will make sure social media knows how incompetent you are". A short time later he posted on his Facebook page to complain about the delay - saying they contacted him five minutes after the due time to say it would be another 20 minutes.
Cllr Robbins does not mention his position in the calls but his Facebook page shows him in his mayoral gown and chains. He removed the post from Facebook a short time later.
The owner of Premier Cabs, Chris O'Neal said while he accepted the firm had not provided the service they aim for that he was not happy with the reaction of Cllr Robbins. He has subsequently banned him from using their cabs and filed a complaint with Llandudno Town Council. He added that he was in the process of filing a complaint with the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales.
Cllr Robbins said he was "tired and emotional" due it being the anniversary of his father's death. He said he was not acting in his role as mayor and had not mentioned this at any point, and that his Facebook page is a personal one.
Mr O'Neal said: "We accept we fell short of the standards we set and that someone could be 'peed off' with that. But unlike many companies we called the customer to explain the delay and that the reasons for it were beyond our control as the traffic management had not been good around the stadium.
"I was not happy with the reaction and the fact he firstly threatened to report us to licensing and then to post about us on social media, on a page that clearly identified him as the local mayor. It was unnecessary stress for the young call handler who is 34 weeks pregnant, although I appreciate the customer did not know this at the time of the call.
"This is not the type of customer we want so he is now banned from using Premier. I have also reported him to the town council and I am in the process of reporting this to the Ombudsman."
Cllr Robbins said: "I was tired and emotional as it was the anniversary of my father's death. It was an over-reaction and I quickly realised and took the Facebook post down. It was purely a personal matter, I did not mention my role at any point and my Facebook page is not connected to the council and the views on there are my personal views. I have tried to contact the owner to explain and apologise."
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