Taxi Driver Online

2 Apr 2008

Taxi takes Earl's girl to wrong Stamford Bridge!

ONE of Earl Spencer's daughters ended up at the wrong end of the country
when a sat-nav mishap meant her taxi driver took her to Yorkshire instead
of London to watch a Chelsea football match.

The Spencer girl and a friend had tickets to watch Chelsea play Arsenal at
their famous Stamford Bridge ground on Easter Sunday.

But a mistake by the taxi company meant they missed the game and
ended up in the Yorkshire village of Stamford Bridge, 218 miles away from
Chelsea's home ground.

The Althorp estate confirmed the incident had happened and said the
matter was being sorted out amicably.

A spokesman for the estate said: "One of Earl Spencer's daughters and
her friend had tickets for Chelsea versus Arsenal at Stamford Bridge on
Easter Day.

"The driver, from Mayfair Taxis, took them to Stamford Bridge, in
Yorkshire, instead, so they missed the game. Mayfair's owner has
apologised, and has promised to sort this matter out amicably."

Peter Achiampong, the owner of Mayfair Taxis, which is based in
Northampton town centre, was due to meet the Earl this morning to
apologise for the mistake.

He said: "We do 20,000 journeys a month and mistakes do happen every
now and again. But I admit this is a big one. But the fault was with my
control staff, not the driver.

"He ended up there by putting Stamford Bridge into his sat-nav and it said
it was in the north of England. He checked that was right and it was
confirmed by the controller.

"I'm still trying to figure out how that was possible, it's baffling."

The village of Stamford Bridge is in the East Riding of Yorkshire, 147 miles
away from Althorp.

The Chelsea stadium, meanwhile, has a capacity of 42,055, its complex
includes two hotels, apartments, bars and restaurants. It is just 80 miles
from Northampton.

The Althorp Estate has not confirmed which of the Earl's four daughters
had hoped to see the match, which was won 2-1 by Chelsea.

Source: Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph
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Obviously this driver wasn't a football fan.

Wasn't there a famous battle at Stamford Bridge?

The owner of the cab firm will have to pay the cost of all the tickets plus any other inconveniences the passengers throw at him. It proves yet again that besides having a sat nav you need a little common sense.

I really can't believe this happened when you consider the driver contacted his base and they didn't know of the football ground named Stamford Bridge and that the dopey driver didn't have enough common sense to ask the passengers if it was the Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire?

Perhaps there should be a knowledge test for radio operators too?

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

Yes the battle was in 1066. It was just a bit before the battle of Hastings. This was a contributing factor in King Harolds defeat to William at Hastings, well Battle actually. His army was a bit depleated because of the Stamford bridge battle so he ordered his top man to go on ahead and recruit some more men whilst the main army marched south. When Harold arrived at the southern camp he was introduced to the new recruits many were fine horsemen and archers and Harold was very impressed but there was one man that he was unsure about and he asked for an explanation. The recruiter told him "well he is very keen but not very good with a bow. You will have to watch him, he will have someones eye out." And the rest is history.

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Grandad,

This is why the London Knowledge is remaining as it is, Sat-Nav will never replace what I know, and that's why I know exactly where I'm going and Minicabs spend half their time staring at a little screen.
The few that can speak in English, spend their time asking other drivers where they are.

Alf Townsend has an excellent piece on how crap these devices are in London in this weeks premier London Taxi paper. Click on the LTDA link.

It was the controller that confirmed that the driver was going to the right place though. I wonder at what point the passengers realised that all was not well?

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Grandad,

I would have thought heading north up the M1 instead of south would have been a little clue

A clue to who? The driver had the destination confirmed by the controller as Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire so as far as he was concerned he was going in the right direction. The women in the back were probably to busy talking to notice and they probably wouldn't know where Stamford Bridge (the ground) was anyway.

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Grandad,

This sounds familiar. Didn't we cover this before?

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

But, conversation with the passengers would have revealed they were going to a football match. 'Oh yes, who are you going to see?' 'Chelsea' 'Oh, don't they play in London?'

Alarm bells are starting to ring and I don't follow that stupid 'game' either!

If the girl was old enough togo tothe match alone you would have thought she might be old enough to twig she was going in the wrong direction.

Obviously she has inherited the Spencer 'brains'.

What a total cock up.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

With a ID as grandad....you know what the next question is gonna be

CC

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

Clearly these girls knew as much about football as the driver then if they didn't know Chelski play in London village

PS a little known historical fact is that the previous king to Harold Ethelred the unready actually had Stamford as his capitol but as he was only king for about a month no sooner had the removal cart brought the throne to the town they had to load it up and cart it back to london

We don't know what the passengers said to the driver in conversion but any responsible driver would have determined where the passengers were going by sheer common sense communication.

Most drivers that get a job of some 200 miles would normally make doubly sure that they are going to the right place and the passenger knows what the fare is going to be at the end of the journey before they set off and whether or not they have the means to pay?

The only problem with this driver and the outfit he works for is their lack of communication. Perhaps the driver could hardly speak English and he communicated with his office in his own native language which many ethnic taxi drivers often do. However it hasn't been established whether or not the driver or the operator are foreign? If they weren't foreign then they want their backsides kicking for being stupid.

I can't see why the driver couldn't have asked the passengers if the Stamford Bridge they wanted was in Yorkshire? Under normal circumstances in the normal course of communication between driver and passenger it would soon become established that the passengers wanted to go and watch a football match between Chelsea and Arsenal. If these clowns couldn't establish that then they need to go on one of those BTEC courses for brain dead drivers.

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

Just taking this thread off at a tangent (and why shouldn't I? Everybody else does! ): I recall seeing a requirement, possibly in the wireless telegraphy acts, that radio communication should be in english. If so, that could be a cause of action against some of these muppets.

It may have been an away game