Taxi Driver Online

Almost didn't bother with this, because it's ROI, but interesting angle that I wasn't aware of - under EU law card readers now compulsory

Which is maybe one downside of Brexit - if we'd still been an EU member, card readers would have been mandatory throughout the UK, rather than having hundreds of councils either ignoring the issue, or fannying about, and humming and hawing

Otherwise, the illegal supplement is also an issue across here, obviously. Have heard plenty of customers here saying that drivers have added a charge or said there's a minimum payment for card runs

And, surprise, surprise, it's generally only on the shorter runs when this happens...


Ireland taxi warning as rogue drivers ripping off passengers with sneaky 'extra' charge

https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-n ... s-28614207

Exclusive: The Irish Mirror has learned that some unscrupulous drivers are making a quick extra buck by slapping on a new extra fee for accepting payment by ‘tapping’ your contactless card.

Transport chiefs have slammed rogue taxi drivers who are illegally charging customers extra euros to accept card payments.

The Irish Mirror has learned that some unscrupulous drivers are making a quick extra buck by slapping on a new extra fee for accepting payment by ‘tapping’ your contactless card.

A taxi driver now cannot refuse payment by card under new EU rules, but nor can they charge you any extra under the new regulation.

It is mandatory for all taxi drivers to accept payment by card for all fares since September 1st.

However, the Irish Mirror has learned that the ‘extra charge’ practice has emerged, and that it is more common among late night passengers who may have been out for the night.

The only extra charges a taxi can legally charge you is the “callout” fee and a charge per extra passenger, or in rare circumstances, a soilage charge.

The National Transport Authority (NTA) said the new extra charge for cards is not allowed under the new regulations and a spokesman said that they are receiving complaints about the new swindle.

One disgruntled customer got in touch with the Irish Mirror and told how his fare for €17 subsequently had an extra €1 tacked on when he produced his debit card to pay.

When he asked the driver why, he said the driver told him it was “a new charge for cards.”

The NTA has rubbished this claim and is calling on anyone who has been fleeced on extra charges to take the name and PSV number of the taxi driver and report them.

The NTA has a complaints portal and any passengers who feel they have been done can contact the transport watchdog at the email shown below.

The passenger who noticed the extra ‘card charge’ on a night out last weekend told the Mirror last night: “I thought it was strange, but as it was late at night, I just asked him why, he said it was ‘a new charge for cards’ and I just accepted it.

“It was only the next day that I realised he’d pulled a fast one.”

A spokesman for the NTA told the Mirror: “A taxi driver cannot charge an extra fee for the use of a credit/debit card.

“An EU directive in 2018 prohibited any surcharges for the use of personal credit/debit cards. “The current charges that can be applied by taxi drivers are set out in the Taxi Regulation (Maximum Fares) Order 2022 (S.I. No. 293/2022).

“The driver can apply an ‘extra’ charge only for those items listed in this order:

• Booking fee: €2

• Additional passenger charge: Each adult passenger after the first (or, after the first free child, for each additional two children under 12 years of age) €1.00

• Soiling Charge (where applicable) : The reasonable cost of remedying the soiling, up to a maximum of €140.00

NTA would encourage anybody who comes across this to report it to us through the TFI site.

“Since the ‘cashless option’ requirement became law on 1st September, we have had more than 100 complaints regarding drivers’ refusal to accept cashless payments or not having a cashless payment device in the taxi.

“However, not many of those would be about drivers trying to charge extra.”

Any passenger who has been conned and charged an extra ‘card charge’ can lodge a complaint at this link.

Some drivers think they can charge more for passengers paying by company or corporate cards. Most businesses can charge for these, but only the amount that your card reader company charges you. But, taxi drivers can’t charge more than the metered fare, unless your fare tariff states this.

Could be wrong, but I thought it was a more general law that consumers couldn't be charged extra for automated transactions.

To that extent, any card payment fee on a tariff card would be illegal

(Maybe a bit like not being able to charge more because the passenger is disabled and/or has a wheelchair or other mobility aids.)

Sadly drivers have been overcharging for years, maybe centuries, it's not something new.

Nor is the way to deal with these overcharges, i.e. don't pay them or report the thieves.

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IDFIMH

I’m not that sure myself, but couldn’t really be bothered working the fee out myself. I’d rather just get them out and move on to the next fare.

They're still 'transitioning'

According to the trade rep, it's drivers who still don't have smartphones who are the problem

But which, presumably, means that the card reader spec they have to comply with isn't particularly onerous.

But if they don't get a wriggle on, maybe the authorities will end up imposing a more onerous spec, so all drivers will suffer for the small number of cash diehards


More than 200 complaints made about taxis not accepting card payments

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41072708.html

The transport watchdog has received more than 200 complaints about taxis not accepting card payments or not having a card payment machine.

The complaints, released under the Freedom of Information Act, were made in the space of five months.

Since last September, every taxi in Ireland must accept credit and debit card payments, as well as cash.

By the end of last month, the National Transport Authority (NTA) had received 229 complaints relating to this new law.

In one complaint, a driver did not accept a card payment because he said he did not have a machine.

The driver was asked if he would accept Revolut instead, but he declined and said he would only accept cash.

The NTA issued the driver with a fine.

In another case, a driver refused to take a card payment and when the passenger explained to him it was mandatory, he told the passenger to take cash out of an ATM.

The passenger did not take the journey. The NTA also issued a fine in this case.

In another case, a driver insisted he would have to charge commission on a card transaction.

Jim Waldron, of the National Private Hire and Taxi Association, said that the number of complaints is relatively small in terms of the millions of journeys that have been undertaken since the rule change.

"I think we are bound to have some problems, it's a transition period," he said of the complaints, that were released to Newstalk.

"I think the number of complaints will drop down as time goes by."

Mr Waldron said that some drivers are having issues with the technical side of things.

"There are a lot of drivers who still have very basic phones, they don't have smartphones.

"A lot of guys don't know how to use this equipment and it is just going to take some time.

"Hopefully the public can be a bit patient and give them time to get on to it but the drivers will have to transition to get on to the new equipment."

You'd think they'd all been asked to drive an electric WAV, or something like that, as opposed to a smartphone capable of tying up with a card reader

But which got me thinking, I wonder if any drivers still don't have any kind of moby?