14 June 2013

Capital cabs lawyer up over disabled bookings

| johnboy
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The ABC has the sad news that our diabolically bad taxi service is suing the Government for trying to help disabled people get taxis:

Last year the government set up the centralised system to take bookings for and dispatch wheelchair accessible taxis.

Aerial Capital Group has asked the Federal Court to declare the laws putting the booking system in place invalid.

Lawyers representing the company say its right to operate a taxi booking service should be considered its property.

The company maintains that in setting up the system, the ACT Government has acquired its property without fair compensation.

While I, like many, will miss driving. The dawn of the driverless car does at least mean these pirates will soon be out of business.

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Devil_n_Disquiz3:26 am 15 Jun 13

bigred said :

I apologise to the one remaining decent Canberra cabbie if they have not already left the industry.

No worries 🙂 and nope..haven’t left yet 🙂

sounds like they’ve got money to burn

Canberra Cabs can forget my patronage until they change their attitude, either dropping the suit and letting the government provide disabled-access cabs or by providing it themselves. This behaviour is disgusting and shameful.

I apologise to the one remaining decent Canberra cabbie if they have not already left the industry. This action is plain offensive when one considers the concessional price of entry to the industry via the disabled taxi route. Oh that is right, they are actually high occupancy vehicles for groups going out that every now and then lower themselves to pick up a disabled person.

OK, specific complaints? How about raising a wheel chair passenger on the hydraulic lift until their head hit the tailgate? Leaving a quad with no temperature control out on a cold winter night by failing to attend at the booked time? Giving the same quad such a hairy ride that the vehicle restraints came loose? Taking the concession voucher and charging full price? Trying to charge someone with a government issued travel voucher the fare as well? Asking a vision impaired passenger for directions, then going the longest possible way so the metered fare was twice the average for that journey?

I have many more examples. This lot are a pox on our town.

It’s a damning indictment of how pathetic the taxi industry has become.As I recall,back in the nineties,Les Wassell at least provided,while not perfect, a reasonably good disabled taxi service.Times certainly have changed and definitely not for the better.

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd4:17 pm 14 Jun 13

Total dirtbags

HiddenDragon3:37 pm 14 Jun 13

I assume Aerial do see some serious issues here, otherwise why forgo the opportunity to blame the Government when something goes wrong with a booking?

outrageous! we’re becoming more americanised each day – wither aussie values of a fair go and helping those less fortunate?

The entitlement of entrenched interests is as australian as it gets however.

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