Taxi driver making unfounded legal threats to no shows?

Wokie said :

To those of you who complain about taxi no shows here one reason why it didn’t turn up. Seems to happen regularly that we are sent to wrong addresses or non existant addresses!!

If I get sent to 90 Bloggs Street and nobody comes out after a while, I’ll call in a no-show but also check out number 19 in the same street.

And every now and then I’ll get a call at (say) four-thirty in the afternoon, and be told “oh no, we won’t want a cab until tomorrow morning when we have to catch an early flight.”

These things happen, and I accept them.

What’s worse is when passengers make two or more bookings for the same time. Just in case.

Or when they are waiting at a hotel for a cab ordered by the concierge and then jump in the first cab that cruises past. Fair enough if you’ve been waiting twenty minutes and you’ve a flight to catch, but if it’s only a few minutes, then spare a thought for the poor cabbie who has to get there from the rank through traffic and traffic lights.

As for breach of contract letters, what rubbish!

To those of you who complain about taxi no shows here one reason why it didn’t turn up. Seems to happen regularly that we are sent to wrong addresses or non existant addresses! When base is contacted I’m told “Sorry no call back number”or “sorry that should have been for a pickup in another suburb”!

Ozhair said :

If a booking is a legally binding contract, using the taxi driver’s logic, does that mean we can take legal action when a taxi doesn’t show up when booked? All the Canberra taxi companies would go bust in no time if that was the case….

It’s an interesting issue. It would depend on three factors:
1. Establishing the relationship between the booking service and driver: employee or agent?
2. Is there a contractual relationship?
3. If a relationship exists, has a breach occurred and what recourse is there?

Frankly I don’t think the Taxi driver has much or a leg to stand on legally.
Even if the taxi driver could establish a contractual relationship, which would be difficult given the issue of consideration, it’s unlikely the law would give him any compensation.

Ozhair said :

If a booking is a legally binding contract, using the taxi driver’s logic, does that mean we can take legal action when a taxi doesn’t show up when booked? All the Canberra taxi companies would go bust in no time if that was the case….

+1

I have no problem with it as long as it can be shown that the taxi turned up within 5 minutes of the booked time.

Anyone know how much the purported charge is for a no-show in this scam?

Snarky said :

The Silver Service fleet is the only only one where drivers are compelled to accept a job, and they get a slightly higher fee to do so. But regular jobs are simply spread as offers on teh network. if no driver can accept it, it won’t get done.

Aerial is running the SIlver fleet into the ground too with their stupid rules and regs they impose on the drivers.

Bet folks aren’t aware that Silver Service is no longer a guaranteed cab on time service anymore.

Well I feel a degree of sympathy for the driver with his problem, although his “solution” is utterly wrong.

It is a pain when as a driver you accept a booking, give up you spot in the radio or rank queue and waste time turning up to a non-existent fare. Whether its because the booking wasn’t real to start with, or the passenger has been poached by another taxi, you’re now markedly financially worse off than you were before you accepted the booking.

And for the other side of the coin – passengers whose bookings never turn up, thus leaving them in the lurch? Your very legitimate beef is with the booking company Arial who have failed to deliver their side of the deal. Arial is not the taxi owner or driver – they just accept bookings. The booking are put out on the radio system for any driver in area to pick up. If there are no drivers to accept the job, it won’t be picked up – that’s it. The Silver Service fleet is the only only one where drivers are compelled to accept a job, and they get a slightly higher fee to do so. But regular jobs are simply spread as offers on teh network. if no driver can accept it, it won’t get done.

And for those who complain about late turn ups for cabs, this is part of the same situation. Believe it or not, cabbing isn’t so lucrative that drivers sit round and pick and choose between bookings to attend to, then turn up late after peeling a few more grapes and kicking back a little first. They want in and out SAP to get paid and go to te next fare. If your booking turns up late it’s because there were no nearby cabs available to take it, so it gets farmed out to vehicles progressively further away. I once responded to a call for a vehicle in Conder when I was just coming out of Civic because no-one else was around to take the job. Of couse it took me 25 minutes to get there!

Why warn us??? Why not tell us who the driver is??? Name and shame these twits so people can avoid the cab and run it out of business. I don’t understand why we have to pussyfoot around for scammers, crims and other lowlifes.

The KaosKlan tried booking a taxi once – it did not turn up, Canberra cabs denied booking was made, got abused by the bag on the phone, we made a complaint and was told it was our fault. We now utilise a limo service, more courteous, drivers don’t smell, much cheaper and so much more reliable.

Ozhair said :

If a booking is a legally binding contract, using the taxi driver’s logic, does that mean we can take legal action when a taxi doesn’t show up when booked? All the Canberra taxi companies would go bust in no time if that was the case….

I don’t book taxis anymore for exactly this reason – they have let me down more times than they have showed up.

Seems like a scam to me. The investment of time for the process would have to outweigh the returns. A ‘no trip’ is just part of the job, frustrating yes, but deal with it.

When I drove taxis back in the XF-EL days I only ever bothered to charge two fare evaders, and that was only because they really gave me the shites at the time, and I was able to get the police to catch them.

Three hours later you start to regret it as you are still sitting in Belconnen Police Station rechecking the third draft of the statement of facts while there is 300 paying customers waiting at Civic