why is there a monopoly on taxis at stanstead airport , wrong way to treat visitors

bigblackdog

returned from ireland new years day , needed to get a taxi to the hotel where i had left my car , the original taxi i took to the airport cost £15.00
i asked for a price for the same journey from the taxi desk at stanstead and they quoted ...... wait for it ......£38.00 !!!! !!!!!!
whats going on there ?
i went to the information desk and was told that is the only way i could get a taxi and that there are no others operating from the airport
i rang the hotel where i stayed and got the number for the original taxi firm they quoted me £30.00 with extra £2.50 for them to park !!! told me all fares were doubled as it was new years day and that i would have to wait half hour at least till someone could get there !!!!!!
me and wifey ended up going into the radisson hotel which is a short walk and asked at the desk if they could ring a taxi for us , cost £18.00
and was a firm called stanstead airport taxis , now £20.00 price difference for the same journey to me seems extortianate , daylight robbery , !!!!!! how can we treat visitors to this country like that? the taxi office is very upmarket looking with nice computers on the desks and a line of taxis sitting outside , my rant over with , grrr

BlueAngelCV

I would expect an airport taxi on New Years Day to cost more than usual but more than double does seem excessive.

butler_helen

seems about right, a taxi from T5 in a blackcab is £100 to reading, from a standard cab which can be ordered from inside, it's £40 - strange but true. The taxis in airports are a law unto themselves!

bigblackdog

these arent 'black cabs' at stanstead , just normal taxi cabs the same as the one i eventually got , i just think it is out of order that people have no choice , fair enough i have been on mse enough times to know there is usually a cheaper way but most will be ripped off and be left feeling bad

omen666

DOnt think this has anything to dowith them being airport taxis, they have a captured market and therefore have no need to overcharge and in doing so BAA would probably take away their permit to operate from there.Seems it was that it was New Years day and double fare which is pretty standard everywhere

caroline78

I would in a taxi office and we charge different fares over Christmas.

Christmas Eve until 6pm is normal fare plus £1, after 6pm it becomes fare and a half, then from midnight it is double fare through to midnight on Christmas Night when it drops to fare and half until midnight Boxing Day.

New Years Eve is fare and half all day from midnight until 6pm and then double fare until 12pm on New Years Day and then fare and half until midnight.

Most other workers will get extra wages on these days so why shouldn't taxi drivers.

bigblackdog

yes but the hard fact are ..... i was quoted £38.00 by the only available taxi firm in stanstead airport , when i walked a few yards to the radisson hotel and asked there desk to call a taxi (and a perfectly reputable taxi firm judging by the liveried mercedes they transported me in ) i was only charged £18.00 , at approx 6.30 pm on new years day , i called the original firm that dropped me at the airport and they had doubled there fares and wanted me to wait half hour for the privillidge(excuse my spelling ) , £20 is a big difference for the 'approved' or should i say 'resident' stanstead airport taxi firm to be taking , more than 100% mark up on what the other firm charged , the only reasoning i can see behind it is pure greed , and it is not a nice feeling for visitors to be ripped off as soon as they land i dont think

trisontana

Actually it's Stansted, not Stanstead.

before_hollywood

at manchester you can be picked up by whoever you want- i get a minicab firm from my home town to pick me up, the minicabs at the airport dont know my town 30 miles away

new years night was about double fare, in all fairness

Freddie_Snowbits

Got legs, then use them, no one forces you to pay the fare.

BitterAndTwisted

Honestly, anyone travelling on New Years Day should expect to pay much higher fares. Would you want to curtail your New Years Eve celebrations and work the following day to earn the saem amount per hour as every other day in the year? I wouldn't.

If you can afford to run a car and take a flight during the holiday season it's not that you couldn't afford it, so you should have factored in the taxi-cost. As far as I'm aware, public transport still runs on New Years Day, so you did have a choice. You could even have chosen not to leave your car parked while you were away and made your way to and from the airport by public transport. Sorry, I've no sympathy for you at all.