Preparedness for when

daz278

ive used Uber once when getting home from work at midnight , all the other firms were saying 90 min ....uber was there in 5 min but i had to pay on credit card ...... which id rather not.....so i use uber when the wait is going to be too long. btw my taxi home tonight was 14 quid.. ouch

Karmacat

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I've checked out coaches to/from here before now and this location is so far "out in the wilds" that the nearest coach pick-ups are quite some distance away.

Or you could get a taxi to the coach pick up? That would help financially, I hope.

katkin

I there a charity service in your area where people volunteer to give lifts for medical emergencies, appointments etc?

pineapple

Karmacat wrote: »

Or you could get a taxi to the coach pick up? That would help financially, I hope.

Yes I wondered about that too. In fact a taxi at either end.
I knew someone who's wife was in hospital 2 or 3 hours drive away. He did drive but the wear and tear on him (and the car) was impossible. So he actually rented a caravan for the duration. Happy Christmas everyone.

moneyistooshorttomention

- Will go back and have another look at that Uber website justincase - after that comment re paying by credit card. I don't mind paying by credit card at the time. I just don't like paying for anything online except Amazon (being security conscious).

- Been checking out train times in case and first available is Sunday if it comes to it.

- If I have to go back and urgently enough it had to be a taxi, then I could leapfrog through from my local taxi firm to a firm I've used recently in nearest place with train station. I've used the same guy twice there and really rated him as very efficient/helpful/reasonable price - so would be hoping he's not taking a long break (don't think he's married/got children from the conversation - so he might not be doing so.....).

Waiting to see what t'other parent has to say when they come out of hospital visiting hours today as to whether they are getting better or what....

moneyistooshorttomention

katkin wrote: »

I there a charity service in your area where people volunteer to give lifts for medical emergencies, appointments etc?

Thanks. Just checked and there doesn't seem to be. That is obviously a big "gap in the market" here then - with the nearest hospitals in this area all being quite some distance away. I have often wondered how people here manage to get to their own local hospitals on an evening or Sunday at all (ie no buses) if they don't have a car - and am wondering even more now.

So - as it doesn't even seem to be possible to get a lift if I needed one personally:eek:...then...

Thanks for the thought.

pineapple

Have you rung the hospital?
Though in my experience they are not always forthcoming with how serious it is. When I was very ill in hospital with a burst appendix, the hospital told my parents that I was 'not very well'. Which was somewhat of an understatement seeing as I was in and out of consciousness..:(...

moneyistooshorttomention

Yes - I rang the hospital when I found out yesterday and decided I'd make up my own mind what I thought about the verdict. So I asked the nurse to spell the name out of what she was telling me the diagnosis is.

Duly googled what it was and could see the symptoms match and there are two possibilities from what I can work out - one milder and one the "C" word (ie cancer). Both of them could kill her. The milder one has a good chance of recovery (hopefully my definition of recovery - ie "back to normal - as if the illness had never been"). The more severe one - hmmm....

The fact that she is in a room on her own would seem to indicate its the milder one - as it's the milder one that is infectious, but the "C" word one isn't infectious from what I can make out. From my fathers reaction - ie delay in telling me about it until Christmas is upon us and he personally is going in seeing her everyday = I've rather translated into "He thinks its the infectious one" (wants to catch it himself as he has long made it plain he doesn't wish to be a widower/doesn't want anyone else to catch it iyswim). We've all long known, I think, that if she goes he will go shortly afterwards. But - as I said - the milder illness has a good recovery rate.

********

Checked local authority website with Nuatha's phrase of "applicable fares" and that per mile figure has given me a baseline to work from. Nothing on there...

Did more googling re taxi fares and found a website that had previously quoted me around £300 as their cheapest now is quoting a cheaper price (still:eek: level). I guess their business model is that their various drivers put in bids for days they wish to work onto their website and quote according to what they think the "supply and demand" situation will be on that day and how much they would like to earn some extra money. It does look to me like they vary rates according to when you ask (like train company websites then I guess).

7_week_wonder

MTSTM,
I don't often post on this thread, but some of my younger colleagues (who know about such things!) have used this lift-sharing website:
https://www.blablacar.co.uk/how-does-car-sharing-work
They were all very happy with it and keen to recommend it.
I guess it probably wouldn't work door-to-door, but it might get you from your nearest big town to fairly close to the hospital.
I hope you get a positive update next time you get news from the hospital.

nuatha

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Checked local authority website with Nuatha's phrase of "applicable fares" and that per mile figure has given me a baseline to work from. Nothing on there...

My search string was "name of local authority" + "taxi fares" generally local authorities are the taxi licensing authority and responsible for setting maximum rates. Slightly confusing here as the responsible authority no longer exists (amalgamation of two tiers of government) and the new authority still hasn't got its act together - its only been 6 years.
You might find this site helpful. Or this one enter your local authority as "City"

Hope this is helpful, hope even more you don't need it.