Wheelchair taxis - silly money?

elsien

I have a relative in a nursing home and booked the wheelchair taxi to take her to town and back at the weekend. Trip of a mile or so, cost of ordinary minicab £8 return max, cost of wheelchair taxi £15.
This is in a town with only 2 or 3 accessible taxis, not a city where there's more availability. It wasn't metered, the driver had a sheet of paper with the bookings and costs on when he arrived to pick us up.
So my question is, is it normal for them to charge these much higher rates - I can see they need to cover the costs of an adapted vehicle, and that it takes longer to load and unload passengers but it still seemed steep to me. And who sets the rates - is it the local council as with ordinary taxis?
Unfortunately if it's going to cost that much we're not going to be able to do the trips as regularly as I would like.

[Deleted User]

you were ripped off,complain to the local authority taxi licencing dept asap with as much detail as you have

GlasweJen

It's the local council. Up here the wheelchair accessible private hires get charged at the same rate as a 6 seater private hire. The drivers won't load the chairs but they do operate the ramps and always strap me in personally (you're not insured if you're not clamped in AND got the seat belt on apparently).

kingfisherblue

In my area, the council set the rates for wheelchair accessible taxis as well as minicabs. They are the same price. They are both metered, based on distance travelled, not the amount of time spent in the cab (so the cost doesn't increase when sat at traffic lights, or in a jam).

Report this to your local council.

Richie-from-the-Boro

elsien wrote: »

I have a relative in a nursing home and booked the wheelchair taxi to take her to town and back at the weekend. Trip of a mile or so, cost of ordinary minicab £8 return max, cost of wheelchair taxi £15.
This is in a town with only 2 or 3 accessible taxis, not a city where there's more availability. It wasn't metered, the driver had a sheet of paper with the bookings and costs on when he arrived to pick us up.
So my question is, is it normal for them to charge these much higher rates - I can see they need to cover the costs of an adapted vehicle, and that it takes longer to load and unload passengers but it still seemed steep to me. And who sets the rates - is it the local council as with ordinary taxis?
Unfortunately if it's going to cost that much we're not going to be able to do the trips as regularly as I would like.

Perfectly legal for PH and double the rate is about the norm, if you lived in a metropolitan or big town area the rate would be cheaper because of competition. I live in a big town, one fleet owner has 300 vehicles and an assortment of 5 big bus's 30 or more 12 seaters of which only a half dozen are Hackney status and wheelchair friendly.

Within all LA's there's a department called PPD [Public Protection Department] that in turn has a Hackney Office [taxi licensing department] with their own police and enforcement - you would complain to the PPD / Taxi Licensing in your local area. Each driver must have his / her badge on prominent display, take the number on the badge and the registration number of the vehicle and use it in a complaint.

The different rates I mentioned are because there are two different licensed wheelchair vehicles. Your trip was clearly PH [private hire] and was unmetered, a Hackney trip is a different type of license for both the driver and the vehicle concerned and is always metered. The Hackney trip is charged on a calibrated meter and are regulated on their prices, the PH version may or may not be regulated depending on the LA concerned.

I'm sorry you feel aggrieved elsien its £20k for the vehicle £20k for the plate £60pd for diesel and £10pd for insurance not counting maintenance £100pa for badge & police check etc. Now taxi's make a fortune doing what other people can't do, ie, get from A to B. The question is if a vehicle that size can earn £-x in y-time with the able bodied s/he [it] will want the same £-x for a single disabled person taking a similar mount of time / distance.
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kingfisherblue - I've never heard of a metered PH [minicab] a metered minicab is in fact not a minicab its clearly Hackney status if its metered.

paddedjohn

Plenty of private hire cars have meters in them, I don't know who calibrates them or how accurate they are but they are out there.

kingfisherblue

Richie, all minicabs in my area are metered. I didn't realise that this wasn't the norm elsewhere.

GlasweJen

KFB up here drivers have a spreadsheet that they use. Some journeys are set fare ( hospital, airport, certain village to village ones), the rest are all £2.20 plus 20p per half mile up to a point then 20p per mile after. For 6 seater/wheelchair it's fare and a half.

SailorSam

I drove a Black Cab for many years and the Council set our fares, but the private hire charged whatever they wanted. Even though there may be few Hackneys in your area you could always try phoning one in the next nearest town, there may be a driver dropping a fare off just up the road from you and he'd answer the call.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Under Section 71 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, private hire vehicles are not required to be fitted with a taximeter, however when a taximeter is used it must be of a type approved by the authority. With the exception of London who come under the Public Carriage Office rule which ends on the 30th October 2016 all taximeters must comply with the Measuring Instruments (Taximeters) Regulations 2006 EU / SOS UK.

In my area the GPS heads have been in use for 25 years

elsien

I've just spoken to a colleague who's on the local council and he's confirmed what Richie says - private hire so they can charge what they like, especially where there's no competition to keep prices down.
Normally I'd have checked the price beforehand but I was just so keen to get my relative out that it didn't occur to me. And I really didn't think I'd be paying so much for a journey of not much more than a mile. Well you live and learn - I'll put my MSE negotiating head on next time.
No wonder people's DLA mobility doesn't go that far.