Seeking reimbursement for taxi not showing up!

micbot86

Hello all,

I was wondering if anybody could help shed some light on taxi companies and the possibility of being reimbursed expenses due to a taxi not showing up, at all.
I had a taxi booked to take my partner to the train station for 0710, the train departed at 0730. I had pre-booked the taxi the night before, exactly 24hrs and 12mins ahead of the pick-up time. The taxi did not show up at all and after trying frantically to contact them, I had to borrow a car and make a dash for the train station, needless to say, it was too late. The one train, which only runs every two hours, had departed. Consequently I was forced to drive a 264 miles round trip to the airport to allow my partner to catch her flight on time. To make this journey I had to obtain insurance, borrow a friends car, spend £40 on petrol and discard the unusable train ticket worth £25. The taxi company claim that I was not outside awaiting pick-up, contrary to at least 5 witnesses which say otherwise, and therefore it was my fault not theirs. Can anybody help????

MamaMoo_2

Is there only one taxi firm locally?
How long after the taxi didn't arrive did you phone the taxi firm?
Why did you not allow more time in case of something like this?
Was the insurance etc the cheapest option, or was there an alternative?

micbot86

No there are other taxi firms, this one is normally reliable. The other local firm did not answer the phone. I began ringing the company I had booked with about 0714 and continued until 0725, with no answer, that was why I was forced to borrow a friends car. I thought that twenty minutes for a 3-4 taxi journey in a small town with very little traffic at that time of the day was sufficient, as I said the ticket was already bought and all that we needed to do was walk on to the train. There was no other alternative, one train leaves up the one line coming in and out of the town every two hours, this left 1.5hrs from arriving at the airport, which is also quite small to check in and go through security.

cockaleekee

I think you left it too late. If that was the only train she could have caught, she should have been at the station by 7.10am, not just leaving home.

Was there not a National Express bus she could have taken, or an indirect train route? How did you get her to the station if you did not have insurance to drive the car?

micbot86

Ok cockaleekee, 20 mins was ample time to leave to get to the station and be on the train had the taxi arrived at the requested time she would have been on the train about 5-6mins later, still leaving 14-15mins before the train departed, so no, I did not leave it too late. As I said there is only one train on one line that only leaves every 2hrs, so no indirect train and national express buses leave even less frequently. I should rephrase the "borrow" the car statement, I had to borrow the car and the friend that owns it, otherwise I would have just driven down myself at 0715!

unholyangel

Did you ask them to check whether:

a) they had the right address
b) the driver was at the right address?

Do they have a data system or do they still manually code them out over the radio do you know? If they have/offer a ringback feature, they likely have some kind of system (and depending on what kind of system, they should be able to check back and see where the driver was when he punched in "no hire/pickup").

Oh and did you make them aware what time the train was leaving at when you booked it?

micbot86

A) I got them to check the booking, and it was for the right time and for the right address.
The company claim the taxi was outside the right address and as I had said, its quite a small town, so the likelyhood of the driver not knowing the address is slim.
But they did say he was outside the right place at the right time? I also should have mentioned that, when we missed the train, we came back to the house and I eventually got through to one of the drivers on their mobile phone. He told me that the driver that was supposed to come and pick up didn't show up for his six o'clock shift. The owner now denies that and said the driver was in work and waiting outside at 0710! Absolute lie!
The company dispatches by radio and there is no call back or sms service to say that they have arrived.
When the booking was made I specifically stated that the trip was to the train station for the 0730 train.

cockaleekee

micbot86 wrote: »

Ok cockaleekee, 20 mins was ample time to leave to get to the station and be on the train had the taxi arrived at the requested time she would have been on the train about 5-6mins later, still leaving 14-15mins before the train departed, so no, I did not leave it too late. As I said there is only one train on one line that only leaves every 2hrs, so no indirect train and national express buses leave even less frequently. I should rephrase the "borrow" the car statement, I had to borrow the car and the friend that owns it, otherwise I would have just driven down myself at 0715!

When using public transport/ taxis you have to leave ample time for delays. What if there had been an accident or another delay en route? What if the train had been cancelled? Both would have resulted in her missing the flight.

It is annoying that the taxi company did not turn up, but the fact is your travel plans were destined to hit a problem.

micbot86

Well thanks for the "help" cockaleekee. That was just the advise I was looking for?

wealdroam

OP, read this thread.

You may find something useful.

unholyangel

cockaleekee wrote: »

When using public transport/ taxis you have to leave ample time for delays. What if there had been an accident or another delay en route? What if the train had been cancelled? Both would have resulted in her missing the flight.

It is annoying that the taxi company did not turn up, but the fact is your travel plans were destined to hit a problem.

And what if they'd been ran over by a bus? The "what ifs" dont matter, what did happen does matter. And in those situations you used as examples, well it wouldnt be the taxi companys fault.....this is.

OP left more than enough times. 3-4 minute car journey, to be picked up 20 minutes before the train was due to depart. If it was in the city then at that time (when a lot of people will be on their way to work) then I'd say leave a bit more time. But either way, if you book a taxi and tell them what time your train is at.....I'd expect them to advise that its not adequate. Likewise if they had any reason to believe they may have problems covering the hire (as a lot of taxi drivers only want to work 9 till 5).

OP.....write to the owner/committee and put your complaint in writing. If you're not satisfied with their response, contact your local council and complain to the licensing board.

However do note that you cant count the train ticket as a loss. You would have paid that even if the contract hadnt been breached.

Also to add, before you complain.....is there definitely no way you could have missed the driver? As for them saying the driver is in the right street.......my grandparents own taxi companies.....the number of times I heard a driver insist they were in the right street/at the right number and they werent....its unbelievable. They used to ask them to describe the door/house, now its all done via computer/GPS so they can actually see for themselves where the drivers are.

The other option is.....is the taxi company located in the same town or a neighbouring town that perhaps has a street name the same as/similar to yours?