Seeking reimbursement for taxi not showing up!

pinkshoes

micbot86 wrote: »

I had a taxi booked to take my partner to the train station for 0710, the train departed at 0730.

You clearly have a lot more faith taxis and public transport than I do!!

I always get to the station 20 minutes BEFORE my train, and always assume that a taxi would be up to 15 minutes left, so if I had a train at 0730, then I would have asked the taxi to arrive at 0650!!!

(clearly I have very little faith in public transport, and know that trains don't wait!!!)

Anyway, the issue you now have is that it is your word against theirs. All you can do is put your complaint in writing, and see what happens. I would ask them for evidence that they WERE there on time. What do they classify as on time? (ask them...). Do they have trackers on their taxis?

ps - as you would have had to pay the £25 train ticket anyway, you can only try claiming the petrol and insurance off them!

ILW

As said before, the cab firm would have no liability for any consequential loss. Everything else is just confusing matters.

Equaliser123

ILW wrote: »

As said before, the cab firm would have no liability for any consequential loss. Everything else is just confusing matters.

If they are in breach of contract and knew, or ought reasonably to have known, of the losses likely to be suffered then yes, liability would follow.

gregg1

Rich66666 wrote: »

Taxi drivers do not turn up 10, 5 or even 1 minuet early to pre-arranged bookings. The majority of taxis that I have gotten turn up AFTER the agreed time and for some strange reason this is acceptable and part of the course for ordering a taxi.

If you have pre-booked a taxi for 5:00pm then the taxi should be at the designated area waiting to pick you up at or before 5:00pm, not a second after.

But as ILW has pointed out it's all about profit. The taxi driver, cab owner and the company owner all would prefer the taxi to be a few minuets late picking up a customer after making a fare than sitting around waiting for the customer at the agreed time and miss out.

I do agree with you that they should be there at the correct time. However, you do have to make allowances for these things within reason. The last passenger may have kept them hanging around, traffic problems etc, etc, etc.

ILW

Equaliser123 wrote: »

If they are in breach of contract and knew, or ought reasonably to have known, of the losses likely to be suffered then yes, liability would follow.

A bog standard cab firm would not be expected to think that hundreds of pounds of losses would be dependent on them. Not for a minimum £5.00 fare.

unholyangel

ILW wrote: »

A bog standard cab firm would not be expected to think that hundreds of pounds of losses would be dependent on them. Not for a minimum £5.00 fare.

For a taxi to the train station which could be going anywhere in the country? Thats pretty much common sense. Only an inexperienced controller/dispatcher/driver wouldn't realise.

And I cant recall anyone saying hundreds of pounds. You'd be looking at short term insurance and £40 petrol money. Or possibly even just adding OP to owners policy as a named driver. So may even be as little as £50 total.

Looksguywalker

Equaliser123 wrote: »

If they are in breach of contract and knew, or ought reasonably to have known, of the losses likely to be suffered then yes, liability would follow.

Was a contract formed?

arcon5

Slightly off topic, but I wonder if 'force majore' could be used as a defence for a taxi company making you late. Ie they allowed reasonable time to get to th collection point but forces beyond their control prevented them from doing so. For example, RTA which could not have been reasonably foreseen.


Op offered a booking at x time and they accepted. I don't see why a contract cannot be formed at this point. The debate is more to do with the level of damages, if any.

But I agree with others op- you didn't allow enough time. There are too many what ifs factors involved... And realistic what ifs.... Something as simple as if a lorry is trying to reverse in to a loading bay and blocking the road for example can set you back 5+ mins

ILW

Looksguywalker wrote: »

Was a contract formed?

Even if it was, I cannot see that it would include non performance penalties.

dundeediva

micbot86 wrote: »

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????

In short i don't know but IMO i think thats ample time given the distance etc. I hope you get some money back