Who's Fault?

soulsaver

boo_star said:

SevenOfNine said:

I'm happy to stand corrected, but don't taxi's have to be licensed by the local authority? If so, perhaps go down that route to complain, if necessary via thre councillor for her area.

The taxi driver doesn't sound like he was being massively reasonable, but I suppose the fare would have been double that by the time he drove her home again, but still!  Perhaps mum didn't want to go back home with no money either, so unless she's slipped a bit mentally, they are both to blame to a certain extent. 

Where is the evidence that the taxi driver wasn't licenced?
I'd estimate my local (licenced) taxi firm to charge about £59 for 16 miles. They're not cheap.

The poster believes the taxi firm IS licensed by the council...

societys_child

The simple solution is to set up an account with the taxi company, then when when your mother needs a taxi she can call them up and go wherever she wants. It'll be charged to your account and your mom can pay you back.

Another solution is to ensure your mum has at least £4 to her name . . .

societys_child

 . . . the taxi driver is not licenced to give credit credit.

Dr_Crypto

I guess you could complain to the taxi firm or even the taxi department at the council but I’m not sure you’ll get very far. They’ll say he needed to collect the fare and charged her metered rates. 

A bit of adverse publicity in the local paper may or may not persuade them otherwise. 

Terry_Towelling

OP, how did you find out that a minimum of 9 other people had had the exact same problem?

stelee844

Essentially, No entity seems to be in the wrong here, The taxi driver could have been a bit more generous however, It's his job and like someone has already said, He probably hears excuses all day!
 However it may be worth registered a formal complaint with the bank - Although they are not necessarily at fault they may be willing to offer a goodwill gesture. (They like to keep their customers happy usually) 

Best of luck!

pinkdalek

Maybe in future use a prepaid taxi or uber were you pay before.  The circumstances are unfortunate, the taxi driver I feel could have been more sympathetic and accepted payment later as others state issuing an invoice.  It is just an unfortunate series of events, and why should the bank be blamed or at fault when they have confirmed nothing was wrong with the card or the account.

mwarby

Does she use the same company each time ? If so would be reasonable to include that in complaint. A taxi hailed off street with no means if payment is one thing, a regular customer who has never been unable to pay before is another

its perhaps also worth considering having £10 or so set aside somewhere (say picket inside handbag, so if she ever had a repeat she at least has something to fall back on

db2016

the extra cost to taxi wasnt merely miles, i'd say theres a good chance (and its fair too for the taxi to charge) "waiting time" - which if she was in branch etc during all this is a fair thing to charge...
its just one of those things imo, maybe make sure your relative has a small kitty of cash for these things, as much as cash is in decline, taxi's are a mainly cash business.

cloud_dog

mwarby said:

its perhaps also worth considering having £10 or so set aside somewhere (say picket inside handbag, so if she ever had a repeat she at least has something to fall back on

Years ago my brother bought me a Samsonite key fob (small waterproof tube).  At the time I thought...nice gimmicky gift (we always struggle for gifts for each other), but I duly rolled up my £20 note in to it.

To date it has rescued me 4 times 😁