Consumer rights pre-booked taxi

Segoviana

We pre-booked a taxi with a week in advance to collect us from Stansted airport. Our flight was meant to arrive at 23:30 and we asked to the taxi company to allow us 1.5 hours (1am the following day) to go through security and collect the luggage. Until here all was clear. Then on our last day of holiday we woke up with many missed calls at 1:30 am what meant that they got the day wrong. We texted via WhatsApp to see why they have called and after they reviewed our initial booking they agree that it was their mistake. After that we received an email asking us to upgrade the car type because apparently our luggage wouldn't fit in a Prius (weird because in the original booking we specified the luggage and their system assigned us that car). We just had two cabin bags, two backpacks and a small pushchair that collapsed. (We know it fits perfectly as it fits in our smaller car). We refused the upgrade and tell them that if it was their system mistake we shouldn't have to pay for that. In the end we agree that the Prius would be sent and if the luggage wouldn't fit it would be our fault and we would run the risk. They were not very happy with that but accepted.

Our flight that day was delayed by 1 hour. We let them know even though they are meant to track the flight. We communicate several times before departure. Once we landed we also let them know and they say (around 00:30) 'OK'.  We also tell them we will be out in 15 min (around 1:50) and they again say 'OK'. Once we were out they send us a message saying (sorry we don't have a driver available, we will reimburse your money). 

We had our son that is a 18 months toddler with us and we couldn't find taxis that wanted to take us to home (more than 1 hour distance). Finally after more than 30 minutes trying with different apps we found a taxi.

Now we are still waiting for the refund and we would like to know what are our rights. We think we should be compensated for the massive inconvenience and for having to pay a more expensive taxi. Does anyone know what are our rights here?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hello OP

Technically you may have a claim for extra costs of a different taxi as damages due to their breach of contract.

You said the original booking was for 23:30 with a 1 and a half hour buffer but was ready for the taxi at 1:50, so outside the buffer.

The bit where you let them know about the delays and they said ok, was that a phone call or do have a text, etc as proof?

What is the extra in price?

It’s interesting to hear taxis don’t want to travel far, black cab drivers at airports used to be happy with long journeys as a short one meant being at the back end of a long queue with a small reward in between. 

Sadly I don’t think there is anything to claim for the trouble suffered with this type of service but would be happy to be proved wrong  

DullGreyGuy

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Hello OP

Technically you may have a claim for extra costs of a different taxi as damages due to their breach of contract.

You said the original booking was for 23:30 with a 1 and a half hour buffer but was ready for the taxi at 1:50, so outside the buffer.

The bit where you let them know about the delays and they said ok, was that a phone call or do have a text, etc as proof?

What is the extra in price?

It’s interesting to hear taxis don’t want to travel far, black cab drivers at airports used to be happy with long journeys as a short one meant being at the back end of a long queue with a small reward in between. 

Sadly I don’t think there is anything to claim for the trouble suffered with this type of service but would be happy to be proved wrong  

Being able to claim the difference will depend on the terms and condition and if those are considered fair. Most contracts will cap liability and potentially the OP breached the contract first by not being ready for pickup at the agreed time. 

As to Black Cabs... it depends a lot. End of their shift and you are going to end up near their home they'll be very happy of the job irrespective of the distance. Technically they make the most money off short journeys but it depends where they are going to drop you off and if its a buzzing urban area where they can easily get their next ride or the middle of no where and they'll basically have to drive all the way back to find their next ride. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

DullGreyGuy said: potentially the OP breached the contract first by not being ready for pickup at the agreed time. 

I do wonder on that point, I would expect terms to be set unless both parties agreed otherwise to change them which really comes down to what proof OP has they agreed to effectively extend the buffer.

DullGreyGuy said:

As to Black Cabs... it depends a lot. End of their shift and you are going to end up near their home they'll be very happy of the job irrespective of the distance. Technically they make the most money off short journeys but it depends where they are going to drop you off and if its a buzzing urban area where they can easily get their next ride or the middle of no where and they'll basically have to drive all the way back to find their next ride. 

East Croydon station 10 years ago you could sit on the rank for 2 hours plus and end up with a £5 job, less prospect of being hailed compared to central London so it was back to the back of the rank. 

With the airports the wait for a job could longer and given the rates a long run should be desirable, whist the last job of the night might be different I’d imagine most would take the money or direct you to the cab behind. 

Don’t know if Stansted has black cabs, I think it was Gatwick the person we knew worked at, that was a good 15 years ago so no doubt much has changed but one thing’s for sure, there’s more competition from Uber and such and no doubt more black cabbies than ever. 

Aylesbury_Duck

How much are you after?

born_again

Who is the company?

user1977

Depends on the terms I think. Was it a contractual obligation to still pickup if the flight is delayed, or just a goodwill thing? Could the customer have cancelled at the last minute without penalty? If not then cancellation by the company without penalty would likely be seen as an unfair contract term.

saajan_12

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

You said the original booking was for 23:30 with a 1 and a half hour buffer but was ready for the taxi at 1:50, so outside the buffer.

Don't think that's my read.. the taxi was booked for 1:00 am. How that time was calculated as expected arrival time + 1.5 hrs is by the by, but the 1.5hrs wasn't part of the buffer time. 

There should be a reasonable buffer time from 1:00am onwards, ie if OP got out to the taxi stand at 1:02am, the taxi co cant drive off. The question is 
(1)  how long is a reasonable buffer
(2)  was the agreement to actually monitor the flight time and amend the time accordingly (and any limit to that)

Please share whatever agreements or discussions with the taxi co beforehand. Based on that, I think you have a decent claim for the extra out of pocket spend on the other taxi. Less so for the inconvenience - I don't think 30 min rises to that level (there's inherently inconvenience being awake at 1am even if all went well, if the flight was early / late, both sides were going to be flexible so they might have been 30 min late anyway to pick you up. I think you have to get to many multiples of that before it becomes compensible. 

DullGreyGuy

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

DullGreyGuy said:

As to Black Cabs... it depends a lot. End of their shift and you are going to end up near their home they'll be very happy of the job irrespective of the distance. Technically they make the most money off short journeys but it depends where they are going to drop you off and if its a buzzing urban area where they can easily get their next ride or the middle of no where and they'll basically have to drive all the way back to find their next ride. 

East Croydon station 10 years ago you could sit on the rank for 2 hours plus and end up with a £5 job, less prospect of being hailed compared to central London so it was back to the back of the rank. 

With the airports the wait for a job could longer and given the rates a long run should be desirable, whist the last job of the night might be different I’d imagine most would take the money or direct you to the cab behind. 

Don’t know if Stansted has black cabs, I think it was Gatwick the person we knew worked at, that was a good 15 years ago so no doubt much has changed but one thing’s for sure, there’s more competition from Uber and such and no doubt more black cabbies than ever. 

Not sure East Croydon station is going to be one thats very busy for black cabs, not that kind of town. That said every cabbie claims to have their own tricks and maybe some do know how to make the station work for them. 

The number of black cabs in Greater London has gone down overall, 23,000 in 2011 to 15,100 in 2023 but the number of private hire has doubled in the same period. Whilst black cabs are exempt from ULEZ there is a maximum age of 12 years for the more polluting diesel cabs and believe a fair few are choosing retirement when their cab hits the age limit rather than buying/hiring a new vehicle which are materially more expensive. 

£5 jobs almost certainly don't exist these days, whilst £3.80 is the minimum fare it only covers 133m, a 1 mile evening journey is likely to be £10+ these days

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

DullGreyGuy said:

Not sure East Croydon station is going to be one thats very busy for black cabs, not that kind of town. That said every cabbie claims to have their own tricks and maybe some do know how to make the station work for them. 

The number of black cabs in Greater London has gone down overall, 23,000 in 2011 to 15,100 in 2023 but the number of private hire has doubled in the same period. Whilst black cabs are exempt from ULEZ there is a maximum age of 12 years for the more polluting diesel cabs and believe a fair few are choosing retirement when their cab hits the age limit rather than buying/hiring a new vehicle which are materially more expensive. 

£5 jobs almost certainly don't exist these days, whilst £3.80 is the minimum fare it only covers 133m, a 1 mile evening journey is likely to be £10+ these days

Go back 30 years and East Croydon would have been easy money, it was around 10 years ago my dad retired, Uber wasn't the behemoth it was now, nor indeed was smart phone tech as integrated into our daily lives, the trams being built probably didn't help but the ever increasing number of black cabs at the time significantly dented the prospect of good money.

Despite it's reputation there's some very nice property in areas around Croydon and the station used to be particularly busy, what it's like these days I don't know. 

It doesn't surprise me there are less black cabs now with the likes of Uber taking the market, the issue of replacing cabs due to certain requirements has always been there, a lot would rent rather than own, a quickly changing world has as you say probably lead to less new drivers as they go to other prospects.

It just surprises me you can't just jump in a cab at an airport with the driver happy at getting a good paying job. 

DullGreyGuy

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:
It just surprises me you can't just jump in a cab at an airport with the driver happy at getting a good paying job. 

You can, after forgetting her passport at Heathrow we got a blackcab back to home as couldn't be bothered with the vague instructions for Uber of having to go to X floor in Y carpark etc -v- the clearly signposted black cab rank.

The problem is Uber is traffic dependent and £55-£90. A PHV is £60-£70. A Blackcab is traffic dependent and in this case was £120. For then same price as a black cab can get a Mercedes S class from a PHV