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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

taxis - sitting in the passenger seat

98 replies

morningtoncrescent62 · 31/05/2017 18:12

I don't drive, I live in a city with excellent public transport, but on some (fairly rare) occasions I travel by taxi - usually booked in advance, so in ordinary cars rather than black taxicabs. It's always been my habit to get in the passenger seat if I'm on my own, and chat to the driver if they're so inclined. If I'm with someone else I'd normally get in the back with them. Today I ordered a taxi, and did my normal thing of smiling at the driver and getting in the front when it arrived. The driver looked very surprised, and said (in a pleased way, not a horrible way) that it's very unusual for people to do this, and when I got out she said she'd appreciated the chat as if it were an unusual thing. So HIBU all this time in thinking it's normal to get in the passenger seat if you're on your own - and are taxi drivers privately thinking I'm odd or presumptuous or something, and just not wanting to tell me? I sometimes think there are unwritten rules in life known to everyone except me...

OP posts:
kaytee87 · 31/05/2017 18:58

I always sit in the back. If I was a taxi driver I would hate strangers sitting in the front with me but it takes all kinds Smile

ilovesooty · 31/05/2017 18:59

I always sit in the front.

StripeyDeckchair · 31/05/2017 19:00

i used to sit in the front but now always sit in the back.
This is because
A) I usually travel late at night. The police advise for your own safety you should sit in the back.
B) my local taxi firm (by the tube station) has recently put a note in the window asking single traveller to sit in the back

If you use Uber (I don't, their record is too bad for me to feel the risk is worth saving a few quid) then you should definitely sit in the back, the drivers are totally unchecked.

stella23 · 31/05/2017 19:09

Sit in the back behind the driver as it's the safest place

Amethistle · 31/05/2017 19:18

I get in the back. Don't chat either.

Original poster
morningtoncrescent62 · 31/05/2017 19:49

I hadn't thought of the safety aspect, nor of the angle of encroaching on the driver's space/sitting uninvited in their office. Hmmmm. Maybe I should reconsider.

OP posts:
YoureNotASausage · 31/05/2017 19:55

I remember getting in a taxi in Dublin as a student and getting in the passenger seat. The driver told me I should always sit in the back for safety reasons. I have always sat in the back since. And I chat away to the driver from there.

MargaretCabbage · 31/05/2017 19:57

I usually get in the passenger seat because I thought it was the polite thing to do. I'd rather sit in the back really, so I'll do that from now on after reading this thread.

Electrolens · 31/05/2017 20:02

And yes - safety too. I've had a couple of unpleasant experiences in minicabs coming back late from work (including a driver aggressively refusing to let me wind the window down i.e. Winding it back up when I opened it a cm and refusing to let me out when I said 'actually I'd rather you dropped me here please'.) Happily is very rarely the case but I'd rather be in the back with access to my phone if it does happen - on one occasion I called a family member and chatted to them until the car dropped me at home.

steff13 · 31/05/2017 20:10

If I were a taxi driver I think I'd feel unnerved if someone sat next to me in the front, unless the back was full and there was no other choice.

Empireoftheclouds · 31/05/2017 20:10

If I was a taxi driver I would hate strangers sitting in the front with me. I would be more concerned about the stranger sitting behind me lol

I always sit in the front if it's a saloon car, they are plated to carry X amount of passengers, this includes the front seat.

ScarlettFreestone · 31/05/2017 20:12

I sit in the back because it's safer.

I usually chat though.

DeadGood · 31/05/2017 20:18

Sit in the back. Seriously.

Not just for safety reasons but also for the benefit of the driver. They also have to deal with people all day long. The taxi is their workplace. If you were a doctor, would you like it if patients came in and sat next to you at your desk, instead of across from you?

Some may like having someone in the front for a change, but many won't. You should go with the wish of the ones who want a little space.

I suspect OP that you are secretly a little pleased with yourself for being so egalitarian, and for being uncomfortable at treating a taxi driver as ... er.... a taxi driver by sitting in the back. But there is far less scope for causing them discomfort too by sitting in the back like you're supposed to.

steff13 · 31/05/2017 20:20

I would be more concerned about the stranger sitting behind me

But if they're behind you, you can keep an eye on them in the rearview mirror. Plus, they can't really come over the seat at you from the back. If there's a divider. The taxis here have dividers between the front and back seat.

AnaisB · 31/05/2017 20:24

I do the same as you OP, but I recently found out that this is unusual. None of the taxi drivers have seemed put out by it though.

Are there any taxi drivers out there?! - how much does it bother you?

TrueColors · 31/05/2017 20:29

I always sit in the back and I've never thought much about it. I'm happy to make small talk; it helps my uber rating. Grin

steff13 · 31/05/2017 20:30

If you sat next to me, I'd assume you're intent was to rob and/or murder me. But to be fair, that's one of the reasons I'm not a taxi driver - I don't trust strangers not to rob and/or murder me.

steff13 · 31/05/2017 20:30

your, not you're

DJBaggySmalls · 31/05/2017 20:33

I get in the back for the perceived safety of both of us, and chat from there.

madamginger · 31/05/2017 20:36

Always in the back, especially if I'm on my own.
I would only get in the front if there was a group of us and there weren't enough seats in the back.
You are essentially getting in a car with a stranger after all.

Original poster
morningtoncrescent62 · 31/05/2017 20:48

OK, seriously reconsidering now.

I suspect OP that you are secretly a little pleased with yourself for being so egalitarian, and for being uncomfortable at treating a taxi driver as ... er.... a taxi driver by sitting in the back.

Possibly, though I genuinely hadn't thought about it until today, because I just assumed it was what everyone did. But if it makes drivers feel uncomfortable, then I don't want to do it.

OP posts:
AlwaysCcakeTime · 31/05/2017 20:57

Used to get taxis home late quite frequently. And knew some of them through my work, all of them advised

1: sit in the back
2: if you've preordered let them tell you the name, don't ask are you here for Always?
3: they should pretty much know where you're going, jobs tend to be allocated on nearest.
4: of its one you've hailed down, make a point of looking at their licence/id
5: If you feel uneasy direct them to a friends house and mention you're been waited for.
6: keep your mobile handy.

Some of it is the safety advise given generally, but as one of them said if you always do it, it'll become habit. No good cabby should take offence. He had it drummed into his kids, both the boys & girls.

He did say girls/women tend to be more on the ball, boys/men not so much. Just before mobiles were as common there was a spate of young drunk men been robbed by some unlicensed cabbys, beat up and dumped.

user1471443813 · 31/05/2017 21:31

I always sit in the back - I had two instances of being groped by taxi drivers when I was younger and so am not willing to take the risk of that happening again. Happy to chat though!

Changednameforthis1000 · 31/05/2017 21:35

Always passenger seat- would feel rude sitting in the back!

YoureNotASausage · 31/05/2017 22:59

It's not rude to sit in the back of a taxi. That is where you are actually supposed to sit.

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