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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Taxi driver falling asleep on motorway

71 replies

Booboostwo · 26/02/2018 21:52

We are on holiday and we don't have our car. Yesterday we wanted to go see friends who live in a slightly out of the way village but the trains were awful (3 hours just to get there if all went well with changes and a bus rail replacement service) so we decided to hire a taxi for 9 hours - 1.5 hours drive there, then short drive to soft play/restaurant, then 1.5 hours back. In between the long drive there and back the driver had a long rest. We paid 500 pounds for the taxi which was a huge amount of money but it was very important for us to see our friends and this was the only way it would happen.

On the way there, at 11:30 in the morning, so not an odd hour, the taxi driver started to fall asleep at the wheel on the motorway. He was driving in the middle lane while the slow lane was empty which was a but odd and then I noticed his speed has dropped to 50 m/h. I was sitting at the back with the DCs but a couple of cars beeped at us when overtaking which attracted my attention. I saw the driver's eyes closing for milliseconds, so I woke up DH who was sitting at the front and also dozing, and he also saw the driver falling asleep. We got some cold air in the car and we talked to the driver the rest of the way. We then asked him to make sure he took a nap before the trip back (he had 5 hours free waiting for us).

When we got back DH texted the taxi firm letting them know but got an automated reply back, so this morning I suggested we should call the firm about it. DH was reluctant as he thought they would not care either way, but surely sending out a driver who was falling asleep at the wheel is a huge issue isn't it? I don't necessarily want the driver disciplined in any way, he seemed like a nice man, but they do need to review their procedures to ensure this doesn't happen again. I also think we are entitled to some money back, DH thinks not.

OP posts:

Dungeondragon15 · 27/02/2018 08:26

I am amazed that you let him drive you home considering his reckless disregard for safety. How could you trust someone to drive after that? I would have cancelled and got another taxi from a different firm. You could have claimed a refund or even sued the taxi firm later for the money if they wouldn't refund you. It's too late now though! In fact, if you do ask for refund they will just think you are trying it on considering that you used the same taxi driver to get home. Most people in their rights minds wouldn't do that.

Original poster

Booboostwo · 27/02/2018 08:51

Well of course we brought it to his attention as we told him there and then he was falling asleep and then asked him to take a nap and then confirmed he had taken a nap. No I don't know if he had lied about the nap but no he could not have taken other fares as he was in the car park of the soft play.

No we could not have gotten out of the car and walked on the motorway.

Yes commuter villages have soft plays but no taxis but really why do you think I am lying? Am I a serial soft play fantasist and the soft play doesn't even exist? Do you think there was a full taxi rank outside the soft play but I insisted I wanted the driver who had fallen asleep? Do you think maybe there was no driver, no taxi, no visit and maybe I don't even have DCs?

500 pounds for 9 hours is 55.50 pounds per hour which is not that weird (it was not calculated exactly like that, we actually paid more per driving hour and less per waiting hour). I asked DH yesterday why we didn't just rent a car and he said that I was so wound up on Saturday when I realized the train option was not going to work that he didn't want to mention renting and stress me further. So why was I wound up? Am I usually hysterical? No but earlier this week we were in hospital setting the date and details for DD's first limb lengthening operation. No we are not limb lengthening for fun, she has a rare bone disease. And we were going to see the DCs of my best friend who died in the autumn. This was the first time I saw them since the funeral and I feel deeply guilty I live in another country and cannot see them more often. The 6yo hang onto my leg and would not let me go as we were trying to leave. It was awful, but there you go, here is every detail surrounding before and after the trip.

DH just called the taxi firm. They seem to have taken it quite seriously. The woman he spoke to said they need to start an internal procedure and will call us bacl.

OP posts:

NerrSnerr · 27/02/2018 09:07

I don't think there's taxi ranks outside soft plays but unless the soft play is in the complete middle of nowhere there'll be local firms you can call.

Of course the driver was massively wrong for going to sleep but it's bonkers that you risked your family by getting back in his car!

NerrSnerr · 27/02/2018 09:09

I'd love for you to name one commuter village that doesn't have a taxi firm that doesn't cover it! What happens when a commuter needs to get to or from the train station early or late?

beepthemeep · 27/02/2018 09:09

We live in a village/small town and I can think of at least 2 soft plays that are quite near me - they're not exactly in the middle of nowhere, but you'd be stuffed with no car - they're on industrial estates (genius idea, cheap warehouse rent, lots of parking, £6.50 a coffee = profit!!). It's not that unusual!

WellThisIsShit · 27/02/2018 09:27

I’m sorry some posters are enjoying their particular style of posting fun. It’s supposed to be a supportive site, but I guess for some it’s more fun to take the piss and nit pick apart someone’s story until they break. Yay! Fun fun fun! Then blame the victim when anyone gets upset.

Kindness doesn’t seem to come into it.

I’m glad the taxi company were helpful and reacted in a constructive way. So many taxi companies dodge the law in the way they operate, taking no responsibility for the drivers, as they aren’t true ‘employees’, in the legal sense of the word.

I’m so sorry you are here on such emotionally intense tasks, operating on your child and visiting your grieving friend are such vital and upsetting things to be doing. God give you the strength to cope with both. Hard times for you and those you love, but hopefully a low point from which positive things start to happen.

italiancortado · 27/02/2018 09:32

So many taxi companies dodge the law in the way they operate, taking no responsibility for the drivers, as they aren’t true ‘employees’, in the legal sense of the word.

Taxi companies are just a call centre to match customer with driver. They genuinely have no responsibility. It's nothing to do with dodging the law, the driver is the one with responsibility in this situation.

The company have pacified the OP well for now, but they have absolutely no power over the driver, so it's unlikely anything will happen here.

Dungeondragon15 · 27/02/2018 09:46

I'm not "taking the piss" out of OP as she clearly wasn't thinking logically. However, having been in a serious accident due to a taxi driver not paying attention I am horrified that she still used him after he demonstrated a reckless disregard for their safety.

BigGreenOlives · 27/02/2018 09:58

A friend of mine was woken up (in her house) by an Uber driver who crashed into 2 parked cars at 5:30am, he’d been working all through the night. Self employed so no one cares.

DontOpenDeadInside · 27/02/2018 10:00

I once went on a school trip but there wasn't enough room on the bus, so me and 2 other parents were ordered a taxi. The driver then proceeded to tell one of the other mums he'd been out drinking the night before, didn't get in until 4am had a couple hours sleep then out to work. It was 9.30am so he'd only stopped drinking 5 hours before (and it was obvious he had drunk a canny bit) There should definitely be more regulations in the taxi business.

italiancortado · 27/02/2018 10:11

friend of mine was woken up (in her house) by an Uber driver who crashed into 2 parked cars at 5:30am, he’d been working all through the night

Did he crash because he fell asleep? Because working through the night isn't unusual. A lot of taxis work nightshift. It doesn't mean the driver is tired.

BigGreenOlives · 27/02/2018 15:13

Yes he’d fallen asleep. She called an ambulance for him. I can’t remember how many consecutive hours he’d worked.

Original poster

Booboostwo · 27/02/2018 18:44

The taxi company seem to be taking this seriously. They have started an investigation which includes their regulatory body.

OP posts:

Dungeondragon15 · 27/02/2018 18:56

I'm glad they are taking it seriously as I think it is really shocking. I hope that they don't use him again.

italiancortado · 27/02/2018 19:36

They have started an investigation which includes their regulatory body.

There is no regulatory body.

Taxis are licensed by there local councils, but in terms of hours worked there are no rules.

Original poster

Booboostwo · 27/02/2018 21:13

italiancortado I am testifying in court under oath, I am merely updating from what my DH said the taxi firm said. My DH understood that they have started a procedure to investigate what happened. This they seemed to say will involve an external agency, the council, some licensing body, I have no clue. Maybe they are lying, maybe they are not doing anything about it but I am not about to hire a private investigator to check up on them.

OP posts:

Original poster

Booboostwo · 27/02/2018 21:14

I am NOT testifying in court under oath

Sorry typo.

OP posts:

italiancortado · 27/02/2018 21:33

Erm, ok.

GreenbackBoogy · 27/02/2018 21:36

Bloody hell what is going on with this place

You did the right thing, OP.

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 27/02/2018 21:42

The fact that op paid £500 for a Taxi Is neither here nor there or our business.
The point is the taxi driver fell asleep at the wheel. If op wasn't a passenger someone else could have been and may not have been as lucky.

Chesterado · 27/02/2018 22:31

Surely the cost is irrelevant if the OP is willing and able to pay it and had good personal reasons for doing so?

Glad it is being investigated and you are all ok. We recently had to ban the use of a particular local taxi company at work because a driver fell asleep at the wheel and nearly crashed while taking several people to the airport. He had been up all night :( It has huge legal and health and safety implications so they should be taking it v v seriously.

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