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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Stranger CF’ers

38 replies

LikeYouSaid · 03/12/2018 01:34

Have you ever had a total stranger be a CF? I had a knock at my door at dinner time today (yesterday now I guess Blush) and it was a taxi driver. He asked if anyone lived with me called ‘Lou’ as they owed him money which had me a little Hmm. Turned out ‘Lou’ had called a taxi to my address Saturday night at 11pm and he’d picked them up (they’d been standing in my front garden as if they’d come out of my house). Two women perhaps late 30’s he said, giddy for a night out and booked under the name ‘Lou’ for my address.

They told him to put it on a tab under my address and the name ‘Lou’ as they were going to need a taxi back later that night. They even assured him if he didn’t hear from them to come knock on in the afternoon and they’d pay him then!! Shock

Apparently they’d ran up a £27 tab!

Huge misunderstanding and I really felt for him but at the same time can’t believe the cheek of those two women! He’s going to get their pictures from the cam in his taxi and promised to show me in case I recognise them. I was in bed around 10pm on Saturday so very weirded out two women were lurking in my garden waiting for a taxi and told the driver to knock on my door in the afternoon to be paid! Envy (not envy)

Anyone else had any CF strangers?

OP posts:
WinterfellWench · 03/12/2018 15:16

Don't know if this counts, but when we moved house (some years back,) the person we bought it from, asked us to collect their mail through the week, and take it to their house every Saturday morning, because they didn't want to pay the £50 redirection fee.

DH, soft bastard that he is agreed! Hmm I made him take it (they moved 10 mins walk away!)

About a month after they moved, the boiler packed up, and it cost us £2K for a new one. We reckoned they knew it was shite, and were pissed off, so the weekend delivery service stopped after a month!

Talcott2007 · 03/12/2018 15:21

My friend's address was 'blacklisted' by our local cab company following some unknown person making a booking using her address and running off without paying - apparently that sort of thing is really common according to this cab company which is why they have their blacklisting policy - it took her ages to sort out with them because she refused to just pay it - in the end she pointed out that 95% of her previous bookings were for daytime journeys where she was taking her DD to and from hospital appointments whereas this skipped fare was from a nightclub at 2am! But this was all dealt with over the phone with the dispatcher/owner not some random cabbie turning up...that seems a bits more suspicious

Original poster
LikeYouSaid · 03/12/2018 19:56

Not sure if it was a scam or not, he came back today and showed me a dark picture of the women in the back of his car and I very vaguely recognised one from the village but not enough to give him any clues. He seemed genuinely annoyed and we joked about him not taking tabs again. He did say he only agreed as she gave an address and he assumed she’d lived here so knew where to find her if she skipped out.

I know people do runners from taxis but never heard of anyone lurking in gardens to get them for free though! Confused

I’ve had someone try to scam my drink before in a crowded bar by saying she’d left it there, it was 100% hers etc causing quite the scene. Told the CFer she could feck off Grin

OP posts:
ThatssomebadhatHarry · 03/12/2018 20:48

Does your local area have a Facebook group. This is just the type of thing that gets put on the one in my area, people are more than willing to name and shame. They could have put you in serious danger, not all taxi drivers are friendly if they are owed money!

Ontheboardwalk · 03/12/2018 23:50

I’d tell him you’d informed 101 and see if his attitude changes. This could be part of a wider scam and people who rely on taxis could just pay up to avoid confrontation or threat of being blacklisted

Holidayshopping · 03/12/2018 23:57

What phone number did he contact them on?

PhaedrasChocolate · 04/12/2018 00:14

He won't be able to share the phone number if he's genuine, due to data protection.

I'm a taxi operator, and honestly, this sort of thing happens all the time. Contact the office directly though, or your address might end up getting barred.

BorisAndDoris · 04/12/2018 00:16

I used to have a lot of taxi drivers phoning me asking for a date. Apparently I got taxis home every weekend, flirted with the taxi drivers for a free ride in exchange for a date and... more. Confused

The taxi drivers called me by my name and had my mobile number and got really angry and accused me of lying, being a cocktease and ripping them off.

None stayed on the phone long enough to give a description of whoever was doing this. They got angry (and I assume, embarrassed) when I told them I was never in that town, lived in a different town and worked every single weekend night until 5am.

I never did find out who was pretending to be me and giving out my real name and number. So not exactly a stranger CF but an unknown one.

DonkeyHotei · 04/12/2018 00:47

@ginswinger The lady who bought the fabric from you may tell it differently. She might say, "I bought and paid for some fabric from someone on Ebay, and when I opened the fabric, it had cuts in it. I asked the seller to replace the fabric or reimburse me, but he/she declined. What a CF!" Unfortunately there is no way to work out who is telling the truth there, which is why it'll be a cold day in hell before I ever buy anything off Ebay....

ginswinger · 04/12/2018 11:33

@DonkeyHotei I agree but she told me she snipped the fabric herself whilst opening!

DonkeyHotei · 04/12/2018 18:29

@ginswinger in the case she is truly a CF and I owe you an apology for my cynicism Flowers

Original poster
LikeYouSaid · 06/12/2018 00:39

@BorisAndDoris Shock surely it must have been someone you knew for them to have your phone number and details? How strange! I’d be tempted to call the head office and ask for more information.

@PhaedrasChocolate a friend advised this so I did give them a call. The lady I spoke to was lovely and said she knew about it from the driver and couldn’t believe the cheek of it. She said this happens quite a lot too and drivers are told accepting tab requests without them going through the office first was at their own risk.

Still, a very bizarre thing to happen!

OP posts:
BorisAndDoris · 06/12/2018 15:49

@LikeYouSaid yep, definitely someone who knew me. I had a few suspicions as the town they were being dropped off at was home to a few ex school and college friends (and a school frenemy who was top of the suspect list).

At least the taxi drivers didn't have a clue that I lived in a completely different town.

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