Is this sort of thing common in London taxis?

[unhappytraveller]

I've name changed for this because it is outing. We got into a cab today in Covent Garden. I asked the driver if he could take us to King's Cross, he didn't answer me. I asked him if he had heard me okay. I'm mentioning this because I thought he was miserable and rude at the start of the journey.

Up to now I've always been really lucky with the London cabs I've got into. The driver has been unfailingly polite and always got me where I needed to be in good time. I think it's quite a skill. I use them on trips to London about two or three times a year. I tried Uber and found them utter rubbish. I've never had the incident that happened today occur before.

The driver drove up Upper Woburn Place, you can't turn right onto Euston Road, you have to loop round. But he was in the left hand lane, as if to go straight ahead. Just after crossing Euston Road he swerved in front of the car behind as if he had forgotten where he needed to be (to enable him to turn right and back onto Euston Road). The driver behind toots his horn as if to say "you could have given me a bit of warning before you cut in front of me". Cab driver then refused to move forward, even though the traffic was moving forward; this was to piss off the driver behind for tooting at him. I was checking my phone for a few seconds then I looked up when the driver from behind pulls up on our cab driver's left. Cab driver winds his window down and the guy from behind said "what you doing man?" He wasn't too crazy or aggressive .. obviously just wanting to let the cab driver know he was out of order. The cab driver WAS aggressive and really sarcastic. One of the things he said to the driver was "Aw, what you gona do, take it to the African Embassy?". The cab driver looked and spoke as if he was from India, or perhaps the Middle East or North Africa (I didn't get a really good look at him). The other driver was black. The other driver did not respond, he just looked sad, really. I think, but I don't know, that the cab driver was taunting the other driver with a racist jibe. It was all pretty unpleasant. My kids were just looking into their lap, wondering how it was going to end. The whole business took about 5 or 6 minutes, and we were just sitting in the back of the cab wondering how long it would go on for, whether we should just get out there and then whilst the cab was stationary and the shouting was going on (although that would have been dangerous, obviously) or whether we should tell him to get a move on. As it happened it did cost us the train we had booked, we were cutting it fine for time.

It was all just a bit shit really .. I thought London cab drivers had to work hard to get and keep their licence, and had a fairly good reputation.

Is this sort of thing a common occurrence now and I'm being naive, or should it not have happened?

Novelty factor for tourists yeah the horse-drawn carriages were all taken up so we got in a cab for the fun of it.

Pickle is it the large print 5 digit number? As I say I took the picture from the inside and I didn't let him know I was doing it.

Your experience was an unusual one, unhappytraveller. Black cab drivers, cab drivers in general, are usually friendly unless they are coming to the end of their working day/night, looking forward to going home and they usually say that and then be quiet.

I am sorry it was such a dreadful business, quite scary.

Are you talking about a proper black cab or a random taxi such as Uber?

Yes, it's a 5 digit number printed on the identifiers displayed in the front and back of the taxi, plus on the badge around the drivers neck.

OlaEliza the day satnavs are able to pay congestion charges, make car doors stretch wide enough for buggies, luggage and wheelchairs ,can accomodate five passengers and help nervous drivers deal with London traffic on a wet Friday evening rush hour then yes, I agree with you , black cabs will be redundant .

Until then.......

Sorry to hear that you trip to London ended in a horrible way. Reporting the driver.

I don't understand the bitchy responses to this thread, especially given the OP's experience. Get a grip people!

Reporting the driver = report the driver!

This was a black cab. I wouldn't use Uber, as I said above. I've tried them before and the two I tried didn't know their way around. One of them actually admitted he didn't know how to get me to me to where I was going so I got out. It was a complete waste of time and I thought after the second one I wouldn't bother again.

"My kids were just looking into their lap, wondering how it was going to end. The whole business took about 5 or 6 minutes, and we were just sitting in the back of the cab wondering how long it would go on for, whether we should just get out there and then whilst the cab was stationary and the shouting was going on"

You are the adult. You decide. If it's unsafe then you protect your kids. Why are they sitting there for 6 minutes and then deciding the outcome??

What part of that can any other cab firm not do, @viques?

@OlaEliza I have reported your first post. Sweeping statement, offensive and untrue.

Of course it's not 'standard'
Of course you should report.

And guess what, there are racist, police, doctors, teachers, builders, housewives and cashiers. Most are not, and all incidents should be reported.

I mean, common sense and all that....

Anely that is horrible. I hope you reported him. I don't think you can win with the distance thing. I've had them complain about it being too far, or in the wrong direction. When I say complain I mean in a resigned sort of way .. without being rude. Nothing like this miserable horror today.

If you’ve got his number then definitely report, that’s appalling.

Odds are driver has not done the knowledge or at least not passed.
Black cabs can be fully owned, leased or shift shared with a fellow black cab driver.

Of the very many licensed black taxis I have taken - a significant number as I am a native Londoner, been taking taxis since my teens, had a work taxi account & more recently have acquired a disability - I have not observed such appalling behaviours.

What you have described falls well below any acceptable standard. Please report this incident.

I must say in fairness that I have been driven in recent months a driver who clearly did not have the ‘knowledge’ judging by how they negotiated turning into the Euston Road from Mabledon Place. Granted the system round there is a dogs dinner, but it’s the kind of idiosyncratic route that they should know. I assumed that the driver had either borrowed the taxi from a rogue driver OR some unlicensed black taxis are on the road. I vowed if I came across a driver like that again I would take the taxi number - see plate inside the taxi & vehicle registration number & report it.

Addison Lee- only on someone else’s business account & I was prepared to help them get there.
Uber - just no.

The only reason I asked about the tube was because it seems odd to get a taxi and risk getting stuck in traffic (or the taxi driver having a road rage incident for "5 or 6 minutes") if you are cutting it fine for time already.

OP said in her first post "as it happened it did cost us the train we had booked, we were cutting it fine for time", as if it was the taxi drivers fault that they missed their train. He was being a dick for sure, but it's not really his fault that they missed the train.

Racism and aggressive driving is unacceptable from any taxi driver, just report him, no need for an AIBU .

Crustycab what are you on about? For someone who is dissecting semantics your post is very badly written. You think I was waiting for my kids to decide whether or not to get out?

Yes you are right. It wasn't his fault we missed it; we hadn't really left enough time BUT if he'd known what he was doing and not messed around for so long, we might have been lucky and still caught it. It didn't really make that much difference though because we didn't have to wait that long for the next train; we just didn't have seats booked.

He was just such a nasty piece of work though. He put us in an awful position. If I'd been on my own I probably wouldn't have been able to keep my mouth shut, but as I say, anyone that volatile could be capable of worse than verbal insults.

I don't think he was the legitimate driver.

OLaEliza , to my midnight brain it was not clear that you were referring to cab drivers who rely on sat nav rather than their extensive knowledge of London streets, my bad. But my point still applies, black cabs provide a unique service. Have you tried getting a wheelchair into the back of a normal cab, or a buggy ? Fine if you want to pre book one which will accommodate buggies and wheelchairs, or more than four passengers, or tyou could take a chance and order one that meets your needs and possibly face have to wait for an hour until a suitable vehicle is available, and of course no chance of hailing one from the street.

Black cabs are flexible, accessible and easily available.

"
It was all just a bit shit really .. I thought London cab drivers had to work hard to get and keep their licence, and had a fairly good reputation.
Is this sort of thing a common occurrence now and I'm being naive, or should it not have happened"

What do you think OP 🙄

Oh do jog on @OlaEliza . It's not the fucking Sweeney.

Most black cab drivers are not police informers . You have been watching too much tellybox.

How do you account for the high proportion of ex coppers that pass the knowledge first time while very few else do, while only so many people can be passed?

#JobsForTheBoys eh?

Report him already. To tfl and non emergency police number.

Ola where's the evidence for that statistic?

I know four people who passed the knowledge @OlaEliza. Two were university educated with good degrees but wanted a job that offered flexible hours, one was a family member who enjoyed driving and talking to people and one was a neighbour whose dad had been a black cab driver. (And one of the Uni ones was female fwiw). All four of them worked for at least two years to get their knowledge, driving round London on mopeds and swotting up endlessly. It's hard, but not impossible and nothing to do with 'jobs for the boys'.

You are clearly talking from a place of zero direct knowledge, so hush.