My dad is a taxi driver, so I hope I can answer some questions.
No, there was no furlough. Many got into debt just to meet basic living costs like rent and food as it took a while for the self employment payment to come through. Equally, no sick pay or time off etc. and unlike a more standard form of self employment, the revenue is usually too little to set money aside.
The card machines used in taxis are notoriously difficult, often breaking, and customers lash out at taxi drivers. Some companies also take the processing fee from the taxi driver, and it takes 2 weeks for card paid fares to get to the driver. It means if that was his only trip, he essentially didn’t earn anything while it cost him fuel and time. The card machine belongs to the company you booked with, not him, and he pays them to have it in his car. The company know that they rarely work properly, and don’t care. That is not his responsibility, and taxi drivers are constantly complaining but nothing gets fixed.
Technically, he was correct to keep the meter running for waiting time. He had no way of knowing if you’d be 10 seconds or 20 minutes, and his compensation stops the second he clicks it as complete. His time is literally his money, though most drivers won’t do this. Given the huge hit taxi drivers have taken financially, I think more drivers will have to do this as they can’t justify the time. In the same way customers can choose to tip or not, it’s down to your discretion. Customers that likely won’t tip probably won’t get the kinder end of a taxi driver’s discretion at the moment.
Yes, firms will blacklist customer addresses. Firms can also make sure he doesn’t have to go to your address in the future, or put a note out saying it’s a difficult customer such that the driver knows to expect problems. You can, when you phone up, request not to have a particular driver too.
Taxi drivers don’t set their prices or factor in anything, those are set by the local authority. In my dad’s case, fare prices haven’t gone up since 2008 while everything else has.
All taxi drivers want to talk about how business is going, it’s the main thing on their mind. It doesn’t mean they’re trying to con you, they just want to chat and if you don’t offer a subject, they pick one. I wish people would not assume taxi drivers are there to con people, it’s a really difficult perception and quite hurtful.
He was wrong to shout at you. I don’t think anyone would disagree with that.
Let’s all try and give people a bit of breathing space right now though, things are difficult and tensions are high. He will probably have been mortified ten minutes later, but in the moment just became overwhelmed with how much financial pressure there is and nothing to fall back on.
The vast majority of taxi drivers are good, honest and hard working people. My dad regularly takes old people home for free if he sees them struggling, takes one customers dog for a walk twice a day free of charge as she struggles with mobility, puts away people’s shopping, and volunteered to deliver things to those with coronavirus while he was unable to work despite his lung condition. He deserves every bit as much respect as anyone else, but (and I’m not saying you’re doing this) gets looked down on so much for his profession.
If you can, please treat taxi drivers kindly, assume good motives, and tip where possible. Things are so difficult for so many right now, and those of us who are financially privileged have a lot of power to do good.