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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Overcharged by taxi driver AIBU?

53 replies

StrategyMaps · 16/10/2023 09:17

I take the same journey once a week, at the same time, on the same day, and get a taxi each time from a taxi rank. I know the journey well and it takes less than 5 minutes. The fare is always £6.60 or similar give or take £1. This week I took my cab and the driver wasn’t using the machine which shows you the fare due. I gave him the benefit of the doubt. But when the journey ended it was £3 more than I’d expect to pay, and I felt cheated. But since it was late at night I didn’t feel safe to challenge them, as I was alone and no one around. So I paid with my card, and later logged on to the council website to report overcharging. Unfortunately I wasn’t thinking properly and didn’t photograph the number plate as he drove off… AIBU to be annoyed about this? I feel like he just made up the fare.

OP posts:
Ilovegoldies · 16/10/2023 19:55

Taxis are regulated. If it happens again, take the reg and complain to your local council.

Precipice · 16/10/2023 20:05

Mydogmybestfriend · 16/10/2023 09:41

Get over it, it's £3 maybe he needed it. It will come back to you some how

Maybe OP needed it?

Or will getting a taxi automatically disqualify her?

angsanana · 17/10/2023 05:59

Reporting over £3 was completely unreasonable. You don't know why the meter wasn't on. You should have asked why it wasn't and failing that at the end of the journey, queried the extra money. You don't know the impact that reporting will have in the driver. How would you feel if it led to him losing his job because you didn't feel comfortable querying a couple of extra quid?

ichundich · 17/10/2023 06:02

Just count yourself lucky that you don't live in an area where one taxi firm has the monopoly and can charge £10 for a 2-mile journey.

Original poster
StrategyMaps · 17/10/2023 06:35

@ichundich it’s a 1.1 mile journey and I was charged £9.60, at 8:50pm…

OP posts:
Donetrying1 · 17/10/2023 06:52

I would be very wary to ask for advice on MN
The default position seems to be ‘have a go, even if it’s a reasonable question’
l have had this happen to me often when the fare is suddenly much higher and because l’m generally someone who never complains, l pay it and feel aggrieved. I would like to be charitable and say it’s a genuine error, but l don’t think it always is and if that’s the case it’s really not on and it’s your right to complain or question it.
l understand OP l really do, but not sure what the answer is and as someone who doesn’t drive and lives in the sticks it can be really frustrating!

KrisAkabusi · 17/10/2023 07:06

Maybe I should stand up for myself more?

All you had to say was "That's £3 more than I usually pay". He may very well have said"oh, sorry, £7 then". You'd both be happy, instead of you still annoyed days later.

4naansjeremy · 17/10/2023 07:12

I’m wondering if he forgot to put his meter on and had a guess at the fare. Most people would be reluctant to challenge in these circumstances.

Harperhan · 17/10/2023 07:42

Life is way too short to worry about £3.

Ffion21 · 17/10/2023 07:50

OP it’s £3. Learn your lesson and ask for the meter next time and just get over it. The effort you’ve now put in to report him, stress about it and create this post is worth way more than £3 in your time and energy.

He isn’t jetting off to Barbados on the amount he fleeced you. Simply learn from it and ask for the meter next time. He obviously didn’t phone the job in so there likely isn’t a record of it if done off meter.

I once got in a black cab in London. I always look on Google maps and saw he was driving me the total opposite direction and was already at around £25. I spoke to him about it and said he’s taking me the longest route and I wanted him to go back to the pick up point and drive me the correct route for a fair payment. He didn’t say anything and just nodded and just did it, reset the meter, so he was obviously pulling a fast one. My fair was less than £25 to the destination. Wonder how many tourists get ripped off.

Anderson2018 · 17/10/2023 08:05

Your unreasonable for not challenging it at the time, 8pm is hardly late, don’t know how the time is relevant to asking about the price of a taxi?

Alargeoneplease89 · 17/10/2023 08:45

Why didn't you ask the price first? Taxis round here don't have a meter and I always ask the price first

ActDottie · 17/10/2023 08:45

I don’t think I could get worked up about this it’s £3

goingtotown · 17/10/2023 08:51

Why didn't you question the cost with the taxi driver?

Mepeepants · 17/10/2023 09:14

Many years ago. I had been on a night out with friends. We hailed a black cab to take us home. Dropped a couple of friends off then me with 1 friend left to drop off. The meter said less than £10 so I gave friend £10 to cover the cost. She only lived a 5-10 minute walk from mine so should have taken 2 minutes by car in the middle of the night. The taxi driver kept going the wrong way. Whichever way my friend said to turn, he would go the opposite way. Going round and round the houses. She got home an hour after me. He tried to charge her a fortune. Can't remember how much. She gave him the tenner and said that's all your getting.

ChickHenLittle · 17/10/2023 09:18

You were straight on the council website over £3? Instead of simply querying it at the time...

MummytoCSJH · 17/10/2023 09:30

ActDottie · 17/10/2023 08:45

I don’t think I could get worked up about this it’s £3

There have been times I’ve got in a taxi with exact change knowing the price of the journey I do a lot and given I don’t generally carry cash 🤷🏻‍♀️

78gingernuts · 17/10/2023 09:58

I think if you are using taxis regularly. You should make yourself more aware of what they can and can't do. Whilst you were on the council website trying to complain about a driver and vehicle you couldn't even identify. Maybe you should of read their policies instead. So next time you will know to either make sure the meter is on or agree a price before the journey commences.

dellesapples · 17/10/2023 10:14

Black cabs are notorious rip off merchants.

dellesapples · 17/10/2023 10:14

It's why I avoid by all means

Fightyouforthatpie · 17/10/2023 10:23

Mydogmybestfriend · 16/10/2023 10:24

I regularly find money, win money or get money for jobs. So It will return to me.

Show quote history

Are you Liz Truss?

LubaLuca · 17/10/2023 10:32

You missed your chance to question it. Chalk it up to experience and be ready to challenge it next time the driver doesn't meter the journey or doesn't tell you how much before you agree to set off. I don't think the council will be interested in pursuing a complaint over £3.

I've got to say, it does seem odd that you'd have the nerve to get in a car with a stranger, but not to ask them a simple question when you're safely at your destination. The risk involved in checking the fare is minimal.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 17/10/2023 10:39

I'd have been tempted to say "I'll pay what's on the meter"

Except they didn't use the meter - but yes, saying this would at least have highlighted it

Better still, insist on the meter being used, and when they claim it's "broken", find another taxi

ScaryM0nster · 17/10/2023 11:57

It’s not really fair to go straight to making a complaint to the licensing body, without at least querying it with the driver.

It’s going to solve itself because without a registration they won’t be able to match it to the driver.

Mabelface · 17/10/2023 13:01

£3 has a different value for different people. For some, it's nothing, for others it's bread and milk to keep fed. If this driver has 25 fares in a shift and he did it to everyone in that shift, he's earned himself an extra £75. It would piss me off too.