Is a nearly 13 year old boy old enough to get in a mini cab by himself for short, local journey?

[tigermoth]

My son is 13 in April. He is pretty sensible and streetwise - has been getting the bus by himself to school and at weekends since he was 11 years old.

Increasingly he needs dh or me to be a taxi service to get him to and from activities at weekends and early evenings.

This week alone we have driven him to and from play rehearsals every night as he is in a play this weekend. A local 20 minute journey each way.

Sometimes we just cannot be around to give him lifts. By not going to the said activity(drama, cricket, etc) he is letting other people down. Catching the bus to these activites means two bus journeys lasting 1 hour, with a stop in the middle of a rough part of town.

Is using a local taxi service a viable alternative? If so, what provisos and safety measures would you put in place?

Well these messages are reassuring. I will remember Datacars, Marina, and will phone up the company. Also driver.

It's funny how milestones like this take some getting used to. It seems like only yesterday that I was pushing ds in a pushchair - now I'll be waving him off in a taxi!

Marina, their after show party tradition lives on. The cast took over the living room till 3.00 am, then went to sleep where they fell, till one of them started a cushion fight at 5.00 am. When I arrived in Orpington to collect DS at 11 am Sunday morning he was fast asleep on the sofa and slept most of yesterday.

What spooks me batters is that when I first started posting on Mn Tigermoth's ds1 was the age my ds is now, and younger than your dd! The time really does fly / bittersweet emoticon.
Glad he had such a typically good time TM and I really would recommend Datacars. They have never once let my parents down and are invariably cheerful and willing to help with shopping etc.