Shame of cherry-picking taxi drivers

by Mary Murtagh, Liverpool Echo


A RIP-OFF taxi driver has been stripped of his licence for cherry-picking fares.

It is the first time a rogue black cab driver has been taken off the city streets for ripping passengers off with inflated fares.

Police, Liverpool council and trading standards are cracking down on Hackney cab and private hire drivers who over-charge people in the city centre, mainly late at night, as they struggle to get home.

Now one rogue black cab driver has lost his livelihood through his greed with four others having their licence suspended for two weeks.

Over the last six months officials have taken part in a series of undercover stings watching rip-off taxi drivers at work.


They estimate that there are approximately 30 rogue black cab drivers out of 2,750 licensed city drivers.


With help from tip offs from the public and CCTV footage many of these drivers have been quizzed, and punished, over their behaviour at the taxi licensing panel.


Peter Jones, Liverpool’s Chamber of Commerce’s business crime direct manager, said: “This is an ongoing campaign to crack down on this behaviour. Cherry picking fares could be one of the reasons why there is a downturn in the number of people coming in to town on the weekend.


“We get lots of anecdotal evidence about this behaviour but we need passenger to get these drivers’ cab number so something can be done about it.”


The average takings for a city taxi driver are approximately £500 a week.


During the early hours of Sunday morning cab drivers can make up to £70 an hour taking revellers home.


City black cab drivers are obliged to accept any fare, however short or long, if they are displaying their ‘for hire’ sign and the fare is no more than four miles over the city boundary.


The Transport and General Workers union backs the move to root out rogue cabbies because they give the vast majority of legitimate drivers a bad reputation.


The ECHO receives regular calls, letters and emails from readers with stories about outrageous cherry picking fares and rude drivers.


But our letters page also includes many thanks from grateful passengers who have free journeys or had lost belongings returned to them by the honest and kin-hearted taxi drivers working in Liverpool.


Council bosses want to hear about good service too. Drivers who go the extra mile can be rewarded with a badge for a year.


A spokesman for the city council’s taxi licensing department said: “I am appalled at the way some drivers speak to the public. Drivers must speak to people in an civil manner. If they can’t do that they should not be drivers.


“There is a very small minority who act in this way and it is very damaging.”


Do you have any horror stories about rogue cabbies? Or have you had fantastic service from the city’s taxis? Contact Mary Murtagh at marymurtagh@liverpoolecho.co.uk or call 0151-472 2504.

Shame of cherry-picking taxi drivers

by Mary Murtagh, Liverpool Echo


A RIP-OFF taxi driver has been stripped of his licence for cherry-picking fares.

It is the first time a rogue black cab driver has been taken off the city streets for ripping passengers off with inflated fares.

Police, Liverpool council and trading standards are cracking down on Hackney cab and private hire drivers who over-charge people in the city centre, mainly late at night, as they struggle to get home.

Now one rogue black cab driver has lost his livelihood through his greed with four others having their licence suspended for two weeks.

Over the last six months officials have taken part in a series of undercover stings watching rip-off taxi drivers at work.


They estimate that there are approximately 30 rogue black cab drivers out of 2,750 licensed city drivers.


With help from tip offs from the public and CCTV footage many of these drivers have been quizzed, and punished, over their behaviour at the taxi licensing panel.


Peter Jones, Liverpool’s Chamber of Commerce’s business crime direct manager, said: “This is an ongoing campaign to crack down on this behaviour. Cherry picking fares could be one of the reasons why there is a downturn in the number of people coming in to town on the weekend.


“We get lots of anecdotal evidence about this behaviour but we need passenger to get these drivers’ cab number so something can be done about it.”


The average takings for a city taxi driver are approximately £500 a week.


During the early hours of Sunday morning cab drivers can make up to £70 an hour taking revellers home.


City black cab drivers are obliged to accept any fare, however short or long, if they are displaying their ‘for hire’ sign and the fare is no more than four miles over the city boundary.


The Transport and General Workers union backs the move to root out rogue cabbies because they give the vast majority of legitimate drivers a bad reputation.


The ECHO receives regular calls, letters and emails from readers with stories about outrageous cherry picking fares and rude drivers.


But our letters page also includes many thanks from grateful passengers who have free journeys or had lost belongings returned to them by the honest and kin-hearted taxi drivers working in Liverpool.


Council bosses want to hear about good service too. Drivers who go the extra mile can be rewarded with a badge for a year.
A spokesman for the city council’s taxi licensing department said: “I am appalled at the way some drivers speak to the public. Drivers must speak to people in an civil manner. If they can’t do that they should not be drivers.


“There is a very small minority who act in this way and it is very damaging.”


Do you have any horror stories about rogue cabbies? Or have you had fantastic service from the city’s taxis? Contact Mary Murtagh at marymurtagh@liverpoolecho.co.uk or call 0151-472 2504.


I don't want my taxi driver to go an extra mile! :eek:

On a Visit to Dublin we were Staying at the Royal Dublin Hotel at the top of O'Connell St,My Lad wanted to go to a Particular Pub where members of a certain Thin Lizzy used to hang out so we Jumped a Cab outside the Hotel and off the Taxi Driver goes and after about a 10/15 Minute Journey he stops at a Pub and charges us about £7 if I remember right (This was over 10 years ago,,what would the Fare be Now !),after a Few Buckets we decide to Move on and coming out the Pub noticed a very long street that must have been about 600 yards Long..Dead Straight and you could notice a lot of Activity/Traffic in the Distance..We decided to walk down this street and it took us about 5 Minutes on a Slow Stroll and we come out on O'connell St with Our Hotel to the Left of us..The Taxi Driver must have taken us on a right little Merry Go round to Bump the fare up on what should have took him about 1 Minute...Nice Place Though and A good Job I couldn't find him again..Not for the want of Checking the Cabs Outside Our Hotel every Hour like a Paranoid Lune !!

How fast are the fare metres supposed to rise up too? I think they go up too fast even for 20p.

Cheery picking taxi drivers are all over the place not just in Liverpool, for the gang of 'girl students' interviewed in The Echo yesterday saying its bad for Liverpool's image is a reinforcement of their own preducdices to everything scouse.

There was a story on the radio yesterday about two Americans who were driven through both mersey tunnels to go from Lime Street station to the other side of town.
Personally,I've never had an experience of cherry picking taxis but it is annoying when walking down St Annes street and taxis returning to town have their lights off and no one in the back of their cabs.

Stan. I heard this story too on Roger Phillips phone-in, it's very reminiscent of Gerard's experience. For many tourists, taxi driver need to be, and many are, ambassadors for the city. They are often the first people and the last people the tourists will see as they arrive and leave by train or plane.

Another story yesterday was that 2 girls asked a taxi driver to go from Hannover st to Matthew st. He told them to get out, they refused so he drove them to Park Road, Dingle then man-handled them out. Another taxi driver then came along and took them to their destination for nowt. The girls rang the police who said they could do nothing at that time of the morning because the taxi authorities were closed. This is the very time the taxi police should be out under cover making sure their licenced members are operating legally and correctly.

As it happens their dad is on the case, although the copper who logged the incident is off until wednesday so they can't chase it up any further as yet. Roger Phillips, himself an ex taxi driver was appalled. The girls got the taxi cab number and I'll say this here and now, if I was their dad, I wouldn't be so lenient, i'd be out looking for that fella and give him one good thumping as he could have put 'my daughters' lives at risk, if it were them.

I know they have to sit at a rank awaiting their turn but they know that they're the rules when they sign up - every fare can't be a 20 mile jolly. This brings me to another point. I've many a time walked along a line of taxi's, lights on, asking for a fare to Southport, Ormskirk or Skem and they all shake their heads, eventually one will say ok but I want £30 up front. Is this legal?

Ged, When I had taxis ( I retired from the business in 1982) we had to take fare up to 8 miles past the city limit on the clock rate, this has been reduced to 4 miles from what I understand. Regarding cabs running back with their lights out, a lot of times the reason is to service the taxi ranks where people are queuing.
The taxi trade went downhill when control was taken away from the police and put in the hands of council employees years ago. :002:

I asked a local taxi driver why the fares are so high these days.
His reply was :- Have you seen the cost of petrol lately? (86.9 pence pl)

I fair reply you might think. >>> He was running on LPG @ 43 pence pl.

Quite a few cabs are doing the same now. Cheap fuel, nice profit and greener footprint at MOT time.

Enough said says Phredd

99% of the taxi drivers I have met (and I get a lot of taxis) are very polite and are great ambassadors for Liverpool.

Given the difficult circumstances these people work under I think they do an excellent job.

If there is cherry picking that is because they don't want yobbos in their cabs.

Same here, the vast majority I get are chatty too - it helps improve their tipping chances.

However, it is the small minority that this thread is about and cherry picking isn't on for any reason. I'm usually with my wife when i've experienced difficulties getting a taxi at 2/3 a.m. The two girls mentioned earlier weren't yobs, the taxi driver was.

Some won't leave the rank for less than 2 miles because they fear having to get to the back of it again when staying mobile will get them a fare anyway.

Still, I wouldn't be one as undoubtedly there are yobs and loudmouths, possibly spewing up etc and those who do runners.

99% of the taxi drivers I have met (and I get a lot of taxis) are very polite and are great ambassadors for Liverpool.



My experience too

I can recommend a book called 'A Liverpool Taxicab The Last Fifty Years' by Mike Hanton. A good read IMHO.

:)

They are also a mine of local information. They pull in at their ranks and discuss current events with their mates and then pass them on to us.
I am full of praise for Liverpool Taxi Drivers and would sooner use them than the Private Hire's (even though they are cheaper.)

On a Visit to Dublin we were Staying at the Royal Dublin Hotel at the top of O'Connell St,My Lad wanted to go to a Particular Pub where members of a certain Thin Lizzy used to hang out so we Jumped a Cab outside the Hotel and off the Taxi Driver goes and after about a 10/15 Minute Journey he stops at a Pub and charges us about £7 if I remember right (This was over 10 years ago,,what would the Fare be Now !),after a Few Buckets we decide to Move on and coming out the Pub noticed a very long street that must have been about 600 yards Long..Dead Straight and you could notice a lot of Activity/Traffic in the Distance..We decided to walk down this street and it took us about 5 Minutes on a Slow Stroll and we come out on O'connell St with Our Hotel to the Left of us..The Taxi Driver must have taken us on a right little Merry Go round to Bump the fare up on what should have took him about 1 Minute...Nice Place Though and A good Job I couldn't find him again..Not for the want of Checking the Cabs Outside Our Hotel every Hour like a Paranoid Lune !!

I had a similar experience with a cabby taking my wife and I from Lime Street Station to Mossley Hill, when we arrived by train early morning one time in the Seventies. He tried to charge us an arm and a leg but luckily having recently lived in the 'Pool I knew what the correct fare should be and he only got what he was owed. He probably thought we were a couple of wet-behind-the-ears Yanks who didn't know the difference. I agree that such unscrupulous cabbies give the city a bad image. I think the majority of taxi drivers though are honest, thank God.

Chris

LIVERPOOL cabbies were today hailed ambassadors for the city after a council operation to combat rogue drivers.

Police and council officers hit the streets to catch cherry-picking cabbies red handed.

But the operation, over Grand National weekend, failed to find any taxi drivers who refused a fair or demanded over-the-odds prices.

The clampdown came after an ECHO investigation exposed the unscrupulous tactics of some city taxi drivers.

Our report revealed licensing officials had been swamped with complaints about cabbies who cherry-picked fairs or overcharged vulnerable customers.

Joe Curran, the city centre's night time economy manager, said: “The high profile coverage in ECHO as well as a series of initiatives to raise awareness of the problem seems to have been a wake-up call for some drivers.”

Damien Edwards, council enforcement officer, said: “As we head towards capital of culture, the city is expected to attract an additional two million visitors. We don't want anybody to leave having had a bad experience.”

Scores of cabs were stopped in Aintree and the city centre over the weekend. Tommy McIntyre, a taxi driver and TGWU representative, added: “It is great news that we have proven what the drivers have always said – that this is problem caused by a very small minority.”

That's great news - we used a taxi from Eggy Vale back to Garston the other week and he was great, of course you had to enter into a little bit of banter but it was all good fun. Rock on Scouse Cabbies :handclap::PDT11

Where's the story from Shapers?

Liverpool Echo Kev.

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/liverpoolecho/news/echonews/tm_headline=cabbies-pass-city--8217-s-cherry-picking-test%26method=full%26objectid=18915005%26siteid=50 061-name_page.html

Liverpool Echo Kev.

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/liverpoolecho/news/echonews/tm_headline=cabbies-pass-city--8217-s-cherry-picking-test%26method=full%26objectid=18915005%26siteid=50 061-name_page.html

Cheers :PDT_Aliboronz_24: