Be Excellent To Each Other

Got a taxi just now from Cardiff city centre. As a matter of courtesy I opened the door and asked if he'd take us to Caerphilly before getting in. He said yes, so we got in.

He then told us it would be £30. I said what, to Caerphilly?!? He sad £25 to Caerphilly. I put my hand back on the door handle and said I'd give him £20 and nothing more (normal fare, especially at the wee hours when there's no traffic to slow you down, is £15). He asked where, I said it was just outside the town centre. He said yes, and said he needed the money from us now. So, we threw him two tenners.

As we entered Caerphilly I gave him directions to our road. About 400 yards or so from the house, he said "You are going to give me £5 more, this is not the town centre."

I replied that we were going to just outside the town centre, and that we hadn't gotten to it yet, or if he didn't like that he could stop right here and we'd walk the rest of the way.

So, the twat pulled over and stopped. I leaned forward and told him as he continued down the (our) road he'd come to a stop sign and then he'd see he was in the town centre. And then got out of the cab and slammed the door, and watched him drive off.

90 seconds later we walked in the front door. Cheeky fucking cunt tried to charge us twice the normal rate, and then started trying to bump the price up after we'd paid because HE didn't know where he was going.

Anyone else have tales of taxi drivers or companies taking the piss or generally being shit? [clique]Grim... and Craster trying to get a taxi from myp's house aside.[/clique]

EDIT: The company in question was Capital, by the way, anyone who lives in/visits Cardiff. The two good'uns are Dragon and Premier.

Must say that round here they are excellent. Totally governed and metered so there is no way for them to rip you off. If they ever tried to their license would soon be revoked.

Sadly that wasn't the case when I used to live in London so thank fuck I never have to go back to that shitpit. I got charged 35 quid once to go three miles on NYE. Had I known the cunt would do that I would have walked it. It was only supposed to be double fare.

It's no wonder cabbies are the brunt of attacks all the time in London, because yes, lots of them are piss taking cunts and think they have earned the right to loads of cash for having to ride around on a C50 like a bellend with a clipboard. Sounds like you one hasn't even done that.

All the taxis round here have a council-imposed limit and fare readout machine. Can't rip you off, they can only charge less. Which of course some do to get business. They tend to be a little unreliable though.

Is this a licensed taxi or a minicab?

If it was a licensed taxi he needs reporting. If it was a minicab I'm afraid it's to be expected.

It was a normal black and white taxi. It wasn't from either of the two firms I normally would call for one, but when you're getting them from a queue you're not given a choice - you have to take the one at the front or they all get shirty with you.

I neglected to note his licence number, so I'll just remember to avoid using cars from that company again, I guess.

Shame you didn't get his license number. Sounds like he's off the meter to me. What a wanker.

£75 from Heathrow to Beaconfield. Nuff said.

A group of us got booted out of a taxi a few months back for quibbling about where we wanted dropping off. The thing is though, we got kicked out about a 10 minute walk away from where we needed to be and didn't have to pay a penny. Re-sult.

Unfortunately where I live we only have the choice of exorbitant black cabs or the lottery of mini cabs.

A lot of mini cabs try it on if they think you have not made the journey before. They have attempted to rip me off a few times but I just laugh and say "Want to check your chart again? I think you are looking at the wrong mileage". Once I did have to ring the guys firm from my mobile before he agreed to a fare that was three quarters of what he was asking but I suppose some people are too polite to challenge them.

Most expensive cab ride I ever had was when I had been drinking heavily and threw up in the cab.

I had to give each of my passengers £20.

I've bolded the mistakes you made, here. Have you ever considered moving somewhere less welsh?

* calcs*

20 minutes. All Motorway, assuming you actually mean "Beaconsfield".

Yes Beaconsfield

I like an honest taxi driver.

A couple of years back, the taxi I had ordered the night before to get me to work the next morning was not on time. So I phoned, and the operator told me he was just around the corner.

So I waited another ten minutes, and phoned again.

Then another five minutes.

When he did turn up, I mentioned this to him. He was irritated; not with me, but with the operator.

Turns out he was the only driver on that morning, and he was coming back from an airport run and at no point was he ever just around the corner, until the point where he was just around the corner.

He knocked a fiver off the fare for the irritation.

I have been to Beaconsfield... I think. Does it have a load of free parking on one of the roads in with spaces at either side of a wide road? So you have to reverse out into oncoming traffic which you can't see due to inconveniently placed trees?

Yep, I think that was Beaconsfield alright.

That is indeed Beaconsfield.

Fucking hell though Lace - for £75 I'll drive out from Hemel to Heathrow, then take you to Beaconsfield anytime you like! Provided your shoes are clean. Ain't no cunt getting in my car with muddy shoes.

Really, is that why they build houses with drives on, on main roads?

I've been to Beaconsfield a fair bit. Ex gf's parents live there.

Yes the very same place.

Thanks for the offer!
Apparently because its out of the m25 or some bollocks metropolitan area bla bla it was more money. If it wasnt 9pm and me wanting to get to the booked accomodation and eat,and being unwilling to get various buses in an unfamiliar place (im from oop naarth you see) id have told him where to shove it.

as it was, my company picks up the bills, but it was a tough one to swollow out of principle.

I tend to stay there when I have to be a company offices, its a nice enough place I reckon, with some ok eateries. Its a piss take in that area though, the cheapest real hotel is £130 a night ish, then there are two pubs with appended rooms for £85 and £99 a night respectively, the latter offering room only for that rate. Breakfast is an extra £7 - £10 !

This as well as pricey taxis upsets me. Room only in an albeit nice pub for £99 a night...
again, im glad im not paying for it.

There's a pretty good Thai restaurant there, run by a bloke who seems to be constantly drunk. It's ace.

Yes, you're legally obliged to reverse in.

Ah, do you work for Sun then?

Or Sunn o))) ?

I pretty sure it's an advisory thing in the Highway Code rather than one of those mandatory "you MUST" or "you MUST NOT" bits, same with reversing out of a side road onto a main road.

From the highway code. Does not mention 'legal' or 'illegal'

Although let's face it, even if it was an offence no-one would ever pull you up on it - you can't catch those sorts of criminals with a camera, after all!

</cynic>

I reckon someone reversing in can be a pretty big hazard too, but at least you can see them in good time. I was reversing out of a parking space on saturday with a van on my left (ie, couldn't see fuck all) and I diced with death a couple of times. But who can be arsed reversing into spaces? Hmm?

I do, unless I am shopping

I'm hilariously shit at parking cars.

I agree, but should not all road manuvers be done with due care and attention.

And whilst sober.

Sounds about right

mrak's boss, yesterday.

The same applies for pulling forward on to the road too, though.

That's true. Even if the other guy is speeding, drunk, receiving manual relief etc, if you pull out of a side street and get hit, it's usually your own stupid fault

if he is drunk, i think you will be in the clear.

As both of the parties have to be ina fit state to drive.

I'm even more hilariously shit. Can't parallel park.

Whenever it comes to parking, I end up channeling a woman.

I nearly reversed my fiancee's Corsa into a wall the other day. I've got too used to waiting for the parking sensor beeps in my own car.

More likely that blame will be apportioned 50/50. Regardless of whether he's drunk or not, you still pulled out in front of him. If it could be reasonably decided that a sober driver wouldn't have had time to stop before colliding, then the other guy being drunk wouldn't matter a jot.

He'd still be prosecuted for driving while drunk of course, but in terms of the accident it wouldn't really have much bearing on the case.

But then, IANAL.

I can't parrallel park for shit, but I'm pretty good at getting into and out of spaces. This is because I used to work in an office block that had the most ludicrously tight spaces I've ever seen. Each space had an arrow painted on the ground to show whether you should drive or reverse in - the idea being that there'd be enough of a gap between the driver's side of each car to at least allow the driver to open his/her door enough to squeeze out.

It is because of that place that I have a lovely gash on the passenger side wing mirror.

Myself and a group of mates were left standing outside a nightclub in Milton Keynes for an hour waiting for a taxi company we'd prebooked to turn up, with constant phone promises of "it's only a few minutes away". After getting fed up and driving myself home, I registered skylinetaxis.co.uk and vented at them. After a few years someone phones up and asked if they could buy the domain - I told them the price was on the page (something like £7,000 or a written apology). We got a written apology

Pics, please, kthanks.

My dad insisted on parking sensors on my mum's mini. I mean I can, just about see it on his 3 series (although obviously I still call him a girl) but on the mini the back is RIGHT. THERE. You see the window? That's it.

The same applies to your fiancee and her aweseomemobile too of course.

None more grimm.