Taxi Scams?

Lollipops23

hey all
was out for Xmas dinner with all our mates last night in Dublin city centre and few drinkies afterwards. at 3.15 myself and the OH set off to get a taxi home(we're a fair bit outside dublin city but never had an issue getting one before). arrived at a rank at St Stephen's Green shopping centre to find a queue of at lease 200m. Shocked, we joined it and waited in the cold and rain. at 3.40 the line had not moved ONCE as not a single taxi had pulled up. However, around a dozen had pulled up with their lights off on the other side of the street at Topshop. several people ran over to be told they were waiting for a pre-booked fare. All of them that is. At 4am we were getting really desperate and we noticed some people from our queue were managing to talk these cabs(still there!) into taking them despite being told they were pre booked minutes earlier. At this point my OH had enough and went over to a cab and offered him 100E to take us home(our fare is normally around 50 quid)which we were told had to paid up front. When we got in the driver got on his mobile(while driving) and told his base that he had been offered 100E and had "jumped on it".
I reckon this was all a scam as i didn't see one taxi pull up to our rank in over 40mins. I expected a queue last night being so close to Xmas but this was mad. I think the cabs were just taking the highest bidder and praying on people with literally no other choice like us. Disgusted.

Volvoboy

Nobody said to you or your half ''Offer me more for the journey'' did they?
More fool you for giving it to them, If your ever in this situation again start walking towards your destination facing incoming taxi's, (heading for howth say start walking towards connoly station)

321654

so thats where the taxi i ordered went

mikemac

Volvoboy wrote: »

Nobody said to you or your half ''Offer me more for the journey'' did they?
More fool you for giving it to them, If your ever in this situation again start walking towards your destination facing incoming taxi's, (heading for howth say start walking towards connoly station)

+1
If you want to go north in Dublin city and are struggling badly for a cab, you're guaranteed one quickly outside Connolly Station.
Many come down Amiens St so they are only delighted to get another fare, and loads of room there for them to turn around and head north
I'd imagine this would work on Dorset St/ Drumcondra too but I've never done it.

I don't know the southside of Dublin well but maybe a similar tactic could have worked here. Maybe flag down an incoming taxi on Lesson St?

steph1

Did you take note of the licence plate on the roof sign - had it a taxi roofsign?? Did you get a receipt?? If you did then the licence number is on the receipt and this type of carry on should be reported to the taxi regulator. Nobody has to offer x amount to get home. All fares should be metered. Did the driver put on the meter at all?

tinofapples

Befriend a taxi driver and maybe he'll look after you should you become one of his regulars.

Highsider

Should have taken his number and reprted him

pipsqueak

100 euro !! Would you have got a hotel room for that??? cheap one like?

Tipsy Mac

Lollipops23 wrote: »

At this point my OH had enough and went over to a cab and offered him 100E to take us home(our fare is normally around 50 quid)which we were told had to paid up front. When we got in the driver got on his mobile(while driving) and told his base that he had been offered 100E and had "jumped on it".
I reckon this was all a scam as i didn't see one taxi pull up to our rank in over 40mins. I expected a queue last night being so close to Xmas but this was mad. I think the cabs were just taking the highest bidder and praying on people with literally no other choice like us. Disgusted.

Your friend is an idiot :rolleyes:, the Taxi did nothing wrong at all.

Mr E

The only consumer issue here is that the consumer has more money than sense.

matchthis

Volvoboy wrote: »

Nobody said to you or your half ''Offer me more for the journey'' did they?
More fool you for giving it to them, If your ever in this situation again start walking towards your destination facing incoming taxi's, (heading for howth say start walking towards connoly station)

I did this before, was on my own and phone had died. All the way from city centre to saggart and not one fecker. I was blessed it wasn't raining, but my legs were like rocks the next day. Best way to sober up if you ask me:D

Lollipops23

the fact was that we were completely and totally stranded in the city. we had come from Leeson street, there were even fewer taxis there!!i refuse to believe that there were 12 pre booked cabs waiting there at 4am, the odd one would have been believable. i got his name and base location, will be emailing the taxi regulator. spoke to some of our mates who were in a similar situation, they had to walk ages before they managed to hail one too.it seems there were very few about.

oisindoyle

Lollipops23 wrote: »

the fact was that we were completely and totally stranded in the city. we had come from Leeson street, there were even fewer taxis there!!i refuse to believe that there were 12 pre booked cabs waiting there at 4am, the odd one would have been believable. i got his name and base location, will be emailing the taxi regulator. spoke to some of our mates who were in a similar situation, they had to walk ages before they managed to hail one too.it seems there were very few about.

Why do you refuse to believe that 12 taxis have pre bookings at 4 am .Its perfectable normal and acceptable .Majority of taxi companys begin their early morning bookings at that hour.
Fact is the driver did nothing wrong .YOU made an agreement with him to take you home for 100 euro and it is perfectly legit.Youre the worse fool for making such a sily offer.
You said yourself the driver contacted his base about it ,so he WAS waiting on a booking.
Its wrong of you to report him to the regulator ,YOU made an agreement with him he accepted and now you want to try and get him into trouble ???
The fact is you were foolish to offer 100 euro now drop your case agaisnt him and cut your losses.

Sam Vimes

steph1 wrote: »

Did you take note of the licence plate on the roof sign - had it a taxi roofsign?? Did you get a receipt?? If you did then the licence number is on the receipt and this type of carry on should be reported to the taxi regulator. Nobody has to offer x amount to get home. All fares should be metered. Did the driver put on the meter at all?

what carry on exactly? The acceptance of an offer? The guy was waiting for a pre booked fare and had no obligation to take them. The only thing he kind of did wrong is abandoning the person he was supposed to be waiting for

Cabaal

Mr E wrote: »

The only consumer issue here is that the consumer has more money than sense.

Agreed!
Offering extra money is bull**** and if you had that much of an issue of the taxi driver using the mobile you should have asked him to stop and got out and not paid him due to his illegal actions (just my 2c)

Cabaal

Lollipops23 wrote: »

. spoke to some of our mates who were in a similar situation, they had to walk ages before they managed to hail one too.it seems there were very few about.

Many reasons for few taxis
- alot of people looking for taxis at that time off night during nights out
- many taxi drivers no longer wish to work the night shift as it brings extra dangers, easier be robbed...attacked etc

waiting for taxi's is going to happen if you go out in any city in the country...kilkenny, waterford, cork etc...if you don't like waiting then either leave the pub earlier before the Q's start or stay at home

You "robbed" somebody elses booked taxi which imho is a pretty scumbag thing to do and is no different to jumping Q's

Spook_ie

Comes down to money exceeding morals thats all....

just like someone offering €100 to sleep with someones wife, some people would take it, others wouldn't, offer them €10,000 and more people would take up the offer, offer them €100,000 and you'd probably be on to a sizeable majority....:eek:

Lollipops23

funny,seems anyone we told this to who wasn't a Boardsie was equally shocked and appalled. as usual some people are just missing the point entirely. and of course we don't have more money than sense, it was sheer desperation on our part.and i've never seen a "booked" taxi wait more than 15 mins for their fare which all of these guys did.

mickoneill30

Lollipops23 wrote: »

funny,seems anyone we told this to who wasn't a Boardsie was equally shocked and appalled. as usual some people are just missing the point entirely. and of course we don't have more money than sense, it was sheer desperation on our part.and i've never seen a "booked" taxi wait more than 15 mins for their fare which all of these guys did.

So for those conversations, you are saying you took a pre booked taxi from someone else and he only took you because you offered him €100?

I.e. Are those non boardsies are getting the full story?

Bluetonic

Lollipops23 wrote: »

funny,seems anyone we told this to who wasn't a Boardsie was equally shocked and appalled. as usual some people are just missing the point entirely. and of course we don't have more money than sense, it was sheer desperation on our part.and i've never seen a "booked" taxi wait more than 15 mins for their fare which all of these guys did.

So the reason you posted your little story up so you could get people to agree with your opinion is it? When people don't tell you what you want to hear you say it's funny and people are missing the point entirely.

Yes it's shocking and appalling, hopefully your solicitor, the Gardai and every other authoritative figure will track down this horrible man and justice will be done. Imagine doing something totally legal after being propositioned by someone else and thinking of getting away with it, well I never.

Mr E

Did you ever think that the reason the guy called base was so that they could fill the pre-booked order? The part of the phone conversation you didn't hear probably went something like "OK, you're right, nice fare! I would have done the same thing. I'll put a call out to get someone to take your place".

He wasn't calling to gloat.

inforfun

I would only have been shocked if he had refused the € 100,00.

On days like these, just before christmas, you can indeed wait at a rank for a taxi. But it will be like waiting for a very cold hell.

Book a taxi up front (and hope no one offers "your" taxi driver a 100) or walk in a direction where you know a lot of taxi return from their last drop off.
Personally i always walk direction Phoenix park when it is hard to get a taxi. And i never had to wait or walk very long to get a taxi that way.

dotsman

I just can't believed you walked from Leeson Street back into the city. Had you walked in the other direction, you would have gotten a taxi within 5-10 minutes guaranteed.

While you were standing around in that queue, did you not notice people walking past you heading down Baggot Street and Leeson Street? Of course there were no taxis going to the Stephen's green rank, because any taxi that would be heading that direction would either be coming from Leeson Street or Baggot Street. All those people who walked the 5-10 minutest towards either Ballsbridge or Donnybrook would all have to be picked up and dropped home before there's a chance of a tax making as far Stephen's Green.

311

Best thing to do in these situations is keep walking with your ears open ,as soon as you hear loud music in a house ,knock on the door and ask for TOM.

If tom is not there he's bound to know someone inside ,before you know it your drinking bottles of beer and having a laugh again.:D
Done it a few times and it works ,you can call a cab while you wait.;)

The_Conductor

311 wrote: »

Best thing to do in these situations is keep walking with your ears open ,as soon as you hear loud music in a house ,knock on the door and ask for TOM.

If tom is not there he's bound to know someone inside ,before you know it your drinking bottles of beer and having a laugh again.:D
Done it a few times and it works ,you can call a cab while you wait.;)

Lol- so thats who fell asleap on the couch downstairs.......

zAbbo

pipsqueak wrote: »

100 euro !! Would you have got a hotel room for that??? cheap one like?

Yeah, you'd pick up a 3* hotel for around 50-60 euro for the night.

If it was a Christmas night out, it's a good idea to plan in advance. Lots of people are now booking hotels in the city centre, and getting good deals as well, like breakfast etc. as well.

Makes sense if you want don't want to be hanging around at 4am in town.

jdivision

you're at fault OP, it's silly to queue at taxi ranks these days tbh, walk towards your destination, everybody else is doing it so few enough taxis even get to the rank

Gordon

Well done, now you are increasing the likelyhood of taxis actually doing this on purpose, just like the people that get scammed are partly responsible for more scammers out there. You are creating the market for higher prices.

foggy_lad

oisindoyle wrote: »

Why do you refuse to believe that 12 taxis have pre bookings at 4 am .Its perfectable normal and acceptable .Majority of taxi companys begin their early morning bookings at that hour.
Fact is the driver did nothing wrong .YOU made an agreement with him to take you home for 100 euro and it is perfectly legit.Youre the worse fool for making such a sily offer.
You said yourself the driver contacted his base about it ,so he WAS waiting on a booking.
Its wrong of you to report him to the regulator ,YOU made an agreement with him he accepted and now you want to try and get him into trouble ???
The fact is you were foolish to offer 100 euro now drop your case agaisnt him and cut your losses.

i thought real taxi's could only pick people up at a rank or if hailed on the street? i would have serious doubts about the legality of the taxi taking those fares when they were pre-booked, it could be argued they did not have bookings but were touting for business in a very busy area where there was a shortage of taxi's and forcing people to pay huge fares to get home because of the taxi shortage they themselves had caused. any taxi that would double your fare like this i would consider to be ripping you off!

my advice is get the nightlink if you can or pre-book your taxi home and use a local company who will be less likely to let you down as they will want your return business!

Sam Vimes

foggy_lad wrote: »

i thought real taxi's could only pick people up at a rank or if hailed on the street?

well he was hailed. there is no law saying that if someone books a taxi with a particular company and one of the company's drivers decides to wait, that he must continue to wait until the pre-booked fare arrives and cannot call the base and get another car to wait

foggy_lad wrote: »

i would have serious doubts about the legality of the taxi taking those fares when they were pre-booked, it could be argued they did not have bookings but were touting for business in a very busy area where there was a shortage of taxi's and forcing people to pay huge fares to get home because of the taxi shortage they themselves had caused. any taxi that would double your fare like this i would consider to be ripping you off!

it could absolutely be argued. it could also be argued that he had bodies chopped up in the boot but that's just as irrelevant. even if they were doing that, which is extremely unlikely, there is no law that says a taxi driver must refuse an offer from someone if he's waiting for a pre-booked fare (whether he actually is or not)

and as you say below they weren't forcing anything. they didn't ask the OP to come up and offer €100 and the OP had several other options open to her. imo only mugs wait at ranks

foggy_lad wrote: »

my advice is get the nightlink if you can or pre-book your taxi home and use a local company who will be less likely to let you down as they will want your return business!

you're right. a pre-booked taxi is less likely to let you down....unless people like the OP pay him over the odds to take them over you.

Spook_ie

The legality of the situation is as follows....

1 You couldn't hail the taxi as he wasn't tecnicaly plying for hire ( waiting AT a rank or driving looking for custom )

2 If you take a fare without a pre booking waiver form then the journey should have been done on the meter

3 You made an offer to the driver of a SPSV of €100 for the use of his taxi, acceptable and legit if he used a pre booking waiver form

The only law that was technicaly broken was the use of the waiver form as it could be argued that as you had approached him more than once it could be construed as a pre booking..

My advice, you wanted to get home ahead of other people, you were willing to pay an exhorbitant price, you got home ahead and you paid, simple as that....


Just as a thought though, you could have always rang up one of the base companies and got them to put over the radio that you were willing to pay €75 for someone to pick you up, you could have even paid by credit card and been guaranteed a specific taxi ( as the account work has to be tied up to a specific driver for him to get paid )