Dodgy Taxi Drivers

Soni

Phoned for a cab last night on the way back home on the train, and told the controller I wanted to pay by credit card, she approved it, said there would be a 10 minute wait, 5 minutes later this indian gentleman drove up in his taxi, was dressed in full dress (dont know the name of it) he wound down the window, I said cab for soni to ××××× he said yes, I jumps in, 5 minutes into the journey he tells me I can cancel if I want, I said cancel what, he said computer cabs, it made no sense to me at all, then I said to him you do know im paying by credit card dont you, he went balistic, no credit card, no credit card, I said yes, ive already approved it with your controller, he then told me im in the wrong cab!! I said to him what taxi company are you then, he said independent, he then takes me back to the station and drops be back off and my other cab is waiting for me and thinks wtf when he sees me jumping out of one cab ans into another, was like a cab relay race!!

ben@31

I got a taxi on thursday. Cost me £20.
I got another taxi on friday to the same destination! Similar route, maybe a 1 mile difference. Cost me £9.

My brother used to be in the Army, I remember a story he told me.... On a sunday night all the soldiers would be returning back to camp in dribs and drabs, after going home for the weekend. Most used the train on the weekend and got a taxi from the train station to the camp. If a young guy was in the taxi on his own, some very dodgy taxi drivers would drive up some dark alley and say "give us £50 or get beaten up". This went on for a few months, however the soldiers realised that the taxi drivers used the same alley way every time. So one sunday night a 4 -ton truck packed full of rather angry squaddies up for a fight was waiting down the alley way for the taxi. It never happened again. The most amazing thing was the high rankers in charge were fully supportive and turned a blind eye, as they were looking after their own guys.

Soni

Nice one, although I would have hoped some young squaddie would have been able to take a taxi driver on his own out without the need of his mates, he would end up with a free ride and a nice new car!!

manglier

My brother used to be in the Army, I remember a story he told me....

Sorry to disappoint but this old chestnut has been doing the rounds for years. I was first told it in the early seventies and I have heard it retold to each new generation of soldiers throughout my 25 years service.

k-dog

I went to Aberdeen by train last year and arrived on a dark wet night. 3 of us got in a taxi and after 10 minutes or so were dropped at our hotel. In the morning we walked out the front door of the hotel and saw the station about 100m away. Must have been the tourist route...

buckmulligan

In response to the OP, something similar happened to me. Ordered a large taxi for 7 of us from a local company to get home from a restaurant one evening. We were standing around outside and some guy in a regular 4/5 seater cab pulls up, knowing our name and destination etc and tries to convince us to go with him and that another car will be along to pick up the rest. We were a bit confused because the company said it'd be a large car, so we stood around discussing it and sure enough 30 seconds later our big minivan pulls up and the other guy scarpers!

Can only assume he intercepted their radio dispatch message or something and was trying to pinch our custom. A bit cheeky but I guess business is slow in hard times!

What really annoys me is that the cab drivers at my train station queue up on the wrong side of the road and every day I cycle home I have to battle through them driving at me head on, oblivious to the fact that they're all breaking the law. I've written to the council about it, but they won't do anything!

Silly Old Hector

k-dog wrote:

I went to Aberdeen by train last year and arrived on a dark wet night. 3 of us got in a taxi and after 10 minutes or so were dropped at our hotel. In the morning we walked out the front door of the hotel and saw the station about 100m away. Must have been the tourist route...

That's just the crappy road & traffic system in the city centre

dynamicbrick

Dodgiest I ever had was a Saturday night minicab with a mate in Clapham back in '94 - only went as far as Wandsworth in the thing.

Blue Nissan Sunny, with the most awesome interior decoration, driven by a full-on bona-fide Rastafarian.

It was absolutely ace. Stoned, reggae blaring, he treated us to some choice rasta philosophy in this deep booming voice, impenetrable Jamaican accent and patois, wouldn't accept the tip we offered, offered us a toke on his spliff.

Soni

BuckMulligan wrote:

Can only assume he intercepted their radio dispatch message or something and was trying to pinch our custom. A bit cheeky but I guess business is slow in hard times.

Loving it mate laughing out load!!! Exactly how I felt with my experience, in one breath I was frecking annoyed with him but in the other I found it fecking cheeky and funny!

Gizmodo

I landed in Santiago earlier this year, walked out of the airport looking for my name on a card as my company had arranged a taxi company to pick me up. Half an hour later, no driver. A man with an official badge asked if he could help, but when he shouted out "taxi for i]inset name here[/i" I knew it would end in tears.

Sure enough 5 minutes later someone has my name written on a card. As we walked across the car park and he asked "where are you going to" I knew this was not the pre-booked company. To cut a long story short, it cost me (sorry my company) double what it should have. :roll:

pinno

Youth is a condition (thankfully) that cures itself.
Years ago, after snogging some girl called Nicky next to what used to be the Fourways Pub. We went about hand in hand wishing everybody a happy new year and drinking whatever was given to us wrapped up in brown paper bags. I concluded my liaison with said girl by falling over in a heap. Said girl abandoned me. Staggered into the local cab firm and the couch that I sat on mysteriously started spinning and I had to hold on for dear life. The bucket adjacent to the couch placed there beside me for obvious reasons known to them and unknown to me, was painfully missed.
After some 2 hours, a driver said to me that he was taking me home but only if I had the means to pay. I said yes, my Mum will. A 3 mile hell on wheels journey of sickening headlights and bloody corners as well as a few bumps later, I arrived home. I said I would get some money, wait here. Oh no you don't he replies and grabbed my collar. I repeated my intent but he didn't believe me. Almost back to the taxi office, mother nature decided I still had too much in my system and I proceeded to reach and spill the remains of the night into the footwell. The car grinds to a halt and I step out and the taxi drives away, driver shouting expletives into the distance. I walk home.
On my arrival home, Mum had kindly left a fiver in the place where we used to keep the key.
Half a dozen of one and 6 of the other I think.

Bunneh

Misread the title as 'Dodging Taxi Drivers'. A skill I have much knowledge of and experience.

Gizmodo

pinarello001 wrote:

... Mum had kindly left a fiver in the place where we used to keep the key.

Now you're showing your age, a fiver for a taxi

Merry Christmas

Rigga

dynamicbrick wrote:

Dodgiest I ever had was a Saturday night minicab with a mate in Clapham back in '94 - only went as far as Wandsworth in the thing.

Blue Nissan Sunny, with the most awesome interior decoration, driven by a full-on bona-fide Rastafarian.

It was absolutely ace. Stoned, reggae blaring, he treated us to some choice rasta philosophy in this deep booming voice, impenetrable Jamaican accent and patois, wouldn't accept the tip we offered, offered us a toke on his spliff.

Me and some mates had a very similar experience to this in ibiza, some guy who was driving to work just picked us up!

essjaydee

Scariest taxi ride I had was in Amman, Jordan in 1992

There was a large group of us and we took a couple of taxi's from our hotel to the Hard Rock Cafe. We had all had a few drinks by then, and started to encourage the driver to beat the other car. He got this and drove like a possessed man to beat the other taxi. We even went past a multiple vehicle crash on a busy intersection, and I remember the driver laughing like a mad man and speeding past this carnage. I thought we were as good as dead :shock:

Taught me to never ever goad a foreign taxi driver to race :oops:

rc856

Manglier wrote:

My brother used to be in the Army, I remember a story he told me....

Sorry to disappoint but this old chestnut has been doing the rounds for years. I was first told it in the early seventies and I have heard it retold to each new generation of soldiers throughout my 25 years service.

Does happen though for things in garrison towns.
A Regi (as in Regiment) book out to sort out the problem

rodgers73

Arrived at an airport in China and went out to get a cab to the hotel. All the Chinese were allowed to take one, none of the foreigners were. The police made it clear to the drivers they would be in trouble if they took us anywhere. The drivers were keen for the business too so we ended up having to pretend we were now going to walk to the hotel (which was literally miles away) and set off down the road. After the first bend a taxi met us and we jumped in and drove off. If was genuinely baffling and a bit worrying too - it was early 90s and who knows what those cops could have made up if they decided to make an issue of it.

nickyboy zz

Another Chinese one.....

I and a colleague needed to get from a factory we were visiting to the airport so the factory organised a taxi for us. Perfectly normal taxi arrives and we get in and head off down the expressway, it is about 1.5 hour drive to the airport. Quite a warm sunny day, we are in the back
We had been travelling for about half an hour, i was relaxing in the back....then i felt the taxi start to veer across the expressway. What the f***, taxi driver had fallen asleep!!
I jumped up, lunged forward and hit the taxi driver across the head....he woke up with a start and got the car back under control and continued. He started claiming his eyes were narrowed due to the sun in his eyes!!
We were in a quandry, miles from anywhere, do we get out with our luggage and try to find our own way to the airport or do we stick with it? Well, after much chatting, we decided to stick with it. I got the taxi to stop and I hopped into the front passenger seat. I then spent the next hour staring at the driver, telling him if he started to fall asleep again I would give him a swift right hander...........we made it to the airport in one piece