Shame of cherry-picking taxi drivers

Shame of cherry-picking taxi drivers Mar 19 2007




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.”

Earn £70 per hour! I wouldn't get out of bed for that. Surely it means a week if not where have we gone wrong?
What do think of the idea of US naming these prats that sit outside our nightclubs doing the same? I took a decent job outside the Leadmill Sat night whilst the guy in the grey plumbers van was waiting for a booked job
Or should we name the cabs that overtake you on Penistone road then brake sharply to get YOUR fare. I am too much of a gentleman to mention that cab with the union adverts all over it.