Taxi Driver Online

Evening News (Edinburgh)

July 28, 2007, Saturday

Taxi driver strikes back in MP fare row

A TAXI driver who was criticised by MP Jim Devine for quoting him GBP 49 to take him home has hit back.

The Livingston MP slammed the prices of cabs from Edinburgh Airport after he was forced to haggle with the black cab driver over the fare to his Blackburn house.

Now driver Hugh Elden, who was the recipient of Mr Devine's wrath, has claimed he was perfectly entitled to charge him what he did.

"I couldn't get him out the cab quick enough," said Mr Elden, 45, who has driven taxis in Edinburgh for five years. "In the end I quoted him GBP 27, which was less than I should have, and still he complained."

Needless to say, the Labour MP didn't leave a tip for the driver.

Mr Elden added: "We didn't talk during the journey apart from that and I gave him a receipt for his fare. What he has to appreciate is Edinburgh is a capital city and everything is more expensive, so if you're getting in an Edinburgh cab to go outwith the boundary you should know that."
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So if he reduced the price from £49 to £27 then it seems fairly obvious that he was trying it on.

Methinks he'd have been better keeping his mouth shut instead of blabbering to the press

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

His best bet is indeed to keep his mouth shut.

But if he did want to defend himself he should just have said that no-one forced the MP into his cab.

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IDFIMH

Why should anyone keep their mouths shut,have we no longer got the right to defend ourselves,the right to reply.

I actually found it quite amusing that an MP who is in the Labour Party and therefore on the same side as his Council in West Lothian and Midlothian,East Lothian and the CEC (no longer) complains about the very thing they are/were responsible for administrating.

But consider this,that is a journey of 26-28 miles there and back,it's out of area so your coming back empty,the standing charges and running costs of a diesel car that costs £30k and covers 25k miles per year is approx 55p per mile so even if you were to do that run as a favour to someone it would cost you £14.30 in your own car so that leaves you £12.70 out of the £27 he was charged,now obviously with a taxi the costs are far greater than a normal vehicle and your a self employed working person in the second richest City in the fourth richest Country in the world,or so we were constantly being told! and yet it's the taxi driver who is in the wrong as usual with no shortage of people willing to join the attack.

This is just another unwarranted attack on the Edinburgh Taxi trade.

P.S Are you sure your all Taxi Drivers,it makes me wonder sometimes.

I do not know the area at all so I can't comment on the mileage but for a driver to cut the price from £49 to £27 would look like either a rip of in the first place or desperation in the second place. The driver should have just refused to carry the passenger if he thought that the fare was correct.

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Grandad,

Sounds about right to me. Don't like the price? get the bus!

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

Because he is making you lot look like a greedy bunch of so and so's.

Sometimes saying nothing is by far the best thing to say.

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IDFIMH

Doesn't everyone make the point that Taxis in Edinburgh are expensive,it's national obsession now interesting though that if you look at the tariffs for East/Mid/west Lothian and the City of Edinburgh Council,they are all fairly similar really.

Not according to the evening news when reporting on this incident !
the price they settled for was £37.

So you're providing an analysis based on the £27 actually charged - which I can't see anyone objecting to - and then upbraiding people who're taking issue with the £49 quoted originally?

If you want to defend the £49 and attack people who are criticising it, then why not provide an analysis based on the £49?

And using figures based on saloon cars (presumably) doesn't really cut mustard either - an Edinburgh taxi doing 25,000 a year?





With drivers like Elden in the trade, you don't need people attacking you



As Mr T says, there are taxi drivers, and people who drive taxis.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

The legislation was passed in London nearly 30 years ago and said that councils couldn't control fares to destinations outside their area, so in fact I don't think anyone's actually administrating it, and anyway I think 30 years is long enough so that current MPs and councils can disclaim responsibility.

As for the fare, if I get a 14 mile run for £27 I'm glad to get it.

I suspect there are drivers who will take you from St Andrews to Edinburgh Airport for £49 (ie a pound a mile), and most charge not a whole lot more.

So the driver followed the guidelines then by agreeing a negotiated fare before the Journey began,whats the problem then?

Taxi fare charges in Fife
Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982

Charges (fare plate) for taxis and private hire cars fitted with a taxi meter

Stage 1: For hirings between 6:00 am and 10:00 pm:

If the distance does not exceed 800 yards (732 metres) - for the whole distance - £2.20
If the distance exceeds 800 yards - for the first 800 yards - £2.20
For each additional 240 yards (220 metres) or uncompleted part thereof - 20p
Stage 2: For hirings between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am or where the hire extends beyond the boundary of Fife:

First 800 yards - £2.70
Subsequent yardage - plus 25% on Stage 1 rate
Waiting Time

Each period of 30 seconds - 10p (i.e. £12.00 per hour)
Extra Charges

Christmas/New Year

For hirings between 6:00 am and 8:00 pm on 25 December and 1st January and between 6:00 am and 10:00 pm on 26 December and 2 January : Plus 50% on Stage 1 rate.
For hirings between 8.00 p.m. and 6.00 a.m. on 24th, 25th and 31st December and 1st January : Plus 50% on Stage 2 rate.
Excess Luggage

Excess or abnormal luggage - maximum charge £2.00.
Toll Bridge Charges

for hirings which include Toll Bridge Charges the two way toll charge will be added to the fare shown on the meter at the end of the journey.
Soiling Charge

Anyone soiling a taxi is liable to a £35.00 charge.
Please note

The approved scale of fares are deemed by the Customs and Excise to be V.A.T. inclusive for the purposes of V.A.T. registered taxi operators.
These fares are effective from 9 October 2006.
This information (plate) to be displated in the taxi or private hir car if fitted with a taxi meter.

http://www.fife.gov.uk/topics/index.cfm ... 5D25DCF20F

Doesn't sound as if your too hard done by over there.

What kind of vehicle are you driving?

Both the MP and some people on here seemed to think he was taking the pi$$?