Taxi Driver Online

Councillors cut 'rip off' credit card charges in Hertsmere taxis

COUNCILLORS have hit out at 'rip-off' credit card surcharges applied to customers' journeys in hackney carriages in Hertsmere. At an annual review of the cost of taxi fares, held at the civic offices today, members of the licensing committee reduced the maximum charge that can be applied to credit card payments from 12.5 per cent to 4 per cent.

Although the committee agreed an overall increase of 2.7 per cent to the cost of journeys, bringing the cabs in line with London hackney carriages, they moved to heavily cut card charges. The decision comes just as research by consumer group Which? has encouraged the Office of Fair Trading to order travel companies to end the use of hidden surcharges.

Councillor Lesley Winters (Con/Bushey North) highlighted the report that says the cost for taking payment by credit card is no more than two per cent of the transaction value. He said on a £10 journey the taxis were asking for an extra £1.25 from their customers, when it “costs them almost nothing”.

The councillor, who said he sympathised with taxi drivers in the current economic climate, added: “I don't like to use this word, but this is a rip off and we shouldn't allow it in Hertsmere.” Councillors also rejected an appeal by local hackney carriage drivers to lower the time at which they can move over to the more expensive off-duty tariff, from 8pm to 6pm.

Justifying the general increase in the cost of fares to the public, Cllr Ann Harrison (Lab/Cowley Hill) said: “2.7 per cent is not unreasonable considering the rate of inflation at the moment.” Changes to the fares will be advertised for a month before they come into effect, to allow residents time to comment.

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IDFIMH

I think I have said from the start my view that a charge over and above the lawful fare is illegal?

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Oh good CC, we can agree on something then.

Do we need to give you a little more respite, or can the slit shinning start again?

Glad your back.

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Chris The Fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlyi5mc ... re=related

How do they come to that price?
If you don't have your own merchant number and you have to use one of the many other card systems on the market, then the cost can be a lot higher than this. If you do have your own merchant number the cost can be around £20 per month even if you don't use it. Use it once a month on a £5.00 fare and the % is sky high.

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Grandad,

Cheers Chris......give me as much slit as you want...there's moves afoot to remove me anyway.....so i wont be here long.

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

But these charges are not made by the driver, but by the banks / credit card companies and are automatically programmed into the credit card payment terminal.

My credit card payment terminal is programmed to add 10%, of which I see precisely zero!!

There is a legal notice in the cab that advises passengers of the charge.

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

Does the passenger pay more than what is stated on the taximeter?

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

They have the choice to pay by cash.

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Grandad,

The passenger pays the fare and by THE PASSENGER'S OWN CHOICE, they also choose to pay a bank / credit card company administration charge for the facility of paying by card.

It is ALWAYS THE PASSENGERS CHOICE to pay by credit / debit card!!

There is a payment method called CASH, which to the best of my knowledge most cabbies still accept.

The credit / debit card facility is there for the passenger's convenience and if they choose to use it there is a charge which is applied by the banks / credit card companies. At all times the passengers are aware of the charge BEFORE they CHOOSE to pay by card.

If councils continue in this vein, then credit / debit card facilities enjoyed by cabbies will either be withdrawn or the cabbie will have to pay the bank / credit card companies charges.

I also accept Euros when occasionally international passengers don't have a working credit / debit card card and don't have Pound Sterling. I can only offer the passenger the exchange rate that I will be paid by my bank, which is the customer's selling rate, i.e. the bank buying rate. I cannot and do not offer the passenger the customer buying rate, i.e. the bank selling rate for Euro exchange on that particular day, because I would lose out when I change the Euros to Pound Stirling.

By your analogy, I presume you would think that is wrong too.

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

Because they are clueless.

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IDFIMH

Fair enough.

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Grandad,

If the drivers put through millions a week like the big shops they'd get charged nothing. The reason Taxi Drivers are charged by the banks is they don't put enough through each week to warrant the service for free.

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Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Believe me, don't get Mercury X2

Do the big shops get it for nothing? Surely they have to pay some costs otherwise the bank offering the service would go bust.

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Grandad,

I think they get charged 1p per transaction. When you've got TESCO, ASDA and Morrisons putting through a few million transactions a day the clearing company are making a small fortune.

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Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Believe me, don't get Mercury X2

I discussed this with my drivers a year ago the consensus was that they would NOT accept any money being taken off the fare so only a system that adds it on as a surcharge was acceptable although to date i have not signed us up to anything BUT if airlines Coack companies and railway companies can charge a surcharge to cover the extra cost why shouldn't we ? If you do a £5 fare and it pays cash you get £5 if you do a £5 fare paying by card and you only get £4.50 what incentive is that

Taxis should be able to recover the cost of taking the credit card or the alternative is to set the meters to include the credit card fees and offer a cash discount after all taxis are relatively small operators and pay disproportionately high fees compared to bigger companies

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector