|
Americans Dan and Robin Tharpe had
been eagerly looking forward to their first trip to London. The
couple, from Columbus in Georgia, had never been here before and
in their own words: "Our stay in your beautiful and historic
city was one we had anticipated for a long time and one we
enjoyed very much." They added that everything went perfectly
until the final morning when they hit a problem. They said:
"What had been a wonderful vacation for us left a sour taste in
our mouths as we flew home from London. It reeked of
impropriety." The Tharpes were so upset at this occurrence that they were determined to complain and not to let the matter drop. The matter referred to was the "taxi" they ordered from their hotel in the early hours of 24 July. The couple had stayed at the Quality Crown Kensington in Cromwell Road – a hotel that Dan Tharpe said they were very happy with and would have happily stayed at again on any future trip. But that was until the incident of the "wrong taxi!" The couple asked the hotel desk clerk if they could book a taxi to Heathrow. The clerk told them of several options but "…strongly suggested a taxi and quoted us a charge of around £40 for two people to the airport." Mr Tharpe agreed and the clerk booked a taxi. The following morning their bags were ready loaded and they entered a vehicle, but soon realised that the vehicle had no markings and neither did the driver have any identification. The driver then told Dan that the charge to go to Heathrow "with two bags" was £60. Regardless of their protestations, the driver refused to back down and Mr Tharpe had to stop at a cash machine as they had just kept enough sterling back for the fare so as to save having to change UK currency back into dollars. When they arrived back in Columbus, Dan and Robin still couldn’t get that last morning out of their minds and decided to write to the hotel. Sadly, because they could find no trace of any management names on the Quality Crown website to address complaints to, they wrote but received no response. Looking up on the Internet, they discovered the website for the London Taxi Board and wrote to its current Chairman, DaC’s Brian Rice. Brian responded by assuring the upset couple that the vehicle provided for them was not a taxi but a private hire vehicle and added that he hoped it hadn’t spoiled their trip too much. So upset was Brian at their experience, that he offered them a free trip to Heathrow the next time they came to London! Mr Rice ended by saying: "Although the vehicle that took you to the Airport was not one of our vehicles, I am very concerned the experience you had tarnished your view of our city." The couple responded quickly; Brian’s offer helping to quell their |
EXTRA PIECE OF LUGGAGE? THAT WILL BE ANOTHER
£20
|
|
|
disappointment and showed them that the
overcharging private hire driver who wanted an extra £20 for an
additional piece of luggage, did not represent all "taxis". Call Sign was then approached to try to get Dan and Robin Tharpe some contact names and we obtained the name of the Quality Crown Kensington manager in addition to the manager of the group and forwarded them both onto Columbus. Dan wrote back: "Thank you so much for your response. I have so far emailed the hotel three times with no response and also filed an on-line police report with the Met Police. In the course of our trip, we enjoyed London so very much. It was a dream of ours to visit there and see all its historical sights and we had a wonderful time. Had the hotel booked a London taxi as they indicated rather than doing what they actually did, our trip would have been perfect. Yes, we will return and I hope we will have the opportunity to meet in person." Their letter to the group
manager included: |
that I requested a licensed London Taxi and not a
Britannia Private Hire! London Taxis are equipped with meters to
insure proper charges. Private hires are not equipped and are at
liberty to be deceptive in their charges to customers. The hotel
was deceptive in their dealings with me to indicate a London
Taxi would be booked and then to call a private hire! "All relationships are based on trust, we trusted you to provide us with comfortable and safe accommodations (which you did), but you should have been upfront and forthcoming with the request for a taxi! If it is your policy to use private hire, then you should inform your guests that you would not be booking a London Taxi. In all honesty, you should provide what the guests requests unless they agree otherwise." Call Sign Comment This was the tale of a couple who loved London, who probably would have told those back home about the trip and which could in turn have encouraged more visitors at a time when their exchange rate was very unhelpful. Then multiply the same situation by several thousand! Yet that could all have been ruined by the hotel’s decision to send in a private hire vehicle when a taxi was asked for. Well done to Brian Rice whose genuine offer and assistance in helping Dan and Robin was obviously appreciated, but our final criticism must be aimed at the Public Carriage Office, TfL and indeed the Mayor of London himself, Ken Livingstone, whose haste in trying to push us and private hire under the same banner has done nothing but try to lower taxi standards down to the level of private hire. They are not and never will be our equivalent. Both those organisations and the Mayor should feel shame that the recognised manager of a good quality London hotel does not know the difference between taxis and private hire. It isn’t the manager’s fault, it is the fault of all the above who have shown such determination to make us all the same (SGS, mid-year check etc) and in doing so have dragged us down to their level instead of trying to raise them up to ours. We have never needed mid-year checks and our trade organisations should have had the bottle to stand up to TfL in their hurry to deliver a handsome contract to SGS. Ashamed? Most definitely… Alan Fisher |
|
 |
Powered by NetXPosure |
| Copyright 1997-2007 Dial-A-Cab Ltd, All rights reserved. |