Taxi Hell

[Argus]

But on reading this, I had to wonder if the chavs hadn't gotten a hold of the radio and were the ones demanding the return of you and your friends. I suppose not since the Driver seemed to know who he was talking to.

Also, the chavs were male but the radio voice was female. (Until I noticed that detail, I was wondering the same thing.)

[sstabeler]

actually, the driver's action i can sort of understand. He's been told by dispatch to bring you to the office. He may not have a lot of choice in the matter at that point. 2nd, he had been told the police had been called to arrest his passengers- at that point, he may be wondering about his own liability ( I don't know if the taxi driver could be charged with anything, but I doubt the taxi driver would want to risk it)

in short, the driver may have turned around due to being worried about his job and/or being arrested himself.

as for trying to prevent you leaving, I suspect that it was again, worried about the consequences to him if he turns up with an empty taxi.

the dispatch, however, should be arrested themself. ( they tried to get you into a situation where you would be attacked. I'm pretty sure Conspiracy to commit Assault woudl apply, possibly worse ( if the Chavs had been armed with anything, it could become conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon, or worse) seriously, why would they want you back there, especially if you had been starting fights an instruction to chuck you out of the taxi, I could understand the logic ( dispatch could have been told you started the fight, and therefore was denying service) but not to bring you back to the office.

yeah, offering a free journey... that's an attempt to brush you off. at a minimum, the dispatcher needs disciplining.

[Hyndis]

Its also moronic and foolish on the part of dispatch to inform the cab's occupants that they are wanted by the police. What is the cab's occupants really were wanted by the police for something violent?

You just tipped them off that the police are looking for them, the police know where they are, and you just told the cab driver to turn in potentially armed and dangerous people to the police.

If the passengers in the cab really were armed and dangerous, what do you think will happen to the poor cab driver?

What dispatch should have done would be to query the cab driver for his current position or destination, but make it sound innocent. However this probably isn't even needed these days. I'm assuming cabs have GPS in them that is readable by dispatch, so cabs are all marked on a map updated with their current position.

Then dispatch provides this information to the police, who will be waiting at the cab's destination.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

Except, Hyndis, that the dispatch knew that CRML and his friends are not violent, have no weapons, and would not get into a fight with the two chavs. Why? Because she was sitting right effin' there when the whole thing went down, she witnesses the two chavs basically sexually harass his friend's girlfriend, try to instigate fights, CRML's group leaving, and the two chavs - pissed that they didn't get a fight - started to just fight each other.

So the driver was really in no danger, at least bodily.

[Mikkel]

So the driver was really in no danger, at least bodily.

Even so, the dispatcher should never talk about customers in the car.
What should happen, and what would happen here, is that I (or the other driver) would be told to call dispatch when I was free. Then the police could take over.
A taxi driver is not an extra policeman, he shouldn't do the work of one.
The dispatcher was probably a friend of the chavs. I doubt the police was called.

[Victory Sabre]

I wonder if the dispatch bitch was friends with the chavs? That was my thought when reading the story. Hell, maybe the chavs and the dispatch were hooking up, and giving her their full centimeter of love.

[Jay 2K Winger]

I wonder if the dispatch bitch was friends with the chavs? That was my thought when reading the story. Hell, maybe the chavs and the dispatch were hooking up, and giving her their full centimeter of love.

Only if they'd taken a little blue pill beforehand...

[draco664]

I wonder if the dispatch bitch was friends with the chavs? That was my thought when reading the story. Hell, maybe the chavs and the dispatch were hooking up, and giving her their full centimeter of love.

I think you're giving them half a centimeter too much credit there...

[Argabarga]

Yeah, nothing can go wrong with transporting MORE people to the site of a violent altercation.... yup, nothing at all.......

[customersruinmylife]

Not got much of an update unfortunately guys. It all seemed to go quiet. Although I did let it go slightly and let my two friends handle it. I don't think she's heard back since she asked for an apology.

I haven't used the taxi firm since though, and I've told plenty of people why.

[Mikkel]

A sucky driver can happen at any taxi company. THAT could be handled by a few vouchers and an apology.
A sucky dispatcher, who is the one everybody calling for a taxi will speak to, is a much more serious thing. It hurts every driver if people start avoiding that company.
I think someone will get back to your friends sooner or later.
Otherwise you are smart not to use them. Who knows what the rest of the employees are like.

[Sapphire Silk]

The driver was caught in the middle and didn't really know what was going on. I really don't think he was that sucky.

The dispatcher is another matter.

Boycotting that company and making no bones about why is a perfectly acceptable action in an extreme case like this.

[XCashier]

Not got much of an update unfortunately guys. It all seemed to go quiet. Although I did let it go slightly and let my two friends handle it. I don't think she's heard back since she asked for an apology.

The company may be looking into the matter, viewing security recordings, etc. I sincerely hope so. I too wonder if that dispatcher was friends with the two hoodlums (and why would anyone want to befriend those two?!) and trying to start stuff. She deserves some sort of punishment, suspension at the least.

I haven't used the taxi firm since though, and I've told plenty of people why.

Good. Spread the word! Surely there are other, better companies who deserve the business instead.

[the lawsmeister]

I haven't used the taxi firm since though, and I've told plenty of people why.

Given you work in a bar you certainly have the opportunity to do their business at least a little harm.
Even if you're not actively telling people how crap this company is you can divert any taxi requests made in your pub to other companies.

[Mr Hero]

Surely there are other, better companies who deserve the business instead.

There are other, better companies who deserve the business. But don't call me Shirley.

Given you work in a bar you certainly have the opportunity to do their business at least a little harm.
Even if you're not actively telling people how crap this company is you can divert any taxi requests made in your pub to other companies.

After one cab company ticked me off enough times, though not to CRML's level, I used this same power as a hotel clerk.