Welcome back to Shitty Service UK
I arrived in at Heathrow yesterday and headed over to the official London taxi stand.
I expected this last bit of my globe-trotting journey to be reasonably run-of-the-mill.
There was an officious looking chap in a high visibility jacket holding some kind of electronic gizmo at the top of the queue. He asked me for my destination.
“Chiswick,” I said, thinking it was rather cool Heathrow Airport had finally implemented some kind of taxi master / wrangler to organise things.
The taxi driver at the top of the queue got out and asked me, “Where to mate?”
“Chiswick,” I said again, whilst the officious chap fiddled with his machine.
“Where in Chiswick?” the taxi driver asked. I gave him the name of the road.
“Where’s that?” he asked.
“Well,” I replied, “I don’t exactly know, but I have it on Google Maps.”
Stupid.
“Yeah, it’s just I’ve been waiting here for quite a while,” the taxi driver continued, “and that’s not a big fare you see.”
I looked at the guy.
I waited for him to say something.
“It’s just, if you actually want to go to Chiswick, I don’t get a ticket right.”
I gave him another stare.
“But if where you want to go is a bit further away, I’ll need to come back and join the end of the queue.”
What a total arse.
Here I am, waiting to give the guy no-doubt ridiculous amounts of money for a short taxi ride and he’s really concerned with losing his spot in the taxi queue.
Total arse.
Once again, a brilliant example of the self-serving couldn’t-give-a-toss-about-you service culture in Britain.
I eventually got out Google Maps, pointed to the exact location and the Taxi Driver jumped with glee.
“See,” he said, thrusting my iPhone at the official with the gizmo, “That means I get a ticket to come back to the front of the queue, right?”
The official nodded.
The taxi driver grinned and walked round and jumped in the front of the cab.
Meanwhile I lifted my own sodding bags into the taxi and we headed off.
Bollocks. Total bollocks.
im sure you overjoyed with the wonderful heathrow service. try edinburgh some time
well at least the taxi drivers are friend and pretend to speak english (ok heavy scottish accent). im working in china, and the taxi costs me 1.10 (one pound 10p fo the first 2km) so u get the idea its not too bad and thats expensive in china. most smaller cities outside shanghai/beijing start charging something like 10p for the first 2km.
ah..blighty, miss it, hate it, loath it, love it, leave it?
andy
I've had the same conversation a dozen times. The system at Heathrow is totally broken.
Definitely makes you appreciate the American service culture. Took my dad to the States for his first visit last year and now he's home he doesn't accept poor service from anyone – he's seen how it should be done!
As an aside, I don't tend to row with anyone, but I have traded shouty abuse with a taxi driver at Manchester Airport. Are they all tossers?
Love the fact that the taxi driver is asking you where it is. You don't care, you just want to pay good money to be taken there. Whatever the system is that he works in is no concern of yours …
After working in Canada (think Us-style service, but fewer guns!) what feels like a few hundred years ago, I still really struggle with this kind of UK service.
im sure you overjoyed with the wonderful heathrow service. try edinburgh some time
well at least the taxi drivers are friendly and pretend to speak english (ok heavy scottish accent). im working in china, and the taxi costs me 1.10 (one pound 10p fo the first 2km) so u get the idea its not too bad and thats expensive in china. most smaller cities outside shanghai/beijing start charging something like 10p for the first 2km.
ah..blighty, miss it, hate it, loath it, love it, leave it?
andy
I've had the same conversation a dozen times. The system at Heathrow is totally broken.
Definitely makes you appreciate the American service culture. Took my dad to the States for his first visit last year and now he's home he doesn't accept poor service from anyone – he's seen how it should be done!
As an aside, I don't tend to row with anyone, but I have traded shouty abuse with a taxi driver at Manchester Airport. Are they all tossers?
Love the fact that the taxi driver is asking you where it is. You don't care, you just want to pay good money to be taken there. Whatever the system is that he works in is no concern of yours …
After working in Canada (think Us-style service, but fewer guns!) what feels like a few hundred years ago, I still really struggle with this kind of UK service.
I've seen worse. Try asking for Slough or Stockley Park! Even though they get back on the rank straight away they just aren't interested in sub 100 quid trips.
The worse thing i've seen is when a complete foreigner asks for some local address. The drivers very often will just say “feck off and ask the guy behind me” in order to try and get the more attractive next fare. The passenger i saw this happen to even complained to the officious looking officer at the front of the queue about it and was told “it happens all the time”
My advice: from now on book with a private hire firm!
I've seen worse. Try asking for Slough or Stockley Park! Even though they get back on the rank straight away they just aren't interested in sub 100 quid trips.
The worse thing i've seen is when a complete foreigner asks for some local address. The drivers very often will just say “feck off and ask the guy behind me” in order to try and get the more attractive next fare. The passenger i saw this happen to even complained to the officious looking officer at the front of the queue about it and was told “it happens all the time”
My advice: from now on book with a private hire firm!
I've seen worse. Try asking for Slough or Stockley Park! Even though they get back on the rank straight away they just aren't interested in sub 100 quid trips.
The worse thing i've seen is when a complete foreigner asks for some local address. The drivers very often will just say “feck off and ask the guy behind me” in order to try and get the more attractive next fare. The passenger i saw this happen to even complained to the officious looking officer at the front of the queue about it and was told “it happens all the time”
My advice: from now on book with a private hire firm!