Frankly, I and many other people are supremely pissed off at taxi firms and their drivers. This news story will list some reasons why and will provide solutions. Although, before I begin, I would like to inform what happened to me today ...

I was retreating from the taxi with my brother and my father to visit my mother's house (my parents are, sadly, divorced). However, on attempting to climb out of the car, the taxi driver suddenly tried to drive off, with me still climbing from the car! Which meant I had to quickly leap from the car, and the cabbie drove off with one door open, with an extremely bloody pissed off me and my father yelling all sorts of obscenities at the damn cabbie, whilst my brother stood meekly in the backgroud, no doubt thinking all sorts of rude things about the scandalous driver anyway! I don't know what you lot'd do, but I'm going straight to the police about this - this shite should just not happen. Additionally, if I can, I'm going to get that bastard cabbie fired; I do know he did it on purpose, he knew I was there. And if he was trying to kidnap me, well, the sick bastard might even get a month inside, who knows?

Right ... now onto the plane I was supposed to be informing you about ... okay ...


1) Taxi Driver Is Too Early.

Yeah, I know, we've all been in this scenario before, haven't we? You ask for a taxi at nine am and it arrives half an hour early for some dim-witted reason that the head of department at your local cabbie firm thought up desperately. If your firm is just early once (a one-off) you can't really take any action against them, but if they are early repeatedly then simply switch firms or send in lots of volatile complaints that will hopefully shake them into action. Either those solutions or save up for a car - it really is worth it, as my mother found out last year.

2) Taxi Driver Is Too Late.

Really, you need to take the same sort of action as above. If you have a great job, you can't sacrifice it for taxis, can you? I suggest you also try and work really hard and you might earn yourself a company car.

3) Taxi Driver Demands More Money Than You Have To Actually Pay.

This one is just plain stealing, you know - taxi drivers demanding $5.00 or something when you really have to pay $3.50 ... you get the general idea. To take action, you have to personally complain to the firm, because to my knowledge they actually have a list of prices on their database. If the driver commits major stealing, or commits the offence regularly, you may even be able to take legal action, if necessary.

(A/N: The next two offences are really very serious; they are for major crime scenarios with taxis, and the solutions given are only really precautionary measures regarding safety.)

4) Kidnap Involving Children.

Okay, this is just SICK SICK SICK - kidnapping children from taxis?! A select few taxi drivers actually do this to either terrify parents, to satisfy their bloodthirst if they attempt to murder, or to demand ransom money from parents - though the latter is more used in adult kidnap situations. As a precautionary measure, always accompany your child in a taxi, to school, etc., and I would advise not allowing your child to visit the town alone or with friends until they are at least thirteen. Also, the child/children need(s) to be taught to not take the bait from strangers, if you know what I mean.

5) Kidnap Involving Adults (Aged Eighteen Or Over).

Same sort of thing as above, but sometimes actual taxi drivers kidnap and demand ransom money, usually in the range of $1,000 - $7000. Unfortunately, in most cases the ransom actually has to be paid, but sometimes there is a loophole.



Well, I hope you found this piece informative. Thanks for reading ... but be warned - you'll never look at a cabbie the same way again. I sure didn't after my little mishap with one ...