Driver behaviour source of most taxi criticism

Complaints about taxi drivers’ behaviour to the National Transport Authority accounted for more than half of complaints concerning taxis last year. 

In contents of complaints released by the National Transport Authority, a small number of customers felt “frightened” by a taxi driver’s behaviour.

In one case, a hotel worker said a taxi-driver told the worker to fuck off several times and that he would “see me on Monday night when I am alone”. As a result of the complaint, the authority issued the driver with a reminder of his duties and responsibilities as a taxi driver.

In response to a freedom of information request, the authority confirmed that the number of taxi complaints last year totalled 928. This compared to 952 complaints in 2014 representing a drop of 24. The detailed breakdown shows that complaints about taxi driver behaviour totalled 491 last year — or 53% of complaints with 53 complaints about vehicle condition.

One passenger wrote to the authority to complain that there was hair everywhere in a very dirty and filthy taxi “and a smell I can only describe as ‘day’s old sweat”.

The complainant said: “Papers, books, receipts and food in the foot areas of the rear seats. The brakes on the car were gone and squeaking every time the driver hit the brakes.” In that case, the driver admitted that the car was in poor condition and took it out of service.

Another passenger complaining about the state of a taxi said “the car was like a fridge and the seats felt damp, when I got out of the car at Hatch St, Dublin 2 I realised that the car was missing the entire large glass panel at the rear that forms part of the boot underneath the rear windscreen”.

The outcome was that the vehicle was repaired and then inspected.

The authority stated: “All found to be in order. Advice given.” Another complainant wrote to the authority about a taxi driver who could not find his way to an address in Portmarnock and who started shouting to a “frightened” and “intimidated” passenger “if you live there long enough, you should know! Everyone expects taxi drivers to know every road. It is a huge area!”

The outcome of that complaint was that advice was given to the driver. The driver denied being aggressive but did offer to reimburse the difference in the fare.

The second highest area of complaint related to fare matters, accounting for 297 or 32% of complaints.

The authority also got 83 complaints relating to “hiring matters” and four on identification. In only 2% of complaints did the authority issue the driver with a fixed payment notice while in another 2%, drivers were warned of their behaviour. The figures show that in 58% of complaints, no further action was taken, while in 29% of cases, advice was given to the drivers by the authority.

According to the authority, the reasons for no further action includes anonymous complaints, insufficient evidence to investigate, no identification of driver or vehicle licence, no offence committed or complainant not willing to participate in a prosecution case.

The authority said that 202 complaints were last year referred to the gardaí. However, the authority said the complaints referred to the gardaí are not based upon the gravity of the offence, merely the nature of the complaint and the existing powers of the gardaí to deal with them.