No one does something for nothing; do you work for nothing? And certainly no one wants to do anything at a loss as that is not business at all. To prohibit hackney carriage drivers from charging a fair price for rural journeys that involve significant travel to the pickup point (beyond 1 mile), and in such a rural county, will only lead to drivers & operators simply refusing to do the work in the first place, which will leave residents (many of which are vulnerable people) high and dry with no access to vital public transport connections which can only be provided by the taxi trade.
This problem is even more exaggerated now that most private hire vehicles in the county have converted to hackney carriage due to the council’s recent decision, with hackney carriages now making up the bulk of the licensed vehicle fleet. Does the council not have a duty of care to ensure such services are readily available to all residents? And the only way to do that is to ensure operators can run a viable service.
Additionally, and alarmingly, if Cornwall Council persist in encouraging hackney drivers to refuse work in this way and deprive people in these rural areas of such vital services, most especially at night, this will most probably result in a significant rise in cases of people choosing to drink and drive; a situation that certainly cannot be encouraged or ignored.
Can we not do something with tipping?
Tipping is unrestricted and not classed as part of the fare as far as im aware?
Yes we will drive out to get you on the condition that the pre-paid tip is x amount to cover dead miles…
A tip is a ‘gratuity’ which is a totally voluntary financial transaction at the discretion of the customer and is not nor can be mandatory