The least safe taxi I have ever taken, with the worst driver ever.
I was collected from Birmingham airport on the 26th January. Below is a copy of the formal complaint I made to the agency that booked Click4Hire taxis on my behalf.
Dear Sir,
I was horrified at the standard of driving last night to the point where I feel the need to notify you that you should never accept a booking from this driver again.
You will see I have had about 20 or so journeys with you over the past year and have never complained previously.
I have the following feedback points;
The driver was obviously inexperienced, very young and was not a taxi driver. It felt and looked to me like he was standing in for someone else and not only had never driven a taxi before, but I would be surprised if he was even qualified with a license. – He had certainly never driven that car before.
1. The driver was late and took 25 minutes to meet at the airport. He said he was near, however I was standing in the pickup/drop off area in the rain for that time. Eventually he arrived on foot and led me to where he had parked his car. I did not get the meet and greet service I booked.
2. When we got into the car, and we drove to the car parks exit barrier, he didn’t know how to operate it. He hadn’t paid for parking, and when it wouldn’t let him out, he called his ‘uncle’ to help him. Eventually he worked out how to enter his registration and pay using his card. – this took at least ten minutes.
3. The vehicle had warning safety warning lights on the dashboard. – specifically “Service B1 overdue 41 days” – On that car, a Mercedes, that means brake fluid replacement!
4. The standard of driving was awful. - Speed completely erratic driving at 90 mph in the rain. Swerving, rapid acceleration for no reason whatsoever, and harsh breaking.
5. The drivers ability to stay in lane was so poor that we drifted across the centre line several times, once into the path of another car and we nearly crashed.
6. I ended up telling him to drive at not above the speed limit. So instead he slowed down to 40 miles per hour on the motorway. Ludicrous.
7. The driver didn't know how to use windscreen wipers. FACT.
8. I had to tell the driver twice to stop using his phone whilst he was driving!