There should not be excess taxi charges for wheelchair users
I READ with interest your piece in the Observer on June 16, relating to travel by taxi with a wheelchair user.
I could list dozens but like you I contacted the taxi licencing and the company concerned and also got a refund.
Taxi rates and mileage charges are fixed and do not start until the journey begins and the meter stops when the journey ends, so loading and unloading is not an issue or should not be.
I will relate two recent journeys where excess charges were applied.
A trip to an appointment at Birch Hill normally costs between £8.80 and £9.20 but in April this year cost £14.50 due to a rather roundabout route taken by the driver.
A complaint to the company resulted in a £5 refund.
A second trip from home to Hunters Lane car park was charged at £6.30 instead of the usual £4.
Again a complaint resulted in a refund but we should not be overcharged in the first place.
Taxi rates and charges are fixed every April and the current charge is £1.80 for the first 700 or so yards with a further 20 pence per 180 yards thereafter and this equates to roughly £2 per mile, give or take a few pence.
This is a statutory charge and is not usually negotiable.
There should be no excess charges for using a wheelchair when travelling by taxi.
Using an adapted black cab costs no more than a special wheelchair vehicle.
Town Taxi has been a fixture in Rochdale for years and is my preferred company.
I have spoken with taxi licencing about using their services and sending other vehicles for booked journeys i.e. Town Travel, Car 2000 or Central Cars but got no satisfactory answer so my response has been when booking a Town taxi and another taxi arrives without the Town Taxi logo and roof sign I decline the journey and insist the taxi I booked comes to collect me.
So far it works. David J Croxon Greave Avenue Rochdale
BEWARE OF DOUBLE FARES
I AM writing in reply to ‘Life in my Northern Town’: Saturday, June 16.
I have personal experiences of a taxi company that charges double even for a person in a wheelchair.
The taxi driver did not get out of his seat.
I lifted the wheelchair in and out of the taxi.
Needless to say I have not used the taxi company since and advise my friends not to use them either. Mr D Hodgin Grange Avenue Milnrow
ORDEAL AT AIRPORT
MP Tony Lloyd’s letter to the Observer objecting to the Heathrow expansion might be music to the ears of the privately run Manchester Airport, but will do little for the people he represents in Rochdale.
Manchester Airport seems to make life difficult and frustrating for its passengers in its pursuit to maximise its own profits.
Being dropped off and picked up at the airport is something of an ordeal for passengers unless they want to pay unreasonably high charges for parking.
The new introduction of charges for simply being dropped off at the airport is an example of this.
They seem to be struggling to cope with increased numbers, with passengers suffering long queues to have their bags searched going out.
They also allow planes to land at the same time coming back, leaving passengers in long queues at passport control (E Gates).
This causes further problems for onward travel.
It also demonstrates that Manchester airport cannot cope with more passenger numbers.
Maybe Tony Lloyd uses the fast-track service which avoids this and thus avoids listening to the many complaints from passengers.
He would serve his constituents and maybe the local economy better by addressing these issues and making the airport more passenger friendly.
Instead he spends his time attacking the government on issues he will never win and are of little importance to the Rochdale people he represents. Peter Gayne Whiteside Fold
KIDS WERE A GREAT CREDIT
KIRKHOLT Million Big Local recently held an event to celebrate the Football World Cup at Sandbrook Community School, with football themed games, a petting farm and a variety of small stalls with games, crafts etc.
I felt I must write to thank the families who attended and to give praise to the children of Kirkholt, who were charming, well mannered and beautifully behaved throughout.
They were a credit to their families and teachers and impressed us all.
We were pleased to see so many parents participating, and hope they and their families enjoyed the day as much as we did. Name and address supplied