Taxi not accepting payment by credit card (although advertised)

What happened was transactional. When you said you only had 5 quid and asked to run a credit card, he compared his interest in the two options.

Option 1: he only gets 5 quid for the ride, but it’s sure cash in his hand.

Option 2: he gets 5.75, and maybe a tip, but has to process it through his credit card (which may be broken) and has a bunch of fees and expenses relating to that, and you don’t know those fees. Also it may expose the transaction to his boss who may want a cut, and the government who nay want a cut. And there is probably a processing delay of a day or ten before he actually gets spendable money.

So he is making a determination of what’s best for him. You can rest assured he is looking after his own self-interest, he doesn’t know you.

There is no problem

You paid for the journey. You should be happy because the driver gave you a discount on the fare; the driver is happy because they got paid at a rate they were happy with.

Taxi drivers are, usually, free to come to a deal to give you a reduced fare, and there is nothing wrong in this.

UK taxis have at least three reasons to not take cards when advertised (even though they should):

• The system that takes cards is linked by a 3G phone, and is sometimes unreliable. If you have no cash, the driver risks not getting paid.
• Drivers are self-employed and thus pay the cost of the credit card transaction (this is normal of the order of a pound or two, plus 2 or 3% of the fare, so not enormous). This is more significant with lower fares.
• Some drivers (shock horror) might not report all their cash earnings for tax, therefore cash fares are worth more.

Personal experience (London not Liverpool): in London black cabs, offering a credit card used to be very unpopular when advertised. The only reliable way to pay for a black cab on a credit card was to use ComCab etc. This appears to have changed (perhaps thanks to Uber and Addison Lee) and now paying even small fares by contactless card doesn’t generate a grumble, and contactless machines are pretty prevalent in London cabs.

The driver breached their contract in not accepting CCs, demanded cash, knowing the customer didn’t have enough, and this caused inconvenience to the customer, and further (it’s not 100% clear) dropped them short of their destination.

Make a complaint to the licensing authority for your municipality

Liverpool City Council online taxi complaint form

Also, it could help if you had a photo of the in-taxi signage that stated they accept CCs.

(You can try complaining to the company too, but they can just ignore you or lie to you or tell you to take a hike – has happened to me. But if you complain to the body wot issues their license and has the power to take it away, believe me you will get their full attention very swiftly.)

In the UK we have two kinds of taxi: Hackney Carriage, and Private Hire. The former are known in London as “black cabs” and are present in other cities too. They work off the streets by demand, but they may also be saloon cars or minibus conversions. Private Hire must be pre-booked through an agency. The actual distinction is in the vehicle’s license conditions and signage.

Now, many Hackney cabs also have a Private Hire account so they can accept bookings too, but if you took that taxi from a rank or hailed it on the street, that is not a contract with the hire car agency.

Having said that, although traditionally taxis are a cash business, the trade is moving forward fast. London’s black cabs are now required by law to accept card payments.

Don’t worry, the taxi driver will not report you. He made sure the meter was seen to go over £5 because the metered fare is the maximum that may be legally charged (except for out-of-town journeys by pre-arrangement, and by certain well known taxi agencies who manage to sidestep the local legislation).

Everywhere I go, all over the world, the first thing I say when I get in a taxi is “credit card ok?” and sometimes “I have no local currency.” [I once accidentally said this in my own country because it’s my “set sentence” and it just came out.] This is even before I say where I’m going. Sometimes they say no, it’s not ok, and I get right back out and get in another taxi.

You ask if the deal you and your driver arranged is “ok”. It was clearly ok with the driver, or he wouldn’t have done it. Is it ok with you? You spent less than you otherwise would. Will someone come and complain about you or ask for more money? No, it’s over and done with once you got out of the car.

If you were left irritated by it, you could call the taxi company and object, because as you say, they are supposed to take cards. This is probably why the driver went past the 5-pound mark on the meter (there is probably a limit from the company on how much they can be underpaid) and then went even further with the meter off. “Here is a small gift: please don’t report me.” You could report it anyway, or you could let it go.

I suggest letting it go, but always asking in future before the meter goes on.