Customer Service and Passenger Handling
This domain tests how a taxi driver receives, communicates with and assists passengers while keeping the service safe, lawful and non-discriminatory. It covers booking, route choices, refusal grounds, assistance dogs and lost property.
Service standards
- Greet the passenger, confirm the destination, and agree the route if there is a meaningful choice.
- Assist with luggage and ask before providing physical help.
- Refuse a fare only for an objective reason, such as a safety risk, obvious intoxication or an unlawful request. Refusal must not be based on disability, ethnicity, religion or other discriminatory grounds.
- Assistance dogs must be allowed to travel and must not be charged as an extra passenger.
- Handle lost property promptly through the operator or licence holder.
Worked example: A passenger with a guide dog books a taxi. The driver has an allergy and says the dog cannot travel. The correct response is not simply to refuse the passenger: the licence holder should dispatch a suitable vehicle or driver. If no safe solution exists, explain and arrange an alternative. The passenger is entitled to service with the assistance dog.
Traps: charging extra for assistance or a guide dog; refusing a passenger because of a wheelchair; changing the route without explanation; arguing about a complaint instead of referring it to the operator.