The £31.40 and the £18 Receipt
It is 23:10 on a Friday and you are driving a hackney carriage licensed by Denholm Council, whose conditions require the meter to be used and a working card reader to be carried. You pick up a passenger who asks to be taken to 14 Ashcroft Road, then to wait while he collects some keys, then on to the station. The waiting takes 12 minutes. The meter reads £31.40 at the station; the same journey without the wait and at the daytime tariff would be about £22. He says a friend told him it would be £20 and offers £25. His card is then declined twice, and he asks for a receipt made out for £18 'for his expenses'. He offers to pay the balance by bank transfer on Monday.
1. How do you handle the fare dispute at the kerb?
Read the worked answer
Explain the arithmetic calmly, hold the meter, and leave the door open for a complaint route.
Take it in parts, because there are three separate drivers of the number:
- Time of day - after 23:00 the evening/late tariff applies, which is why the fare is higher than a daytime equivalent.
- The waiting - 12 minutes standing while he collected keys is chargeable at the tariff's waiting rate. It is not free time and it is not a favour.
- The distance and route - the two legs were longer than a single run to the station.
Show him the meter display, which records these elements, and explain that the meter is the fare - you cannot lawfully charge more than the meter, and you are not obliged to discount it either. A fare quoted by a friend for a different journey at a different time is not a quotation for this journey.
Keep the tone flat and non-accusatory. A dispute about £6 is not worth a complaint about aggression, and the council will read the complaint, not the fare.
If he pays £25 and refuses the rest, do not detain him - you have no power to hold him or his property. Note his name, address and the shortfall, and report it. Leaving without paying a hackney fare, or making off without payment, are matters for the police; your council's licensing team will also want to know that a fare was disputed and unpaid so the record is yours, not just his.
2. The card is declined twice. What are the correct steps?
Read the worked answer
The card condition applies to you, not to his bank balance - so offer the reader, then find a lawful fallback.
- Try again properly: a different card, or a contactless tap rather than chip and PIN. Declines are often the terminal or the network, not the account.
- Offer the alternatives: cash, or - if he suggests it and you are content - accompanying him to a cash machine nearby. Do not let him leave with your phone or the terminal as security.
- Do not take property in lieu. No phone, no watch, no wallet, no 'I'll leave my bag'. That is how a fare dispute becomes an allegation of theft against you.
- Take details. Name, address, and if he is willing, a phone number. A recorded debt you can evidence is worth more than a stand-up argument.
- Get it on record: log the booking, the meter reading, the declined attempts and the amount outstanding, and tell your operator and the council. If he walks off owing the fare, report it the same night.
- Keep the reader working. It is a condition of your licence to carry a working card reader, so 'the machine's broken' is not a defence - and if it truly is broken, that is a defect to report and fix before your next shift.
3. What do you say to the request for a receipt made out for £18?
Read the worked answer
Refuse it - clearly, briefly, without a lecture.
- A receipt is evidence that a stated sum was paid for a stated journey. Writing £18 when £31.40 was the fare and (if he pays £25) £25 was paid is not a favour to a customer; it is a false document created to support an expenses claim. That is dishonesty for gain, and the person who signs it is you.
- It also puts your licence at risk. A complaint that a driver issued false receipts goes directly to 'fit and proper person', and councils take a dim view of drivers who help defraud employers.
- What to offer instead: an accurate receipt from the meter printer or written by hand showing the correct amount, the date, the vehicle plate, the tariff and the fare elements. If he needs a breakdown for his employer, give him one that is true - many employers accept a late-night taxi receipt of £31.
- If he pushes: 'I can only give you a receipt for what the meter says. If you want to query the fare, here's how to complain to the council.' That ends the conversation without an argument, and it leaves a route that does not involve you committing an offence.