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A NEW SURVEY conducted by taxi app service Hailo reveals we are a forgetful nation with customers leaving a variety of items behind them – even their shoes.
The survey of 500 people revealed 42 per cent of people have left their mobile phones behind them in a taxi. Umbrellas, wallets and keys were also among the most commonly left behind items and a very forgetful 12 per cent of respondents in the survey have left their shoes behind them in a cab.
An unfortunate 57 per cent of people surveyed said they were unsuccessful in getting back an item they left in a taxi.
Some 55 per cent of people like their driver to engage in a conversation with the economy being cited as the most popular topic in Irish taxis. Over 52 per cent of respondents favour sports as a topic of conversation during their journey and 46 per cent like to chat about politics with their driver.
The research also revealed that half of people surveyed have waited over half an hour for a taxi and 56 per cent of people fear for themselves or a female friend getting taxis alone.
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Talking the economy with a Taxi driver in Dublin is unavoidable. It’s all they usually want to talk about. I get Taxis all the time to and from the airport, and almost all of them start to whinge about how hard they now have to work.
The conversation usually starts with the classic “I’m not a racist, but….”
I find it hard to summon sympathy for a crowd that used to basically rob us blind in the boom. Haggling with us to bring us home on a Saturday evening. 50 euro to get from College Green to Swords I had to pay once, and I was only a student.
At least now we have some proper competition and service on the weekend nights. None of that “I’m not going to that side of the city…” or the “It’ll cost ye bud…”
While I’ve no time for taxi-drivers, think you’re full of shit Darren!! Find it hard to believe you handed over €50 for any taxi ride within Dublin City limits with the obvious option to move down the rank & get another option, or flag another down!
Darren, it’s not a conversation. It is a self opinionated lecture. A conversation is a two -way street.
How old are you Nuff? This was around 1999-2000… when taxis on a Saturday night were like hen’s teeth.
I handed over 50 quid so we could just get home.
Very true Rory. It is a bit of a lecture… or more of a pity party really.
They have a car, they have a job. Granted they have to work long hours, but they are usually bringing me to the airport, where I will fly somewhere horrible, for about 5 days, and not see my kids. I don’t moan, cos I have a job.
u need to learn how to haggle 50 euro
Surprised the 57 percent of people unsuccessful in getting items back isn’t higher, taxi drivers would nearly claim its their right to own it if it’s left in their car
Generalise much?
I lost my virginity once in the back seat.
Only once?
I left my bag in a taxi once and the driver put up a notice in the local shop. Not all bad guys.
There wasn’t a section on the survey for losing your dignity & self-respect? Those are nearly impossible to get back the next day!! ;)
I don’t want to sound racist but I have to say (and normally everyone agrees with me) that 75% of black ,pakistani or indian drivers charge allways more or take u long ways to get paid more! And vote me negative all u want, but that is the way it is!!
I have heard that a lot, but have yet to experience it myself. I’m not saying I don’t believe you, but it has never happened to me.
About 7 years ago, myself and my mates needed a minibus taxi from College Green to Celbridge. He said 80 euro (80 FECKIN’ EURO). But before I could tell him how to perform something anatomically impossible, one of the lads said sure. We hopped in, and my mate said he had it under control. We directed him to the Garda station in Celbridge where he hasked for 80 euro, and my mate asked for a receipt. Obviously he didn’t have the meter on, cos it would never be 80 quid. So he tried to write a receipt, but we insisted on a printed one, or we would go into the Garda with him. He got nothing off us, and drove off in a petulant huff. I wonder if he has tried to rip others off since, or did we teach him a lesson.
OH yeah, he was a white, middle aged Dub… and he said the classic “I’m not a racist but….”
I don’t know about the percentages but I can testify the last three did so to me… I have only ever had 1 Irish taxi driver do it.
The best is to use Hailo and knock their tip down to zero and rate them poorly if when they try and rip you off. Technology is great, it will bring an end to all this.
I have never experienced this.
I am shure they might be some irish who do it too but to me it has happen with pakistani, and blacks. Last one, was 2 weeks ago, a black driver from airport to clontarf which is arround 20 euros , wanted to charge me 40, of course he toke me all the way trough portmarnock i was wondering what he was up too and when i told him “I live in clontarf, this is not the way” he answer back something I did not understand, I actually starting getting scared and had my phone ready to ring a friend incase something happen to me ,when i got to my destination, I said , I get a taxi every sunday night from airport and its always been 18 to 20 euros so I am giving u 20 and thank u! He went mad and start calling me racist! I said well, we will call garda and they can sort it out! U can explain them which short cut u toke! He then said “no police problem! No police! ” and got the 20 and left.
I have to say, nicely played Mackie… If anyone tries to rip you off, you should do the same. You are better than me though. I would have given him nothing and called the police, and got him to explain why he tried to rip me off…
Mackie – completely disagree with you. Every black taxi driver I’ve ever had has been lovely – always, always cheaper – will chat away to you if you’re in the mood for talking, or will let you sit their quietly if you’re not – they offer a proper decent service! I’ve had a couple of black taxi drivers being very certain about checking which route I’d like to take and they told me that they often get customers who get cross with them and start trying to accuse them of taking a long route. Wake up people – the colour of someone’s skin will not dictate the taxi fare they charge -
@Poppy. Like I said before. That is also my experience of foreign drivers in Dublin. Gentlemen, all of them. (Haven’t had a foreign lady driver yet… ). And you are right, a lot of them usually check with me before they start the journey which route to take.
But as there are some good Irish taxi drivers, I am sure there are some bad foreign ones too. I have just yet to have the misfortune of having one.
I get taxi’s quite a lot, years ago I just picked a number and took whatever cab turned up, most of the foreign cabbies were decent enough, you get some oddballs but you get that with Irish ones too. Then I began to have a few “unpleasant experiences”, in one instance the cabbie beside me was not the same person who’s picture was on the Cab Licence on the dashboard. I chatted to him while pretending to send a text message but took down the details, I asked him how long he was out, meaning that day. He told me he was in Ireland 4 weeks and liked it. Huh? How could he get all the necessary licences and documentation in 4 weeks, that scared the hell out of me.
Another time my daughter and a friend were returning from a night out and got the first taxi, the fare is usally the same every time but this African gentleman wanted to charge them 3 times the usual fare and became very abusive when my daughter refused. At one point he threatened to call the gardai – at which point her friend produced her ID and said no need, they’re already here. She’s a garda. She said he couldn’t get away quick enough.
Now we always use the same small local family run taxi firm, we know all the drivers, there are one or two foreign drivers working for this firm and there’s a better sense of trust.
@Mackie, I’m not sureif it is a ‘Nigerian’ thing, or a mysogonistic/religious thing. I have been to NIgeria, and several other Muslim countries, and they are always exceptionally nice to me, but they are oppressive to women. I know plenty of middle aged Irish drunkards who hit the wives a few slaps too of she ‘gets outta line’… Travellers tend to be as oppressive to their women too…
any chance you drive a taxi? that is racist and if it isn’t then complain to the regulator
Mackie, by the way, you sound racist. Your use of generalisations, gibberish pseudo-empirical evidence and false statements of fact would suggest you would certainly register on the racist scale.
No, I am not racist, they are the racist ones and the ones who do things like that! Trust me! There is a big difference between being racist and talking about the way they treat customers! Read comments , its not only me its happen too! And if they were white and doing the sane I would have the same opinion!!
Okay Mackie, if you wouldn’t mind, could you please answer the following:
Do you always ask a taxi driver their nationality when you get in the car and note this down for your statistical research?
Could you please inform me as to where I could see this research?
Could you please define “black”?
“Normally everyone agrees with me” – could you explain this apparent contradiction?
And, perhaps the most realistic question to which I could get an answer, could you please tell me what defines a racist?
I will fully rescind my belief that you register on the racist scale if you can provide me with adequate answers to the above. Of course, I do not believe you have any necessity to do so, but it would be appreciated so that I could understand where you are coming from.
Thank you.
@ johnny : will gladly answer to ur questions
1. No, i dont ask for their nationality, I am not that stupid, I actually know the difference between irish, african and indian, for example…..
2. I never used the world research! I was talking about the people I know who always have comented about it happening to them.
3.The term black people is used in some socially-based systems of racial classification for humans of a dark-skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups represented in a particular social context. Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as “black”, and often social variables such as class and socio-economic status also play a role, so that relatively dark-skinned people can be classified as white if they fulfill other social criteria of “whiteness” and relatively light-skinned people can be classified as black if they fulfill the social criteria for “blackness” in a particular setting.
4. Normally everyone agrees with me, people who I have talked to all say the same, including other taxi drivers, and as you read up here comments of other people it has happen to them too.
5.racist is someone who to start with , wouldn’t even get on a taxi with a black person, second they treat black with no respect to which I have always been polite too if they treat me correctly! I have black friends , so I dont care about the colour , it’s where they have been brought up, the way they do things to earn their money, or the way they treat women I dont like, and I know their is white people who treat women like shit, and I dont like them either, as I dont like white drug dealers, white idiots or white people with no manners. What I am trying to explain here is that you go and ask people in the street and see how many u get who will habe the same opinion as me and you will understand my point of view. I have lived in Ireland 3 years now and because they see I am not irish they think they can laugh at me, do u think going from airport to clontarf you have to go up to portmarnock and be rude when i tell them that is not the way?? I have never experienced any problems with irish drivers and to be honest , I know there is a few arround who shurely will do the same but it is normally black people or indian/pakistani….. Who have tried charging me more and that is where I want to try and explain my point you understand it or not!
African isn’t a nationality. Do you consider Greeks, Swedes, Spaniards, Germans to be the same nationality? Can you tell the difference between someone brought up in a high-crime, low-income and broken family, and someone brought up in a middle class neighbourhood in Abuja who went to university and is here earning money for a masters? Because I didn’t realise you could get this information based on skin colour?
I know you didn’t use the word research, but using “75%” implies it.
Thank you, but I wanted your opinion, not Wikipedia’s.
“Other taxi drivers”. Okay, I’m sure you could find an Irish person to say all Irish people are drunks but it doesn’t mean it’s true.
A racist is someone who wouldn’t get in a taxi with a black person? Some of them, but not most of them. Racism is generally socially unacceptable and more subtle than explicit hatred of a person based on the colour of their skin. Yours is of the more socially acceptable variety, based on hearsay and bias towards one’s own social group, in this case whites.
“so I dont care about the colour , it’s where they have been brought up, the way they do things to earn their money, or the way they treat women I dont like”
If you don’t care about their colour, why do you refer to “blacks”? Do you think all “blacks” are brought up in the same place with the same values?
Those are the last three things I want to talk about with the taxi driver… I’m not interested in sports, very satisfied with the current government, am pro Europe and think the economy is picking up and would be picking up faster if people weren’t so pessimistic.
Bloody hell Andrew. I’d nearly feel sorry for a taxi driver that has the misfortune to have you in his car.
You don’t like sports?
I personally find journeys with African drivers far more pleasant as, in my experience, in Dublin and Cork, they are always polite, their cars are always clean inside, they don’t waffle on about the Government or other drivers they just take you where you want to go.
I think the same. Plus I know the roads if a taxi tried to take me the long way I’d cop it. I never had bad taxi experience really
My experience would be the same. The African drivers I have had, have always treated me as a customer, and as such, I treated them with the respect a customer should show to someone supplying a quality service.
I definitely agree with the observation about the African drivers. When I’m paying for a service, I expect to be treated like a customer. Sadly, quite a few of our home-grown drivers could do with realising that the person in the car is a customer. Personally, I prefer not to have to engage in conversation, having endured so many that were based on racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia and what-have-you. My son, a civil servant, has now taken to lying about his profession when these chats start up because he has endured some pretty ofensive tirades from the people he is paying. Taxi drivers – regardless of their nationaility – need also to realise that they are often the first point of contact for people arriving in this country. The tendency to talk the country down and ignore ANY positives is not good for our image. Some passengers might even be potential investors.
A hugely valid point there Chris. I have been to literally hundreds of foreign cities, and have never been met by a taxi driver whinging about everything. It is such a horrible way to be introdued to Dublin if you are visiting us.
i once had a taxi driver who drove me home the previous night knock at my door with a phone and purse in his hands someone left them in his cab the night before and he only had four fares that night so was driving to all them to return their stuff. i couldn’t believe it very nice thing for him to do.
Sounds like a gent. Nice to know there are soem still out there.
I left a phone In a taxi the worse for wear one night and rang the phone,taxi driver called to my house with it and wouldn’t take a penny for his trouble!!there’s a lot of decent taxi lads out there,there not all dodgy rip off merchants
Don’t like them,have had a driver refuse my fare because it was not a far enough journey,even worked with one,he was picking up fares going into work and then taking the sign off his roof when he arrived at our workplace.Hate to admit,I gave him an awful hard time when I saw him take the sign down and then admit head taken a fare into town whilst going to work.Hungry animals.
True Dale, but now you’ll have the ‘Full Time Taxi Driver’ gang coming at you.
If they are full time, that probably means most of them were around in the years when they were fleecing us all.
It is actually the new drivers that are the most pleasant. They don’t moan, get on with the work, and dislike the moaning old-guard!
This has happened me to. There’s an easy solution. Tell them you’re going way out, but say you want to go ‘via’ your destination. When you arrive ask how much it is?
Simples.
@Dave… I tip my hat to you sir.. Bravo.
I think you’ll usually get a phone or a wallet back. But not much else. I’m surprised that that percentage isn’t higher too. Twice last year I lost items as there were several of us getting out and all presumed the others had grabbed the bags (no joy retrieving then on the ring around to the carriage office and cop shop)
But in general I like Dublin taxi drivers. Most are very entertaining one way or another
Darren. You say you do not moan ‘cos you got a. Job. By definition , your taxi driver has a job too.
Yeah, that’s what I said Rory. I was agreeing with you mate :)
“Busy tonight?”
“What time you on ’til?”
I got in a taxi once and the driver was complaining to me how his wages have gone from €1500 a week to €800 a week!! I was like you can feck off if your looking for sympathy from me.
€800 a week?… Unbelievable.
Can I ask what state his car was in. Soi many poorly maintained Dublin Taxis too.
Look at the Taxis in Schipol airport. All black Mercedes/Audis executive class’s. Drivers in shirts and ties. Insist on taking your bags for you and putting them in the boot… Don’t often get that from a Dublin Taxi driver.
This was 2011 this happened and he was driving a nice 2010 ford mondeo.
Wish I could afford a new Mondeo….
My Dads a taxi driver, he sometimes finds phones left in his car. He gives them to me to figure how to return them. I got lots of phones reunited with their owners over the years.
But todays smart phones have allot more security, it’s really hard nowadays to ring home (pressing the home button on an iPhone activates voice recognition & dialling, sometimes works) and return phones.
Its always assumed the phone is stolen, not lost. There’s no official protocol used by mobile operators to return phones to their owners. For example, even if you find the IMEI code on the sim, the unique identifier, the phone company aren’t allowed to tell you who owns the phone because of consumer privacy protection. Handing it in to the phone company (even if you can figure out which phone company the phone belongs to) doesn’t guarantee it will get back to you, it could be pocketed by an employee. Giving it to the guards is useless, as they’re in the same position, they can’t use the phone or get phone companies to divulge owners details.
If you have a smart phone, put an emergency contact number on the lock screen so people can ring you and give you your phone back.
I was a taxi driver in a town near Belfast. Took three local lads to a pub in another town about 8 miles away. 5 mins after I dropped them off I got a phone call from the office to see if they had left money in the back seat, sure enough, when I turned around there was a money bag full of notes. I quickly left it back to them. I might have been tempted to keep it but it was the membership dues from the local UVF members.
Sorry but you are responsible for your own belongings when you get in or out of a taxi, you can’t blame the taxi driver for all of these instances! As for chatting with a taxi driver I generally find them quite receptive and open…..
Love the “forgetful” in the article.
Sounds a bit better than “blind drunk” I guess.
My father regularly finds phones or other things in the back and always does his best to get them back to their owner. Don’t tar them all with the same brush!
Some are great. Some are not. The hard Core believe they’re owed a 6 figure living after leaving school in second year and got a loan for a 5 year old corolla jap import off the credit union. And every conversation from these hard core leaves you in no doubt whose who.
Indeed Pani, and they think the customer is just there to hand them money, and put them out.
I have unfortunately had a couple of taxi runs this week to and from temple street with my son, on Tuesday I did a quick dash home to pick up some essentials as they were keeping him in and I had a gentleman of an Asian driver who dropped me home, waited outside my house while I packed and came to the door to help me put the bags in the car, today on our homeward journey I had an Irish driver who sat in the car while I struggled with child under one arm and 2 bags to open the taxi door, he opened the window to check it was me the taxi was ordered for but that was as much as he did. I think you can come across rude drivers no matter the nationality its terrible that a nice taxi driver is now a notable thing.
I got a taxi in Limerick to my house, had a debate with the driver over the fare, no meter on. When I checked my wallet for money, I found I had none. I explained that I would go in to my parents house and get the €15.
As I got out of taxi, the driver snatched the wallet out of my hand & drove off. I phone Henry St Gardai to log the incident. Ban Garda criticised me for severely for ringing when I had no car description (country road, middle of night). I responded that a crime was still a crime whether I could describe the car or not.
The following day, the phone rings, ‘Hi this is H St. Gardai, I presume you know why we are calling?’ Yes – I was delighted they had found my wallet. No was her response, apparently I had gone in to my house, grabbed an iron bar and threatened the taxi driver, so he took off in fear of his life. One can imagine my disbelief.
At the station she showed me the meter receipt (which wasn’t running). Luckily on the way home we had stopped for cigarettes and I had paid with laser at 3.11 am (the receipt was in the wallet). The meter receipt stated our journey had started at 3.22am and finished at 3.37am. Obviously this Irish taxi driver started the meter when he drove off with my wallet. Also the station had logged my call at 3.26am. This was a lot for the ban garda I was delaing with to comprehend.
I demanded the taxi driver be charged with assault, robbery, false complaint, wasting Garda time etc.. I never heard back from the Gardai.
Taxi etiquette school calling for many (although this guy needed a day in court).
On the whole I find the manners and politeness of immigrant drivers somewhat refreshing.
At night now I haggle for a €6 fare to go less than a mile and a half, Irish drivers mostly refuse, I have yet to be refused by an immigrant.
Has darren martin nothing better to do but comment on every taxi driver
Not right now. Sitting in an airport. Bored. Thought I’d share my experiences and thoughts.
You a taxi driver?
Where is the list property office?
Interesting that Hailo had an article detailing it’s latest product launch on the journal yesterday.
Anyway, the message of this article is clearly that if you dont use hailo, you’re going to lose your wallet, phone and keys because you wont have an easy way of tracking the driver.
I generally don’t mind talking to taxi drivers if I’m in the car alone. What I don’t like is listening to some Irish taxi drivers complaining about their counterparts of different colour or nationality. I hate listening to the ‘I’m not racist but…’ comments. I don’t want to hear rehashed myths about foreign nationals. Generally I don’t want to hear derogatory comments about anyone. I don’t mind a bit of banter about sport or whatever is going on in the news at the time, as long as it doesn’t end up a witch hunt conversation. Personally, I have had better taxi experiences with foreign drivers. As others have mentioned the customer service is generally better. I have felt ripped of once by a foreign driver and unfortunately many times by Irish drivers (this may be because over my life time it is likely I’ve had more Irish drivers than foreign ones). All that said I’ve had more uneventful or pleasant experiences with taxis in Dublin then I have negative ones.
Who in their right mind would want to talk to a taxi driver about the economy? Torture! I much prefer it when they say as little as possible. I have to laugh at the part on the sign that says “you are entitled to a safe and quiet journey”. A quiet journey! That’ll be the day.
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