COVID NEWS
SOLIHULL FIRM SORRY AFTER CUSTOMERS OUTRAGED BY SURGE PRICING HIKE
A Solihull firm has apologised after customers were left outraged after it introduced ‘surge pricing’. According to the Birmingham Mail, TC Cars, based in Chelmsley Wood, quickly ditched the policy to charge more at peak times after passengers expressed anger. The firm admitted it had “lost sight of what matters most” and reversed the decision within days. Stuart Day, general manager, said TC Cars had decided to implement the pricing regime as it battled to keep operating following the pandemic. He said that while demand had rocket- ed, driver numbers were plummeting - with some going to work for rival firms and food delivery apps. He added: “It’s down to drivers basically logging off our circuit and going to work at Uber or Bolt when they are surging their prices,” said Mr Day, who also runs taxi firms across the country. “To try and overcome the issue we made a decision that we would start to do the same and surge our prices dur- ing peak times. Unfortunately it didn’t have the desired effect so we decided that we will turn it off altogether.” Mr Day confirmed the Solihull firm had “no intention” of going back to surge pricing, adding punters had made it quite clear how they felt. “It was a response from customers saying that we were wrong and
it
affected our regular customers as well which we didn’t want,” he said. “It caused us a major problem and we listened to the feedback that was coming back from our customers and made the decision to remove it.” Mr Day added that the debacle had highlighted the difficulties faced by the taxi business, which like other indus- tries risked becoming gripped by a shortage of drivers. Writing on Facebook, TC cars added: “In an effort to improve service and boost driver numbers, TC Cars intro- duced surge pricing. In doing so, we
NOVEMBER 2021
lost sight of what matters most and the values we hold ourselves to. “Over the past few days, our operations team have been listening to feedback from both passengers and drivers. This has led to the decision to remove surge pricing with immediate effect. “We’d like to offer our apologies to anyone impacted by recent changes, TC Cars will be offering 10 per cent off your next app booking in October with code ‘SORRY10’.
“TC Cars pride ourselves on being at the core of our community, providing a local, friendly service that you can rely on. So, it is important for us to mention that the initial increase to £4 minimum will be staying. This is due to increased costs for our drivers as well as national driver shortages across the country. “We will also be releasing a short informational video soon, highlighting many reasons why taxi and private hire fares are changing.”
NOTTINGHAM CABBIES SLAM £200 COUNCIL GRANT TO PAY FOR COVID MEASURES
Nottingham taxi drivers have said that a £200 grant from the council is ‘nothing’ and will not make up for the impact of Coronavirus. Nottingham City Council decided on September 20 to use £320,000 of funds to pay every council licensed taxi driver £200, in order to contribute towards the cost of Covid measures such as screens and extra cleaning. The £200 grant follows a £400 payment by the council to drivers earlier this year. But cabbies thought that the money received was “nothing” compared to the grants which other drivers across Nottinghamshire have received from local authorities.
Asif Maqsood, 44, a taxi driver, said: “I have heard that Rushcliffe council gave £4,500 while Gedling gave £2,100. It is not enough and the majority, if not 100 per cent, of drivers think the same.” However, Nottingham City Council said that taxi drivers had been fairly compensated for the cost of Covid measures. Cllr Rebecca Langton, Portfolio Holder for Skills, Growth and Economic Development, said: “To sug- gest that taxi drivers have been unfairly treated by the council over supple-
mentary grants is incorrect. “In Nottingham, we received a pot of money from Central Government – the Discretionary Grant scheme – which we were asked to distribute among all local businesses. This was never supposed to replace lost income or act as a wage supplement for taxi drivers. The Government compensated individ- uals directly through its self-employed support programme. “Instead, Discretionary Grant funding is intended to help with additional Covid- related costs, which for taxi drivers could include things like screens in vehicles and PPE. “Proportionally-speaking, taxi drivers in Nottingham have received a signifi- cant chunk of this discretionary money – around £1million in total. “We have 2,500 licensed drivers in the city which means we could never provide the individual level of financial support offered by a small number of neighbouring districts. Doing so would have left not a single penny to support other Nottingham businesses. There is no requirement to pay taxi drivers any- thing out of the Discretionary Grant scheme and, indeed, many councils have chosen not to. We felt differently.”
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