Ian Nimmo-Smith

Can a taxi driver refuse to take a fare?

I was speaking recently to someone who works in Cambridge but lives in St Ives. He was surprised that taxis whether hailed or on a taxi rank were sometimes declining to accept him as a fare. He had previously worked in London, Nottingham and Sheffield but never encountered this kind of response. I asked the licencing officer about this and the following  is based on their response.

Taxis (’hackney carriages’) and hire cars look the same but operate under different regulations.

The legislation in respect of hackney carriages is that they are licensed to ply for hire in the City Council boundary and may also use taxi ranks for that purpose.
Hackney Carriage fares are regulated for work within the City Council area only.

If for instance a customer wishes to go from a City taxi rank to St Ives then the taxi driver can decline to take that person, charge the journey by quoting for the customer to accept or in the case of many of the drivers if they decide to take the customer will tell the customer they will charge the journey on the meter prices and will use the meter for the journey.

Unless there is a reasonable excuse a taxi plying for hire in the City cannot refuse a customer to be taken to an address in the City. (Drunkenness or anti social behaviour are likely reasonable excuses).

Hire cars can only be booked over the phone. They cannot be flagged in the street. They cannot use the taxi ranks. Though they have to be licenced theirr licence does not have to be issued locally. In fact many of the hire cars working in Cambridge are registered by South Cambridgeshire District Council.