More than 200 taxi drivers in New South Wales were found to have ignored initial punishments for overcharging passengers and were further disciplined for repeat offending, data covering the last 12 months reveals.
The industry is now pleading with the Minns government to crack down on the behaviour by establishing a centralised driver database, with leaders saying dodgy drivers who get sacked from one cab network are easily moving to rival companies whose administrators have no clue about their history of misbehaviour.
Data released to Guardian Australia under NSW’s equivalent of freedom of information laws shows that from December 2022 until the beginning of December 2023 – a period covering the first year of the point to point commission’s complaint hotline and campaign to end taxi overcharging – 536 individual drivers had disciplinary action imposed as a result of more than 2,000 complaints.
These complaints to the NSW point to point transport commissioner relate to drivers not using their meters, overcharging customers, attempting to negotiate upfront fares and refusing shorter trips.
Of those 536 drivers disciplined, 228 drivers – more than 40% – were disciplined more than once due to multiple complaints. Of the 536 drivers disciplined, there were 99 occasions where companies forced drivers into retraining, 53 temporary suspensions and 33 dismissals from a network.
Other forms of disciplinary action that taxi companies have taken which was not tallied in the commission’s data include forcing drivers to go a week without radio work from a network – meaning they can only take trips from the street and ranks.
In addition to the hotline, the commission’s crackdown on rogue drivers also included plainclothes officers entering taxis and issuing fines to drivers who refused to use their meters or overcharged.
In June, the government increased the penalty amount for on-the-spot fines from $300 to $1,000. However, data shows the behaviour continued in the months after the fine amount was increased.
Between December 2022 and the beginning of December 2023, officers issued more than 500 on-the-spot fines to cabbies. More than 350 of these fines were issued between June and the beginning of December – the months when the fine amount was at $1,000.
In December, Guardian Australia revealed that in the first six months of the point to point commission’s crackdown on taxi overcharging, authorities progressed 742 complaints against three operators – including 342 against just one operator, GM Cabs.
Taxi companies who spoke to the Guardian acknowledged the scale of the issue and lamented the deregulation of the taxi industry in 2017 meant operators no longer have access to a database showing a taxi driver’s record.
GM Cabs told Guardian Australia “as a taxi network, we hate what it’s becoming. We need to push for regulation again. Taxi drivers should be made accountable for their actions.”
Nick Abrahim, the NSW taxi council’s chief executive, wrote in December to the transport minister, Jo Haylen, asking for the return of a centralised accreditation process – whether run by the government or the council – so disciplinary action could include a driver being booted from the taxi industry and rideshare platforms, not just one company.
“The handful of drivers who want to overcharge are seeing a big loophole in the laws. They don’t think they have a lot at stake here, they know if they get booted they’ll just go to the next company,” Abrahim said.
“It’s network hopping, I hate to say it but there are those drivers where this behaviour will continue,” he said.
Abrahim noted the now-defunct Roads and Maritime Services previously maintained a centralised accreditation database and was the sole issuer of authority to drivers. He said while the state still regulates the bus industry in this way, “we’re seeing the consequences” of not doing it for taxis.
“If the government doesn’t want to do it again, no problem, we can issue IDs now, we just need the [legal] ability to do so,” Abrahim said.
Natalie Ward, the opposition’s transport spokesperson, expressed concern at the data which illustrated reoffending.
“The stats show that 40% of dodgy taxi drivers are consistent reoffenders, likely ripping off unsuspecting tourists and the elderly who rely on a safe and fair service,” Ward said.
“If the industry and the opposition are in lockstep that the fastest way to solve this issue is to build a centralised driver database and have more enforcement on Sydney’s streets, then the only person standing in the way of a solution is the transport minister,” Ward said.
A spokesman for Haylen said the point to point commission was discussing how to improve driver accreditation for drivers with the taxi council.
“We’re happy to hear any suggestions from the taxi industry that could deliver a fairer deal for passengers, especially at a time when people feel like they’re paying more for everything,” the spokesperson said.
