People in Merseyside have shared stories claiming they've been quoted enormous fees by taxi drivers in the city in recent weeks.
The past bank holiday weekend saw a number of complaints from people who were either quoted exorbitant fees by black cab drivers or who claimed drivers were 'cherry picking' the best fares.
It's a long-standing issue in Liverpool and the surrounding areas and the city council now carries out regular operations to try and tackle such behaviour by a small number of Hackney drivers.
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In response to our story yesterday, a large number of people commented to share some of their own experiences. A number said they had been quoted huge fares, while others spoke out about the cherry picking issues, where drivers avoid certain customers in the hope of finding better fares.
A number of specific complaints around fare quoting referred to journeys between Liverpool and Wirral through the Mersey Tunnels. This included Jess Pryce who said: "Me and my mate paid £100 to get from Liverpool to Birkenhead just wanted to get home, wasn’t even that late either."
Gemma Bullen said she was quoted £70 to go in the other direction, from Birkenhead to Liverpool on a night out. She added: I just laughed at him, then he charged me £20 so it was ok."
On a similar theme, Margaret Kosmat added: "I have experienced this so many times. They will not go through the Birkenhead tunnel unless they charge extortionate prices."
Liverpool fan Barry Harman said he was quoted a price of £20 to get from Anfield into the city centre. He said: "After the game a black cab driver told me £20 to town. I told him where to go. The next black cab took us and was outraged, he charged £7."
Jane Brown said she had experienced the issue of cherry picking recently. She said: "We waited one hour in the taxi rank on the bank holiday and all Hackney cabs were just driving past."
Ian McCormack said he would like to see more late night public transport operating around the region and believes this could help the taxi situation.
He said: "The late night trains that were put on for Eurovision worked really well. I hope Merseyrail are looking at rolling that out. Would definitely help with rip off taxis."
A Liverpool City Council spokesperson: "We have recently been doing some work to highlight to visitors the issue of overcharging, with flyers placed in hotels and promotion on social media. If people believe they are a victim of overcharging or cherry picking, we advise them to make a note of the plate number or vehicle registration and report it through our website, liverpool.gov.uk, so we can investigate.”
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