Those of you who followed the relevant threads may remember that I recently managed to get two parking tickets (not through deliberate offending though - but a combination of honest mistake and bad luck). This sort of thing makes you very edgy when driving or parking in London.
Well today I had a meeting near Oxford Street, and I was late so I decided to drive-in. I paid £8 Congestion Charge, then parked on meter for 3 hours at £3 per-hour, and set the alarm clock on my mobile to ring 15 minutes before the time was up.
The meeting took longer than expected, so I apologised and said I had to move the car (the thing about meetings in London, is that if you say that you just got news that your grandmother was ran over by a steam roller and you need to make it to the funeral, everyone will give you the look thinking why can’t he stay here and let them burry the old woman without him, but if you say your on a meter then this is accepted with immediate understanding).
When I arrived back where I left the car, there was a vast empty space instead. After the initail sinking feeling, my first thought was that the car got picked-up, though I didn’t know why – it was properly parked on a meter. Then I saw an obscure sign just behind the meter saying ‘No Parking on Taxi Rank’. Was this meter bank a Taxi rank then? Very strange.
Conveniently there was indeed a Taxi Rank on the other side of the road, so I hopped in to the first taxi in the queue, and asked the driver if he knew where the Westminster Car Pound was, he folded his newspaper and said it was in Park Lane.
As we drove off, it hit me that this was not the right thing to do. Firstly, I should look more carefully just in case I actually parked the car one bank further up or down from the spot I was looking at. What’s more, if I did make a mistake and the car was parked elsewhere, then the meter will expire in 5 minutes and it will then really be picked-up and taken to the Car Pound… Secondly, even if the car was in the Car Pound, what’s the hurry? I might as well just go back to my meeting and collect the car later. What’s the rush in taking it back and then having to park it again?
So I tapped the drivers screen and told him I changed my mind and won’t be going to the Car Pound, and asked him to drop me off. The driver became very irritated saying ‘I was sitting 45 minutes in the taxi queue mate’ and was evidently very unhappy about it all. I didn’t really like his manner but thought might as well be fair, so I said sorry and gave him Fiver ‘for his trouble’, even though the meter only showed the minimum £2.40. To my further amazement the driver kept complaining saying ‘it’s not my problem if your not going to the Car Pound, is it?’ and was generally very upset. When I set my foot out he turned round to me and said very unpleasantly ‘I wouldn’t do that again if I were you mate’.
As this point I was about to tell him that I was trying to be fair, but if he is unhappy he should just give me £2.60 change from my Fiver as I am not obliged to pay more than the meter is showing. But I decided to just leave the cab and went looking for my car – which I found safe and sound in the next bank where I actually did leave it, with 2 minutes in the red a Traffic Warden closing-in around the corner…
So the car was saved. But I would be interested in your views about the cabbie - especially from TB….
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Topic: London Cabbie (Read 1018 times)