In message . li, Tom
Anderson writes

Here is a story which my housemate just told me.

He arrived at Heathrow by aeroplane at 2230 last night (friday). He'd
previously booked a minicab (from Network Cars of Crouch End, for the
benefit of anyone googling that firm in future) to pick him up and
bring him home to Finsbury Park. He'd been quoted a price of 40 pounds.

(Why he didn't just get the Piccadilly line, i don't know - i suppose
because he could expense a taxi, and preferred that to schlepping his
luggage through the tube.)

A colleague of his was flying with him, and lives near us, so they
decided to share the taxi.

The driver told them that he was not insured to take more than one
person, and that the price would therefore be 80 pounds for the two of
them. My housemate asked him to check this with his controller, and
after radioing in, he claimed that it would actually only be 10 pounds
extra, at 50 pounds.

In the end, the colleague was so annoyed by this that she took the
tube. My housemate still took the taxi.

Is there any possible truth to his assertion about insurance, or was
this a barefaced attempt at a scam?

Nothing to do with insurance - he was more likely referring to his
private hire licence. He'd be in serious trouble if he picked-up anyone
who had not been pre-booked. In the case in point, where only one
passenger had been booked, it would be necessary to get back to the
operator and have the booking changed to two people. Some companies
don't charge for this, but many do. In this particular case, he'd be
aware that someone else was going to lose a good fare from Heathrow to
Crouch End for the other passenger. £10 seems reasonable to me, although
certainly not £40.

Out of interest, any idea how much a black cab from Heathrow to
Finsbury Park would cost?

At least £70.
--
Paul Terry