U.K. and Ireland - London taxi credit card 'tip'

Took a taxi, bill was about £9 (for a couple of miles in central London, usual rip-off), could have just paid £10 cash, but decided to try the contactless credit card, 10% charge, ok, but then the machines demand a tip as well, and it's not choose your own, but instead they have a choice of %ages, and the options were something like 15%, 20% or 25%. Who are they kidding?

.. And the 10% charge is on the tip too!

10-15% tip is standard for taxis here - basically the same as in restaurants. However, the 10% surcharge for cc usage is interesting - that's normally around the 3-5% range.

Check out Hailo - https://www.hailocab.com/

You can register your credit card with them and automatically pay the meter rate - no additional card charges or mandatory tip.

10-15% tip is standard for taxis here - basically the same as in restaurants. However, the 10% surcharge for cc usage is interesting - that's normally around the 3-5% range.
I don't think that's a universal thought –.and anyway, a taxi tip is normally a purely voluntary thing.

The 10% surcharge is sufficiently rude that I won't tip. No credit card company charges anything like that as a fee so it is purely to fund Dialacab (and partly offset the driver having to pay tax on that bit of income too :rolleyes: ).

Not sure I'd consider 10-15% a normal black cab tip. I normally round up to the nearest pound (or the nearest plus one over £15) and am normally thanked genuinely for it.

10-15% tip is standard for taxis here - basically the same as in restaurants. However, the 10% surcharge for cc usage is interesting - that's normally around the 3-5% range.

I don't think that's true at all.

I once took a black taxi from Heathrow to my home, outside London so they charged me £stupid. No way were they getting a penny on that, no matter what they did

OTOH, if I take a minicab to Heathrow (at less than half the cost) and they help me with bags I will add no more than £5 (I don't think a percentage is really appropriate with this kind of journey, you just add a few pounds, according to the length of journey).

When it comes to black cabs, you are tipping the owner of the business, whereas in a restaurant you tip the waiters. It's a big difference, and for the typical central London journey when they do no more than ask you your destination and drive you there, and there's simply no reason to pay any more than what it says on the meter.

That said it is common, if the fare is say £9.20, not to bother with change. But asking for change is by no means rude.

I thought 'well it will cost about the same with the 10% surcharge, because I won't feel obliged to say 'keep the change'', but then they ask for a tip anyway, so I was not impressed.

When it comes to black cabs, you are tipping the owner of the business, whereas in a restaurant you tip the waiters. It's a big difference, and for the typical central London journey when they do no more than ask you your destination and drive you there, and there's simply no reason to pay any more than what it says on the meter.
For black cabs, I agree that a tip is neither necessary nor expected. I think they often provide a more intelligent service than just asking a destination and dropping the passengers there - The level of professionalism is way higher than you'll find in most minicabs. But that's what I expect for the fare I pay. They're skilled freelancers and they earn a decent living from the fares. I never hear a complaint when I take my change and leave.

The 10% surcharge is sufficiently rude that I won't tip. No credit card company charges anything like that as a fee so it is purely to fund Dialacab (and partly offset the driver having to pay tax on that bit of income too :rolleyes: ).

Not sure I'd consider 10-15% a normal black cab tip. I normally round up to the nearest pound (or the nearest plus one over £15) and am normally thanked genuinely for it.

Had one on Sunday who automatically rounded up to the nearest pound and where I was expecting £5.40 back from a £20 (before tip) only got a fiver. He took a really slow route when I was expecting to go the usual route via Lancaster Gate and get there far quicker. Going through Hyde Park is not what I call quick and I told him so, we took 20+ minutes to do what is normally a 15 minute journey in other cabs going the other route. He then drove off before I could say anything so I assumed he'd tipped himself as I think he'd worked out I certainly wasn't going to bother.

HMRC for assessing taxation of cab drivers tips used the results of an independent survey that indicated that 98% of all passengers tipped, a fifth of them tipped more than 25%, and the average was just below 10%.

I think that tipping cabs is though in somewhat of a decline so whether HMRC still take 10% as their benchmark may be questionable.

But then, the level of service received in cabs is very variable, from the whingey overchargers to the ones who find miraculous routes through apparent gridlock.

Mind you, I wonder how the "what amount should I put on your receipt, guv" brigade (and there are plenty) report their tips..?

HMRC for assessing taxation of cab drivers tips


I'm not sure what you mean by that.


I think that tipping cabs is though in somewhat of a decline so whether HMRC still take 10% as their benchmark may be questionable.

As far as I know, 'assumed tips' for taxation is a US thing. If you've evidence of it in the UK, perhaps you have a link?

10% surcharge for card payments in cabs is high, but is in line with what I've seen elsewhere in the UK.

for the typical central London journey when they do no more than ask you your destination and drive you there, and there's simply no reason to pay any more than what it says on the meter.

Absolutely right. Too many visitors (from the US especially) seem to think you have to give them massive tips.

Some of them make you ask for change.

Some will refuse to give you a receipt if you don't tip.

And of course there's always the "Sorry guv I'm on my way home" if you ask to go some place where they think they won't get a fare back.

Absolutely right. Too many visitors (from the US especially) seem to think you have to give them massive tips.

Some of them make you ask for change.

Some will refuse to give you a receipt if you don't tip.

And of course there's always the "Sorry guv I'm on my way home" if you ask to go some place where they think they won't get a fare back.
They're not supposed to refuse a journey when they stop (but are under no obligation to stop) unless it is over 6 miles in distance or goes outside the greater London area.

They're not supposed to refuse a journey when they stop (but are under no obligation to stop) unless it is over 6 miles in distance or goes outside the greater London area.

Actually it's 12 Miles

Unless they have a good reason not to, drivers must:

Accept any hiring up to 12 miles or any hiring up to one hour duration, if the destination is in Greater London
Accept any hiring up to 20 miles if starting at Heathrow Airport
Accept any hiring up to one hour duration, if the destination is in Greater London
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/taxisandminicabs/taxis/1140.aspx

However, what's "a good reason"? If all the driver has to say is "he looked drunk, didn't want to take him", then the rule is pretty much unenforceable.

However, what's "a good reason"? If all the driver has to say is "he looked drunk, didn't want to take him", then the rule is pretty much unenforceable.

Friend of mine said he threatened to report the driver to the PCO when he refused to take him to Limehouse, he changed his tune straight away.

I'm not sure what you mean by that.
As far as I know, 'assumed tips' for taxation is a US thing. If you've evidence of it in the UK, perhaps you have a link?
It used to be included in the HMRC BEN (http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100512173947/http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/bens/ben25.htm) (business economic notes) for taxi drivers, which haven't been used for some years, hence my question as to whether it was a figure still in use. It isn't a case of a hard and fast value for tips though, just information guidance to a typical amount in the trade. Taxi drivers have quite a high rate of examination.

BENs were public; their replacement 'Tactical & Information Packages' (TIPs) are not.

If the driver is quite happy watching me loading and unloading our luggage then I'm quite happy to give them nothing.
Some people seem to go way over the top when tipping taxi drivers especially for short journeys.
Very refreshing to see the Buenos Aires taxi drivers not expecting to receive tips.....which is just as well because the locals don't tip them as a rule.

Friend of mine said he threatened to report the driver to the PCO when he refused to take him to Limehouse, he changed his tune straight away.
This is a waste of time as well. Any driver who receives a complaint can then request a "personal hearing", where both sides will be heard by the inspector. Of course members of the public will hardly ever go along to these, wasting a day of their time and going to some obscure London office, and the case is automatically dismissed if they do not do so.

Actually it's 12 Miles


http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/taxisandminicabs/taxis/1140.aspx

Thanks it would appear I'm a bit out of date. :o

It used to be included in the HMRC BEN (http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100512173947/http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/bens/ben25.htm) (business economic notes) for taxi drivers, which haven't been used for some years, hence my question as to whether it was a figure still in use. It isn't a case of a hard and fast value for tips though, just information guidance to a typical amount in the trade. Taxi drivers have quite a high rate of examination.

BENs were public; their replacement 'Tactical & Information Packages' (TIPs) are not.

Ok.

Your post rather implied that taxi drivers would be taxed on tips they never received.

Clearly that's not the case, what they have is guidance to help them calculate how much money taxi drivers are likely to earn.

It would be I think trivial for a taxi driver to underdeclare by 10 or 20%, more if they are doing well, apparently some declare much less than that. http://boards.fool.co.uk/any-experiences-of-them-being-caught-10813713.aspx?sort=whole#10813713

Basically if a taxi driver is under investigation, if it can proven that he's cheating then he will get in trouble, but clearly that is not easy. You would look at how many miles, hours were driven, and estimate upper and lower income bounds based on that, anything below that and they'd be likely to go in hard.

But yeah this is not like the US where people get paid $2/hour and then taxed $2 or more on the basis of deemed tips.

The taxi driver should declare what he earns, and if he does that there will be no problem. If he wants to try and rip off HMRC, I've no sympathy....

Ok.
Clearly that's not the case, what they have is guidance to help them calculate how much money taxi drivers are likely to earn.

Yes, which was my original point (as well as the figures themselves). Perhaps 'assessing tax returns' rather than 'assessing tax' might have been a better phrasing though.