# Taxi driver ripped off



## Toto (Oct 6, 2014)

I was listening to the female dj on Heart fm the other day and she was in fits laughter and thought as she said the prank was so funny.
Now I like a joke but when 2 guys get in a taxi first gets out driver takes the second guy to his destination when he tell the driver his mate the third passenger is asleep and told the driver to carry on to another location.
On arriving he realised the sleeping guy in the back asleep was infact a dummy and he was then £140 out of pocket.
Silly bint on heart fm could not get her words out as she thought this JOKE was do funny .
Me I class it as theft and not funny.


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## Darlofan (Nov 24, 2010)

You need to relax mate, it is funny.


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

Taxi drivers are generally ***** and deserve it


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## ken m sport (Aug 5, 2007)

I agree it's funny, but then the flip side is this is someone's lively hood, which then becomes a problem and theft.


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## fatdazza (Dec 29, 2010)

Absolutely hilarious. Taxi driver clearly on the ball not noticing his third passenger was a dummy. Probably had been working 23 out of the last 24 hours and if that unobservant, I dread to think what his driving was like :lol:


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## S63 (Jan 5, 2007)

Clancy said:


> Taxi drivers are generally ***** and deserve it


Got to be the classless comment of the day.:wall:


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## suspal (Dec 29, 2011)

Is It me or Taxi drivers are amongst the worst drivers on the road i.e think they own the road etc.
As for the prank I don't think any of us would see the funny side if we were in the chaps shoes.


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## Toto (Oct 6, 2014)

No guys iam very chilled and calm and I love a joke I have a reputation with my mates as a joker not a thief . Not all taxi drivers are [email protected]@ts but it's just the same as going into a shop taking goods without paying, dining out and doing a runner having someone detail your car even and do a runner.
That's my opinion and were all entitled to our own some of you guys think it's funny that's fine it's your opinion but to me it's theft.


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## Tsubodai (Oct 20, 2012)

I can see the joke in it but the fella's trying to earn a living and that's a big hit to take so I don't find it funny for that reason.
Was this videoed or something? Did he get the money for the fare in the end?


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## S63 (Jan 5, 2007)

Toto said:


> No guys iam very chilled and calm and I love a joke I have a reputation with my mates as a joker not a thief . Not all taxi drivers are [email protected]@ts but it's just the same as going into a shop taking goods without paying, dining out and doing a runner having someone detail your car even and do a runner.
> That's my opinion and were all entitled to our own some of you guys think it's funny that's fine it's your opinion but to me it's theft.


To you its theft, in the eyes of the law its theft because it is theft. Anybody finding it funny, have a £140 stolen and let's hear the laughter.


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## fatdazza (Dec 29, 2010)

Quote taken from the Daily Star website so it must be true?

_Andy Cheesman, City Cabs boss in Brighton, said: "He was expecting the last passenger to pay so he lost the lot.

"It has been the funniest thing which has happened to one of our drivers.

"You can imagine the stick he got from the other drivers."_

So I expect we might hear his laughter :lol:


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

Seems some effort to have mannequin that is fully dressed to dodge a taxi fare. 

It's quite funny if true. I'm sure everyone wouldn't be happy at the time if it happened to them, but I'm sure even the taxi driver will laugh about the situation in the future.


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

The story itself is funny, of course it is, from the outside looking in. However lets be honest and say those lads were not doing a prank, they were just wanting a ride for free and ontop of that cost the guy a chunk of fuel. Funny for us, but not a joke in truth


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## Guitarjon (Jul 13, 2012)

Awaits bidderman- isn't he a taxi driver?


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## AllenF (Aug 20, 2012)

On the same lines people find it funny to slam taxi doors, wipe kebab up the windows, stink the cars out etc etc etc.
How would those people like it if we did that to their cars?? 
And no its not the " social security blonde" or " benifits bill " its the executive "yuppie" that believes that he is doing the driver a favour by using him.
That said i do love these people that throw up at half one in the morning and then get "detained" whilst plod arrives then i show out and the upchucker gets the bill for cleaning it.. Its even funnier when you ask if they want the kebab back then watch them throw up on the side if the road then get nicked for drunk and disorderly in a public place.. ( expensive night out LOL)
But no its funny that he didnt realise it was a dummy but its not funny on the whole BUT he had the last laugh while he kept the meter running and went back to the first house and presented the bill ( with plod in tow) its not actually theft its obtaining goods or services by deception which is actually worse


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## muzzer (Feb 13, 2011)

i must have had a sense of humour bypass as that isnt even close to funny for me.


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## Naddy37 (Oct 27, 2005)

Not only is it NOT funny, it's also theft, and classed as fraud!!.

The taxi driver could quite easily get the Police involved, and also the local taxi licensing council.

Taxi driver could also be blamed partly. I would of wanted the £140 upfront with it being such a large amount.


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## uruk hai (Apr 5, 2009)

I think if you listen to Heart Radio this is the level of humour you must expect. It's the station I have come on as my alarm each morning, simply because I'll be out of bed in no time once that noise starts.


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## DJ X-Ray (Sep 2, 2012)

Guys bump a cab, hardly crime of the century. If anything 140 quid for the journey is the biggest theft afaic.


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## GleemSpray (Jan 26, 2014)

I am guessing from the fact that it is a commercial radio station stunt and from the subsequent humour from the cab company boss, that the taxi bill would have been settled at some point after the gag was finished? 

In that case it doesn't become theft, just a crap joke. 

Also, the Taxi driver was pretty thick to let a bill that big run its course without getting something on account from one of the two upright ones, I think.


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## DJ X-Ray (Sep 2, 2012)

I bet the fellow drivers must have been rotf when he went back and told them what happened.
Bods in my local cab office would have caned him lol.


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

DJ X-Ray said:


> Guys bump a cab, hardly crime of the century. If anything 140 quid for the journey is the biggest theft afaic.


What's the distance between Brighton and London? 40 miles or so?

So the £140 lost fare is really around a couple of gallons of petrol and a couple of hours maximum.

It isn't right and the taxi driver has a right to be angry, but even people close to him can manage to laugh it off, I bet he will too.

In this ever increasing PC world people are now capable to be angry and offended on his behalf.

Next You've been framed will be banned from the TV as people are hurting themselves during the clips.


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## DJ X-Ray (Sep 2, 2012)

Kerr said:


> What's the distance between Brighton and London? 40 miles or so?
> 
> So the £140 lost fare is really around a couple of gallons of petrol and a couple of hours maximum.
> 
> ...


Yeah you're bang on Kerr. Can't believe he never said a word to the dummy throughout the journey though? Imagine it - 'sir, we've arrived'. :lol:


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

DJ X-Ray said:


> Yeah you're bang on Kerr. Can't believe he never said a word to the dummy throughout the journey though? Imagine it - 'sir, we've arrived'. :lol:


I just can't imagine how they pulled it off.

I'm no expert on mannequins, but I've never seen one that looks that realistic. On top of that, they don't move. The ones I've seen in the shops don't have bendable arms or legs either.

How did they even manage to get the mannequin into the taxi without it looking so obvious? They'd have to carry it, then rearrange all of its limbs so it could sit down, then it would have sat motionless throughout the journey, yet the driver didn't notice? Seriously?

When I first heard the story on the radio, I thought the wind up story, was a made up wind up itself.

I just can't picture a driver stupid enough to get caught out with it.

If the mannequin was that realistic and well dressed, it must surely be worth more than the £140 fare?


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## DJ X-Ray (Sep 2, 2012)

This is what the boss of the taxi firm said and i quote: 'It has been the funniest thing which has
happened to one of our drivers. You can
imagine the stick the driver got from the other
workers when he got back to Brighton - it was
hilarious.'


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## Andyg_TSi (Sep 6, 2013)

This has got to be a joke surely, if this was a prank to gain averting for the taxi firm then they've certainly succeeded.

£140 does, on the face of it appear steep, but this was hardly a point A to point B trip (if true)

This was, allegedly point A to point B Via X & Y. Which could have been a right run around......and again did the driver not speak at all the 'dummy' ???. 

My dad has a black cab & I am also a fully licenced black cab driver & I drive part time in addition to my full time job.

Taxi-ing isn't cheap, & neither is the maintenance & keeping the cab up to scratch in line with council guidelines and the job itself is far from a walk in the park.

Consider this, if your not an owner driver & are renting a black cab on a through track (meaning you have it 24/7), up here the going rate is £250 per week to rent a cab.

You want to go on a taxi radio system, that's another £60 a week minimum & your gonna put in anywhere from £20 - £40 a day in fuel at least depending on distance travelled.

So put it in context.....someone would have to take £250 + £60 + (say £30 fuel x 6 days, for a 6 day week) £180 = £490 per week just to stay on the road, that's BEFORE the taxi driver has earned enough to pay his rent/mortgage, put food on the table etc etc etc.
Think about the lifestyle you currently lead and the money you earn to afford that lifestyle & now consider you have to earn the above every week in addition just to stand still..........and people think it's acceptable to run off without paying.

On the other hand an owner/driver such as my dad/me.

Brand new TX4 black cab £33K-£35K., annual insurance premium £4K. Servicing every 10K miles (our cab bought new in 2012 has just clocked 100K miles in 2.5 years, that's 10 service's at £200 - £250 a time.
Replacing wear & tear items, such as tyres etc. 2 council tests a year which the cab has to pass and is 200% more strict than an ordinary car MOT.

And also consider, that in my area, in order to put a cab on the road it must be

1. Less than 3 years old at 1st test
2. We can be instructed to scrap it at 10 years old by the council if it doesn't meet their minimum standard
3. Has to be scrapped regardless at 13 years old.

If you still think it's acceptable to scam a cab driver. You're an idiot.


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## kh904 (Dec 18, 2006)

I'm no way condoning what they did and it is theft (money and waste of time for the taxi driver), but I do see the funny side of it.
I don't know how they pulled it off carrying the dummy and putting him in the back seat, as I would have thought most taxi drivers screen/glance at the passengers and see if they are in a fit state (not going to throw up etc).

Is it acceptable? No (I certainly wouldn't do it or encourage it).
Was it theft? Absolutely
Did I see the funny side? Yes when I initially read the story.

I remember going to a bar in Central London a few years back, the main bar was up stairs and there was another bar and toilets downstairs.
A female trying to catwalk her way downstairs tripped halfway down, and rolled down to the bottom, initially it was funny (I didn't laugh out loud) the way she fell, but quickly concerned as it would have hurt and for her embarrassment. She quickly got up and headed her way to the toilets. 
The way it happened still makes me smile a little, but if the consequences were more serious I would have reacted differently.

As someone mentioned before, it's like the You've been framed' clips, if you really analyse them far enough you can argue why do people find them funny (someone is usually getting hurt), but it's the situation and context it's in.


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## DJ X-Ray (Sep 2, 2012)

I ain't condoning it but it is funny. I mean Jesus ,you would have to be pretty humourless to think otherwise. As said, it's just a few gallons of petrol at the end of the day it's not like anybody was physically hurt or their livelihood was put in jeopardy. Cab drivers get knocked for fares it happens in that trade. My minicab office they want the fare upfront unless they know you. It's 79 quid to Brighton from my local office for the record(although I think the cab in question was metered ?).


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## Caledoniandream (Oct 9, 2009)

I don't think any so called joke at somebody's else's expense is funny. 
either if it's health, dignity or financial, it's the lowest kind of "Humour" it's so cheap and nasty that I can not believe people laugh about it. 

This joke comes in the same group as where the Australian radio station pretended to be the Queen and Prince Charles, the poor Nurse paid with her life, ho ho ho , what did we laugh.....................Not. 

If you have sunk so deep that you think it's funny when they have to set other people up to laugh at them, than sorry you are at my own opinion at the bottom of the human race. 
I hate comedians who do it, and won't watch it as it is so simple to do, I like people who don't take their self serious and use their selves as subject of a prank. 

It's shocking if somebody fallsin the street nowadays, that people just stand around them and laugh, very little people are interested in the health of this person, 

Radio presenters are from such a low calibre, that they are clutching at straws to make a program, and grab every nasty opportunity to show "how good they are" even if they have to run people down and damage their dignity. 
Oh what a fun, tis driver get the **** taken out for the rest of his life, maybe has to leave his job as he cannot cope with it, oh what did we laugh.


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## DJ X-Ray (Sep 2, 2012)

You equate a cab fare that wasn't paid for with a set up by an Australian radio station? How does that work? You're assuming this was setup, but I'm not. For me it's -guy drives with dummy in car-no more no less. As for the rest of your post about people falling in the street and people laughing#baffled.


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## Toto (Oct 6, 2014)

DJ X-Ray said:


> You equate a cab fare that wasn't paid for with a set up by an Australian radio station? How does that work? You're assuming this was setup, but I'm not. For me it's -guy drives with dummy in car-no more no less. As for the rest of your post about people falling in the street and people laughing#baffled.


I think your straying from the topic tbh didn't matter how much fuel or distance the price is set and regulated. So if someone pinches groceries from a shop at a value of £500 that's ok because it didn't cost the shop keeper £500 and serves them right or if for example this won't happen but if a detailer charged 10,000 for a super deluxe detail the guy buggers of without paying is that Ok , just because the detailer had only lost his time and small Amount for consumables its ok . Stick to posting naked women mate that's all your good at.


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## muzzer (Feb 13, 2011)

Keep this civil guys


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## alan h M (Aug 1, 2013)

i think this is an intentional attempt to steel the cost of the cab fair. 
totally wrong. 
I would be lucking to the police to sort it. 


for this to be a joke you would have to be there to see the reaction and fall out from it. they weren't they were at home laughing at his expense
if this was a set up by colleagues or friends then I think it is funny but not if it is real.


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## S63 (Jan 5, 2007)

Apparently the driver is known at work as "stutter" I get the feeling he is the victim of many a cheap laugh. I'd like to think the owner is locally known as Fatso given his ample proportions.


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## DJ X-Ray (Sep 2, 2012)

Toto said:


> I think your straying from the topic tbh didn't matter how much fuel or distance the price is set and regulated. So if someone pinches groceries from a shop at a value of £500 that's ok because it didn't cost the shop keeper £500 and serves them right or if for example this won't happen but if a detailer charged 10,000 for a super deluxe detail the guy buggers of without paying is that Ok , just because the detailer had only lost his time and small Amount for consumables its ok . Stick to posting naked women mate that's all your good at.


Me straying from the topic:tumbleweed: I'm merely trying to keep things in perspective. My reply is to a post that was trying to equate a heinous act by two radio presenters with a cab driver taking a dummy to London.
I've already said I'm not condoning it, but I see the funny side of it as does the guys boss and fellow drivers who I quoted earlier.


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## rottenapple (Jun 12, 2014)

A joke at anyones expense is cheap and belittling, trying to show dominance to the expense of others. Never see a sensible or thoughtful man taking the **** out of another, its for the weak and insecure, or in modern times making a cheap buck.


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## zippo (Mar 26, 2008)

S63 said:


> Got to be the classless comment of the day.:wall:


little more than classless but S63, as its a family forum your comment sums it up very well 
Darren


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## DJ X-Ray (Sep 2, 2012)

I think peeps are looking for things that ain't there tbh. Even if it came out that it was a setup by his mates, people lark about at work that's how it is we all take the p out of each other. Apprentices at my firm get sent down the shop for tartan paint or skirting board ladders, it doesn't leave them traumatised for life, they still go on to become craftsman.


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

S63 said:


> Got to be the classless comment of the day.:wall:





S63 said:


> Apparently the driver is known at work as "stutter" I get the feeling he is the victim of many a cheap laugh. I'd like to think the owner is locally known as Fatso given his ample proportions.


On the topic of being classless, I've no idea why you are taking things so personally that you are now dishing out the childish insults.

We've gone from a wind up that some don't find funny, to over-analysing it, and now it's sunk as low as trading insults with people we don't know, in defence of people we don't know and for circumstances we don't know.

Is this Twitter or DW?


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## S63 (Jan 5, 2007)

suspal said:


> Is It me or Taxi drivers are amongst the worst drivers on the road i.e think they own the road etc.


I can't comment on minicab drivers but have got to know a few black cab drivers over the years when chauffeuring. I drove a very comfy S63 AMG but after a long week driving in the West End and City I'd had enough. Even though today's black cabs are more sophisticated and have luxuries like air con and power steering it's still quite a task to pedal one around for sixty hours a week, a different mentality to the norm is essential if you are going to succeed as a cabbie and being a rule unto yourself and owning the road is all part of their physcy.


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## Andyg_TSi (Sep 6, 2013)

I can see the joke here.

However, sending a young, wet behind the ears apprentice for tartan paint or ' long stand' or a bucket of steam as a prank is totally different to effectively stealing money of the bloke.

Instead of sending an apprentice for tartan paint, lets short change them in their wages by £150 and see if they think it's funny.


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## DJ X-Ray (Sep 2, 2012)

I think some people could have an argument in a room on their own


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## R0B (Aug 27, 2010)

This forum takes itself way to seriously . It's funny no one died and none of you were affected so the faux keyboard outrage is more funny than the actual prank.

'Detailing world taking cleaning cars and moral outrage seriously since 2005'


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## zippo (Mar 26, 2008)

Just because I'm a nosey sod Rob have you ever been a cabdriver, hackney or private hire. I used to work with a fella who wrote off 5 cars in a week .One lad turned left on to a one way system right up a car transporter same driver did a similar thing didn't bother looking left and hit a milk float head on .I could go on with equally daft and stupid things that you can't help but laugh at, The cab driver as has been pointed out wants his bumps testing for being done like he has, but he hasn't just lost the £140 has he. The 140 he lost might have cleared his track for the week with the rest going towards the wife's housekeeping 
I found a lot of people presumed I'd just got out of bed just to take them to the boozer or Tesco because I had nothing else better to do . Its the attitude toward what's happened that bugs me its the principle of the thing. I know lads that wouldn't have bothered with the Police ,they'd have just gone back to the last two addresses if that's where they were dropped off and petrol bombed them to a lesser or greater extent .I wouldn't agree with it but thats the job. Eat or be eaten .It isn't a nice job at the best of times it's made worse by twits pulling stunts like that. Taxi drivers have gallows humour but one subject they never laugh about is money regardless of what the cab firm said .What you've not been told is if he employs drivers and not just your everyday brain faded cab drivers they will probably had a whip round for the lad. At least the drivers i've worked with would have done, but that's the difference between a taxi driver and a driver, professionalism .


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## VW Golf-Fan (Aug 3, 2010)

What a dummy!! :lol:


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## RD55 DUN (Dec 30, 2008)

It is pretty funny!! Im sure in time the guy will look back and laugh. Im sure we have all done something that we can laugh at ourselves at. (Obv not as bad as this!)


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

Darlofan said:


> You need to relax mate, it is funny.





Clancy said:


> Taxi drivers are generally ***** and deserve it


yeah thanks for that :thumb:


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