I have just arrived from a long trip of more than 11 hours and on wheel-chair assist due to a persisting knee injury. I took a taxi to go home. This happened on Wednesday, May 4th at around 5pm. The name of the Taxi driver as shown on the inside was: B. Jagpal and I was able to take down the telephone no. (604) 524-1111.
This morning, Friday, May 6th, I phoned in this number and a dispatcher came to answer. His name is "Harry" and he said he will have a talk with this driver and expressed his apologies for the incident. But this letter is to make it public this kind of attitude is unacceptable—not only to me—but to anyone arriving in YVR. It stains our image as a country and it is pretty serious. We cannot afford to have someone anywhere that deals with passengers and arrivals to be this way. I merely took the next taxi on the curve and had no control over this and this is what happened.
I told the driver where home is and estimated time between airport to my home is about 20 minutes. Most often I use taxis going to the airport and Home for the last 7 years and never encountered a problem such as this. "Short distance"... The driver said. "Yes, I'm close to the airport and it's convenient." I said. He countered, "not for me. I don't do this. I expect long trips, not short ones." With that answer, I just kept quiet.in my mind, I said, how would I know? The taxi I would be assigned would not like short trips? The driver kept looking at me in the mirror with what appears contempt. I was made to feel uneasy. Then, I observed the meter was rolling fast as in the past between my home and the airport it would only cost me about $15. Or so. When I asked why this is, he didn't like this at all! The rest of the way we were quiet. Finally, I was so relieved to reach home. Politely I asked if he could drop me off as close to the entranceway as possible to make it easier for me because of my knees. But because he was too in a hurry to get me out, he kept missing the entranceway and just halted at the garage driveway. To avoid anymore interaction between us I settled for it and asked if he could just bring down my luggages from the trunk. He was not moving from his seat and looked me up from the mirror and said, "It depends how much money you have and how much you are going to give me as tip." I just wanted to get off and so I handed him over what was the charge. Finally, he moved and got my luggages out and dumped them. With a roar of anger he sped away. I couldn't believe!
As I said, this is the first time I have ever encountered a driver like this! And, hopefully the last. This does not reflect very well at all with that taxi company. And, I think it should be made public this is not the kind of taxis that should be plying our cities particularly at our Airport. What a bad experience for would-be visitors! Or anyone for that matter to be treated that way. Thank you! And thank you for encouraging people to write so that this can be dealt with in all levels especially those in the tourist industries and ground operations alerted.
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