Cabbies' Jubilee bank holiday fears after council tells them to charge more than metered fare

Cab drivers have been told that they will have to charge customers more money than it states on the meter during the Jubilee bank holidays.

Manchester cabbies have been told to calculate a 33pc increase per journey, during the period, as their meters are not programmed to recognise the dates as bank holidays. One driver said that the council's decision has caused 'anguish' among drivers, amid fears that drunken and rowdy customers may refuse to pay more than the metered fare.

In an email sent out to hackney drivers, Manchester City Council apologised for 'inconvenience' and admitted it is 'not an ideal situation'. The email from the Licensing Unit reads: "All current taximeters fitted to the fleet are calendar taximeters. The last time the Tariff information was electronically input on the taximeters, all the known future public holiday dates were included so that the correct Bank Holiday Tariff would be displayed and automatically calculated without the need for any input by the driver.

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"The Platinum Jubilee celebrations have been organised since the taximeters were last updated so the taximeters will not recognise these new dates as Bank Holidays. As these two dates are now official Bank Holidays, drivers are entitled to charge the Bank Holiday rate all day, on both days, but will have to work this out manually until 10pm."

It continues: "We would advise all Drivers to explain this to passengers before the journey commences. To assist drivers and passengers, we have produced a notice that should be displayed in the vehicle on these Jubilee Bank Holiday dates.

"We’d advise drivers to ensure you have extra copies of this notice and