Letters to the editor

The writer is complaining because the taxi driver left the meter running on a fare that had not been completed and not paid for.

When a taxi is asked to wait, either at the beginning or at the end of a ride, the meter runs until the amount owing is paid.

Mr. McClure says he was gone “for 5 minutes at the very most.”

I suspect it was longer than that to allow the meter to run to $20 in the time he was gone.

Mr. McClure should not expect someone else to donate five unpaid minutes to a customer.  If that happened over 20 taxi trips in a day, that would be one and a half hours of unpaid time.

At the end of Mr. McClure’s day, does his employer ask him to wait around an hour and a half on his own time? Taxi drivers are far too often treated as second class citizens.

They are required to load groceries, wheelchairs and sometimes furniture into their cars as part of their jobs and yet are complained about when they turn on the meter.

They have to deal with traffic, drunks, and self righteous helpers.

Try that job before you judge.

Tim Thompson