Accidental damage to a TAXI interior?

Mod_Man

A friend of mine was in a Taxi at the weekend and as he leaned forward to pay his fare, the bracket for the rear centre armrest broke.

The Taxi driver wants my friend to pay for the Armrest to be replaced.
This is in a 10 year old Taxi, is this considered normal wear and tare or
should he pay for the accidental damage??

Con_316

No he shouldnt pay for it, If the taxi driver wants to make his living by driving strangers around for money, he runs the risk of damage happening to the car due to so many people using it. Your mate shouldnt even have bothered gettin into a discussion with him about it, he should have just said sorry if he accidentally knocked it off and then left, at most maybe he could have given him a tenner towards it or somethin if he felt bad but i wouldnt.
It's the taxi driver's problem if his car gets worn out

Mod_Man

Con_316 wrote:

at most maybe he could have given him a tenner towards it or somethin if he felt bad but i wouldnt.
It's the taxi driver's problem if his car gets worn out

He tried to sort it out there and then by giving him a few quid towards getting it fixed, but the driver wanted to get a price first and is going to ring him back during the week. If its reasonable, my mate is going to pay him.. but if he comes back with a ridiculous quote hes not going to and is wondering where he stands.

maidhc

Your mate should have ignored the thing and certainly have refused to give any personal details. He is in no way liable for the breakage.

Squirrel

It's wear and tear unless he pulled out of it intentionally. He shouldn't have given away any personal information

colm_mcm

Taxi driver would never win in small claims court would he?

maidhc

colm_mcm wrote:

Taxi driver would never win in small claims court would he?

He isn't entitled to be heard. Only where a consumer is taking an action against an evil business/service provider.

Avns1s

Mod_Man wrote:

A friend of mine was in a Taxi at the weekend and as he leaned forward to pay his fare, the bracket for the rear centre armrest broke.

The Taxi driver wants my friend to pay for the Armrest to be replaced.
This is in a 10 year old Taxi, is this considered normal wear and tare or
should he pay for the accidental damage??

I would suggest that your friend wouldn't even get into a discussion with the taxidriver about it. He didn't do it intentionally. It's up to the taxi to ensure his vehicle is servicable.

colm_mcm

how about Judge Judy?

Stark

That taxi driver sounds like a serious creep. Tell your friend to simply ignore him. The driver can try and sue him if he likes but he doesn't have a leg to stand on. If the driver tries to get the money through intimidation, it might be worth contacting the gardaí.

dubtom

A friend of mine was in a Taxi at the weekend and as he leaned forward to pay his fare, the bracket for the rear centre armrest broke.

Sounds like a strange thing to happen,if it's a ten year old car I would imagine a bracket could be had at a scrap yard for a tenner.I agree the Taxi man sounds like a pric k if it's a genuine mistake, unless of course your mate was acting the maggot, if he was the Taxi man could have gone straight to a garda station and got 75 quid for his trouble, something like that would go under the banner of soilage.I agree if your man comes back with a stupid quote tell him no your not paying, go to a scrap yard and get one himself, arm rests shouldn't be too hard to fix.

Victor

How does one break an arm rest?

I think your friend should drop a line to the Carriage Office.

Carriage Office, Dublin Castle, Dublin 2
p 666 9850
f 666 9870
e suptt.iol.ie www.garda.ie

Mod_Man

Victor wrote:

How does one break an arm rest?]

He Leaned on the armrest with his hand while he was reaching forward to pay the fare.

He hasn't heard form the Taxi Driver yet, So I'll let you know what happens when he does..

The general consensus seems to be its ware and tare and
goes with the territory of having a high volume of passengers in a Taxi.

Tipsy Mac

I'd say wear and tear and nothing else.

Your mate if he was quick thinking should have played the owe my neck owe my back when it broke and played a personal injury with him and his sub standard car.:D

ballooba

This happened to me a while back. I went to open the door to get out and the lock/latch mechanism exploded into a few dozen pieces. It looked as though it had been smashed before and he stuck it back together badly with superglue or something.

The door was clearly broken before I got in because he had to open it from the inside. Anyhow he started shouting the odds and I refused to accept blame. My friends went into the night club and I waited while he called the gardai. I called the gardai myself because I didn't want him pretending and wasting my time.

I waited 15 minutes for the gardai to arrive and then walked off. I just followed my friends into the nightclub and never heard another word.

crosstownk

For all your mate knows it could have been broken already. The taximan will have to prove that your mate wilfully broke the armrest - how is he going to go about that. If the taxidriver rings tell him to get lost and tell him to talk to his solicitor about it:D

seamus

Mod_Man wrote:

He Leaned on the armrest with his hand while he was reaching forward to pay the fare.

That's definitely normal wear and tear.
Imagine a shop charging customers for the little bit of floor they wore down while walking around their shop. Some taxi drivers will try to extract money out of you for everything.

saobh_ie

dubtom wrote:

something like that would go under the banner of soilage.

I would have though that something like that comes under the banner of a car not fit for the carraige of members of the public if its interior is just falling apart.

The OP's friend should not entertain the taxi driver any further and should report him to the carraige office for even looking for money off him. Theres far too many chancers out there in taxis.

fightin irish

You know the **** is gonna try and get one in a scrap yard and because your friend entertained the conversation he'll try and screw him aswell.

Call the carraige, Let them know the story and tell the taxi driver to contact the carraige office if he has a problem...He'll soon just drop it. Do let us know how your m8 gets on!

the_batman

When the Taxi driver phones up your friend, get him to tell the taxi driver that he has a wrong number...