Customer service is lamentable

If there is a more grudging group of people serving the local public than Leamington’s taxi drivers, I have yet to meet them. Over many years now I have taken a taxi from the rank in Hamilton Terrace, on each occasion carrying a large suitcase and a rucksack. It is something I must have done at least 40 times.

During that time, I can count on one hand the number of times that any of the drivers has ever got out of his vehicle either at the start or the end of the journey to at least open the door or to assist with loading or unloading my luggage. On one occasion, whilst I struggled to retrieve my suitcase from the boot of a large expensive limousine, the driver drove off and it was only by banging on the vehicle roof that he decided to stop. It also comes as no surprise to me to discover that most of the drivers have little knowledge of local topography and have never heard of the central Leamington street in which I live which invariably means my relaying instructions for the five-minute journey through the hole in the glass screen.

I am not much given to public complaining but someone in the WDC licensing team at Riverside House ought to make it their business to travel by taxi from the rank now and again preferably carrying some heavy luggage. If and when that happens, they will see for themselves what a lamentable service is provided by this bunch of grudging, uncooperative individuals who seem to consider that their only responsibility is to sit behind the wheel and get their smart new vehicles from ‘A’ to ‘B’ with as little effort and inconvenience to them as possible. I can’t believe that this is what passes for customer service in Leamington in 2015, they wouldn’t get away with it in London.

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