Tonbridge and Malling Council to tackle taxi driver ‘short-journey’ and card payment refusals with new signage
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council is introducing new measures to improve the safety and transparency of taxi and private hire services.
The council will soon implement fresh signage on all licensed vehicles, aiming to make it easier for passengers to report issues and improve accountability.
The initiative comes after reports of some taxi drivers at Tonbridge Station refusing short-distance fares and turning away passengers without cash. These incidents have left vulnerable individuals, including lone women, stranded late at night.
Current taxi regulations require drivers to accept all fares, regardless of distance, but without visible identification, passengers have found it difficult to lodge complaints.
Currently, taxi licence numbers are displayed only on the rear of vehicles, which many passengers struggle to see. The new signage will be displayed on the sides of vehicles, and will include QR codes that allow passengers to instantly report concerns to the council via their smartphones.
With over 500 private hire and hackney carriage vehicles set to be fitted with the new signs, the rollout is scheduled to begin in early November. The council hopes this will not only deter improper conduct but also provide peace of mind for passengers across the borough.
Des Keers, the council’s cabinet member for Community Services, said: “We are committed to ensuring high quality, safe taxi services across our borough and making licence numbers more clearly visible is just one way of doing that. While most passengers don’t have issues, we also want to make it easier for those who do to report it so we can investigate and take appropriate action.”
