Black cab drivers today complained of a huge backlog in fitting vehicles with card machines following the start of new rules obliging drivers to accept payment by plastic.
A legal requirement for all hackney carriages to be equipped for passengers to pay using debit, credit and contactless cards came in yesterday.
Some cab drivers claimed the changes had been “forced” upon them, although most agreed accepting card payments was the “way forward”.
But there were also complaints that garages installing electronic payment systems had been “inundated” with requests — meaning some drivers were still waiting for their card machines to be fitted.
One cabbie said: “I was booked to be done four weeks ago, and I haven’t been done. Now I’m due on November 21. They can’t do them quick enough.”
Another said: “They’re inundated, you can’t get in there ... you can’t get through to them.”
Every black cab taken by the Standard last night could take card payments.
But most cabbies spoken to said they were unhappy at the prospect of being saddled with card fees, which they claimed were as high as 10 per cent on every fare.
When the plans were announced in February, credit card companies agreed to cut the costs of cabbies accepting cards and other contactless methods to below three per cent.
Then Mayor of London Boris Johnson said the changes would make paying for journeys “swifter and simpler than ever before”.
But one driver today said: “Surely it’s not going to help the flow of traffic ...They [customers] jump out when it suits them, and they pay with cash. If they jump out with a card, you’re going to stop the whole of London.
“If you go to place like Hampstead, you can’t get a signal anyway.”
