Edinburgh’s black cab drivers say they’ve had enough. Fare dodging in the city is costing the local trade an estimated £40,000 a year, and drivers are now calling on Police Scotland and Edinburgh City Council to step up.
The figure comes from a recent survey of Unite the Union taxi driver members in the capital. It surfaced again this week following a successful private prosecution that drivers hope will set a precedent.
At Edinburgh Sheriff Court, Emma Margaret Brown was found guilty of taxi fraud over two separate incidents in Edinburgh and Glasgow. She was fined £280, ordered to complete 30 hours of community service, and told to repay the dodged fares. One of those incidents was a £24 fare from Stenhouse at around 1.30am on a weekday morning. The driver who pushed the case to court — who has asked not to be named — was reportedly delighted with the outcome.
Edinburgh black cabbie Keith Auld, who has been driving in the city for more than seven years, told STV News most customers pay without issue, but he has been caught out himself: “I’ve had two or three cases of taxi fraud. Normally, it happens later at night — although it can happen during the day — some people have had one or two too many drinks, they may become difficult. We expect to be paid, and when that doesn’t happen, that’s time and money away from me earning, so a lot of guys are working longer hours to make a living.”
Taxi driver Pat Egan made the point that the financial damage is bigger than the unpaid fare itself: “It’s not just the fare dodge. As well as losing money, you could double that because these drivers could have been somewhere else getting another fare.”
That double-hit — losing the fare plus losing the next one because you’re stuck arguing with a non-payer — is one of the most consistent complaints from drivers in any city. £40,000 a year across an entire trade sounds modest until you remember it’s split across drivers operating on very thin margins, on a regulated meter, with no easy way to raise prices to absorb the loss.
There are two practical asks coming out of the Edinburgh trade right now:
- Police Scotland: drivers want it made easier to report fare dodging, and they want it taken seriously when they do. Some report that police initially declined to use forensics in incidents linked to assaults and abandoned items.
- Edinburgh City Council: drivers are pushing for help with the cost of installing CCTV in cabs — one driver said he spent £300 of his own money on cameras plus an annual fee, partly as a deterrent.
It’s a familiar pattern across the UK: fare dodging is treated by many as a victimless prank, but in practice it lands squarely on individual drivers who have already done the work. Whether Edinburgh’s drivers get the political response they’re after is another matter — but the Brown conviction at least gives them a recent example to point to when they argue these cases can be pursued, and that punishment does follow.
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