Please provide the number of complaints received about taxis not accepting credit/debit card payments since during each reporting period since October 31st 2016 as well, where available, the outcome of each complaint. Please also provide - if not covered in the above - details of any action TfL takes to investigate claims of non-functioning card machines and the number of times such action has been taken and the outcome.

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TfL Ref: FOI-1595-1718

Thank you for your email of 24 September 2017 asking for information about card payments in taxis. I apologise for the delay in replying to you.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our Information Access Policy. I can confirm that we hold the information you require. You asked:

Please provide the number of complaints received about taxis not accepting credit/debit card payments since during each reporting period since October 31st 2016 as well, where available, the outcome of each complaint.

Please also provide - if not covered in the above - details of any action TfL takes to investigate claims of non-functioning card machines and the number of times such action has been taken and the outcome.

All London taxis have been required to accept card payments since 3 October 2016.

In order to be licensed all taxi vehicles undergo an annual inspection. As part of this inspection we check that the taxi has a working TfL-approved card payment device fitted in the passenger compartment and that there is also a receipt printer. Any taxi that does not have a working card payment device will not be licensed.

The table below details the number of customer/passenger complaints we have received regarding card payments in taxis, recorded as ‘TPH - Refusal of CC Payment – Taxi’ which refers to drivers refusing / unable to take card payments, as well as the outcome for each case. Regrettably we are unable to provide you with this information from before April 2017. Prior to this date complaints were investigated and recorded under a general complaints category.

		2017/18 financial reporting periods
		1	2	3	4	5	6	Total
No further action required		21	20	45	15	11	14	126
Further action taken		7	9	15	14	14	7	66
Total		28	29	60	29	25	21	192

Complaint information is recorded in four week TfL financial periods. Period one started on 1 April 2017 and period six (the last full financial period) ended on 16 September 2017.

Unfortunately, to provide information from prior to April 2017 would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. This is because we would need to individually check each complaint received between October 2016 and April 2017 in order to establish whether it was about card payments in taxis. We have estimated that manually checking this data would considerably exceed the set limit.

Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.

To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. If you want to refine your request or make a Freedom of Information Act request in future, please bear in mind that the Freedom of Information Act allows you to request recorded information held by Transport for London. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can, specifying the types of document that you are looking for. You might also consider limiting your request to a particular period of time, geographical area or specific departments of TfL.

No further action required

In these cases an investigation has taken place and it has been determined that no further action should take place against the driver or vehicle owner. Examples would include where there is insufficient evidence, or where the driver has provided satisfactory representations. Where possible the complaint will be kept on record and referred to should further complaints be received.

Further action taken

This includes, giving advice and guidance to the vehicle owner and/or driver and possibly taking further licensing action.

In addition our Taxi and Private Hire Compliance Officers carry out on-street inspections of licensed taxis across London. During these inspections our officers check that the taxi has a working TfL-approved card payment device. Since 31 October 2016, our compliance officers have carried out over 40,000 on-street inspections of licensed taxis and approximately 300 were found to have a problem relating to the card payment device.

Each case is individually assessed and may result in the driver receiving a warning or suspension of their licence and/or the vehicle being issued with an ‘unfit’ notice’; this means that the vehicle cannot be used as a licensed taxi until it is shown to have an approved functioning card payment device.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

If this is not the information you are looking for, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Melissa Nichols

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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