Taxi! Taxi! - Hailing a cab can be murder...

So, this morning, going about my usual business, with an outrageous hangover, having woken up in a lovely hotel here in Gibraltar, it was time to get up, get ready and head to the office.. To give you an idea, I wasn’t so hung over that I was missing work; this was around 8:30 am. So showered, dressed and raring to go, I head down to reception, check out and ask for a cab.

The following takes place in Real Time!

08:20 - 08:21: “Taxi is on its way sir!”

08:30: I’m thinking, it’s morning, it’s raining a little bit, which in Gibraltar means, EVERYBODY has taken their cars out this morning and are on their way to school/work/Morrisons or wherever else they would need to be at this time of the morning.

08:40: Still no cab, it’s a little cold out, but that’s probably helping with the hangover. What can you do, traffic jams, these things happen?

08:45: Alright 25 minutes in Gibraltar is pushing it, even with traffic, I’m thinking something maybe has gone wrong... No wait, what’s that coming over the hill, is it a mons... taxi?

08:46: Taxi pulls up... Hallelujah taxi is here... It’s too drop off the GM of the hotel. As he gets out I go to get in to the Cab... The driver says, “Have you called for a taxi?” to which I reply “of course”, “then you can’t get in this taxi!”

“I’m sorry... WHAT!?!”

“If you called, someone else will be coming, I can’t steal his fare!” and the taxi drove away...

I scratched my head, thought about throwing my phone at the taxi as it drove away, but decided against it. I turn, look up the stairs to the reception; he sees me, hangs up the phone and says “I just called them they’ve said the taxi will be at least another 10 minutes.”

I bow my head, admit defeat and start to walk, in the rain, towards town... Thinking to myself, what a great job a bunch a monkeys could probably do organising some kind of car service. How hard can it be? Seriously, the taxi driver was there, he could have taken me, he could have radioed in and told “BASE!” that number whatever the F**K was picking up from Rock Hotel.

I recently met with some people who work within the tourist association, and apparently one of their pet hates and biggest problems is the fact that you can’t get a taxi from the airport when you arrive. There aren’t any waiting there. Where are they?

In town waiting to prey on helpless tourists by selling them a Rock tour and an exaggerated price, whilst waiting to fill their taxi!

Surely we need to split, TAXI from Tour Operator and wouldn’t it be great to be able to get a taxi as and when. I know I may be signing my own death warrant by speaking up, but to be honest guys, as the association, you need to make an effort! Sort it out please, for the sake of Gibraltar!