Taxis and WAVs: booking the ride that actually turns up

The taxi is the connective tissue of every trip. The train can be perfect and the hotel can be perfect, and the whole day still hinges on an eight-minute ride between the two. It is also the least regulated, least bookable, most variable part of the chain.

Know the two kinds of accessible taxi

A WAV — wheelchair accessible vehicle — takes you travelling in the wheelchair, up a rear or side ramp, with the chair strapped down. The other kind is an ordinary car with a driver who is happy to stow a folded chair in the boot while you transfer to the seat. Which one you need is the first thing to say when you ring, because firms constantly send the wrong one. “Wheelchair user” means both things and neither.

Booking one outside a big city

In London, every black cab is legally required to be wheelchair accessible, and mostly this works. Outside the big cities, WAVs are scarce, often owned by one or two local firms, and often booked out doing school runs at exactly the times you want to travel — early morning and mid-afternoon. So:

• Book days ahead, not hours. For a morning train, we book the taxi before we book the train.
• Avoid 8–9.30am and 2.30–4pm in small towns if you possibly can. That is school contract time and the WAVs vanish.
• Get the booking confirmed by text or email, with “wheelchair accessible vehicle” written down. A verbal booking for a WAV has a way of becoming a saloon car on the night.
• Ask the hotel for the local firm they actually use. Receptions know which firm turns up and which one doesn’t.
• Take the driver’s card when you find a good one. A driver who did it well once will do it well again, and most will take a direct booking.

In the vehicle

The driver should strap the chair down at four points and offer the seatbelt. A driver who waves you up the ramp and sets off with the chair loose is not doing you a favour, however friendly he is. It is fine to ask for the straps. It is your neck.

One more thing worth knowing: a licensed driver cannot legally charge a wheelchair user more than anyone else for the same journey, and refusing the fare because of the wheelchair is, for most drivers, an offence. You will almost never need to say this out loud. It is still worth knowing on the night you do.

Your turn: if you have experiences of your own — the places that got it right, and the ones that got it badly wrong — tell us in the comments below. Every report helps the next traveller.