BT mix-up cuts off taxis' trade
A TAXI firm boss today claimed he has lost thousands of pounds after being left without a phone line because of a bungle.
Diamond Taxis says business has dropped dramatically after BT left the Washington-based company with major phone problems for more than four days.
Drivers were brought to a standstill over the usually busy bank holiday – and customers struggled to get through even when temporary measures were installed to help ease the calamity.
Boss Alan Wood fears customers think his firm has gone bust.
The taxi company is moving from Gayton Road to new offices at Waterloo Road, Sulgrave, and had asked BT to keep their phone number the same.
The firm was told that it would be able to operate phones from its current and new homes until staff had moved out.
But on Thursday night they discovered a mix-up had led to the line being disconnected.
"We just had a row of taxi drivers sitting in their cars with nowhere to go," said Mr Wood. "There were 18 cars doing nothing – it was ridiculous.
"People were presumably calling up and couldn't get through.
"As a taxi company it's difficult to say how much money we lost, but we sent about 10 cars home because there just wasn't any point in them being there. I'd say on average the lads have lost between 400 and 500 each."
Mr Wood said he phoned BT and was told it had been a mistake on their part and would be fixed immediately.
But, after several calls, the lines were still down over the weekend and more drivers were sent home .
"A few people have my mobile number and they've been calling me to see if we've gone bust, which is worrying," said Mr Wood, who took over the company eight months ago.
A spokesman for BT apologised for the inconvenience and said it was working to fix the problem. However, it was still not corrected yesterday, leaving Mr Wood furious.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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