BENGALURU: The District Consumer Forum in Bengaluru (Urban) has rejected a complaint filed by the wife of an Indian Air Force officer against Meru Cabs alleging that her husband had missed his flight as the driver arrived 15 minutes late.
Sreeja Subramanian, the complainant in the case, said her husband D Subramanian had been posted in Delhi. He was pursuing a BA in Public Administration and his exam was scheduled in December 2012.
Subramanian had come to Bengaluru on December 21, 2012 for a vacation and was to return to Delhi on December 27, 2012 for which he had booked a flight at 1.35 pm. Accordingly, Sreeja had booked a Meru taxi to pick him up at 11.45 am for his travel to the airport.
In her complaint, Sreeja alleged that she got a call from the driver by 11.20 am for confirmation of address and he stated that he would be at the pick-up point in another 15 minutes. However, he arrived only at 12 pm and left for the airport at 12.03 pm.
Sreeja alleged that even after arriving late, the driver had stopped the car to fill petrol. He was also not able to tender change to Subramanian and a lot of time was wasted trying to get change, she said. By the time her husband reported to the boarding counter, it had closed and he had to book another flight which was four hours later and had to pay more for it.
Meru Cabs had contested the claim and said they have GPS in their vehicles. According to records, the cab had reached late as it was stuck at a railway crossing gate which was closed near the pick-up point. It contended that the situation was beyond the control of both the taxi driver and the company.
After hearing both the parties, the forum observed that as the situation was not under the control of the driver and company, they could not be held responsible for the delay.
It said the driver cannot be made responsible for tendering change when a passenger does not have sufficient change to pay for the fare. In order to help the passenger, the taxi driver had asked a few passersby for change to help him pay the fare.
The forum further observed that the scheduled departure of the flight was 1.35 pm and the complainant had booked the taxi for 11.45 am. As the check-in counter would close at 12.35 pm, the driver had only 50 minutes to reach the airport which was around 30 km away. In the present traffic conditions, this time is not sufficient, the forum said, and held the complainant responsible for the delay and not the driver.