Some years back when I worked shortly for a taxi company,
I received a fair that it is fun to read about.

This elder lady, on her late sixties I believe, showed up at the door, with a teen girl and a cartoon box that was "miaou-ing". The remarkable was that at 6 o'clock in the evening the lady was quite drunk and had an attitude, manners and way of talking that gives the definition of a bitch. I told her that if she is not going to keep quite and talk normal towards me, she would have to get out and get another taxi. Well it helped, she stopped talking. It was a small fair about 15 minutes. I gave her the box with the kitties, helped her until the main entrance and drove away.

Few minutes later, while standing still on the red light I heard "miaou". I stopped a bit further and checked the trunk of the Mercedes (E270 has a good compact booth) but there was no kitty. I made sure though that there wasn't any hidding in there. My idea I thought, it was still in my mind from the fair.

Some time later… while the car stood still "miaou" again.

Back to the trunk as you guessed, being sure now that there was a kitty there. I have an advantage this time. I can also "miaou" like a kitty, hehe I'll find you now. I start "miaou-ing" and the kitty replied. But it was hidden somewhere between the trunk and the back seats.
I drove back to the dispatching to get the kitty out of the car.

To my greatest luck the departure address of the kitties was just around the office. So I went to inform the young girl and she came with her elder brother to the office to look for the kitty. The dispatcher, me, lieve Peter, the small girl and her brother are all trying to figure out where it was. Me and the kitty had an extensive exchange of sharp and crying "miaou-ing" but refused to tell me where it was hiding…

About one hour long five persons were searching and stripping the car and still we had no idea where it was hiding. So the entire back seat construction and booth clothing are lying around the floor.

Finally we found where it was. Under the speakers, in a kind of metal construction almost closed from all sides, frond and back. You can pull some cables in there but your hand cannot go through. It was looking impossible to get it, plus it was "them", two kitties one under each speaker.

To my luck again and probably thanks to the Mercedes guys, somehow the wooden cover between the back seats and the booth clicked open. There we go. They were starring complaining to me.
I start "miaou-ing" back telling them that I got nothing to do with this.
I was just the driver... and got them out of there.

The girl took them and I was sitting there with the car stripped on the floor, thinking… Actually I just had to click the back wood cover open and not strip the bloody car. I finally manage to persuade myself that I was not very stupid but it was that I couldn't have known where they were hiding.
Stop crying out loud over spoiled milk, get the car back in one piece and go to work, I said to myself.

Lesson Nr 1
Even if you drive a BMW 7 series, don't think that a small kitty cannot escape from the trunk and hide somewhere in your car.

Lesson Nr 2
Make sure that any box that is "miaou-ing" is very good closed.
Tape it if you have to.

Legal stuff
Taxis in Belgium have the right to refuse the transport of animals.
However they are obliged by law to transport a dog which accompany a blind  person.

Kitties Taxi Tales of ordinary madness.
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http://www.limotaxi.net/
2oo8

Well, there are many posts warning about Taxi rip-offs in Belgium. I shall not doubt the posts since they are probably true. Here is another one from my client from London.

She came by train from London to the Eurostar Train Terminal in Brussels because she does not like flying (Don't forget that flying is for the birds. Limo Taxi is the way) to attend a business meeting in Utrecht Netherland. At that time she was not my client yet of course, so she got in a taxi outside of the Eurostar Train Terminal station in Brussels to Utrecht (Holland). Normal price more or less 140km x 1,7€ per km around 250 – 270 € including step in charge and about 90 min drive max with some traffic jam.

Well… 5 hours later the Taxi meter had recorded about 1000€ while she had a sightseeing of the major cities around in Holland, but from the highway. This is not a joke, it is 100% true story and as you can understand I cannot reveal the identity of my client. The taxi driver start crying that it was not his taxi and that he was working for a boss, he had to pay the amount on the meter to the company and so on. She fell for it and settled down for 600€ if I remember correct and of course never made her appointment in the AMRO bank.

The thing that she does not know is that if the driver had called the police she had to pay the full amount that was registered on the taxi meter. That is the law and you can not do much about it than to make an official complaint and live long after.. The chance to get your ripped-off money back? I shall leave this to the maths and probability laws.

Lesson NR 1:
Always ask how far your destination is and how much your fair will cost.

Lesson NR 2:
For long distance taxi transport make a fixed amount deal with the driver, if he / she refuses and says "on the meter" … Hasta la vista baby. Take the one that will give you a fixed price.

Legal stuff
It is on the discretion of the client to choose the vehicle and / or the driver from the taxi spots and not take the first on the cue line.
A taxi driver may not refuse a fair from a taxi spot unless he can prove that you are in an unstable mental state (drunk for example, or behaving aggressively etc.)

You are not obliged to take the first taxi waiting.
The moral code of the drivers is that the first one gets the client so probably they will tell you that.

You can reply to them that the law states that you have the right to take any driver YOU like, they should know that.
Now, since the taxi is waitting on duty on the taxi spot,
it is obliged by law to to accept the fair.
The catch here is that the driver has always the right and is somehow obliged, to use the taxi meter and not agree on a fixed price.

Tips

Make arrangements in advance for your transport.

To be continued….

What you need to know about Taxis
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http://www.limotaxi.net/
2oo8