Browse Sections

• Education
• Special reports

Taxi wars over flyer

Laura Kenny
13/ 3/2008

WAR has erupted between rival cab companies over a controversial advertising leaflet.

Private hire firm Connect Cars has been accused of scaremongering by competitors after claiming customers were in danger of being burgled if they used them.

The A5 sized flyer, which was delivered to 10,000 homes across Middleton, includes a cartoon of a telephone and a burglar and lists five rival private hire firms.

It goes on to state: "Anyone can listen to private hire companies who use radios simply by using a scanner .

"Connect Cars have invested in your security and safety by installing an Autocab system which operates with data only and cannot therefore be overheard by the wrong people."

Andrew Dawson, a partner with rival Diamond Cars which is named on the leaflet, said he had been "inundated" with complaints about the leaflet from concerned customers and accused Connect of trying to justify its prices with scare tactics.

He said: "We are already half-way through installing a version of Autocab which works like a text messaging service rather than using radios but I have been doing this job for 26 years and I have never heard of people being burgled.

"Connect are scaremongering the people who cannot afford to use them.

"As far as I am aware all the rival firms have had complaints about their leafleting tactics. Scaring people to pay their extortinate prices is worrying."

But Wayne Hamilton, who runs Wood Street based Connect, defended the leaflet saying he had it checked over by lawyers and that he had spent more than £100,000 on the firm's telephone system.

He said: "I am just saying what can happen. We have invested a lot of money in our phone system and in passengers security.

"Yes, we are dearer but there is a reason for that. They are cheaper because they have invested no money in their firms."

But one concerned Langley pensioner, who did not want to be named, said: "To suggest that by using firms with less modern equipment you are in danger of being robbed is unfair.

"Elderly and vulnerable people are already scared to leave their property. These tactics take away what little trust we have in our society. I feel that any kind of advertising should be council approved as these scare tactics make Middleton a scary place to live."

A spokeman for Rochdale Council said that the leaflet had been referred to its legal team but that Connect Cars was not believed to be in breach of its licence.