Stolen item
I’ve used this company since moving to Stoke around 7 years ago and, despite the occasional strange driver, I’ve generally had very few issues. Unfortunately, what happened this past Sunday has completely changed my view of the company.
I got a taxi from The Range back to my home in Smallthorne, carrying an art canvas and some new paints I was excited to try. I placed the canvas in the boot and sat in the back with my bag of paint.
What I find particularly unsettling in hindsight is just how much interest the driver took in my painting and the canvas. Almost as soon as I got into the taxi, he was asking questions about the canvas, what I was painting and repeatedly asking me for tips about painting houses. At the time, I just assumed he was making friendly small talk, as taxi drivers do. Looking back at what happened afterwards, however, the amount of attention he paid to the canvas feels particularly uncanny.
When we arrived at my house, I thanked the driver and told him I was just going to get my shopping and belongings out of the boot. Before I could do so, he suddenly drove off with my canvas still in the boot, taking a sharp turn into one of the small alleyways around Smallthorne.
I have CCTV footage showing the incident, including me trying to flag the driver down.
I immediately contacted the taxi company and explained what had happened. Initially, I was told that the driver was simply going to another job and that the operator would contact him and ask him to return my property. I was told to call back if I hadn’t heard anything within an hour.
After an hour and a half, I called again and had to explain the situation all over again. I was then told that the driver had apparently received a higher-paying job and therefore couldn’t return my property. I was also told that I would be charged £6 to have my own property returned.
To be completely clear, if I had simply forgotten my canvas in the taxi and the driver had returned to the office with it, I would have had absolutely no problem paying the £6 fee. I completely understand that returning forgotten property can take a driver out of their way. But this was not the situation. I hadn’t forgotten my item — I had specifically told the driver I was getting my belongings out of the boot, and he drove away before I had the opportunity to do so.
I found it completely unacceptable that, after this had happened, I was being told the driver had a higher-paying job and couldn’t return my property, while I was expected to pay for it to be brought back. I understand that drivers have other jobs to attend, but surely returning a passenger’s property after leaving their home with it still in the vehicle should take priority.
After going around in circles, I was eventually told I could collect my canvas after 6pm from their Longton office. As someone who doesn’t drive, this wasn’t a realistic solution. It would cost me around £15 each way in a taxi to get there — meaning I would have to pay around £30 to retrieve an item that had been driven away with by one of their drivers.
At this point, I felt I had no choice but to contact the police regarding the matter. I will also be reporting the incident to the relevant local taxi licensing authority and Wolverhampton, as appropriate. Thankfully, because I booked through the app, I have the driver’s name and registration details, as well as CCTV footage of what happened.
After 7 years of using this service, this experience has completely destroyed my trust in the company. I will not be using Autocab again, and my friends and family have also deleted the app.
I’ll update this review if the situation is resolved.
9 de agosto de 2026
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