DSA Taxi Nightmare - need advice.

Hello everyone, I am a student living at home but commuting into university via taxis provided to me by my DSA. On Wednesday, the taxi was 45 minutes late to arrive at the pick up point I had set up for the past 2 weeks. The problem was, I couldn't exactly wait inside because the point was away from my building, moreover I only receive a text when the taxi arrives so of course there is the potential issue of the taxi driving off waiting for me to come. The excuse given was that there had been an accident and the driver had been stuck there for 10 minutes - this of course does not explain how they were 45 minutes late for picking me up. Of course, I don't want to go with this company anymore but they have the DSA contract. Can anyone give me any advice? Thanks.

Hello everyone, I am a student living at home but commuting into university via taxis provided to me by my DSA. On Wednesday, the taxi was 45 minutes late to arrive at the pick up point I had set up for the past 2 weeks. The problem was, I couldn't exactly wait inside because the point was away from my building, moreover I only receive a text when the taxi arrives so of course there is the potential issue of the taxi driving off waiting for me to come. The excuse given was that there had been an accident and the driver had been stuck there for 10 minutes - this of course does not explain how they were 45 minutes late for picking me up. Of course, I don't want to go with this company anymore but they have the DSA contract. Can anyone give me any advice? Thanks.

Hello everyone, I am a student living at home but commuting into university via taxis provided to me by my DSA. On Wednesday, the taxi was 45 minutes late to arrive at the pick up point I had set up for the past 2 weeks. The problem was, I couldn't exactly wait inside because the point was away from my building, moreover I only receive a text when the taxi arrives so of course there is the potential issue of the taxi driving off waiting for me to come. The excuse given was that there had been an accident and the driver had been stuck there for 10 minutes - this of course does not explain how they were 45 minutes late for picking me up. Of course, I don't want to go with this company anymore but they have the DSA contract. Can anyone give me any advice? Thanks.

If it was just a one off as a result of an accident, chances are it won’t happen again, however I would still flag the issue with your DSA advisor. The company is providing services for disabled students and should have made an effort to contact you and let you know they would be late, whether it be 10 minutes or 45 minutes. See what your DSA advisor says, as there is usually 3 or 4 providers in any given area; they are chosen based on the cheapest rate, but if they aren’t providing a suitable service for DSA clients (I.e. you), I would image they would change contract, regardless of if they are the cheapest.

Hi there,

Sorry you're in this situation - I can imagine its very stressful!

Is it you're university who organises this transport for you? I think you should speak to the department that helped you to get your DSA and tell them your concerns. They should be able to help you out!

All the best,

Jubilee - UoP Rep

Do you have a contact with the DSA provider you can discuss this with? Tbh a one-off occurrence is unlikely to yield any changes - it only becomes a major issue if this delay happened more often than not.

Unfortunately not a first time occurrence taxi is usually about 20-30 mins late on average.

That's definitely a cause for complaint though - my brother has a taxi through DSA, and they are barely ever late (traffic permitting).