Business is tough at the moment for taxi drivers with nobody in the UK jetting off on holiday to a sunny destination or dining out at a restaurant or having a drink in the pub. This has no doubt resulted in many taxi drivers either having to work very long hours to generate an income, work on a part time basis or some have even ceased to trade.

There will be a number of taxi drivers who rely on tips from passengers to supplement their fare income. So, how much should a taxi driver receive as a tip from a passenger?

Well, let us say at the outset there is obviously no hard and fast rule in this respect and in fact there is no obligation on the part of the passenger to give the taxi driver a tip.

The general feeling is that a tip of around 10% to 15% of the amount of the fare could be considered a reasonable figure. However, as many taxi drivers will be aware, it is probably more likely that the passenger may just say “keep the change” when he or she hands over a £10 note to cover the cost of the taxi fare that amounted to say £9.50 – quite a bit less than 10% of the amount of the fare.

Those taxi drivers who do airport transfers tend to receive larger tips than a taxi driver who picks someone up from the pub to take them a short distance home. One of the reasons for this is due to the size of the fare for an airport transfer that can be quite significant i.e. if the fare was say £42 it is quite possible that the passenger may round it up to say £50 – that is an extra 19%.

There will be a number of taxi drivers who pride themselves on the level of service they provide such as opening the door for the passenger, carrying the passengers holiday luggage from their home to the taxi and vice versa and having picked up an elderly person from a supermarket and loaded their weekly shopping bags into the boot of the taxi and then, upon arriving at the passenger’s home taking the shopping bags at least to the customer’s front door. It is those taxi drivers who “ go that extra mile” who are more likely to receive a tip.