§ Mr. Raymond Fletcherasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he is aware that the non-issue of decimal conversion tables to the London taxicab trade may result in actionable allegations of overcharging by passengers; and what action he proposes to take to obviate this;
(2) why no decimal conversion tables are being issued to the London taxicab trade on decimalisation day by the Metropolitan Commissioner of Police.
§ Mr. MaudlingRecalibration of taximeters to record fares in decimal currency will take some time to complete. Conversion tables will be provided as soon as an increase of fares, now in contemplation, becomes effective. I have no reason to believe that during this interval the absence of conversion tables will cause misunderstanding or allegations of overcharging by passengers. It will only be infrequently, where extras of 3d. or 9d. are included, that the £.s.d. charges shown on the meters will have no exact decimal equivalent; and then the fares can be settled by giving 3d. bits in the change, since these will remain legal tender for some time and taxi-drivers have been advised to maintain a stock of them.