A FAMILY meal out left a Deighton couple with a sour taste when they got the bill for the taxi home.

Rochelle and John Parchment were faced with a bill for £22.60 for the journey back from the Golcar Lily on Sunday – almost double what they had paid to get there four hours earlier.

The couple, their three children and a cousin, had booked a cab with Timmy’s Taxis of Sheepridge Road, to take them from their Warrenside home to the Bolster Moor pub and restaurant. They were joining eight others members of the family to celebrate Rochelle’s sister Briony’s 40th birthday.

The minibus fare for the six of them for the seven-mile journey was £12. After the meal their son stayed behind, so five of them booked a ride home with Mount Taxis.

On arrival back at Warrenside they were shocked to be told by the driver that the fare on the meter was £22.60.

Rochelle said: “I was furious. Had I been informed that the taxi was metered, I would not have taken it.

“I pointed out that there were more of us in a larger vehicle on the outward journey, but the driver just said ‘it is on a meter’. They did not mention the meter when we booked the taxi.

“People are struggling financially these days and this is a heck of a lot of money for a taxi.

“I think the public have a right to know when they are going to be metered. People should be given the right information so they can choose if to take the taxi or cancel it.”

Rochelle told her mother, Clr Christine Iredale, of the incident. Clr Iredale is chairwoman of Kirklees Licensing and Safety Committee.