As soon as the storm hit Palma this morning I knew that the taxi I had booked yesterday, Wednesday, for a hospital appointment was going to be late. My appointment was for 9.10am and I had booked the cab for 8.30am because of the morning traffic (not due to hire cars).
However, due to the storm the taxi did not apparently turn up until 9am, by which time I had called the clinic, explained my situation and booked another appointment. Furthermore, I got a call from the Palma taxi firm blaming me for not cancelling the booking.
I tried to point out that firstly they should apologise for having failed to have turned up at the booked time, they knew my destination so I clearly needed the cab for an important reason. But no, I got a lecture and this is not the first time I’ve been let down by Palma’s taxis.
It’s always the same, when it’s too hot or too wet, the taxi service grinds to a halt and is thrown into chaos. It clearly can’t cope and it makes no difference what time of year it is, so this can’t be blamed on tourists. That said, I hope there weren’t any visitors hoping to get to the airport to catch a flight by taxi.