Tell us about your taxi experience
The Victorian Taxi Directorate (VTD) is responsible for ensuring Victorians receive quality service from the industry we regulate.
The VTD has powers to investigate complaints, conduct compliance activities and penalise individuals and organisations that do the wrong thing.
- Provide feedback or complaints via our online form
- Download, complete and mail a printed form
- If you are lodging a formal complaint, you may be asked to complete a written complaint form that can be used as evidence.
For further information, please refer to VTD's "A Guide to Customer Feedback and Complaints Handling" document (PDF, 426KB, 12pp.) or (RTF, 165KB, 9pp.)
What the Victorian Taxi Directorate can investigate
The VTD can investigate industry related complaints about organisations or individuals who work in the taxi, hire vehicle or driving instructor industries.
The types of issues you could complain to the VTD about include:
- driver behaviour, knowledge or safety
- fare refusal
- vehicle safety
- fraudulent transactions
- taxi bookings
- touting
- vehicle condition
- driver cleanliness.
Note: In some instances, the VTD will refer your complaint to the relevant taxi company (Network Service Provider - NSP).
The types of complaints that the VTD may refer to the NSP to resolve include issues of vehicle cleanliness, odour, and booking services.
All accredited taxi NSPs must have a customer service and complaints handling process that meets strict Australian Standards. The VTD regularly audits NSPs to ensure that their customer service practices meet these strict standards.
The Victorian Taxi Directorate cannot investigate
Serious crime
The Victorian Taxi Directorate cannot immediately respond if you are involved in an altercation with an organisation or an individual.
In the event of an emergency, you should contact Victoria Police on 000.
The VTD does not investigate criminal matters, so complaints of this nature may be forwarded to Victoria Police or other relevant agencies for further investigation. This includes complaints about:
- assault
- theft
- drink driving or drug use
- road rage
- vehicle accidents
- refunds (other than MPTP).
The VTD works closely with Victoria Police and may take action against a taxi driver or operator who is under investigation by the police.
Civil matters
Although the VTD can advise you on the best course of action to take, it cannot resolve civil disputes or compensate customers for lost money or property, or assist if you have been involved in an accident with a taxi driver.
What happens when you make a formal complaint?
- Your complaint will be acknowledged promptly.
- Your complaint will be investigated to identify the taxi driver concerned.
- The VTD will take appropriate disciplinary action in relation to your complaints based on the information provided to us. The VTD will contact you if further information is required.
- If you are unhappy with the outcome of this process or experience an undue delay in our response, you can ask for your complaint to be re-examined by a senior Victorian Taxi Directorate manager.
- If you are still unhappy with the outcome of your complaint, you can ask for a member of the Department of Transport's leadership team to review your complaint.
- At the conclusion of this process, you may wish to contact Ombudsman Victoria if you are dissatisfied with the way that the Department of Transport has managed your complaint.