How much is soiling a taxi in Cardiff?

Cardiff’s published maximum includes £60 for soiling the vehicle. Swansea lists £100. Cwmbran lists £150. Those are council maxima on the hackney table we checked — not a private-hire fine.

Do I pay extra for a fifth passenger?

Often yes, where the table is written for one to four people. Cardiff and Swansea both list £1 per passenger over four. Some councils fold larger groups into a different tariff instead.

Is luggage an extra on every Welsh meter?

No. Many tables do not list a luggage fee. Do not invent one. If the board or the table is silent, the fare is the meter for that tariff — plus any extras that are printed.

Welsh taxi meter extras: soiling and passengers

The hackney meter is flag, yards, and waiting. Many Welsh councils then print extras. Those lines are part of the maximum table. They are not a tip, and they are not a private-hire invention.

Soiling

If someone is sick in the cab, or leaves a mess that takes the car off the road, the table often allows a soiling charge.

Checked on Know Wales town pages against each council source:

Cardiff — £60.
Barry (Vale of Glamorgan) — £60.
Newport — £75.
Swansea — £100.
Tenby (Pembrokeshire) — £100.
Llanelli (Carmarthenshire) — £120.
Bridgend — £125.
Cwmbran (Torfaen) — £150.

Those figures are maxima on the published hackney table. A driver may charge less. They may not invent a higher soiling fee than the council lists. Open the town fare page for the plate you are in.

More than four passengers

Tables are often written for one to four people. A fifth adult can add a printed extra, or push the job onto a different tariff.

Cardiff — £1 per passenger over four.
Swansea — £1 per passenger exceeding four.
Newport — £1 for more than four passengers.
Llanelli — £1 for five or more.
Neath — 75p for more than four.
Cwmbran — larger groups can sit on Tariff 2 with the night band, rather than a flat extra.

Ask before the fifth person sits down. A six-seat people carrier is still bound by that council’s printed extras or night/group band.

Festive days are not always an “extra”

Cardiff lists a £3 addition for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Swansea instead publishes a full Tariff 3 for Christmas and New Year windows (flag £4.50 on the table we hold). Barry has a Christmas/New Year tariff band. Do not paste Cardiff’s £3 onto Swansea. Read that council.

What is often missing: luggage

Many Welsh tables on this site do not list a luggage fee. Cardiff’s extras are passengers, festive days, and soiling. Swansea’s are passengers and soiling. If the table is silent on bags, do not pay a made-up suitcase charge on a hackney. Assistance dogs are not a pet extra — see wheelchair accessible taxis and the Equality Act rules on designated vehicles.

Private hire is still a quote

A booked car can set its own cleaning or passenger terms in the booking. That is not the council soiling line. See hackney vs private hire. If the meter looks wrong on a hackney, keep the plate and the extras shown, and use how to complain.

How to read the board

On the Cardiff, Swansea, or Newport page, scroll past Tariff 1 to the extras list. The source link and checked date sit on that page. A blog that quotes a UK average soiling fee is not your council.