John Heron landed in Sydney earlier this month after a late-night flight, planning to spend the evening at a hotel next to the airport, about 1.5km from the domestic terminal.

But when the 75-year-old walked up to the taxi rank, backpack and suitcase in tow, he says two drivers in row refused his fare because the trip was too short. The NSW Taxi Council says while the majority of drivers do the right thing and follow the law, when it comes to accepting fares, it is unacceptable for any passenger to be put in Heron’s position.

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Guardian Australia asked readers if they have faced similar problems. Several former and current taxi drivers wrote in, too, saying Heron’s story didn’t fully reflect the grind drivers go through waiting hours in the rank.

Here’s what they had to say.

Frustrated drivers and guilty tips

Jay Murphy from Lismore said she had two similar experienceswhen trying to get from the domestic terminal to the Ibis budget hotel, about 1km from Sydney airport. Murphy said she has an invisible disability that makes it painful to walk after a flight, and she has struggled to find a taxi to take her.

“A few years ago, the driver took my fare, but spent the whole trip telling me he had lost his place in the queue and I needed to pay him extra to make up for it,” she wrote. “I ended up giving him about $20 cash on top of the already high fare because I felt so guilty.”

Another driver, Murphy said, “point blank refused my fare as it was in walking distance”. She complained and a transport officer took the driver’s details and gave the driver a warning.

Jude Turner said he has experienced similar issues for decades, including during a hotel stay near the airport a few years ago before taking one of his sons to the terminal for an early flight.

“We took him to departures, waved goodbye then tried to get a taxi back to our hotel to get a couple more hours’ sleep,” Turner recounted. “The hotel was probably only a few hundred meters away but impossible to walk to.”

A concierge on hand put Turner in a cab, but he said the driver “yelled and complained and was very aggressive once he knew we were going only a short distance”. Another driver offered to take him to the hotel, but by that point Turner said all the drivers in the rank were yelling at him and the concierge for the short fare. He booked an Uber instead.

Taxi drivers tell of hours-long waits at airport ranks

Ralph Millen wrote in to say he spent seven years driving a cab, describing the pay as “miserable” and the hours as “life-wrecking”.

“The thing about the airport rank is that it takes ages to get on and you wait for hours,” he wrote. “I completely understand the heartbreak of the cab drivers when they wait queued for several hours and are then compelled to accept a fare that will not even cover the time they spent waiting on the rank. Cruelly tight margins make attending the airport at all a huge gamble”

Frank Bromley also used to drive a taxi, saying while he took short fares as it was an obligation of the job, he understood drivers’ frustrations.

“I used to sometimes queue for an hour or more at night at the airport when it was desperately quiet elsewhere,” he wrote. “The hope was that a long wait would get a reasonable or a high fare compared to driving around for an hour without making anything much.”

“During a busier day it didn’t worry me very much as there was a reasonable volume of work around and even if it was an annoyance, I could pick up another fare.”

Live near the airport? Tough luck

Josh Pearson lives in the Sydney suburb of Alexandria, less than 5km from the domestic terminal. He refuses to use taxis, and said “every time I try they’ve been a rip-off”.

“I’ve had multiple taxis try to take me the ‘quick way’ when I’ve lived in this suburb for 10 years and know the route they’re trying to take me on is the slowest possible way, to jack up their fare,” he wrote.

He recentlyflew back from Melbourne and had one cab quote him $50 without a meter, and anotherrefuse to take him. An Uber home cost $25. And earlier this month, Pearson said a cab tried to charge him $60, claiming Alexandria was part of the CBD and the area for a fixed-fare trial that recently began. It is not.

“I didn’t bother trying for another cab, I just booked an Uber, it cost me $29.”

Gab Abramowitz says he lives in Marrickville, not far from the airport. Difficulties taking cabs “happens to us often”.

“I’ve been thrown out of a cab just outside the airport so the driver could rejoin the front of the queue,” Abramowitz wrote. “Just as bad is when a driver does take us home, but is seriously pissed off the whole way. I’ve had cursing, shouting and hitting the door with a fist. I do have some sympathy for drivers who have waited as much as two hours for a ride, but at the same time, a driver queueing at the airport is a gamble, and short rides are part of that gamble.”

Increase the flat-fee zone, or change the queue system

Glenys Rowe would support changes to make the system fairer for both customers and taxi drivers, saying the Uber queue – which requires a longer walk from the terminal – is no solution “if you’re a senior citizen with two heavy bags”.

“The only way I can get a taxi to take me to Gardeners road [close to the airport] with my usual two big suitcases is to wave a $50 note prominently and promise them that as a tip, on top of the metered fare as I climb into the back seat,” she wrote. “The taxi debacle would be easily sorted by a clock out/clock in priority queue for drivers returning from a short trip.”

Sonia Henry points to a string of issues including some drivers refusing fares, others adding on unknown fees they refuse to explain, and drivers becoming aggressive when asked to accept a short fare.

“I will never get another taxi from Sydney airport. Nearly every taxi I have taken from there has been a bad experience,” Henry wrote. “They seem to have carte blanche to behave however they like.”