Taxi Driver Online

Hope I’m posting this in the right forum.. I’m asking if anyone here currently or previously worked Hackney Carriage in Peterborough, and if they’d be happy to give a brief insight into the trade locally either on the forum or in private.

I’m considering the possibility of getting licenced but I’m not that familiar with trade here. I worked Hackney Carriage in Epping Forest many years ago and understand the general day to day workings of a cabbie. I’ve lived in Peterborough for a few years now and wondering if it’s feasible to work an average of 4 days a week. Also, wondering if the Hackney carriages work solely from the ranks/street hails or if the work is heavily reliant on pre booked, private hire like operators?

I’m under no illusions, I’m not expecting big money to be made, I’m just hoping to find an insight to the local trade and feasibility of my circumstances.

Many thanks

Not sure we have anyone on here posting from there.

We do have a lot of articles from Peterborough, and it seems that their trade has quite a large ethnic population driving there.

I also think a lot of non-local drivers work there via Uber, but I'm not sure exactly how much of a 'honey pot' it actually is.

I would talk to some of the operators to get an idea, and/or speak to the folks doing the knowledge schools. They will have all the info you need.

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IDFIMH

Cheers mate, appreciate the reply.. yeah that will be my next port of call

I worked hackney in Stamford and know a few people from the peterborough trade. The ranks are generally quite slow and many of the hackneys are connected to the PH trade which is 100% controlled by the local Pakistani/bangladeshi community. They will however employ anyone especially if you are willing to work percentage. Boards are generally very biased against owner drivers.

The requirements are for a wav but not the turning circle rules and although there are a few electric as far as I know there is no compulsion for new entrants to be electric although I haven't talked to anyone recently.

The busiest ranks tend to be the train station (permit required) queensgate bus station and broadway but there is plenty odf sitting around and waiting.

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Thanks Edders, that’s quite helpful.. appreciate the input

I'd always assume that, apart from the very biggest cities, elsewhere most HCs would be attached to some kind of circuit. Thus that would include Peterborough.

(London would be the obvious exception to that rule. As would Birmingham - England's second biggest city. Think I recall a few years ago suggesting that most Brum HCs would be attached to a circuit, but Brummie Cabbie who posted on here put me right on that one

On the other hand, I'm pretty sure that, historically at least - the vast majority of Edinburgh's 1,300 or so HCs would be attached to a circuit. Unusually, though, Edinburgh historically has had more HCs than PHVs, thus HCs would be doing much of the work normally done by PHVs in other big cities, so hardly a surprise most would be on circuits.

Of course, in more recent years PHVs in Edinburgh have proliferated as well, helped along by Uber. But I'm still pretty sure the vast majority of the reduced number of HCs - 1,100 or so - will be on circuits.

By the same token, with apps and the like the circuit/street car HC binary will be a bit less strict compared to what it was before apps and the like changed the pre-booking environment a bit.)

(And as Edders' on-the-ground knowledge maybe indicates, in Peterborough it looks like it's mixed HC/PH circuits there, which I don't think would be the case in the likes of the maybe Liverpool, Edinburgh or Glasgow.)