Taxi Driver Online

They could be any 5 starts and destinations from about 300 roads so you do need to know all the roads and how to get between them. You don't just get a list of a few and have to learn just them.

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Grandad,

go PH and buy a Widescreen satnav...then after your familiar with every nook and cranny go get your Hack licence

I was wondering why my @rse was itchy

Try Preparation H.... as we say "Ive no money but my father had piles"

Not sure if that was meant as sarcasm!!

If not, you obviously don't know Plymouth.

With regards to the original posters questions, nobody can really advise what's best for you one way or the other, the only way is "to suck it and see"

I started in 92 during the last recession and it really did hit hard and back then there were half as many drivers on the ranks.

Cab rents depending on whether you rent days, nights or 24/7 range from around £120 for a day cab, £150 for a night cab and £200 for 24/7.

As far as buying most when they first come out and plan to buy end up starting off with an older cab just to get hold of the plate, not sure what they're going for at the moment so let's just say they're going for £17k, add to that an older metro or LTI and you'd be looking at maybe £20k.

We are dual badged in my town so even PH have to pass the knowlege test.

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Grandad,

Q1, Where is the Shambles, As, my room
Q2 where is the hospital, As, just off Haxby RD where the nurses live
Q3where is the nudist club,and whats it called As, near Flaxton and its the white rose
Q4 whats the smallest train at the station, As, Thomas the tank

How does Dual badging work? does it mean you as a driver are Both entitled to drive Taxis and PH?

We have Both Taxi and PH Drivers Badges/licences here..no Knowledge needed as we're all clever Beggars up here anyway so it dont matter..you can Drive PH on a taxi Badge but you cant drive Taxis on a PH badge..which is really Odd because they both cost the same and are just as easy to get, I just cant see any need here for obtaining a seperate PH badge that has absolutely no benefits to it...odd things councils..!!

Yes it does.....does it work? IMO No

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Yes, but as you know the council here only issue taxi badges, but if you want the words PH only they will be happy to oblige but you can drive both on one so always get the taxi badge just in case you have a problem with your PH and need a loan of a cab

Thanks for that local info Darren63, I realise that it is a very difficult question to answer!
Seeing as you know Plymouth, would it be reasonable to expect around £100 average a day, if you were hitting the day peaks and early evenings or would it be a case of mainly working nights to grab the Union street etc fares to get that sort of return?
I'm very nervous of spending alot of outlay for something that is unlikely to pay its way in the long run, as not meeting a minimum of around £100 gross daily average could be risky for me financially. What I'd really love to know is how much a day/night the local taxis earn on average in Plymouth, but unless I harass lots of cabbies for this private information then I can't see if Hackney cabs are a realistic living for me or not.

I got my application pack from the council today with lots of good information. The knowledge is needed, 50 venues - area and street names, 30 routes - A to B named route and 20 customer care questions. I would also need to take a standard CRB check, taxi driving test, medical and start a Btec drive qualification. Pretty standard stuff I gather.

I'm confident that I know over half the venues and routes, but I've not really paid much attention before to the street names

I think you will find you need an enhanced CRB check.

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Grandad,

Well at the beginning don't. Drive someone else's for a while.

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IDFIMH

You could mostly do £100 daily without having to touch the p!ssheads.

Obviously on slower days and if the fares are crap it'll be a little harder and you'll maybe need to do a few more hours.

As an example I know of drivers who come out around 6am and work til 5.30/6pm and somedays they'll only do £80 but other days it'll be maybe £110/£120, like I said, it's all depends on the quality and quantity of the fares you get.

I know this may sound stupid but the best time to start would probably be January, if you can cope and live on what you bring in a slow month you'll be ok for the rest of the year.

And the difference is?