Taxi Driver Online

The bit I can't work out is that if vehicle signage, be it roof-lights, or some sort of door signage, leads to plying for hire, then why do the vast majority of councils insist on it?

There is a council near me, that has just insisted that rear door signs be added to front door-signs, along with roof-lights, along with plates on the back, along with mini-plates on the front.

This is with the total agreement of the police, and following a court case where a licensed driver (all I will say, is that he was not a PH licensed driver) escaped conviction for sexual assault, only because of confusion over his plate number.

Now the plate numbers are on the back, the front, and the side.

If that applied to all licensed drivers, then even if they did something they shouldn't have, they are more likely to be caught.

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IDFIMH

You are really scraping the barrell now, what utter tosh.

What the simple rag does not understand and by the looks of it those on here is what constitutes advertising?

a tin of baked beans has a label thats not advertising, its information like wise a private hire car can have the name of opperator and phone number its a label about the product.

no advertising means tou cannot advertise, mobile phones or hospitals things like that.

jesus were in the trade we should know what it means?

Brian Rowland, wrong again.

What the simple rag does not understand and by the looks of it those on here is what constitutes advertising?

a tin of baked beans has a label thats not advertising, its information like wise a private hire car can have the name of opperator and phone number its a label about the product.

no advertising means tou cannot advertise, mobile phones or hospitals things like that.

jesus were in the trade we should know what it means?

Brian Rowland, wrong again.

No not at all.

Why do the large London black cab firms have door signage? Certainly not to ply for hire. I think the shape of that vehicle, along with the 'For Hire' icon, does that well enough.

No, they do that to enable their large account customers to know the vehicle they are getting in, is the one they ordered, and will take the account docket.

But even in the worse case scenario, and a customer gets into the wrong black cab, it's not the end of the world. Both the vehicle and drivers are fully licensed, and fully checked.

However, if the customer, by mistake, gets into the wrong mini-cab/PH, how do we know it's going to be OK?

In fact we don't, that's why they are trying to sort out the mini-cab trade.

But if the touts are going to look exactly the same as licensed PHs, all bar a tiny sign in the front and back, then what's the point of trying to sort it all out?

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IDFIMH

Dare I say that the easiest way is a single-tier system with the same rules and regs applying to all?

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There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

I couldn't possibly comment.

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IDFIMH

The ph lads in my area would be lost without there rooflights.
Then again most of them are usually lost anyway.
But rooflights mean plying for hire.
Anyone who thinks different is a porky pie'er.
I used to drive ph. Take it from me.

In Gateshead, in order for the booking to be legal the person taking the booking should get a pick up point, a name, a time and a destination.

Without this core information the driver cannot be certain that the fare he has in his car is the right one.

Un marked P/H, without meters is the only way to stop the cowboys illegally plying for hire.

Tough on SM I know but he will just have to rely on his office to provide him with work.

B. Lucky

Mick,
Sorry but that makes no sense, if private hire was unmarked you cannot tell the difference between cowboys.

a lot of them are anyway.

Well that makes no sense at all.

So a customer comes out of a club half cut, goes up to an un-marked car with no meter, and asks are you the car for ............

Really safety conscious there aren't we?

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IDFIMH

We are all looking at each other to sort this problem out, but the problem is not with us at all!

The problem, is that Joe Public simply dont give a damn about what licence plate of the car says. Most of em just want to get home and are too [edited by admin] to even read what the licence plate says and couldn't give a damn about it anyway. Jesus, they'd get in a bloody fire engine if it offered to take em home.

There is, and has always been a partial solution to the problem. When a job is pre-booked, give the customer and the driver two halves of a pin number or booking reference.

A name is not enough. For the passenger who is worried it might not be the right cab may say to the driver "What name are you for?" The driver replies "Jackson" or whatever, and the passenger says "Yes, thats me" and off you go. Fine? Nope. The passenger just lied to get the cab. Your real passneger is stilll waiting at the club.

So, make hte passenger say their name? Again no good. As the moody cab will then say, yes, I'm for you.

Its the public who are the problem here. Not the Taxis or the Genuine PH.

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There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

Yes that right . What a demented attitude.

The only way to stop cowboys plying for hire is to ensure that there are enough Hacks on the road to meet demand. If they were there would the cowboys risk plying?

The only solution in the real world is to admit that this antiquated notion of independent driver trawling the streets to be flagged down by custom is a thing of the past.

You need a central booking and despatch system to provide a service which balances supply with demand and allows the most efficent usage of the vehicle and driver.

The modern consumer wants it product delivered to where it is, when it wants it. The notion of a transport system in the 21st century where customers have to walk to a perscribed point and then and wait for the service to arrive is only held by folks with their heads seriously emplanted up their back passage.

How this central booking system is co-ordinated is another, more relevant debate.

Even Claude agrees with me cos he belongs to Dial a Cab.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

Well, as usual your point is absolutely correct Tom.

I have decided that I will be the central system owner, so, if you would all just like to send me your circuit rent cheques, I will begin running it.

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There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

Cheque or cash Guv?

Seriously though. In Finland, the equivalent of Vodafone is trying to establish such a system nationally. Well so the man trying to sell me the system said.

Maybe Zingo will take over the world! I doubt it but never mind.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry