Taxi Driver Online

Found this on an anti-fraud site http://www.fraudweb.co.uk/



Earnings from Taxi Drivers

Introduction

The question of how you deal with earnings from taxi drivers is always a problem. This is an area where benefit inspectors and assessors suspect that all taxi drivers lie to us. Council officers are often faced with several problems:

1.
Two sets of books.

2.
More often than not no accounts whatsoever.

3.
Accounts written on the back of a cigarette packet.

4.
No accountant.

5.
The accountant is a mate/member of the family/spouse who has no training as an accountant.

6.
The accounts have not been properly audited

7.
All are self-employed.

8.
They only do a little bit at the weekend to keep their hand in.


The bottom line is that the majority of taxi drivers seem to do under 16 hours per week and only earn £15.

Reality Check

Despite the protestations of the taxi driver and the suspicions of benefit staff that all taxi drivers must be making a small fortune, there a number of facts to consider.

1.
A number of taxi drivers are on the taxi company's payroll. Most of the good taxi firms are working this way because they get a good deal on bulk car leasing. Local businesses and local authorities are more likely to give contracts to a taxi firm that is a registered company. Organisations that want to have a contract with a taxi firm will be looking for reliability. The one-man-band is not thought of as being as reliable as a firm. However, in rural areas the one-man-band may be the only option.

2.
It does cost money to run a car. The driver/owner will probably have to licence more than one car. Taxis do have high running costs because of the mileage and the fact that most of the usage is over short distances, more often than not in urban or semi urban areas.

3.
In some areas there is a surplus of taxi firms and therefore finding customers can be difficult. Taxi drivers can put in long hours but carry few passengers.

4.
Weekend work is good. A taxi driver who is prepared to work on Friday and Saturday nights can expect to earn as much on those two nights, as a driver who only works Monday to Friday. Thursday and Sunday nights are the second two busiest nights. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday day work is good, as these are shopping days. It is worth checking with the out of town shopping precincts to see which of the taxi firms offer a free telephone calling service. Having a freephone in Tesco is not something that the one-man-band can afford to do.

Wet weather will draw out the customers, for short journeys as well as long journeys. While in sunshine alternative transport is used. January is a very poor month for taxi driver, while December is often a good month. It should be noted that in December the need for taxi drivers has greatly reduced as Christmas shopping has extended over six months.

5.
The so-called middle classes tend to use less taxis than other groups. These days one member of the domestic partnership will drive and not drink. This grouping will also be multi-car users and is another reason why they do not use taxis as much as many others. Even groups of men from this social class are likely to go out drinking with one of their number as the designated driver of the night.

6.
It costs money to licence a driver and the cars. It is not reasonable for a driver to spend £150 to licence two cars and a further £75 to licence himself and only do £15 a week.

7.
When on holiday a one-man-band will get someone else, a brother or father-in-law to keep the business going. They may be claiming benefits too.

8.
Retired drivers are more likely to work the day shifts, while married men will do either, unless they have another day job in which case they will do a few hours in the evening, early mornings and weekend work. Middle-aged single men will do the night shifts. More women are working in this field but tend to be used for couples and women passengers.

9.
The one-man-band will give little or no consideration to their own health and safety (or in many cases those of the customer, would you choose to be driven by someone who has not slept in the last 24 hours?)

10.
If a driver/owner is not doing enough hours then there is the question, are they available for work, or are they already doing other work?


Taxi Earning Policy

Firstly you need to do some work with your taxi licensing department and one of the reputable taxi firms (either in your district or a neighbouring district). Establish the following:

1.
Which of the local firms run payroll staff (some do a mixture of both).

2.
Which are the busiest times for taxi drivers in your area.

3.
To work out the average number of hours that a driver does find out the average time that a journey takes and multiply it by the average number of journeys that a driver does per week

i.
What is the average number of hours that a full-time driver does per week

ii.
What is the average number of hours that a part-time driver does per week


Where a driver is self-employed but can not/does not/will not offer up his accounts then calculate his benefit on the following simple calculation:

· Average number of hours * national minimum wage

Remember that he should have a good reason for working part-time. Tell him the above calculation will be used until he supplies you with proof of his real earnings. If he does supply you with real earnings treat as a change in circumstance.

It would be worth updating each time the national minimum wage is changed and check the average number of hours once a year.

Example:

In your area the average journey takes 20 minutes and the average full time driver does 100 journeys per week while the average part-time driver does 50. The average number of hours become 33hrs and 17hrs.

If the average minimum wage is £5 per hour the earnings will be £165 per week and £85 per week

February 2001

And thats what makes this job so FARE 15hours a week is all I work my foot most do 15 hours a day

We do payroll most of our drivers have worked for us over 20 years but we struggle to employ new staff because of the cash in hand brigade (with there kitchen sink operations) and prices cut to the bone

no mention of leasing or renting a car, no mention of the amount paid for liability insurance, no metion of fuel or servicing costs.
i hope this flawed piece of rubbish is not used by anybody in authority...

Now where have I heard that before?

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IDFIMH

So drivers get licensed, CRB, medical, knowledge test, DSA test, just for one weeks work a year.

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IDFIMH

I sometimes think taxi badges must be issued at the dole office everybody and his brother and cousins have a badge in our area

I met an RAC chap from High Wycombe who was on the Knowledge a couple of years ago.

He was doing it 3 days a week.

A little '125' bike and you could be off Mr Tcabbie?

Our badges certainly are'nt handed out like confetti, although theres a few in the Minicab indutry wish they were.

So even if the average journey means 10 minutes there and ten dead back, the driver would be taking at least £7 an hour, say?

So if he does 100 jobs a week he's taking at least £700, but only earning £165 profit

He must be running a £50k Merc

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

I am sure you have heard the saying. 'You could not make it up'
Well it seems you can

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Make trafic wardens redundant. PARK LEGALLY.
Congestion charge! Before it was free.

Yes, well spotted Mr T, I should have said £7 per job rather than £7 per hour.

Anyway, the point I was making is still valid, since if he's doing 100 jobs a week then he must be grossing £700, which doesn't quite equate to £165 profit.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

Eh?

The point I was making is that his 33 hours and his hourly wage figures contradict his other figures.

If each job takes 20 minutes average, as he claims, then surely the take must be around £7 a job or so, even assuming ten of the minutes is dead mileage coming back.

He then claims that the average driver will do 100 jobs, thus must gross £700 or so a week.

That's right, innit?

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk