To capture an impression of the industry at this transition – to see what it’s really like, from the inside – I’ve applied to work as a driver. I’ve hired a car for 10 days: a white, X-reg Mondeo with 18,600 miles on the clock, costing £125 a week, plus £250 deposit. I’ve paid £160 for a month’s insurance: more than I need, but the shortest period available. Then there’s £85 payable to the firm that takes me on, in return for which they refer me work. (The fee varies from company to company. Some charge commission instead.)
How much!!!
Mike covers day-shifts with his boss, Beatrix Freinthaler – known to drivers and customers alike as Trixy – a former secretary who bought into the business in the 1970s and seems to enjoy it rather less than she might. Mike’s been doing the job for 15 years and wants to get out: he’s doing the “knowledge” – to qualify as a black cab driver – because he reckons that might be more lucrative.
A man with faith in his chosen industry.
And he’s hinted that, like taxis, they may soon be allowed in bus lanes.
See that brother Terry? Your redundant.
“You pick up the telephone and say to a minicab company that you want to go to… wherever. They never say they’re ‘not going that way’. But a black cab!” He bounds out of his chair to begin a surprisingly comic performance. “You’re on the Fulham Road, so you check you look all right” – he smooths his hair, tucks his shirt deeper into his trousers. “You see a taxi and you wave at it and shout,’Taxi!’ Then you say,” – he speaks precisely, with a comically poshed-up accent – ”’Hello, can you take me to Tooting, please?’ And they say they’re not going there! It’s bollocks.”
A bit like what comes out of your mouth then?
Private Hire Drivers Association, which suggests that members of the public consider a minicab driver to be “a second-rate citizen, a no-hoper, a ‘dole scrounger’, an ‘illegal immigrant’ or just plain stupid”.
Disgusting. What a dreadful attitude to take.
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