Taxi Driver Online

Just a quick one. We have 5 supermarkets of varying size here in GOsport, and one (greedy) firm have freephones in all of them, is there not a ruling about unfair trading when one firm holds the monopoly?

Surely one firm cannot hold all the freephones?

Gets right up my nose unfair competition and all that

ANyone know the legal rights?

Try www.medigen.co.uk. They will put you in the picture

Do you mean one taxi firm has the monopoly or that one firm controls the freephone contracts with the supermarkets?

Either way, I doubt if it would fall foul of competition rules, unless they were abusing the monopoly in some way, eg secret stitch ups.

As long as the tendering process and the like is above board then I doubt of the authorities would be interested.

You could try contacting the OFT, but I doubt if you would get anywhere.

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

I think at the end of the day if tescos want tescos taxis there is not much anyone can do.Makes you wonder about the old saying "if you cannot beat them,join them"

The contracts were up for tender we just happened to win, Sour grapes mate better luck next time!

If that firm offers up more money than anyone else, then they get the freephone.

Might be worth your firm bidding a bit more on a tender, or just put out the word that they are going to bid many thousands even if they don't.

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IDFIMH

I think your "win" is a very shallow one. Its hard enough to make a good living without having the burden of these middlemen. More money leaves the trade in this way than that paid for plates but TDO seems to support these paracites. Why not get together with the other companies in your area and try to reach an agreement amoung yourselves before you put in profit draining tenders. In my area we all refused to pay for railway station rights and now we have a free open station. I know every area is different and that may not work for you, I was using it as an example, but if you get together and talk you may find there is more to unite you than there is to divide you. Trade the hotspots amoungst yourselves and then submit minimum or zero tenders, talk to the outlets local manages will often allow more than one advertiser on site, most tenders are only for a free-phone they are not exclusive right to the Taxi work. But please don't use superglue, wire cutters etc to sabatage the phones that is illegal. I have heard of people super glueing down the popup handset buttons so customers can't get through I laughed at the time but it is illegal and I would not condone such action.

Like the company that was talked into increasing their bid by a salesperson only to find they were the only one bidding for that outlet, didn't this make the TV in some documentary about sharp practice involving free-phones.

In a lot of cases the cost of having the freephone is more than the benefit gained i have one for the local somerfields but have never bothered bidding for the others because at the end of the day most of the work generated are the "crappy little runs" as my drivers refer to them so round here they aren't really worth it especially not paying over the odds for them and Medigen are a right bunch of s******s I certainly wouldn't touch them with a bargepole they had to cjhange their name after some of their sharp practises were exposed on a tv documentary !

T, when you know how our company works then you can start giving us advice on how to run it.

You carry on paying through the nose to middlemen, bury your stupid head in the sand. If you were less confrontational and listened you might find out things to your advantage, there is a reason God gave us 2 ears but only one GOB. You are buying your work, hope you can justify the price. What happens to the goodwill you build up when at the next tendering exercise you lose. People see a free-phone not your company.
Your "I'm all right, I won attitude" will quickly fade, every trade has its "bottom feeders"and you are at the bottom of our food chain.

You did not win you paid the highest price. Perhaps you were the most desperate.

Yep true to form someone disagrees with 'T' and the insults start.

Oh poor dear hurt your feeling, shame. Which bits were insulting, I would like to saviour them. I suppose your "Im all right Jack" "sour grape" jibe at someone else was pleasantries. You hand it out and you will get it back, please don't grizzle in not very endearing. Echo is an apt name for you all noise and no sustance and only what we've heard before.

Yes about three or four years ago.

Your point?

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IDFIMH