Taxi Driver Online

Plymouth titbits

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/display ... K=10899074

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/display ... K=10793547

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/display ... K=10870325

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/display ... K=10861734


Best wishes

JD

some drivers need to take notice of the second part of the last link:

READING in last Tuesday's Herald about the effect on taxis the late night buses would have, I was incensed at the attitudes of the taxi firm owners and some drivers.

They all need to get their firms organised to provide a better service, and take heed of the law regarding Hackney Carriages.

As I understand it, a black cab cruising with its light on is for hire, and should stop when flagged down. If the light is out then the cab is not for hire. If this is the case, why did I have to wait at the top of Royal Parade in the early hours of Monday morning after getting off a coach at Bretonside Bus station? I tried all the taxi firms I could on my mobile phone, only to be told there was an hour-and-a-half wait for a taxi.

Meanwhile I tried to flag down no fewer than six black cabs with their lights on, each one ignored my wife and I, who by the way was in a wheelchair.

As far as I am concerned, the taxi firms have brought the introduction of the night buses through their own greed and disorganisation.

Complaints to the taxi office in the Civic Centre had no effect, either.

IAN RITSMA

Crownhill Road

not enough HC's in the evenings so the council put on night buses, Wheelchair customers left stranded, double the number of PHV's than there are HC's, sounds like the evidence someone may need to take the councils restricted numbers policy to court to get it changed or even removed altogether...

i wonder if any of the HC's they flagged would of stopped if his missus in the wheelchair was hidden around the corner?

heres another one from tonights paper:

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=133188&command=displayContent&sourceNode=133171&contentPK=10905932

MORE TAXIS NEEDED ON THE CITY'S STREETS


12:00 - 07 September 2004
Just who is telling the truth about the taxis on Saturday nights? Linda Gilroy says there are too many taxis in Plymouth, but the police say there are not enough of them now the Labour council is implementing late-night buses to deal with clubbers getting home.

Why are the city council taxpayers having to subsidise people who waste money on booze, at the same time as our elderly pensioners are struggling to pay the council tax and losing out on the luxuries which they deserve?

Would it not be common sense to allow more taxis on the road and let honest people earn a living, which is not subsidised by the taxpayer?

If people say taxis are too expensive and buses are cheaper, then if you can afford to spend money on beer you can afford to pay for a taxi to go home at your own cost, without the money coming from taxpayers who work hard and save hard. We already lose our street policing due to the pressure in the city centre at night, which again is paid at the expense of the taxpayers. That is why our houses are under threat from being burgled.

But on the other side is the council trying to encourage single ladies to wait around for a bus on their own, and walk home from the drop-off bus stop allowing a possible attacker to follow them home by getting off at the next stop down the road.

At the same time as violent crime is rising, just how many people have been raped or attacked in Plymouth over the years? And who is going to get on a bus full of drunken yobs shouting abusive language and vomiting on the seats?

It makes more sense to have more taxis on the road, not only to get them home but to the door safely. If the council says Plymouth is a safe city then why is our city being plastered with signs warning of car theft? Crime is surely on the rise in what we once knew as a great city.

D COBBIT

Peverell

The point has been made by posters on TDO, and is a very valid one.

more from that place in devon:

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=133188&command=displayContent&sourceNode=133171&contentPK=10927011

CAB DRIVERS SUFFER TOO MUCH ABUSE


12:00 - 10 September 2004
I would like to suggest to Mr Cobbet and anyone else who thinks that on a Saturday night there are not enough taxis to go round that they could go and get their own private hire licence and come out and see what the real world is like. On one recent Saturday night I was spat at, verbally abused, threatened, had bottles thrown at me and food thrown all around the inside of my cab.

Also some kind person decided that he would use the floor of my cab as a toilet.

To top all that off around this time last year I was assaulted and ended up with a few broken ribs.

I would also like to know how and why he believes that cab drivers are responsible for all the car crime and street violence that goes on in the city.

It is only one night a week that people are waiting around for a ride home and I know from first-hand experience that the city is cleared within a couple of hours. I would also like to point out that in most major towns and cities this is a similar situation.

Maybe extended licensing hours could work. That way people would trickle out of pubs and clubs over a couple of hours rather than stampeding out in their thousands.

Surely he does not think that there should be thousands of taxi and private hire drivers to match the thousands of people that go out on a Saturday night.

I will leave you all with a few tips to help you get home after your night out.

1. Eat any food before you get in the cab. Most drivers will not stop if they see people with food as this invariably ends up being scattered around the cab.

2. Drivers will not stop just because you stand in the middle of the road. His job is to get you home safely, not run you over.

3. If you have pre-booked then make sure you meet the cab at the designated position and time. If you are not there he will not wait. There are other people that will have booked and if he spends time waiting for you then he will be late for the next booking.

4. If you are prone to being sick, do it before you get in the cab as the soiling charge is now £50. Failing that get to know your limits.

My best advice is take Saturday nights off, and take your mates with you.

you will miraculously find the authorities will solve this problem fairly quickly with publicity saying what maximum fines are

I for one would not put up with it.

by the way if you take my advice Friday afternoon at 4pm is a good a time as any to inform the council.

Just as they are looking forward to the weekend.

they will [edited by admin] themselves.

and it will hit the headlines Saturday night, having missed fridays deadline


the whole night out wrecked by the wreckers! that will tame them.

some valid points from this article which was in the letters page of the local paper. However i am trying to work out if it was written by a HC driver or a PH Driver who stops for flaggers ???

It was most probably written by a PH driver who also has a taxi driven by several journeymen.

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IDFIMH