Taxi Driver Online

I know you like me raising issues GBC.

I arrived back at St Pancras on the Eurostar from about 22.30 last Sunday. Wanted a cab to Paddington so went to the taxi rank. A queue of about 40 customers and no taxis. It took us 30 minutes to be picked up (about the 22nd cab that arrived).

When we arrived at Paddington there must have been 100+ cans sat waiting.

Surely there is some system to indicate where work is due in town.

Seems wierd that all these guys were happy sat at Padd when a queue was waiting at St Pancras.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

That's the trouble with these so called planers.
You have no way when driving along Euston road, of knowing if there are people waiting for taxis at St Pancras. If you do drive round the block to have a look, the rank is sometimes obscured by vehicles parked by a bus stop and if you drive on to the slip towards the rank you can be stuck there for ages if there is no work. You cant pull off if there are cabs in front of you because of the high kerb. Thats why you find the majority of cabs on that rank are sent there via a radio message.
The radio taxi firms think its better that way it makes the subs look value for money!
It would have been more sensible to not have the kerbed slip approach to the rank, or at least have gaps every ten yards that would do it, but you have to remember the planers never bother to consult the cab trade.

needs CCTV coverage off all the stations other than to shoot terrorist suspects then...

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

Can't they have something similar to what they have re car parks spaces?

So drivers can see how many cabs are waiting at each rank, or better still a CB system where cab drivers leaving various ranks can update drivers on the way back.

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IDFIMH

That would mean they would have to communicate with each other as opposed to slagging each other off! :lol

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Life? Don't talk to me about life!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjm2eslm6hI

I don't mind you raising issues one little bit Mr Thumb.

As my learned colleague ( ) Mr A has pointed out, the rank at St Pancras is a nuisance due to the round the houses trip in order to gain entry to it.

To be fair it's usually jam packed with taxis as it's generally the same drivers that service it.

If you had turned right towards the Kings Cross Station rank which runs down the east side of St Pancras, your wait would have been about 5 mins max as all the taxi's heading for St Pancras drive past that rank first.

The Paddington rank is always full, a bit over rated if you ask me, but it has a high volume of trains from the Airport and the West Country.

Apparently you even get the odd train from Wales turning up.

There's no 'system' as such, word of mouth and the odd phone call from a mate helps, but generally speaking Sunday evening is busy at all the stations, especially around 11pm onwards.

Radio cabs tend to send messages on their terminals if there's excessive numbers at any one particular station.

Could it also be that they heard you was coming and scarpered

The other Tom

Thank you for the answer. Your explanation is perfectly valid. I wonder if anyone has bothered to tell Boris?

GBC Thanks for the Kings Cross tip, maybe next time.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

Funny enough I did send an email to Peter Hendy explaining what I thought was wrong with the rank at St Pancras.
but like Bob Oddie the LTDA man on the board of TFL he doesn't seem to know how to use a computer.

Tom Thumb raises the point of the bad design and operation of the St.Pancras rank.
Just as well he didn't arrive at Paddington via the Heathrow Express.
He would join the queue for a taxi but the taxis are there on the rank which stretches back to Harrow Road.
Passengers want a taxi and taxis wants passengers but the way the rank is designed and operated causes delays (the rank has a set of lights in the middle of it).

Once again,don't blame the driver - blame the designers (who are the last people to admit they got it wrong).

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Charlton's lost past http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsFKWGlrze0
London's future? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... rants.html

Yep, the same paddington stn rank that tailed back to "the hilton metropole" this morning

I ventured out today as i'm out this evening for a family do......needless to say i'm sticking on nights for the foreseeable future and then some!!!

Came in from the West and thought i'd put onto Paddington, the queue was all the way back to the metropole so i thought "sod that i'm bound to get something off the street!!"

40 minutes....i kid you not! 40 minutes later of driving around relentlessly in traffic unable to get onto any of the main ranks around i finally trap a job in Charing Cross Road going to Victoria Station......£9.00. From there trying to get even near the rank was nigh on impossible so decided to keep venturing on and hopefully trap a second job, well a good 25 minutes later i'm now back at Paddington putting on the back still by the metropole and thankfully only waited about 15 minutes before getting my job to the Wellcome trust on Euston Rd! A slow drive directly back to Paddington but by this time i'm breaking my neck for a pee and feeling hungry so decide to go into the oak for a feed etc.

Having taken a break, i leave the oak to get onto the rank yet again at Paddington and it's right back to the corner of Edgware Road!! wait a few minutes with no movement so decide to call it a day and come home.

I shall be starting an hour or 2 earlier each night and work later if need be but there is no way i can be convinced to go back to working days!

Total outlay £24.10 (diesel, mug of tea and fry up)
Total takings £18.00

NOT one of my better days!

Games dead.

I also went into London today for new brake pads and some new 'things' to stop the driver’s door from squeaking and driving me mad.

I wasn’t looking for work, but took £50 anyway by just driving from Bethnal Green back towards Camden Town and getting hailed a few times.

Just shows you how much luck is involved.

Monday / Tuesday days have always been crap.

Monday evenings on the other hand are usually quite lucrative.

Told you GBC, i'm going to start following you around