Taxi Driver Online

Hull taxi firm's 'gamechanger' keeps passengers safe during the pandemic

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hu ... fe-4883624

Bosses say it is about improving 'customer confidence'


Image: Hull Daily Mail

A Hull cabby has gone above and beyond to make sure passengers feel as safe as possible during the coronavirus pandemic.

Taxis in the city can ferry dozens of passengers between locations on any given day but Mike Bannister, of 69-69-69 Foxy Tank Cars, says his firm have pushed "customer confidence" to the extreme to make users feel safe.

The Walton Street-based firm has paid for each of its cars - which are operated by self-employed drivers - to be treated with "electrostatic" spray.

Mr Bannister believes his firm has become the first in the city to make use of the technology which claims to kill "99.99 per cent of known viruses and bacteria, including coronavirus".

The work, which has to be carried out every 28 days, reportedly reduces the need of more traditional sanitising methods including anti-bacterial wipes.

"It's about customer confidence. Nothing is perfect but it is Government approved," the joint-owner of the taxi company said.

"Foxy 69-69-69 Taxis became Hull's first taxi office to have cars Electro Covid Cleaned and cars displaying 28 day ElectroClean vehicle badges to reassure customers we are trying to keep you as safe as possible.

"They come and spray the car inside and out. It's an electrical charge that they spray and it helps to keep Covid out.

"It lasts up to 28 days and then they come back and do it all again. They also give us sprays to keep it topped up as well.

"What we've done is from a specialist company - I believe it's the only one that does it in the North East.

"Our company has paid for it all to be done. The drivers, who are self employed, haven't had to pay to do it."

All cabbies instructed to clean and ventilate their vehicles after every passenger under Government guidance.

Self-employed told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace, may also be entitled to a payment of £500 from the council.

Wouldn't mind seeing the nature and extent of this Government 'approval'.

I suspect the portrayal of the benefits is overdone

Certainly almost universal cynicism about it in the comments on the website - terms like 'fairy dust' being bandied about

I think the spray process is good as that will get into the nooks and crannies.

But not cleaning with wipes inbetween doesn't sound right to me.

_________________
IDFIMH

Dettol spray £3-4 a can kills 99.9% of all known germs.

that is what we use.

_________________
Grandad,

The active ingredient is "Snake Oil".

_________________
Chris The Fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlyi5mc ... re=related

Aye...my thought too.

so an anti static spray is to stop dust and dirt from sticking but not sure how that would work with organic matter ?

Do viruses use static electricity to attach to surfaces ?

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Dust free will definitely not make it virus free....Germs are not Dust.

Might be effective against "coronavirus" but, is it effective against "COVID-19."

Interesting what this company are doing and good luck to them. There is certainly a lot more the trade could do to reassure passengers.

Fogging, or misting, a vehicle will certainly get into a lot more places than manual cleaning. I suspect the article is in error where they say they use a 99.99% kill rate disinfectant, it will almost certainly be the highest of 99.9999% because all misting disinfectant I have come across use the highest.

( 99.9% sounds impressive until it's compared to the highest. In short, 99.9% will leave 1000 bacteria from every million. 99.9999% will leave just one from a million.)

How many drivers regularly disinfect the carpet area of their vehicle? Every taxi companies website I have reviewed state they regularly clean the high traffic areas only, like door handles and other hard surfaces.

There is disinfectant that provides ongoing protection of 28 days on soft surfaces and probably about 7 days on hard surfaces. None of which will be sold in supermarkets where the majority of drivers will be buying their supplies.

The Covid virus has not been released for commercial testing to pharmaceutical companies anywhere in the world so nothing on the market can claim to kill it.

However, some disinfectants kill other coronavirus so is likely to kill Covid. Additionally, some disinfectants also kill MRSA, which is a particularly difficult bacteria to kill so the theory is that if a disinfectant can kill MRSA it will likely kill Covid.

Testing data shows some disinfectant that kills MRSA also give 28 days ongoing protection on soft surfaces so this is where this company is claiming the 28 day ongoing protection against Covid. It isn't factual but it is probably likely as per test data.

A lot of drivers seem to use Dettol, 99.9% kill rate. Way off effective what a driver could and should be using. No doubt also using the same rag on hard surfaces, which is effectively just spreading germs around the vehicle as a lot of germs are surviving.
Ideally, drivers should be cleaning down their vehicle after every passenger/s, using a different rag each time or at least single use wipes. Almost impossible in reality.

In addition, how many drivers are using multiple disposable face masks each day? I'd guess most are just using the one and maybe even for days on end before using another.

Alcohol based hand gels need to be at least 60% alcohol to be effective against Covid. Are drivers checking for this or just buying the cheapest from B&M?

Also. alcohol based gels offer no ongoing protection. Alcohol becomes useless once it evaporates which is in about 10-15 seconds.

There are alcohol free sanitisers on the market that kill as well, if not better, than alcohol based ones and give protection for up to 6 hours. (Again based on protection v MRSA test data).

I must say I don't know what this company means by "Government Approved" though.

To conclude, I'd much rather use this firms taxis, if I had to, rather than a taxi where a driver is wiping down hard surfaces with Dettol themselves. Plus, how does any passenger know a driver is not using a contaminated face mask? (Which it could be unless changed on a very regular basis, probably at least 4 different disposable masks every 8 hour shift.)
How does any passenger know a driver is using an appropriate hand sanitiser without inspecting the active ingredients.

No way would I use a taxi myself and I wonder how many other people feel the same?

I am one of those who use Dettol spray every time someone has been in my TAXI.
Know every person who has been in my TAXI since 14th March 2020 which is something these companies in all probability cannot name every person who has been in their vehicles.