Taxi Driver Online

Not unusual to read stuff like this, but this one's off the scale.

Thought it was maybe genuine human interest stuff rather than advertorial, but the real giveaway came when the word 'recruitment' put in an appearance

And then it's all 'family business' and 'community oriented', blah, blah...

And if the trade is genuinely all unicorns and sunlit uplands for them at the moment, I'd be interested to know what they're saying in 20 years time.

I may well be dead by then, though, so will just have a guess at the moment - I'd say they might not be quite so enthusiastic, even assuming there are such things as taxi firms and drivers by then.

Pretty sure they'll have an app by then as well (or the next level technology), and they'll be as 'faceless' as the rest of them

(That said, when dataheads and GPS were first being used by the trade in Dundee 25 years ago, I'd have assumed that the trade in St Andrews would have dumped the two-way radios by now. But guess who's still using the two-way radios... )


KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY I quit teaching to run the family taxi company – and my kids are desperate to be drivers

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/money/ ... i-company/

A MUM told how she’s so obsessed with taxis that even her kids are honorary drivers for the family firm.





Stephanie Rowland, 33, quit her job as a teacher to help run the family cab and minibus company with her brother Alasdair Drummond.

Her youngsters Silvia, seven, Reggie, four, and niece Lara, eight, even have their own uniforms and pretend to take their toy cars for runs to pick up punters.

Stephanie is so dedicated to the job at Phoenix Taxis in Irvine, Ayrshire, that she’s dressed up as a clown and a mermaid for funny promo videos.

And whenever the relatives meet up they can’t wait to try out their best taxi patter on each other.

Stephanie said: “It’s a real family firm and that’s the thinking behind absolutely everything we do. We all love it.

“Customers always ask ‘what time are you on until’ or ‘have you been kept busy’? We hear that all the time.

“When we meet up as a family it’s usually the first thing we all say to each other. It’s what we call taxi chat.

“But we really appreciate it. If we didn’t have anybody saying it to us then we wouldn’t be here.”

Phoenix was set up by the pair’s dad Russell Drummond, 61, in 1998 and ran it on his own until he fell ill a few years ago.

Alasdair stepped up but needed help as the firm’s popularity soared and they quadrupled their fleet of motors in Irvine, Ayrshire.

Stephanie agreed to leave her job as a primary teacher earlier this year so she could pitch in.

Her husband and Alasdair’s wife both work for the company as drivers while their grandad, aunts, uncles and cousins also take on shifts.

And now the younger generation is getting involved with Stephanie and Alasdair’s kids, desperate to be part of the family tradition.

Stephanie said: “The kids love it.

“They’ve got their own uniforms and like to pretend they’re drivers. They’ve not got toy cars, they’ve got toy taxis.

“They’re out there pretending to pick people up at Tesco and take them home. It’s so funny.”

Stephanie and Alasdair decided to show the outside world what it’s like to work at Phoenix through funny videos.

They’re also on a recruitment drive to deal with a surge in bookings, and will have to wait a few years before their youngsters can take the wheel for real.

Their videos, and fancy dress costumes, have become a smash hit on social media with over half a million views in just a few weeks.

Stephanie said: “I like dressing up. Although being a mermaid took a lot more organisation than I thought.

“The videos are 100 percent us. What you see on there is exactly what we’re like.

“Alasdair and I are best pals and we know everything about each other. We’re a perfect team.”

The team at the company go out of their way to help punters. They give back to the community by helping out several charities.

And they’re determined that the firm will never be transformed into a faceless app.

She said: “We are really community orientated and have that personal touch.

“We don’t use an app. When you get in touch with us you have to talk to a human being and we want to keep it that way.

“We’re a real family business and that’s important to us.”




All images: Phoenix Taxis/The Scottish Sun

I would imagine the trade would have worn them down in 5 years tops !

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