Taxi Driver Online

You should be ashamed, scruffy taxi drivers told

WEST FIFE taxi drivers have defended their dress sense after a councillor claimed they should be “ashamed” of their appearance.
Halbeath councillor Alex Sawers told a committee that the area’s cabbies lagged behind their Edinburgh counterparts in the fashion stakes and were creating a bad image for tourists.
Councillor Sawers said the scruffy taxi drivers were providing a public service and should take more pride in their appearance.
The councillor made his comments at the West Fife regulation sub-commitee just moments after an official revealed local cab drivers had achieved their highest ever pass rate for annual vehicle inspections.
Mr Sawers told the committee, “The dress code of some taxi drivers is a problem. I don’t know if we have the power to ask if some of them could clean themselves up a bit.
“When I compare the appearance to some of the drivers in Edinburgh there is a big difference. If I was a taxi driver looking like some of them I would be ashamed.
“We are trying to encourage tourists and some of these drivers go down to the ferry. I wonder what would happen if we [councillors] all came along here looking like that? It is a public service that we’re providing as well.”
After the meeting, Mr Sawers told the Press, “They should be upholding a certain degree of dress code. From what I have observed in West Fife they are more lax than in Edinburgh.
“If you are dressed for the night to go to a dance and somebody comes along to pick you up dressed in a T-shirt and trainers then it takes the nice look away.
“That is the impression that visitors get when they step off the ferry at Rosyth and we are meant to be trying to create a good impression for the tourists.
“I am not condemning all drivers but some could pull their dress code up a bit.”
However, local cabbies hit back saying they had received no complaints about their appearance.
Steve Brown, secretary of the West Fife Taxi Operators Association (WFTOA), said, “I don’t accept there is a problem at all. The council hasn’t spoken to us about the problem and I don’t know of any members of the public who have complained.
“I think in Edinburgh they have quite a strict dress code which they have imposed on the drivers with no regard for their human rights. It is a matter of comfort. You can’t sit around all day in a hot car wearing a shirt and tie.
“As for the ferry, there is only room for two cabs in the rank down there and we hardly get any pick-ups there.
“I wear a shirt and jeans through the day and I don’t see a problem with that. Most of our fares are repeat customers and they wouldn’t come back if we were scruffy.”
Although Fife Council does not have an enforceable dress code for taxi drivers it does have guidelines for the cabbies.
Gary Fraser, treasurer of the WFTOA, said, “I have never heard of anyone getting complaints about their dress code.
“The council already have regulations in place which say you can’t wear football tops or baseball caps and must be clean shaven unless you have a beard.
“It is the council who decide whether to approve or suspend licences so in that respect they do have powers over the drivers.”

They should hang their heads in shame.

That aside, some of the scruffiest folk I have ever met have been councillors.

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IDFIMH

Sorry guys...Im in the East zone.

I would say the drivers in my area are pretty smart overall. There are one or two who wear jeans and trainers, but not many. A few of the big offices (thats a dozen cars approx. ) make the drivers wear collar and tie, even if its hot, but Ive never heard anyone say it breaches there human rights. It never gets that hot anyway...on Friday it was about 32 in London but about 10C in St Andrews

A few years ago the council put something round about a dress code, but it was pretty Mickey Mouse as is usually the case. It had no affect with us becasue it didn't even ban jeans and trainers.

The said it was mainly for the drivers in other parts of Fife, so it must have been pretty useless there as well according to the story.

Zones zones zones, I hate them.

Is it the West Zone that has taxi quotas? Cos if it is there lies your answer.

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IDFIMH

As I have mentioned on here before, my old mum lives in Kelty (i'm sure you know it 'fae fife' !!) So I use West Fife District Taxi's on a few occasions when going up by train.

I've never seen any great problem with the way the drivers dress, they reflect the Taxi trade wherever you go in Britain today, well except disinfectant land - York Station.

It does bring a smile to my face when you call for a Taxi, and an elderly, but clean, metrocab turns up.

Another good thing is there are no touts cruising by shouting 'taxee taxee' in Dunfermline either.
Too cold there.

http://www.dunfermlinepress.com/news/NewsFrameset.htm

To be honest I didnt even know Kelty was in Fife, I would have had it in Perth and Kinross or maybe Clackmannanshire...but looking at the map it seems to be right on the P&K border.

That's the funny thing.....that part of Fife seems a different world altogother, and Ive never had a taxi job to Kelty and even the 'big' towns like Glenrothes, Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline ive had less than one job a year on average.

So you probably know more about the kelty trade than me

But if the story is anythign to go by then I think we in St Andrews must be prettty smart compared to them but as i said i dont think the code was aimed at us.

Not sure Mr Sussex, i think they have them in Kirkaldy Glenrothes and what I think is called Central (maybe Methil and Leven) but |I'm not sure about the West Zone.

We don't have them in the east, that much I know.

Personally I would prefer more zoning. In our East zone it includes places around 20 miles from St Andrews and lots of drivers from the other towns come to St Andrews when its busy here or quiet in their town.

The students last big night was on Thursday past and the regulars couldn't even get on the rank for taxis from other places - two I had never seen in St Andrews before, another had not workedthe town for months and there were a couple of other irregulars.

Not that I dont do the same sometimes though, I go to Cupar for the nightclub coming out on Saturday night (its the only one around) but I'd be happy to see that zoned as well.

But a lot of the regulars get annoyed when these guys appear in jeans and trainers now and again while we make a bit of an effort to looks smart.

Fae Fife - I was in Fife recently and noticed the different prefix letters on the plates. I take it the 'G' is Glenrothes, the 'K' is Kirkcaldy etc. But what is the 'T'

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it's me......mrT

I think your right about the K & G, I think the others are C for Central, and we are E for East, and there must be a West, but Ive never seen one.

You guys seem to know more about what is going on in other parts of fife than me

As for the T, I think that must be the old style plates that were phased out a couple of years ago.

It just mean taxi and, the PH had a P, so for example T.35 or P.56.

I am not sure why they needed that because the plates were coloured yellow or white anyway, but I dont think the T or P is on the new plates, but the zone letter is still there.

Sorry I was replying to fairway, but I forgot to quote the post.

ten...per

in sefton we have T ..plates.. not in use....mrT..

By the way fairway, I had a look at the Fife section of your website a while back, and was intrigued at the photos of the TX's. Where did you take them, since I didn't realise there were TX's in Fife, or at least Ive never seen one - the plate looks a bit big for a Fife plate, even the new ones are a bit smaller and if you look at the Merc photo the plate is a bit smaller, and the old ones were even smaller still.

Where did you take the photos of the V70 and the Merc?

fae fife T...is ...temporary...