Taxi Driver Online

https://www.business-live.co.uk/retail-consumer/taxi-boss-open-24-hour-20679661

A taxi boss has taken on a unit that been lying empty for six years - with plans to open a 24-hour mini-market.

Back in 2015 dry cleaning firm Johnsons closed four of its stores across North Wales as it pivoted away from the high street.
This included their branch opposite Morrisons in Rhyl - with the unit remaining empty.

But now Steve Derby of Busy Bee Taxis in Rhyl has relocated his business there with plans to open a convenience store and sandwich shop in around six weeks.
He said the combination of the taxis and store will allow them to run a 24-hour operation.

Steve said: “This site has been on the market for six years, it’s in a good location but the rates are high. It has a good car park here which is ideal for the taxi business.

“Where we were previously on Wellington Road we had permission to park our vehicles but it was upsetting the neighbours as we were taking up spaces so this site is great.

“But I also wanted it as a convenience store, one that runs 24 hours that could run in conjunction with the taxis.
“We’re currently possibly the busiest taxi company in Rhyl but it doesn’t warrant employing someone all the way through the night to answer the phone.

“Likewise I used to own a Premier store on Wellington Road and that wasn’t worth keeping open all night.

“The idea here is that through the night I can have someone there answering the phone so all the jobs are documented and cars are tracked and at the same time they can serve people who come into the shop. I think we’ll be providing a good service for people by having somewhere they can go anytime.

“Work is underway and hopefully we will be open in six weeks as Busy Bees Convenience Store.”
He is though appealing the rates at the site - saying the current rateable value per square metre is more than many surrounding retail sites.

SO not enough work to justify 24 hours or for a 24 hour convenience store but he thinks the two together will work !

I hope he does succeed but my business brain is seeing a lot of red flags so I suspect in 12 months time he'll chalking this one down to experience

24 hours ONLY works in big cities with a vibrant night economy not sleepy small towns

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

Rhyll is not a sleepy suburban town.

population of 25000 ? that is a similar size to Stamford or Melton neither of which are have a vibrant nightlife 7 days a week and I very much doubt Rhyll has either

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

A bit bigger than St Andrews, and I think a couple of the offices here have a driver on all night, even when the students are away, although obviously they're diverting the calls to mobiles.

And apparently the population of the wider Rhyll conurbation is 60,000, and we don't have a conurbation at all.

And I'm guessing from the following that he already has drivers on all night, but they're getting up to no good...



But someone answering the phones, controlling cars and serving people in the shop at the same time, probably with lots of pishheads etc involved. What could possibly go wrong?

To be honest I can't see anything that could go right....it's a recipe for absolute mayhem.

Well it works well enough for the taxi driver on Peppa Pig. She operates the till between doing airport runs, leaving shop customers waiting at the till...

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Former taxi driver

Banging comparison, Jimbo - never seen Peppa Pig before, but googled that and 'taxi', and this came top

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xue9KL3sbXM

Apart from the shop thing, some interesting other stuff, such as the class prejudice against the taxi driver - the only one with an, er, regional accent

Then there's the usual taxi driver cliches about not being able to keep quiet, and on one of the jobs the punter says he'd prefer some peace and quiet

So the shopkeeper does one drop, then does an airport transfer, then immediately gets a public hire job, with no sign of drop/parking fees or 24-hour waits on the rank

And when she gets back to the shop, the customers are still patiently waiting at the till

Somehow doubt it would happen like that in Rhyll, though...

At least we now know where he got his idea from

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

Take it your not rushed off your feet.

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IDFIMH

Are any of us ?

It's better than it was but no way are we anywhere near capacity

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

Lincoln very busy today.

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Former taxi driver

Very little rank work here until everything chucks out late evening - even last night (Friday) I waited almost two hours at one point, and waited at least two hours earlier in week, 2.5 hours one evening. Think now the cold wet May weather finally gone there's very little early evening stuff, and it was mainly students anyway, and that's them more or less gone now until September.

So have only gone out later last couple of nights, just for the last few hours. It's a narrow envelope, but generally been getting a couple of decent fares, and doing OK in terms of an hourly rate, but problem is it's not many hours.

so here is another part of the country that isn't back to pre covid customer levels we are having busy periods but a lot more slow ones and it isn't just our firm

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

It's not just your firm, but in many areas things are much much busier than earlier this year, and most certainly this time last year.

I will say B&H is absolutely buzzing.

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IDFIMH

The city of Lincoln is absolutely buzzing.

#on our way to Wembley!

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Former taxi driver