Taxi Driver Online

Cabbies' NVQ In Public Relations To Cover Customer Care

Friday, July 03, 2009

Taxi drivers are going back to class to learn how to be more pleasant and helpful to their customers.

They will have to sit a free B-Tech/NVQ in Transporting Passengers at Stoke-on-Trent College.

The course will help drivers improve their skills in customer service, disability awareness and transporting passengers safely.

Part of their assessment will be undertaken by passengers completing customer satisfaction forms by rating the quality of their journey.

Drivers who finish the course will be able to display an accredited driver badge in their cabs.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council has created the course with the college.

Councillor Joy Garner, cabinet member for environment and licensing, said: "This is an important course because passengers will know their driver is properly qualified and has high standards of customer care."

"It's important that everyone who uses a taxi or private hire feels safe when they enter that vehicle."

But hackney carriage leaders called on the council to return to a limit on taxi licences instead of making existing drivers go back to college.

Sean Mirza, aged 30, from Trentham, vice-chairman of Stoke-on-Trent Hackney Carriage Association, said: "Some of our drivers have 20 years' experience and do not need an NVQ. It would be better if the council put a cap on the number of taxi drivers allowed to register."

"There are not enough spaces across the city for the drivers we have at the moment."

"Some of the younger drivers who have not been doing the job for long could do with the NVQ, but it would be better if the council considered their skills before issuing the badges."

The course is Government-funded and drivers must be licensed to enrol.

Twenty hours of the 90-hour course is spent in the classroom, with the rest spent on individual study over 12 months.

Part-time hackney carriage driver Mohammed Umair, aged 26, from Northwood, pictured, said: "The course is a good idea because a lot of taxi drivers are not fluent in English and hopefully the NVQ will teach them how to treat customers properly."

"A lot of drivers are stuck up and won't help passengers with their luggage."

"They damage the image of all taxi drivers. There are also a lot of bogus drivers who borrow badges off registered drivers when they are not working. The council needs to be stricter with the taxi trade."

"There are too many taxi drivers and it is affecting our livelihoods."

Source; thisisstaffordshire.co.uk - The Sentinel

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

How does putting a cap on the number of taxis improve customer care

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

How does an NVQ course improve customer care?

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Former taxi driver

If you know nothing about customer care and then you're trained to know, it helps. If however you already know everything about customer care then it wouldn't. As the NVQ is designed to log your competance it shouldn't be a problem for all those that know it all.

As you undoubtly would agree a high class service is the best for all concerned

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!