Taxi Driver Online

NVQS for Rossendale’s taxi drivers

Forty taxi drivers in Rossendale have recently passed an NVQ in Road Passenger Transport.

They will be presented with their certificate by the Mayor of Rossendale, Cllr. Joyce Thorne, at a special event before the Licensing Committee on 29th September.

The NVQ, provided by The Skills Gap Training Company, aims to help taxi drivers provide a better service to their customers for example by demonstrating that they have a customer friendly approach and learning more about disability laws.

Taxi drivers benefit by getting cheaper insurance, learning how to drive more efficiently and finding out how to gain and retain customers.

Having the NVQ also provides reassurance to people using the taxis that the driver knows how to follow good practice.

Drivers undertook the training during working hours with no down time and assessments took place on the job. The course has been accredited by City and Guilds.

Cllr. Jimmy Eaton, Chair of Licensing said:"I'm pleased that so many taxi drivers in the borough have passed this NVQ. It demonstrates their commitment and professionalism in putting the needs of their customer first.

"As well as the forty drivers who have already passed another 30 are in the process of doing the training and 70 are on the waiting list. I hope that having so many drivers with this qualification will help to drive up standards across the board.

"Being a taxi driver is already a professional vocation, this qualification gives taxi drivers a professional accreditation which is transferable throughout the passenger transport industry."

I'm saying nowt.

You just did and I was really good and never said a word til you did, but now my lips are sealed

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

"...Drivers undertook the training during working hours with no down time and assessments took place on the job. The course has been accredited by City and Guilds..."

Bollocks! Utter! And here's why. If you're learning the best way to doff your cap at a customer or that you shouldn't drive your car in just your Y-fronts then you aren't working. By definition that is downtime. If you aren't displaying your C&G Certificate in the vehicle then how the hell do customers even know you passed the course? I'd also argue that most customers couldn't care less if you passed or not. They want taking from A to B safely, cheaply and politely. If you can't manage that without a course then you shouldn't have a licence.

"...Cllr. Jimmy Eaton, Chair of Licensing said:"I'm pleased that so many taxi drivers in the borough have passed this NVQ. It demonstrates their commitment and professionalism in putting the needs of their customer first..."

Very nicely put. It obliquely suggests that drivers who don't do the course are demonstrating unprofessionalism and not putting the needs of the customer first.

It also doesn't say if those same drivers were compelled to take the course by a change in the rules.

By the nice little badge they gave us with NVQ on a Taxi shaped badge

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Life? Don't talk to me about life!
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