Hail a hotel: Taxi driver turns his cab into a £50 per night Olympic accommodation
PUBLISHED:14:09, 29 June 2012 | UPDATED:14:30, 29 June 2012
An imaginative London cabbie is hoping to cash in during the Olympics by turning his taxi into an alternative hotel room.
David Weeks has converted his black cab into one-person accommodation and will be charging guests £50 per night. for a night in the stationary vehicle.
The low rental fee is a massive discount on those looking for cheap accommodation during the Olympic period.
Taxi-hotel:
Black cab driver David Weekes is hiring out his taxi during the Olympics for £50 per night
Home rental website Wimdu.co.uk – where David is advertising the taxi-hotel - said that on average it costs £65 per night to stay in London, but many hosts have tripled the cost of their accommodation to £195 per night during the Olympics.
During the day David, 49, plans to continue with his usual job of ferrying tourists and Londoners around the Capital – so anyone wanting to stay will have to fit in with his work schedule.
Guests will be left with the taxi at an agreed time and location – either outside David’s Hackney home or somewhere else - and they would need to give it back to David in the morning, so he can begin work again.
Those renting the cab cannot drive it, so if they want it somewhere else they will need David to take it there for them.
The cab has been kitted out with a ‘memory foam’ mattress, pillow and duvet – complete with an official Olympic pillow case and bread spread – a bedside lam, curtains and Paddington Bear teddy.
There is also a solar-powered fridge, radio and an iPad, while camping chairs and a table are available on request.
There is obviously no bathroom though.
Relax: Trying out the mattress in the back of the taxi.
David said that renting out his cab was so that he could combat a predicted fall in revenue.
London is set to become gridlocked during the Olympics with taxi drivers unable to use special Olympic Games Lanes, which could lead to slower journeys and fewer fares.
He said: 'I’m really excited that the Olympics are coming to the city but it’s going to be a nightmare for cab drivers. So when I heard that I could rent out my taxi on Wimdu, I thought it was a no-brainer - after all, who knows London better than a cabbie?.'
Source; http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news ... ds-newsxml