Taxi Driver Online

Sorry I just noticed that the site says they were taken in Kirkcaldy, but im still a bit dubious about the TX.

I know the Sedona though, they used to work St Andrews but they work Cupar now.

And P is permanent then Mr T

Maybe it was in other places, but it was defo T for taxi and P for PH in Fife.

Either that or we all had temporary plates for years

ha ha mrT

All the Fife photos were taken one day last june in Kirkcaldy. That is except for the Sedona.

These are the only TX's I've seen in Fife. When I'm on holiday in Fife, I stay in G'rothes, where there are only saloons and one Euro7.

With regards to the plates, Fife brought out new plates about a year ago I think, which are supposedly clearer and give more info. The Fife plates are smaller than most others, but I think the bigger ones are just done for the TX's because little ones would look out of place. I wonder if the lads have to pay more for these.

I have often wondered though, why there are only TX''s in Kirkcaldy and not in G'rothes though.

Last time I was up I seen a couple of E7s (Cab Direct) in Kirkcaldy and Inverkeithing, these seem to be quite poular in Scotland. They won't plate them in Liverpool or Wirral though.

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Thats interesting....in the East zone we have big vehicles like the Vito, Caravelle, E7, Tourneo and they all just use the standard plate. A couple of huge Fiat things have recently went on, and I think they use the same plates, but i'll haveto check that...they are the biggest hackney vehicles i've ever seen!

Each zone is adminstered seperately, so perhaps they do have bigger plates for the TX in other zones, but are you sure it was maybe just passing through?

Our new plates are the mogo type but the quite small ones, our old ones were even smaller and didnt have the date. I don't know why wee needed new ones, its a pain having to go to Cupar (ten miles) find a space in the car park, go to the office and get the plate, then drive to the depot and get them to put it one. You would think they would use the test date rather than the license expiry.

I don't know what's going on with these plates, it's only my theory that it's to do with looks. Look at TX's and Fairway's anywhere, and it's hard to imagine them without the ordinary full size plate. They'd look funny with the little Fife plates.

These were definitely all Fife plates - all 'K' plates. They were all ranked outside the Tesco in Kirkcaldy town centre.

I'll tell you another thng I've noticed - every hack I've ever seen in Fife has had a radio in, and usually for a small firm, often a one or two man firm. In Liverpool, and most big places, I think, it's either no radio or big firms.

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That'll be because we have a lot of rural work and an awful lot of twilight zone areas for mobile phone coverage, (where getting better dirctions to a farm cottage for example just couldn't happen without one).

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I don't work on a barter system, (or no I don't want your watch, mobile, etc. instead of the fare)

Talk about double standards up there in Fife

For example it's okay to wear baseball caps & polo shirts at St Andrews golf course but the taxi driver that picks you up should be expected to be dressed as though he works in an office ?

All the best

Just like the buses I suppose

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Taxi Driver Online
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Seriously though, there seems to be a distinct lack of realism when talking about dress standards in the trade.

For example, if I go to a hotel or to see my accountant then they're usually better dressed than me, but I don't see them complaining that they should be allowed to dress to my standards.

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I dont know about Kirkcaldy and the like, but in St Andrews in the late 90's we had less than 50 cars and only a couple were independents. The rest were offices of about 5-15 cars.

The moblie phone changed all that though. Now we have about two dozen different numbers ranging from one man band to the bigger offices that work as before.

Out of 80-90 cars I only know one who doesn't give out cards with a mobile numbers.

I don't give out much cards myself, but apart from us two they all do work via the mobile. In fact I think the other guy has gone to work for the firm with the silver TX's in Dundee, but I think he ll be back

So at the moment Im the nearest thing to a street car in St Andrews.

At the end of the day I think the drivers have plenty of choice. If they want to do the good work to the airports and the golf tours driving the better motors then they are willing to dress up a bit.

If the prefer not to then they can just work for the discount firms and wear jeans and trainers if they want.

I see the point you are making but at the end of the day accountants decide for themselves what they wear, they don't have authoritanian civil servants/politictions ordering them about

All the best

I see your point as well, but at the end of the day I think it comes back to why the market is regulated in the first place.

If all you needed was a driving license and a car with an MOT then the result would not be pretty.

The taxi market is fundamentally uncompetitive, since drivers effectively secure work by the cab rank principle, so they don't have to think about things like quality and price, so public policy dictates that it is done for them by the public authorities.

Of course, how far such regulation should go is a moot point, but clearly some authorities include dress in the matters that they should regulate for.

But in my opinion many in the country's trade would simply not be earning what they are without dressing appropriately for it, but they take advantage of the lack of competitiveness and the lack of regulation by the authorities.

Your comment about authoritarian civil servants ordering people about is also interesting - I suspect GBC would take a similar view if a dress code was introduced in London, but as regards the Knowledge of London I suspect he has no problem with authoritarian civil servants ordering people about

Thus it's all about what suits the individual - I suspect that you dress fairly casually thus take the approach you do, whereas others who do make an effort would probably welcome a dress code.

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Taxi Driver Online
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Where it is competitive i.e. airport work, you notice the difference in dress codes. Go to any airport, and the pukka work will be, in the main, done by the pukka dressed drivers.

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IDFIMH