Taxi Driver Online

Cabbies reject call to use traditional taxis

TAXI drivers have dismissed calls for them to be forced to buy new vehicles in a bid to cut confusion for customers – at a cost of about £30,000 each.

Councillor Richard Udall wants all hackney carriage licence holders in Worcester to revert to modern vehicles which have a protecting wall between customer and driver.

He says the current situation – where licensed drivers can use saloon cars – confuses the public and means there is no protection from violent drunks.

A hackney carriage is any vehicle licensed to pick up people from a taxi rank or off the street, as opposed to private hire taxis which must be pre-booked.

Coun Udall also says it is too easy for random people to drive around pretending to be a licensed taxi – potentially putting customers in danger.

Saloon cars can be half the price of the traditional hackney carriage, which can surge to £35,000 and come with added protection.

Coun Udall has managed to secure a debate over introducing it at the next meeting of Worcester City Council’s licensing committee.

But the Worcester Taxi Drivers Association said times are hard enough already for cabbies, without the extra cost burden.

Coun Udall said: “There’s a lot of confusion between hackney carriage licensed-drivers and private hire cabbies.

“The risk to the public and the driver can be quite severe if they are pretending to be a licensed driver, when they are not. If you have a hackney carriage licence, I believe your vehicle should look like a hackney carriage – the purpose-built ones may be more expensive but they last longer and offer better protection.

“It is also easy to impersonate a taxi driver if you get a saloon car.”

Under Coun Udall’s proposal, licensed hackney carriage drivers would be forced to get the purpose-built vehicles once their current car expires, which is 10 or 12 years from first registering it with the city council.

It would not apply to the city’s private hire cabbies, who have no restrictions on the vehicle type but are not allowed to use the taxi ranks for customers and must rely purely on phone calls.

Mohammed Ali, from Worcester Taxi Drivers Association, said: “Times are hard as they are and this will make it even more difficult.

“Buying a brand new purpose-built vehicle would cost a lot of money.”

source: http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/105 ... nal_taxis/

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

A Sledge hammer to crack a nut..If people are so bloody stupid that they cant see that the "TAXI" sign on the roof points to it being a taxi then they shouldn't be let out alone, be easier just to remove all or any signage from the PH's so that they'll simply look like private cars..........

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

Be easier still to impersonate a Taxi driver if you bought a used Black cab taxi..


Surely if the Taxi drivers are content with their individual safety situations then it's bugger all to do with the council in enforcing a further layer of driver protection...they cant sit cocooned in their cabs all day anyway, they have to get out of it sometime.

This is just another Deluxe level Expense seeking Councillor trying to flex his muscles in a bid to make themselves feel more important than they actually are and who is trying to exert their power over others...

amen to that

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

After an Oasis gig at Manchester a few years ago i watched a pair of drunks trying to flag down what was obviosly not a hack, the sign on the vehicle made it plain enough


"OTIS LTD LIFT MAINTENANCE AND INSTALLATION"

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

I've seen them trying to flag down cop cars before they're that drunk.

I did that after a works Christmas party in the 80s.

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Grandad,

Perhaps they were trying to get a lift?