Taxi Driver Online

Last night (Wed 21 Aug 2013) I worked from 6pm to 1:30am, and after fuel had a total of £40, that's £20 for me as driver, £20 for the operator.

That works out as £2.85 per hour, with a half hour break.

The national minimum wage is £6.19, so this is less than half the national minimum wage.

How can so many taxi drivers in Dundee still be in the job? How can so many be running expensive disabled van taxis?

I have fairly low living expenses, so I am surviving, just.

I just can't understand, how can so many people have come into this trade with these rates of pay ? I have been doing this job for over 20 years.

I spoke to a guy recently with full-time job with £20K salary also doing Sat nights on taxis part-time - these part-timers are not helping.

Any other exasperated Dundee drivers out there ?

What alternative jobs have you considered, eg self-employed Courier, take-away delivery ?

Any comments please.

They can't ! 3 were approached by Repo men at the weekend whilst on rank and told to remove their personal belongings as, the Finance Company were taking repo of their vehicles.

I worked wed night myself and must admit that was the worst night I have ever experienced,between 12.15 and 2.35 I never got a single job,from now on its a 12.00 finnish,im only making money fri/sat just now and that is when all the part timers appear,there is a rumour teles/203020 (all the same office now )are going to introduce a £30 driver fee,this would get rid of a lot of part timers but would pee off the lazy ops who don't like driving weekends,i have also noticed ops who usually look after their cabs starting to neglect their vehicles ,one op in particular who has never had a driver always kept his car in pristine condition,he has had a driver for about 2 months now and has 2 illegal tyres showing plus a grinding noise from the front end which has been happening for over a week

Welcome to the world of deregulation.

A 60 plate Skoda was also a victim of the Repo man last Sat...even the saloon op's can't meet their quota's. I've been out of Trade over 2 months now and, am forever getting calls bout the woes being suffered.

Went out last night (Thurs) and made £29 each for 6pm-1am, so some improvement. But the general trend is still downwards. People are just not going out so much to pubs and social clubs, the younger generation coming up just don't go out so much, and the older ones are passing on. 5-10 years time this trade could be in real trouble. Of course it will be solved if enough people just leave it. If we lost say 300 taxis right now that would help.

A £30 a week driver fee would bankrupt me and I am full-time 38 hours per week.

I cannot see how they could justify that - it will never work - it is blatant profiteering, disgusting in the extreme - and by far the worse thing that could ever happen in the taxi trade.

Part-timers are a pain, but they have every right to work on taxis part-time if that is their choice in our free country.

I agree with the comments, it really is hard work out here now. The problem got out of control when the Peugeot premiers were allowed and flooded the town, great rear loaders eh??????,prior to that we could make a reasonable living , i didnt renew my plate this year, far too many people pecking at a diminishing cake, other factors are against us too, like a student town, an economy just cant function on that alone, the students living within walking distance, at the weekend coaches parking opposite the clubs, ferrying the out of towners home, and of course the night bus, though to be honest doesnt make a great deal of difference to us but still has an effect! The economic downturn and the rising cost of food does deter people from going out too, and the sheer cost of fuel to ourselves ............ need i say any more?

You have to look no further than Saloon Operator's to blame ! Unite/DTA, had an offer tabled over 5 years ago from DCC to stop issuing any more Licences, all they had to do was agree to a 100% WAV fleet.
There's where your greed originated.


And who do you think forced DDC to Licence the Peugeot's ?? Yes !!! the office's. Greed is what it is ! A universal disease. You only reap what you sow !

100% agree tx_op, purely down to greed! As for the peugeots , ive never driven one, as far as im concerned they arent fit for purpose, at least two had or still have, cracked rear floors, according to them nice people at the test centre, so why havent VOSA, been having a wee nosey at them?, if there was a problem with them structurally and they were removed from the approved list, then happy days the trade would return to a degree of normality. But me thinks greed and money talks!

The greedy shall all rot in hell for all eternity, and deservedly so. But enough of the theology, these WAV's are a disgrace to the taxi profession, EVERYBODY hates them. I drive a saloon cab, and I have long lost count of the number of elderly, infirm, and disabled people who have told me they refuse to get in one. Even the owner of the Athletic Bar one night was fuming when he was sent one, he hates them too - I felt a bit sorry on the driver of the WAV - it wasn't his fault. My point - is they are HATED - they are crap anti-social dangerous ugly expensive vehicles unfit for our profession.

If I ever had to drive one I would be p155ed off greatly. Customers by far like saloons and tell me so on a regular basis.

It is blatant discrimination AGAINST the disabled and the infirm to populate the fleet with so many WAV's. To make an all WAV fleet would be a serious violation of their rights for then they would not be able to get in ANY taxi!

Another glowing example of derestriction and how it "works" for the best of the trade

Utter pish

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Rear loaders are the scourge of the Taxi Trade, cheap and nasty and a death trap if they ever have a rear end shunt with a disabled passenger on board.

The above are my views and I'm sure they're shared by many in the trade.

There goes the next Chairman of The DTA....Eh Gus ?

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