Taxi Driver Online

Where on earth to start with this?

Not a good look for the trade, I'd guess, and that's regarding people who don't really know the score. For any member of the public who does know about SEISS etc, this doesn't do the trade any favours at all, in my opinion.


Hull taxi driver considering 'stacking shelves' after pandemic cuts wage in half

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hu ... ge-4755045

He says taxi drivers are having to work constantly just to try to make ends meet

A Hull taxi driver says he is considering giving up his job of 15 years and stacking shelves in a supermarket because of the financial woes caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The 43-year-old, who does not want to be named, says he is having to work constantly just to try to make ends meet after his wage halved.

He says his application for a government grant has been made as "difficult as possible" for Hull taxi drivers to apply for, resulting in them giving up on trying to claim the sum altogether.

Speaking about the financial situation for taxi drivers in the city, he said: "My wages have halved, literally.

"You are coming out at 4am in the morning and you are working until about 4pm or 5pm. You’re lucky if you get over minimum wage when you take all your expenses out.

"The government has grabbed hold of the taxi industry in this town and crushed it."

He added: People are working from home now so they don’t go in taxis.

"Before the lockdown, you was earning a living, toddling along and then, all of a sudden, it’s come to a shuddering stop.

"It’s like being slung in the deep end of a swimming pool with your hands and legs tied and them telling you to swim to the other end. That’s how bad it is."

The driver says to make matters worse, taxi drivers are having to compete for the business that is left.

"You are competing with 200 drivers because all the night men have come onto the day shift," he said.

"You’ve got drivers that are coming out at 4am and they are still here [working] at 8pm or 9pm on a nighttime because they are not earning any money.

"That’s dangerous. I know drivers that work constantly through the weekends just to make ends meet.

"I think there’s about 1,800 taxi drivers and you can probably count on one hand how many are earning any money.

"I’ve done it for 15 years. No disrespect to Asda but I would rather go stack shelves in Asda."

The government grant, which is processed by Hull City Council for those in the city, requires an application form to be completed.

But despite two attempts and spending around an hour-and-half trying to complete it, he admits he has "given up".

"It’s like they’ve dangled a carrot in front of you and you keep going to grab it and they move it away," he said.

"It starts off it wants your name, your address. That’s fine. Then it gets to the stages where it starts asking you for a VAT code. Taxi drivers don’t have VAT codes, we don’t sell anything.

"It asks how many people I employ - there’s only me. Then it asks who I work for, but technically I’m self-employed so I don’t work for anybody.

"Then it starts asking me how many members of your company are on furlough – I don’t employ anybody.

"Once you get to that point where it’s asking you how many people you employ and how many times you’ve been on furlough, it won’t let you move on until you’ve put something in there."

He claims the amount he was applying for was £500. In monetary terms for a taxi driver, he says this could be earned within a weekend before the pandemic.

"£500 to a taxi driver in normal time, he would earn that within a weekend," he said. "Now you’re lucky if you do £500 over seven days and then you’ve got your fuel to take out, wear and tear on your car and all your other stuff on top of that as well."

The 43-year-old believes it would be easier if Hull taxi drivers were able to simply provide their badge numbers.

"The majority of the drivers I’ve spoken to [in Hull] gave up after page two," he said.

"I haven’t come across a [Hull] taxi driver yet that has filled the full thing in.

"I know a couple of lads that work for East Riding and they said they’ve had a straightforward one.

"They ask for your taxi badge, your plate number, your bank details and name and address. That was basically for the same thing and that’s all they’re asking for.

"There’s a load of lads on Facebook saying they have mates that work in Lincoln and taxi drivers just had to give their badge numbers and that was it."

A spokesman for Hull City Council said: "The additional support grants are being made available by government, who stipulate that certain information must be submitted before a grant can be issued."

"The scheme is not personalised for specific sectors or businesses, and its design reflects that.

"The form should take no more than 30 minutes to complete, and in the guidance it clearly states that we do not expect businesses to prepare any documents that they do not already possess."

1 He says he's working 12-hour shifts, and making minimum wage, after expenses. Which is £8.72 per hour. So that means he's making over £100 a day after costs?

And even if he just means minimum wage for a 40-hour week, that's still around £350 profit a week. Suspect a lot of people reading will think that's not bad just now, particularly on top of SEISS (I'll come to that )

2 Then there's the usual claim about making £500 just on a normal weekend. To be fair, the article does mention expenses after that, but still not a good look in my opinion.

3 He says he has to 'work constantly', then complains about *other* drivers doing 16-hour shifts. Well at least he's kind of acknowledging one reason for the downturn in earnings, but does kind of look like 'do as I say, not as I do'.

4 Then there's the government grant, administered by Hull City Council. Not sure precisely what that is, but I assume he just isn't eligble. But he starts wittering on about VAT registration, and all that. No doubt the form asks for a VAT number (if registered), but I suspect his point is a bit of a red herring.

5 So he's getting worked up about this £500 grant, yet zero mention of the SEISS grants. Says he's been in the trade for 15 years, so no obvious reason why he shouldn't be eligible. Except...

But considering the money he seems to be earning normally, he should be eligible for, what, a £4-5k SEISS grant this week. Or well north of £10k in total?

And even if he's grossly understating his earnings, should still be getting a couple of grand this week at least?

6 Then there's the other grants that drivers elsewhere are getting just for submitting a badge and plate numbers. That's maybe the case, but presumably there's no trade-specific grant being made available by Hull City Council. So that's a fair enough point, but again the point about the other grant and the VAT registration etc seems to be going off at a bit of a tangent

He says the grants drivers elsewhere are getting just for submitting badge/plate numbers are the same grants in Hull with the humungous form to fill in. Doubt it, somehow.

But in view of the SEISS grants, he's either doing quite well with that and his trade earnings, or he's at it

Either way, the article seems to give a totally misleading impression

Jimbo's kept quiet about how easy it is to get grants in Lincoln

what difference does it make where you live as to whether you get a grant or not?

The qualification is how long you have been self employed for

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

The grant he's wittering on about isn't the SEISS thing - that's why I think the whole article is very odd.

It's obviously some sort of other business grant administered by local councils, and I'm guessing he just isn't eligible.

And the grants elsewhere he refers to sound like trade-specific grants administered and funded by local councils, like in Sefton and Liverpool. But presumably there's no similar grant in Hull.

So the article simply gives the impression that the SEISS grants don't exist.

And, I mean, how easy are they to claim if you've received one already?

Even the first grant wasn't particularly difficult to claim.

Just did mine. Must have taken all of two minutes.

In fact took just as long to find the page where you start the claim

I always log into tax return website and the link is usually there in front of you and then you have to log in again after you have clicked on the link

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Sometimes drivers should just keep their traps shut.

Trade is down, drivers are suffering both financially and mentally, but spouting off your mouth to the press quoting Mickey Mouse numbers does the trade no good at all.

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IDFIMH