Taxi Driver Online

Holy Mother of God


Fife taxi driver shortage prompts safety fears as customers wait an hour for a cab

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/fi ... for-a-cab/


Image: DC Thomson Media

A Fife taxi driver shortage has prompted fears for public safety.

Driver numbers have plummeted since the start of the coronavirus pandemic with custom drying up during lockdown.

Customers are now reporting hour-long waits for taxis following nights out.

And this has led to serious concern that some may “take their lives in their hands” as they try to get home by other means.

Children who travel to school by cab may also struggle unless more drivers come forward.

There are now 240 fewer licensed taxi drivers in Fife than in December 2019 and firms are struggling to recruit.

Fife Council’s regulation and licensing vice-convener Ryan Smart is worried the driver drought could lead to long queues outside nightspots at weekends.

Meanwhile, one taxi boss fears the return of a previous problem where revellers were paying unlicensed strangers to run them home.

Both are now appealing for potential drivers to apply for licences in a bid to solve the problem.

The issue follows reports of a similar shortage in Dundee.

People waiting up to an hour for a taxi

Sam Green, owner of Magnum Taxis in Methilhill, needs another five or six drivers.


Image: DC Thomson Media

“I’ve had to put drivers on double shifts and do some driving myself to make it work,” he said.

“At the weekend when clubs are open it can be a 3.30am finish.

“I’m always asking people how long they’ve had to wait and the last 10 customers said 40 minutes to an hour.”

He added: “Not everyone will wait that long. Some will start walking up the road.

“And we previously had an issue where folk in regular cars were lining up outside pubs and clubs and offering to take people home for money.

“There was an incident a few years ago where a woman got into what she thought was a taxi and something happened to her.

“We don’t want that happening again.”

Sam said that before Covid, many drivers were working part-time on top of another full-time job to earn extra cash.

“But then in lockdown they had no holidays to save for because nobody was allowed to go anywhere,” he said.

“And no-one was going out either so there was no custom.

“That meant lots of people didn’t renew their Hackney licence.”

Despite restrictions lifting, few candidates are coming forward.

“People have got used to staying in at the weekends so they’re not interested in driving taxis,” Sam said.

Massive queues at weekends

Ryan Smart has noticed the taxi driver shortage in his role on the regulation and licensing committee.

And the Labour councillor is urging more people to apply for a Hackney licence.


Image: DC Thomson Media

“If they don’t, we’re going to see massive queues on Friday and Saturday nights,” he said.

“The worry is, instead of people waiting for a safe and secure taxi, they’ll take their lives in their hands.

“We could also see things like school contracts, where taxis take vulnerable kids to school, not fulfilled.

“We’ve seen what’s happened in the lorry trade and how things can’t get moved around.

“This is the same, except it’s people who can’t get from A to B.”

In December 2019, Fife had 1,818 licensed taxi drivers.

This has now fallen to 1,578.

Fife Council aims to process applications for new licenses within 28 days, although some may take a bit longer.

“We know folk who are looking for jobs are having to wait but there’s nothing we can do about that,” Mr Smart said.

“All our taxi drivers are thoroughly vetted and I’m proud of the standard we set in Fife, which is much higher than most places in Scotland.”

Applications cost £65 for a year or £160 for three years and the fee must be paid up front.

People can apply here.

Drivers on double shifts, eh? Puts the other bull in the article about safety etc into perspective.


So what's new?

Elsewhere in Fife the council allows clubs to open till 4am, therefore...


Sounds like an odd thing to ask your customers - don't you as the proprietor know how long your customers are waiting?


Ah, yes, a couple of years ago one of your drivers was accused of sharing photos of a dead pedestrian who had just been hit by another car and killed. So hardly surprising he's a bit sensitive about people walking home.


Police probe claims taxi driver shared photos of dead man’s body after Fife crash

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/lo ... ife-crash/

Police in Fife are probing allegations a taxi driver who managed to avoid striking a pedestrian involved in a fatal road accident at the weekend subsequently shared photographs of the dead man’s body.


Not that that's to say the deceased was walking home because he couldn't get a cab - maybe they just couldn't afford to to pay the second highest fares in Scotland. And guess who's always banging the drum for higher fares, and who's always involved in the behind-closed-doors stitch-up with the council.

And, as an aside, remember it was the proprietors of this firm who seemed to be saying that owner-drivers like me didn't have to worry about things like car maintenance costs and licence fees:


Staff wages? You mean your drivers aren't working under sham self-employment arrangements? Maybe they are working under PAYE or 'worker' status, but that would certainly be very unusual in Fife.

(Could be wrong, but I suspect Magnum Taxis is all office-owned cars rather than owner-drivers paying 'settle'.)

Anyway, back to today's article...


Was that this one elsewhere in Fife?


Fake taxi driver jailed for Kirkcaldy rape and abduction

https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/crime/ ... -1-4959270

A teenage rapist who posed as a taxi driver to snare a young woman in Kirkcaldy who was subjected to sex attacks was today jailed for 10 years.


Or this one a wee while later?


‘Sinister’ Fife man posed as taxi driver, lured women into car and sexually assaulted them

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/lo ... lted-them/

A Fife man who abducted and sexually assaulted two young women by parking outside a nightclub posing as cabbie has been jailed for 42 months.


Anyway, that's not the responsibility of Magnum Taxis, but maybe the pertinent point is that, as regards the first rape at least, the problem wasn't the lack of taxis:





Ah, yes - a firm reliant on part-time/weekend drivers by the looks of it. Not often mentioned in reports like this, but that begs a question that even on here hasn't been discussed - how has Covid affected the supply of part-time/weekend drivers in particular?


But they'll need money for their 'staycation' or next year's holiday abroad, surely?


People so used to staying in at weekends that there's a shedload of people out on the pish at weekends who can't get taxis, wasn't you saying earlier?

Where's his evidence for that?


*Badge* to be precise.

No new hackney plates issued in my Fife zone for about 16 years as far as I know.

And in the other Fife zones no new plates issued for several decades, I'm guessing.

Of course, there may be good reasons for that, but it's a bit rich to complain about a shortage of drivers if they haven't issued new plates for *decades*.

And when a major problem here is simply getting on a hackney rank.

On Friday I was averaging about one fare every hour-and-a-half. At one point I waited nearly two hours, and when I did get a run discovered that several queue-jumpers were forming their own rank just round the corner in front of the students' union.

To be fair, when I say I was on the official rank, I'm not sure if it's actually an offical rank because although the street furniture previously on the rank space has been lifted, there's no signage designating the rank. And some drivers are still using the temporary rank across the road from the rank that isn't a rank, or at least they're using it as a rank to the extent that the rank is back to front because they reverse into the space at the back of the rank (and that's a different queue of taxis from the other 'rank' round the corner in front of the students' union).

On Saturday after midnight I did two £6 runs between then and about 2.30am, after waiting on the 'floods' of people coming out of our 'club' at 2am. I think two cabs moved at chucking out time, and I felt lucky to even get my run, and had very nearly only clocked the grand total of £6 between midnight and 2.30am.


Where's you evidence for that, at least outside the committee room and the spiel from Magnum Taxis?

So one fleet owner needs another "five or six" part-time/weekend drivers working for holiday money, but other than that there's zero in the article to support the licensing vice-convener's claim.

I mean, when haven't people had to wait a while at weekends when the clubs chuck out and those who stagger out moan that they can't get a car, which they could have done easily if they'd fallen out ten minutes earlier?

Maybe there is an issue elsewhere in Fife, but certainly isn't something I recognise here, and I suspect it's all a bit overdone because some barons have lost a few drivers because there still isn't enough work to entice them back.

Meant to go to town on all this, but maybe better not to say too much

Anyway, remember the Inverness driver who looks more like a councillor?

Here in Fife we have the opposite - a councillor who looks more like a driver

hmmmm...............................................

without reading all of Stuarts latest war and peace

sounds like a councillor worried about a drop in license fees meaning not enough to pay his big fat expenses perchance

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

To be fair, the licensing chair and vice-chair have always had their fingers on the pulse of what's most important to the trade:





And don't get me started as regards their role in liquor licensing...

Well if he employs them he can't do that, and if they are self-employed they would be stupid to do that.

And should there be a nasty accident involving one of the cars on his fleet, he will be in serious trouble.

If someone dies he goes to prison, even if he was tucked up in bed at the time.

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IDFIMH

On the employment issue, here's a post of theirs from a couple of years ago - have highlighted words and phrases that may be relevant.

But pretty sure they won't be driving their own cars. And I'd guess they'll be treated as self-employed (despite mention of 'minimum living wage') although wouldn't swear to that.




But if they are employees being paid a wage, double-shifting seems a bit odd

I'm thinking of applying for a plate in the Levenmouth zone, citing the vice-convener's statement above as evidence of significant unmet demand.

That would put the wind right up them

Just found out that one of Leven's clubs (wouldn't be surprised if it's the *only* real club, or at least the biggest) only reopened the weekend before last, so I wonder if that's been a factor?

https://www.facebook.com/truthleven/pos ... 2760820825

And it seems it's open till 3am - remember, this is a small town of 8,000 people or so, maybe 18,000 including neighbouring Methil.

But that's been a theme with Fife licensing councillors in recent years - later opening hours instituted by the the selfsame councillor quoted above in relation to taxi licensing.

So drivers were already doing a day job, then working the taxis at night, but councillors thought it a good idea that they worked even longer? And now the double shifters are working longer because the clubs are open later?

Maybe that's one reason the double-jobbers aren't coming back. They were surplus to requirements during lockdown, but now the elites working 9-5 in offices have decided they're not in danger from people getting stupidly drunk in nightclubs then it's back to us driving them home until 4am?

Can certainly identify that, and if I was near to retiring or the trade was just a part-time/semi-retirement job then I suspect I would have called it a day myself

But, remember, it's all about 'safety'

Why not? Employees can opt out of the working time directive if they wish.

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Grandad,

Well you know better than me.

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IDFIMH