Taxi Driver Online

Thought this was another one offering 'jobs' at a grand a week.

But the first owner quoted is actually quite realistic about it all, and the grand a week thing is about the second owner quoted, who was the same one a few weeks ago with the headline about 'attractive salaries of up to £50k'.


Driver shortage impacts taxi firms as revellers walk miles home after being told no cabs available until next day

https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/news ... ms-6010560

There's not just an HGV driver shortage - it's also affecting taxi firms and they say it will get even worse at Christmas

A shortage of taxi drivers in North East Lincolnshire has led to people walking long distances following a night out - and the problem is set to get even worse ahead of the Christmas season.

Customers have faced long delays trying to get a lift home after a night out due to a shortage of hundreds of drivers.

One group of revellers were forced to walk a couple of miles through the streets of North East Lincolnshire in fancy dress on Saturday night after being told they would have to wait until the next day for a taxi.

One of the group told Grimsby Live: "We were out at a fancy dress party but struggled to get taxis. We got one eventually to get there and were told there is a 300-driver shortage in Grimsby alone - almost a third of the 1,000 drivers in Grimsby.

"A lot left during pandemic, deciding not to go back to driving, some were forced to get other jobs and some have died. But recruitment is a problem - similar to the HGV situation.

"We could not get a taxi at all to get home. We tried every one between us and friends and some were offering no taxis until the next day.

"Others were not offering anything and telling us to ring back in an hour's time. We ended up walking home thankfully only a couple of miles but in fancy dress."

The taxi driver shortage was highlighted in the summer when taxi firm operators said the lure of up to £50,000-a-year in earnings was not attracting sufficient numbers of applications.

Owner of Coxons Taxis and manager of Grimsby Taxi Cabs, Dave Atkin, who has nearly 25 years' experience in the trade said the outlook was bleak due to a shortage of drivers.


Image: Grimsby Live

He said: "The shortage is a national problem. When you go back to the beginning of the pandemic there was literally no work for taxi drivers.

"A few of us, including myself, continued in work. But through a whole shift you were lucky to get two or three jobs. There were a few people who still needed to get to work because they were frontline staff at hospital or in other services.

"But there were no boats, planes, trains or automobiles and so no where for people to travel to. So those with heavy commitments turned to other driving jobs such as delivery drivers for supermarkets or some went back to their former trades and a large number of them have not come back to taxis."

He added: "Through the pandemic there was no encouragement or facility for people to train and become taxi drivers and many drivers thought the trade was not for them because of the lack of encouragement.

"So we have had a perfect storm to create the shortage."

Dave said it can also be difficult to set up as a taxi driver, to get the relevant qualifications and if you are a new driver, your insurance is going to be at least £3,500 a year.

He said the shortage is not going to be a quick fix and will go on into Christmas.

He said: "In the past you would get a lot of drivers coming in just for the festive season and then pack it in afterwards.

"In Grimsby for the past 20 years we have had an over-supply of drivers which meant people were used to phoning up and having a taxi at their door straightaway.

"When we get to Christmas this situation is going to be writ large.."

In the summer manager of Fon-A-Car in Cleethorpes, Gary Handy said coronavirus lockdowns had decimated the number of taxi drivers in North East Lincolnshire.

He said customers, who previously only had to wait five minutes for a lift, now regularly have to wait for between an hour and and hour and a half at busy times. That has led to scuffles at taxi ranks and tempers regularly flare because of delays.

From having 35 cabs before the restrictions, the firm was reduced to just four cabs.

Gary said at the time: "If anyone was thinking of getting into the taxi trade, now is the time to do it. We will help them through the process. Ideally you need to be a people person and out-going and happy to work the hours."

A North East Lincolnshire Council spokesman said: "The current figure for licensed drivers in the borough is 567 and there is not a backlog of applications waiting to be processed."

This member of the public seems remarkably switched on about the number of drivers in the local trade, and the shortage thereto

And they seem more switched on about the reasons for that than the average driver in the trade, or licensing councillor, say. Funny that


The 'next day' sounds a bit dramatic, but if it's 2350 on Saturday then the 'next day' is just ten minutes away

I smell a rat about these comments from a disinterested fancy dress reveller

It will go on a long longer than that.

Basically the cheap labour tap has been turned off, and that won't return for many years, if at all.

So the answer is to make the trade more appealing for new entrants including younger drivers.

Having proper living wages from proper fare rates is a start, but treating drivers with respect including employment rights will also help.

However most of the firms currently operating won't accept that, or more importantly their spiv business models won't allow that.

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IDFIMH