Taxi Driver Online

Surprised Chris doesn't get a mention here, but certainly a lot of this resonates with what he's been saying

Interesting word used in relation to violent and aggressive late night pi$$heads, though, which according to the search function hasn't been used even once on here before (although I don't think the search function goes back to day one).

But the word in question definitely a touch of understatement or euphemism


Plymouth taxi shortage as only two black cab drivers are aged under 30

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/p ... wo-6925117

With almost a quarter of Plymouth's hackney cab drivers aged 60 or older there are fears a dearth of cabbies will only get worse

Plymouth’s taxi driver shortage is likely to get even worse as it emerges the city has only two black cab drivers aged under 30 and many are over 60 and heading towards retirement. The Plymouth Licensed Taxi Association (PLTA) said it is struggling to find young people who want to work in an industry beset with unpopular regulation and expense - and botheration from drunk passengers.

Martin Leaves, secretary of the hackney cabbies’ PLTA, said the city should have 349 hackney drivers, but there are only 309 at the moment - and 81 of them are aged over 60. He said: “We need younger drivers, there are only two that are under 30. I’m 48 and most drivers are 50-plus.”

Plymothians have been reporting extensive waits for taxis since the city unlocked following the Covid pandemic restrictions. In 2021 Plymouth Live reported that dozens of cabbies had quit the trade during the pandemic, lured away by delivery driver jobs or returning to Europe post-Brexit.

It was estimated as many as 400 hackney and private hire drivers had left the industry. Figures showed the number of private hire drivers had slumped from 803 to 690, but the numbers include several that are not working full time.

Mr Leaves blamed many factors including mounting costs and bureaucracy and said there was a particular shortage of drivers prepared to work nights, especially at the weekend because of “intoxicated customers”. Mr Leaves said: “There is a lack of drivers that want to work at night. Some drivers are saying there is too much aggro to work Saturday evenings.”

He said other factors were making life difficult for black cab drivers too. He said: “There are overheads. The vehicles are getting more expensive. And the red tape imposed on taxi drivers is not helping.”

This includes Plymouth City Council’s recent approval of the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy 2022. The policy removes the limit on hackney cab numbers and insists the famous black cabs are coloured green and white by 2027 - something Mr Leaves said will cost money.

Mr Leaves, a taxi driver for 18 years, said he had been told by the council it would cost £250 to change the livery of a taxi. But when he contacted one garage he was quoted £2,700 to wrap a black cab. He said 85% of cabs made by the London Electric Vehicle Company are black and those by Mercedes are “mostly black”. He said: “We believe it’s £250 if you have a white cab, but to wrap a black cab is more. How many white ones are out there?”

Earlier in 2021, Cllr Chaz Singh, chairman of the council’s Taxi Licensing Committee, told Plymouth Live’s sister site Business Live that there was a shortage of taxi drivers, with Brexit being one factor. He said: “A lot of the Polish drivers had left, but many Romanians remained.”

He said more drivers were needed and explained: “We need loads of drivers, especially as the economy is picking up and events are starting to come on again. We have to make sure we can meet the demand of the public.”

Cllr Singh said he was confident drivers would be recruited and said moves have been made to encourage former members of the Armed Forces, for example. And he said that as chair of the taxi licensing committee he had been instrumental in the increase in fees for hackney and private hire vehicles in a bid to encourage people into the industry.

But other incentives may be needed and Cllr Singh said: “We want people from all walks of life to become taxi drivers, because we have got a lot of aged drivers. So it is how do we incentivise people into the trade? Can we give them some kind of incentive from a financial point of view? The licences are not cheap.”

Romanian Remainers, he means


Aye, that'll help

Misquoted, presumably, after yesterday's misprint(s)

Article comes to a bit of an abrupt halt, but that seems to be all of it

But interesting how the HC trade in Plymouth and Glasgow etc seems to be an aging, er, cohort.

In St Andrews it's gone the other way, and while back in the late 1990s I felt like one of the token young whippersnappers, now I feel like one of the token old ba$tards

Pretty sure I know the reasons for that, but probably better to keep schtum

Brace yourself Stuart I am coming in....

With almost a quarter of Plymouth's hackney cab drivers aged 60 or older there are fears a dearth of cabbies will only get worse (81 over 60 – I am 60 in July)

Plymouth’s taxi driver shortage is likely to get even worse as it emerges the city has only two black cab drivers aged under 30 and many are over 60 and heading towards retirement. The Plymouth Licensed Taxi Association (PLTA) said it is struggling to find young people who want to work in an industry beset with unpopular regulation and expense - and botheration from drunk passengers. (The PLTA does not “look for Drivers – why should it?)
Martin Leaves, secretary of the hackney cabbies’ PLTA, said the city should have 349 hackney drivers, but there are only 309 at the moment - and 81 of them are aged over 60. He said: “We need younger drivers, there are only two that are under 30. I’m 48 and most drivers are 50-plus.” (Accurate numbers – should be 359. There are 300 Drivers according to the Licensing Register.)

Plymothians have been reporting extensive waits for taxis since the city unlocked following the Covid pandemic restrictions. In 2021 Plymouth Live reported that dozens of cabbies had quit the trade during the pandemic, lured away by delivery driver jobs or returning to Europe post-Brexit. (This is true.)

It was estimated as many as 400 hackney and private hire drivers had left the industry. Figures showed the number of private hire drivers had slumped from 803 to 690, but the numbers include several that are not working full time. (Accurate current number from Licensing Register – 629.)

Mr Leaves blamed many factors including mounting costs and bureaucracy and said there was a particular shortage of drivers prepared to work nights, especially at the weekend because of “intoxicated customers”. Mr Leaves said: “There is a lack of drivers that want to work at night. Some drivers are saying there is too much aggro to work Saturday evenings.” (True enough.)

He said other factors were making life difficult for black cab drivers too. He said: “There are overheads. The vehicles are getting more expensive. And the red tape imposed on taxi drivers is not helping.”

This includes Plymouth City Council’s recent approval of the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy 2022. The policy removes the limit on hackney cab numbers and insists the famous black cabs are coloured green and white by 2027 - something Mr Leaves said will cost money. (Sooner if bringing new vehicles on. I am reliably told a Proprietor had an order in for 2 placed in October – order cancelled as they would be immediately devalued by the Colour scheme.)


Mr Leaves, a taxi driver for 18 years, said he had been told by the council it would cost £250 to change the livery of a taxi. But when he contacted one garage he was quoted £2,700 to wrap a black cab. He said 85% of cabs made by the London Electric Vehicle Company are black and those by Mercedes are “mostly black”. He said: “We believe it’s £250 if you have a white cab, but to wrap a black cab is more. How many white ones are out there?” (Can’t be wrapped, must be painted hence the cost, the “Snot Green” bonnet can be wrapped, hence the cost.)

Earlier in 2021, Cllr Chaz Singh, chairman of the council’s Taxi Licensing Committee, told Plymouth Live’s sister site Business Live that there was a shortage of taxi drivers, with Brexit being one factor. He said: “A lot of the Polish drivers had left, but many Romanians remained.”

He said more drivers were needed and explained: “We need loads of drivers, especially as the economy is picking up and events are starting to come on again. We have to make sure we can meet the demand of the public.”

Cllr Singh said he was confident drivers would be recruited and said moves have been made to encourage former members of the Armed Forces, for example. And he said that as chair of the taxi licensing committee he had been instrumental in the increase in fees for hackney and private hire vehicles in a bid to encourage people into the industry. (Ex- Servicemen like me made up a good percentage 20 years ago when I started. I got my Pension on day of leaving the RN at age 40. I could make enough Taxi Driving to support young family. Now you leave the Forces at 40 but Pension only starts paying at 55 – don't expect Veterans anymore, not enough earnings at 40, too expensive to start at 55.)

But other incentives may be needed and Cllr Singh said: “We want people from all walks of life to become taxi drivers, because we have got a lot of aged drivers. So it is how do we incentivise people into the trade? Can we give them some kind of incentive from a financial point of view? The licences are not cheap.” (But a mere pinprick compared to the Prices of Vehicles they will accept.)

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Chris The Fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlyi5mc ... re=related

Just brings more credibility to what I have been saying on here for a few months. Like I have said previously. It will get worse. The councils will make sure of that.

Chris. Why does Plymouth Council demand that cabs have to be painted? Surely vinyl wrapping is sufficient?

That seems absurd and yes it will cost drivers a fortune and unnecessarily as usual.

Don't know for sure but I am guessing the average age of licensed drivers all across the country is probably very high with very few young drivers getting licensed.

Maybe Plymouth is one of the worst examples.

When I was working in the trade I picked up a former black cab driver (Plymouth licensed) once who left the trade I think around 20 years ago or so.

He told me he was a driver for many years and one day out of the blue he turned up at the taxi rank in the city centre to find it completely full with new drivers all from abroad. In all his time driving he never had a problem getting on the rank until then.

He left not long after that as he saw the writing on the wall. He also told me what he used to earn and I was astonished how good it was.

From what i can tell there is no way you can earn a living that can support you with the astronomical costs of housing and everything else now along with the costs been forced by the councils.

Something has to give. This is why the driver numbers are declining.

I really don't know how it gets resolved.

The only things I can think of are no restrictions on the age of the vehicles or on emissions. let any licensed driver use whatever vehicle they want.

Also, no livery requirements and no emission zone charges that the councils are trying to bring in.

Will these things happen? Probably not.

But if things get really bad then the councils will have no choice. I don't know how low the driver numbers have to get before the councils start to panic. We might finds out soon enough.

Doubt this is unique to Plymouth.

Be surprised if we had anyone under 30 driving down here.

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IDFIMH

Well this is what it says and what the Councillors voted on without reading it:

Quote
It is proposed that for all vehicles plated for the first time by the Council (including existing proprietors on the change of vehicle), proprietors will be required to comply with the following condition(s):

No vehicle shall be licensed as a Hackney carriage vehicle unless its paintwork bodywork are painted in manufacturers ‘white’ colour except for the bonnet and boot lid (rear door) which must be ‘Green’ in colour to colour code RAL – 6037or “wrapped” in 3M Scotchcal Vinyl or equivalent vinyl to the same colour specification.

The paintwork/ bodywork must be professionally finished. Bare metal, primer paint, visible rust and perforations will not be permitted.

Each Hackney Carriage shall display signs on each door in accordance with the design approved and supplied by the Council. The sign shall be constructed of vinyl and be applied directly to the door.
End Quote

And they can stick that up their collective AR5E as far as I'm concerned.

_________________
Chris The Fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlyi5mc ... re=related

All I can say is that requirement is a complete farce.

Apart from the bonnet and boot (rear door) the rest of the vehicle has to be painted white. That will cost a fortune.

£2,000 plus sounds about right including the green vinyl required.

I am beginning to think it's a conspiracy in this nation coming down from the top to actually decimate the cab industry.

They actually mentioned that in the recent PHTM magazine issue and it is now becoming a serious question.

They really can't be this stupid up and down the country.

If the Plymouth drivers don't refuse this and not comply in significant numbers and the policy remains in force then you can see those Plymouth licence numbers drop like a stone even more.

No one in their right mind will pay for that on top of all the other costs of doing business.

Nothing particularly new here, and kind of reflects what Chris and others have been saying above.

And, like some of the Glasgow Live articles, this one could maybe do with a bit of editing, at least as far as the general readership of the Plymouth Herald is concerned.

But for English language anoraks, interesting that the word 'botheration' doesn't appear here, and instead the more conventional word 'aggravation' is used


Plymouth cabbies want halt on new green-and-white taxi rule

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/p ... ew-6955508

City's hackney drivers say new taxi policy will cause them financial hardship and force black cab drivers out of the trade


A photoshopped image of what black cabs could look like if their livery was changed to green and white (Image: Penny Cross/Plymouth Live)

Plymouth’s black cab hackney carriage drivers want the council to halt its recently approved taxi policy saying measures such as insisting cabs are coloured green and white will drive cabbies out of business. The Plymouth Licensed Taxi Association (PLTA) said the authority should not implement the newly approved Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy 2022, which is due to come into force on May 1.

They want the entire policy to return to the council chamber, following next month’s ward elections, for a fresh look. The PLTA said measures forcing cabs to be coloured in a new livery and for drivers to install card reading payment devices will hit drivers hard in the pocket and lead to many quitting the trade at a time when there is already a shortage of cabbies.

The PLTA said a council blunder which meant new private hire taxi drivers won’t have to take the famous “knowledge” test of the city’s streets, and which was accidentally voted through by councillors, showed the policy was not properly scrutinised and rushed through the voting process. It said because of this gaffe the entire policy should go back to the full council for a fresh debate.

But Plymouth City Council, while admitting the mistake, said it will be implementing the new policy on May 1. However, it also said it will be reviewing the situation to decide whether the policy needs to go back before full council.

John Beaumont, PLTA chairman, said: “We would like it put on hold and discussed thoroughly, with all bodies concerned. It was rushed through. None of those councillors knew what they were voting for, I doubt they read all 116 pages (of the policy document).

"I would like it revisited. We want to have face to face meetings. We have got to get someone to listen to us and hold the policy or else we will lose drivers hand over fist.”

It recently emerged that the city has only two black cab drivers aged under 30 and many are over 60 and heading towards retirement. The PLTA said it is struggling to find young people who want to work in an industry beset with unpopular regulation and expense - and aggravation from drunk passengers.

The city should have 349 hackney drivers, but there are only 309 at the moment, and 81 of them are aged over 60. It was estimated as many as 400 hackney and private hire drivers had left the industry during the Covid pandemic and figures showed the number of private hire drivers slumped from 803 to 690, with more cutting back hours on the road.

Mr Beaumont said he knows of several drivers planning to leave the trade this summer and said it is possible there won’t be enough cabbies to fulfil school contracts in September. He said: “They will struggle to find enough drivers to take children to school.”

Mr Beaumont said councillors had seemingly ignored the results of a consultation on the new licensing proposals, which revealed 72% of respondents didn’t want a livery change, 75% didn’t want the knowledge test scrapped, and a majority didn’t want the cap on hackney licences lifted. Yet all these were approved by councillors. Mr Beaumont said he was astonished that councillors voted for the proposals and said: “It is beyond me.”

The consultation did, however, show that 60% of respondents wanted to install a card payment system for hackney carriages. But Mr Beaumont said this would put a further financial burden on drivers. He said: “Everything they want to introduce will bring additional costs to drivers.”

With the cost of new taxis varying from about £46,000 to up to £70,000 for an electric vehicle, and with a change of livery for an old cab possibly costing as much as £2,700, Mr Beaumont suggested ageing drivers will simply retire rather than invest in a green and white conveyance. He said: “Are people at the age of 60 going to buy a new vehicle?”

However, the council stressed the new taxi policy, and associated documents were published online from November 25 to February 17 to allow for a full 12 week consultation. A spokesperson said: “All drivers, vehicle proprietors and operators were sent an email and letter in the post explaining the consultation and asking for their feedback. Letters and emails were also sent to a variety of agencies and departments including disability groups, resident’s associations’ and businesses asking for feedback. It was also shared on our social media channels and covered by local media. A total of 338 responses were received following the public consultation and fully considered before the new Taxi Licencing Policy went to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board and then onto full council for final approval in March.”

However, the council has admitted, and apologised for, a blunder which means that from May 1 anyone who fancies becoming a private hire driver won’t have to do the knowledge, test, and spend days scrutinising the map of Plymouth, learning its geography and the best routes to get a passenger from A to B. The spokesperson said: “For clarity it’s important to note that a line in the new Taxi Licensing Policy stating ‘for Hackney Carriage applications only’ in reference to the Topographical Knowledge of Plymouth (KOP) test should have been removed.

“However, because this was approved at full council the policy will be implemented as published. This means that from May 1 all new private hire applicants will not be required to complete the KOP test. We are sorry for any confusion caused and will be reviewing this to determine whether to return the policy back to full council.”

another council wanting it's cabs to match the football clubs colours

I think all councils who do this should also dig into their pockets and at least meet the drivers half way

At least this colour scheme is actually attractive compared to many of the others

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

The problem is quite straightforward, not enough people want to join our trade.

In the last 20 years the trade has been, to a large extent, filled with immigrants. That supply has now ended.

The traditional trade is simply not an attractive proposition to new entrants for a number of reasons, the first one being financial.

The likes of Uber have tried to sort out the financial aspect with surge prices, but the traditional trade is s*** scared of following suit.

Would a 25-year-old Sussex joined this trade? Not on your nelly.

_________________
IDFIMH

erm...

...what about the 200 a day arriving in dover after the coastguard picks them up

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

If the councils want drivers to have these colours then they should pay for them out of their own budget and not try to pass it on to the drivers.

No drivers are demanding to update/change their own vehicle colours. They are perfectly happy to carry on their trade with what they already have.

All drivers should not have to fork out a penny.

I certainly wouldn't.

Agreed.

There are now barriers to entry in the trade that are unnecessary.

A lot of councils now require vehicles no older than 5 or 6 years.

Many are also restrictive in relation to emissions so only hybrids or pure electric only.

This in most cases will force applicants to get a vehicle on finance probably with a deposit of between £500-£1,000.

Congestion charges/emission zones are another cost been forced onto drivers.

How much will the business insurance be? £2,000 minimum if in a low risk area with a clean licence etc.

That's a £200 deposit just for the insurance.

Then we have the license costs for both the taxi badge and the vehicle licence.

And the livery costs if you are stupid enough to start your trade in Plymouth as a hackney driver.

All this before you even know if you will enjoy the job/trade.

The risk-reward ratio is in no way favourable.

Many taxi drivers are on low wages and have to work unsociable hours and put up with many disrespecting customers who seem to be getting more and more aggressive towards licensed drivers going by the reports of the last year or so.

Add to that you don't get no holiday pay if you have time off work. No pension.

Also, let's not forget anything can go wrong with your vehicle at any time. Potential high repair costs. Add to that wear and tear on the vehicle. And the monthly car payments with interest.

The councils are living on another planet.

The trade will lose more drivers over the coming years.

It's inevitable should they carry on with their degenerate policies.

They are not permitted to work in the UK until they have been granted asylum are they?

_________________
Grandad,