Taxi Driver Online

Two letters plucked from the Plymouth evening herald.
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Evening Herald (Plymouth)

August 8, 2006 Tuesday

HEADLINE: Not enough work

I am a taxi driver of 10 years' experience, and in that time my wages have dropped because there are too many taxi drivers on the Plymouth streets. I am fed up with Taxifast saying that they cannot meet demand. When I go and pick up a customer from the city around 10pm in the evening, I can count 20 Taxifast drivers parked in Colin Campbell car park and six around the back of the ABC Cinema.

OE SWORDS

Ernesettle
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Evening Herald (Plymouth)

August 8, 2006 Tuesday

HEADLINE: European drivers are in for a shock.

I was absolutely furious after reading the article 'Inside Prague's training camp for taxi drivers' (Herald, August 2).

I am a hackney driver, although I started with Taxifast in the middle of 2003. I left them at the beginning of this year to go hackney driving. I used to take in everything said to me from office staff at Taxifast, and, yes, I used to think black cab drivers were a waste of time. Obviously now I have seen the other side.

I used to have to work six days a week to make ends meet - sometimes seven. The Saturday was anything from 10 to 15 hours, and I used to sit around for 30 minutes to an hour waiting for a job. How can our city have more demand for taxis? Look at the drivers sitting around and waiting. Why the need to bring in European drivers? I have used Taxifast and been picked up by Czech drivers. Their knowledge is not as brilliant as it is made out to be. I was told by one how he pays £158 office rent, £170 for the rent of his car and then extra for his rent on the house he stays in. He said he pays Taxifast more than £400 every week. Then he has the costs of fuel, cleaning, uniform etc.

We were told: "Many Plymouth drivers earn so much by Thursday they take the rest of the week off." Well, try going out on the road Monday to Thursday with the same expenses and same amount of work, and see if you can earn a good living.

You will struggle to earn £10 an hour on average; take your expenses out of that and it leaves you with about £5 per hour. That's less than the minimum wage, and some people still say we're short of drivers. You are probably asking why I am still driving for a living. I enjoy driving and I enjoy working with the public. It's nice to get someone in my cab feeling down and getting out happy because that's what I have done.

That's job satisfaction for you. The job fits in well when you have children. Isn't it about time this city stuck together and agreed with me on this. We are all human. Just because our vehicle is slightly bigger doesn't make us any different from the private hire drivers. We are just as friendly and courteous as many of the Taxifast drivers.

Name and address supplied
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Its not just Plymouth

I work for a large PH firm in Chester,and after 11 years of paying through the nose I am seriously fed up.The size of the fleet increases every year mostly with people who live in outside areas whose LA`s have more stringent rules.Whats more is the equipment we use is gradually turning to s**t our radio reception is non existant and is a constant source of complaints.
I am sick of lining other peoples pockets and feel its about time we were de restriced so I can earn money for myself.

an interesting post JD, congrats for adding it.

JD Bubbles, sounds like greedy PH Operators to me.

Perhaps theres a no significant unmet demand

CC

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin