Taxi Driver Online

Darlington taxi driver calls for cap on cabbie numbers

A TAXI driver who says cabbies are having to work longer hours to make ends meet has called on the region’s councils to prevent more deaths by capping the number of vehicles operating.

George Jenkinson, of Darlington, was speaking after road safety charity Brake stepped up its campaign to limit taxi drivers’ working hours, following the death of 18-year-old Gary Glymond.

Mr Glymond, of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, was struck by a taxi as he celebrated his birthday last year. The taxi driver told police he had been working for more than 13 hours before the incident.

Mr Jenkinson said he feared such incidents could happen again because drivers are forced to work 15-hour shifts in order to make a living. He said: “There are a lot of drivers not even making the minimum wage, and for that reason they need to work longer hours. “When I first started in the early Seventies, there were only around 70 cars in Darlington. There’s now knocking on 300 cars, plus others from outside.”

Helena Houghton, of Brake, said: “We need to be making sure that people are not put under pressure, especially in the current economic climate, to work more hours. They are putting themselves at risk and the people that they are carrying in their taxis at risk.”

A Darlington Borough Council spokeswoman said the authority had fewer Hackney carriages operating in Darlington than a year ago, with 176 now, compared with 215 in 2007-8.

She said these figures made it unlikely that a cap would be introduced, and said: “The Office of Fair Trading advises against restricting the number of licences issued for Hackney carriages.” In County Durham, taxi numbers in Durham City and Chester-le-Street are capped, but elsewhere taxi numbers are unrestricted.

John Worrall, the owner of Moor Private Hire, in Langley Moor, County Durham, said capping the number of taxis created a black market in plates. He said because they were so sought-after, he had known plates to sell illegally for up to £40,000, although he conceded that drivers’ profit margins were very tight. He said: “You have got to work the hours to get the money.” One driver estimated that most cabbies would take home about £200 a week.

Neil Smalley, a public safety manager at Durham County Council, said the council was in the early stages of consultation on taxi provision in the county. He said: “Views from all interested parties will be sought over the coming months, with any final decisions not expected before spring next year.”

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IDFIMH

Hmmmmm.

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IDFIMH

I guess the gold mine was played out in Darlington earlier than other places if nearly 40 ppl have shoved it in.

This is the Sh*t that some drivers are telling the press thats going get us all forced to work shorter hours and its wrong...wrong because this driver obviously is not working longer hours nor driving longer hours, if he were he'd be making more money, what he really means is that he is making himself available for work over a longer period of time in order to try and gain a reasonable amount of fare generating hours under his belt, so Its wrong to say he is working more when obviously he is working far less than is profitable, but the press does not see this, The Press and Brake just see that the guy is saying publicly that he is working dangerously long hours and that is Music to their ears.

I understand what you mean, an 8 hr shift is no good, it's unworkable for a profitable day, however if it was set at a max of 12 hours per day this will remove those that work 9am - 3am and longer, which I personally think is out of order to the punter and out of order to the fellow driver, because ppl doing this force others to work longer as well as they are effectively nicking the other drivers shift, I get sick of seeing drivers asleep in the cab, wanna sleep go home to bed, it's as bad to drive tired as it is to drive drunk.

There's a number of things you could say about this story, so lets start with Mr Worrels private hire business, why does a plate value concern him?

Secondly, I would say if the LA is right and has lost that number of licenses in the area in the past 12 months, then something is seriously wrong with the taxi trade in Darlington and they need to think about doing something.

Finally, although I believe BRAKE are a bunch of f*cking idiots, perhaps they should investigate why taxi drivers are working extreme hours, I think they'll find that drivers need to do this because they need to earn money to eat.

CC

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

It's ok CC, when the day comes were all skint and homeless we can stay at Ali T's, he believes that nobody should pay and nobody should be denied, so roll on I fancy a bit of haggis and Sky sports round at Ali's, I bet he's such a good fella he'll lend us his bed to kip on, no funny business though, I like pink not brown

.........and I like the whole bed to myself so whilst you lot are watching Ali's sky sports and eating his haggis I'll have claimed his bed all for little 'ole me

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

I wonder if he'd let us drive his cabs for free bag as well so we have enough money to get some smokes and a bottle of vodka, yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep hellava guy is that Ali

I imagine he would.....he's one for the masses

CC

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

Why aren't all the 150,000 licensed PH all skint and homeless?

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IDFIMH

Who says they aren't skint

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

Who says they arent homeless

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

Well I know at least one who isn't.

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IDFIMH

great.....what about the other 149,999

CC

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