Taxi Driver Online

It's very likely I will be made redundant in the next couple of months.

I was looking in to the taxi trade and wasn't sure if now is a good time. I am in the Bournemouth area, and know where all the areas are, but not really the roads.

What sort of set up costs are there and could you buy a licence and have 2 or 3 drivers drive for me? or would I have to be a driver as well?

I was told the fee for a licence in Bournemouth is £25,000, and it would be best to go through a local firm like United who I'd pay £500 a month.

Mike.
redundancy pay is not free youve earned it and its silly spending it on a buisness you know so little about thats gamboling.

see if you are suited by becoming a driver yourself, and yoiu will find the pitfalls.

its ok saying can I just get drivers, no you cant they are thin on the ground
good ones are rarer still.

Geoff

Mike, I would get your license (drivers) which should cost you (with medical, CRB check and licensing fee) between £100 and £150 first.

You will no-doubt have to do some sort of knowledge, which could cost you up to £200 through a school.

Once you have your drivers license, drive for someone else for a few months before you even think about spending your redundancy on a taxi plate.

For it could be worthless in a year or so's time.

_________________
IDFIMH

Try it as a driver, you either love it or hate it. No-one chooses to be a taxi driver its what some people end up doing. I came into the trade because I was made redundant 25 years ago, I liked it and have been doing it ever since. Every year they say plates will be worthless, de-reg has been around the corner for 25 years. Its like buying a computer, its out of date in 3 months and worthless, but it still does the job. £25K in the bank will earn less than £25 a week, compare that to the returns on a plate.
Don't be put off by SAD gits who stick with PH licenses hoping for a free issue plate because they have not got the courage or conviction to invest in a real business. They are the whinning paratsites on the taxi trade.

Mike,come on up to Scotland,I will hire you as a driver,but you must invest
your £25,000.
I will put you up in my cave,let you drive my Euro Bus,Sleep with my wife,
play daddy to the kids,keep them watered and fed,and with the £25,000 I will invest in property in Spain.
Although I would have to stay over there,but you can fly out for a holiday
and I would only charge you £500 pounds a week,when staying in the flat.
Please get in touch.
Canny Scot,
c/o Cave 225,
Auchtershoogle Drive,
Upper Glen,
TattieBoggle.
Morse code phone,...-----.....-.-

So you would advise a newbie to the trade to go and spend his redundancy on a £25,000 plate.

What a nice person you are.

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IDFIMH

What other business would you recommend ?
Why do plates fetch £25k, is everyone who buys a plate wrong ?
Or are you trying to deter future competition ?
You should get out of this trade and find yourself a nice little 9-5 paye job, you haven't a clue about business.

Well as I don't (yet) have a HC plate, then I think the competition issue is irrelevant. Also I want every fit and proper licensed driver to be able to have a HC plate on demand from the council, hardly an un-competitive view.

But do you really think advising a newbie to put his redundancy into a business that could be worth f*** all in a year or two, is sound advice?

Cos if it is, then perhaps I glad that I haven't a clue about your idea of business.

_________________
IDFIMH

You just want the Council to give you a plate free, the minute you get one you will jump as fast as possible to the other side of the fence and demand strict controls to protect your livleyhood. Every De-reg campainer is the same, shut the door tight, pull up the ladder I'm in, stop any more. In the mean time you try your best to undermine the value of plates and denegrate those that have them. Your are pathetic and so predictable. Life is about taking chances and risks, crawl out from under your stone and you will see it not all doom and misery. Choose life or shut up.

No that's not my view, but even if it was, I wouldn't be the first. However I think the gov will make it nigh on impossible to restrict once a council has de-limited.

Quite a few taxi owners that post on TDO are off the same opinion as me, and as I said, the ladder can stay put. It's called the real world.

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IDFIMH

Very soon you will wake up and realise its too late, your too old, the prime earning years are gone.
"Not Long now" will be "If only I had"
And some surly [edited by admin] taxi driver will be dropping you off at the day centre.

I think the game has got a good future. In fact in my area its getting harder and harder to get a cab license.
As a TDO story says it has dipped a bit over the last year but the customer trends are good.
Lets face it at night nobody in there right mind walks home. So it may ease up a bit on the day trade. But at night there will aklways be money to be made. As long as you arent a lazy git.

If by harder you mean the standards are being raised then thats a good thing. We need more dedicated professionals, people with a basic understanding of business, the whole image of the trade needs a major overhaul. It need not be a deadend last resort job. It should not be the job any idiot can do, even if his name is "sussex".

Spot on Mr Cgull, standards not restrictions.

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IDFIMH