Sussex wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Chopping your head off will stop a headache, do really think de-reg will be good for anyone except for advertising sales, permit agents etc. It certainly will not be good for drivers, owners and definatley not the rarely mentioned customers.
So are you saying that in the majority of the country that doesn't restrict, cab drivers don't earn?
And when was the last time you met a poor London cabbie?
It takes years to become a London cabbie, they earn their money, I would not work in the Capital for twice their pay. As for the rest of the country, lets look at the hours, how many drivers could make a living on a 38 hour working week? What other industry would tollerate our working conditions, if we were in a factory heath and safety would close us down for the numbers killed or injured at work. Have you had just one working week when you have not felt at risk at some time from a road accident, aggresive punter, drunken lout walking past the rank, out of control school kid on a contract run, a mentally disturbed passenger on a social services run, one whole week without something, if you have you are extremley lucky, I have not had one in 25 years and I work in the "soft" south. De-reg will reduce quality of service, increase working hours. The OFT report shows in every de-reg area the overall number of vehicles available to the public went down after de-reg. Town centres could not cope with the additional taxis wanting to rank and the outlying areas were no longer serviced. Those are the accepted conclusions of the surveys. In general the old system works for the travelling public.