Taxi Driver Online

Cabbies working dangerously long shifts

CASH-STRAPPED cabbies are putting lives at risk by working 24-hour shifts in Weston just to make ends meet, industry insiders say. The boss of a taxi firm claims a 43 per cent rise in driver numbers means some are forced to stay on the road for dangerously long shifts to pay the bills.

One cabbie told the Mercury that his hard-up and weary colleagues are on call for extended back-to-back shifts on profitable Saturday nights. Apple Central Taxis driver John Koulias said he had to advise one to stop working after the driver admitted colliding with a stationary car after a 6am-6am shift.

Mr Koulias, aged 60, said: "Certain drivers I know regularly do 20-hour shifts and I've known a driver attempt a 29-hour shift straight through without clocking off. "It's impossible to be alert for that long, especially when you're driving.

"We have to highlight this for safety reasons because somebody could end up getting killed. "But the drivers are being forced to take these risks because there are too many cabs on the road, which means they aren't picking up as many fares as before."

He claims some drivers are working the long shifts for companies, while others are clocking off and working privately. Mr Koulias says the only way to solve the problem is to cap the number of new licenses being awarded by North Somerset Council.

In 2007 there were 548 taxi drivers working in North Somerset, but that figure has shot up to 789 today. Apple Central Taxis general manager Danny Rowe said his company had been forced to act to stop the dangerous shift patterns.

He said: "It isn't something we condone, but we've had to stop and intervene in recent weeks. "There are drivers who are in a situation where they are working extra hours but we don't tolerate it under any circumstances. "Some drivers had been abusing the system and we had to put a stop to it."

A council spokesman said: "We don't have the ability to cap the number of taxi licenses being handed out. "There has been an increase in the number of applications granted."

The spokesman added that there had been a significant increase in the number of applications from people living outside the district, a factor the authority wants to curb.

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IDFIMH

I wonder how much they charge for rental

Just what we dont need right now...Midnight to Midnight cowboys...Brake will just love that

Isn't it time that someone worked out that actually if all the drivers are working 24 hour shifts to service say 1000 customers then if each driver only worked 12 hour shifts and actually worked it between them the same number of passengers would still be carried. The revenue would still be the same but each driver would have worked only half the time.

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Grandad,

I think you've hit the nail on the head.

CC

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

Fare and square.