Taxi Driver Online

and if these guys are self employed, there's no guarantee that they will pay tax.

In Plymouth, are the hackney and private hire knowledge tests the same or are they different? And is Mr Preece really employing these East Europeans as has been mentioned?

Best wishes

JD

Yes, its the same knowledge test and the same driving test. All our drivers are self-employed, if mr. preece changes this and take them on and pays them a wage is up to him. but the newspaper article quoting mr. preece says they are to be self-employed.

And there nothing to stop a scots man coming down here and working either as long as you pass the tests.

The reason I asked the question is because of the European equation. Mr Preece may have it in mind to include one or more of these Eastern Europeans in his action against the council regarding the issue of Hackney carriage licences.

It may be Mr preece will get these East Europeans to apply to the council for a Hackney carriage proprietors licence, if refused it would leave the door open for a joint court action. The inclusion of the East Europeans in any court action would undoubtedly bring into question the points raised by the Judge in the Dublin case with regard European exclusion and subsequent breach of European law.

Interesting theory but I suspect its only a theory.

Best wishes

JD

Thank goodness I'm not the only one who thinks that's where the quota issue could be finished once and for all.

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IDFIMH

this is plate numbers appeal is due in court soon i'll let you know what happens.

Oh deary me....

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=133188&command=displayContent&sourceNode=133171&contentPK=11349368&moduleName=InternalSearch&keyword=taxi&formname=sidebarsearch

WALKOUT BY TAXI DRIVERS

MARTIN FREEMAN

12:00 - 20 November 2004
A bitter row has broken out between four Czech taxi drivers and a Plymouth firm over a £3,500 recruitment repayment demand. Taxifast told the men they must pay back the cost of flights, accommodation and training if they wanted to continue with the company.

The four self-employed drivers refused and left, saying there was no written agreement to repay recruitment costs.

Two of them told the Herald they were 'disgusted' at Taxifast's treatment of them.

But Taxifast chairman John Preece said there was a 'verbal contract' with the men to recoup costs.

He branded them as 'greedy', saying that one Czech made over £2,500 in 13 days as a Taxifast driver.

The Herald revealed in September that Taxifast was the first UK taxi company to recruit from the Czech Republic.

Eight men and one woman were flown over, accommodated, trained and put through city council tests, to help satisfy the expanding company's need for 60 new drivers a year.

But since the recruitment payment row four have left Taxifast.

Two have returned to the Czech Republic. The Herald tracked the other two down to rival firm Central Taxis, where they now work.

Vaclav Milacek, 28, and Martin Behounek, 38, say they left good jobs - as a sales manager and a graphic designer respectively - in the Czech capital, Prague, for the chance to earn more and improve their English in Plymouth.

Both say they were well-treated by Taxifast during their training.

Mr Milacek said: "It was all right. I had no problem. I worked for 13 days, then I was told I had to pay back £3,500 in recruitment costs.

"Mr Preece gave me repayment options, either £40 a week for two years, £60 for one year or £120 for six months, but I refused.

"I said 'Why should I pay that?'.

"We know that nothing is for free and we were prepared to pay something, maybe £1,200."

The money was on top of office and car rentals totalling £280 per week, he said.

Mr Milacek said he "may have seen" a document from Dunross, a recruitment company in Prague used by Taxifast, which explained that recruitment costs would be recovered once he was trained and working.

But they claim no indication was given about how big the demand would be. "There was no written contract," said Mr Milacek.

Mr Behounek said: "It was the same with me, the same demand for £3,500 for all of us."

Both men are now working as drivers with Central, paying a total of £280 weekly in office and car rental.

Mr Preece vehemently denied that the four Czechs had been treated unfairly.

He said: "We have had to pay their flights, their accommodation and food for four weeks and their training, and we will pay for flights home for anybody who is not happy."

There had been 'a verbal agreement' with the Czechs in Prague to recover the money once they were trained and working, although no figure was mentioned.

"We wanted to recover £3,500. In fact it has cost more than that, a lot more than we ever thought."

Taxifast has talked to its Czech drivers and has now agreed a repayment figure of £30 a week for six months, said Mr Preece. Five were still happily working with the company, he said.

The Herald has seen Taxifast documents which show that Mr Milacek earned £2,597 in 13 days with Taxifast, working between five-and-a-half and 15.25 hours a day. He worked 10 days in succession and on two successive days, totalling 26.5 hours, earned £280 per day.

Another Czech driver earned £1,575 in one week, working seven successive days of up to 14.5 hours a day.

Mr Preece said: "I have given them everything, paid for their training, their licences, clothes.

"If they want to walk away and pay nothing and work on that licence for another firm, that's on their conscience. I think they are greedy."

Mr Milacek said: "(What I earned) is a different story. It is nothing to do with this."

Dan Taylor, a director of Dunross recruitment, based in Prague, said: "We were asked by Taxifast to find potential drivers, to arrange interviews and help get reference checks.

"We gave them (the recruits) a document telling them the information about Taxifast and working conditions."

Mr Preece said that Taxifast - the South West's biggest taxi firm with over 320 drivers carrying over four million passengers a year - had not been put off recruiting from the Czech Republic.

Up to nine more Czechs were in training in Plymouth and a further eight or 10 were waiting in Prague if Taxifast wanted to bring them over, he said.

more headline grabbing new for taxifast. only 4 new drivers involved though.

worse thing to come from this is now everyone who reads the paper thinks that we are all doing 15 hours days and earning £1500+ a week.

all i can say is that i wish these drivers all the best with their new places at Central cabs. but i'm sure they will soon discover that the grass is not always greener, as the saying goes. i wonder if they will still be there (or even still in the UK) come the end of january.

Well this one was never going to go smoothly, was it?

I had assumed that Mr Preece was a fairly astute businessman but, assuming his version of events is correct, then he's been incredibly naive to undertake a contract like this on the basis of a verbal agreement.

And as Steveo rightly says, the earnings figures quoted won't do the trade any good, and the hours being worked make both the drivers and Mr Preece look irresponsible.

And I don't like the way that reports like this use the term 'earnings', when what they are actually talking about is takings or turnover - you could 'earn' hundreds a week, which might look like a decent wage, but in reality make a profit of zilch, or even a loss.

But at least it puts Linda Gilroy MP's comments in the Commons debate into perspective - as I said at the time, and as Steveo has effectively confirmed since, the stuff she quoted from the 'PH driver' was more than likely a load of rubbish.

it would seem as if the article has come from either the drivers themselves or from central cabs.

i think i have written on these forums before about the contract with our taxi school. the training program is fairly intense over a 3 to 4 week period and the school goes to a lot of expense to ensure that the end result is another quality driver for taxifast. you sign a contract to say that if you leave in the first 12 months to go and work for another firm, then you pay for the course (about £500) if you leave the taxi business altogether or after 12 month you pay nothing.

when you add in the fact that these lads were put up in a hotel for a month, fed, clothed, entertained and flown over in the first place you can expect some sort of the cost to be paid back. they knew it was coming.
however i am also surprised at the £3500 quoted. they have been offered an easy payment option which seems to be fair. and looking at the sort of hours and money they were doing it would not take very long at all to pay back the full amount.

As to the number of hours they have been doing, well there is another active forum thread about that so it will be covered in there.

the other five drivers that where also brought over are still here and seem to be happy with the arrangement. as even with paying the office rent, renting a car and paying back part of the £3500 they are still left with more than they would ever earn in their own country. and im sure after a while they will have enough to get their own car instead of renting.

Oh I bet the tax office in Plymouth must just love all that info, and I expect the rest of the lads are really pleased all this is in the open.

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IDFIMH

Mmm, expect a visit from the Tax man next week.

2500.00 in 13 days equals 70000.00 per anum hope that driver gets himself vat registred

Why do drivers open up their traps and say things like that.
If you do earn tyhat then keep your gob shut. Or the trade will be flooded with idiots looking for an easy l;ife but not getting one.
Or is Mr preece trying a new way to recuit drivers.

well this weekend i only got asked about 5 times if we all do those hours and earn that much money, so not too bad !!!

word is that one of the drivers was a tw*t behind the wheel. someone complained because of him speeding and going through 2 red lights while they were in the car. we can do without drivers like that.