Taxi Driver Online

Legally the 40p max must be per trip, not per person.

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IDFIMH

Round here the Volunteers usually have 2 or more onboard...after they drop them off at the corn club or GP practices they head straight off to net some more...its only when a Volunteer takes a day off that you begin to see what your missing out on...theres no hiding it as the client tells you thats the only reason they had to get a Taxi or a PH..they were stuck.

The local politicians sympathise but are happy to keep the status quo going..

I think the likes of the AA has a lot to answer for by suggesting that a car like a Nissan Micra has a running cost of 50p+ per mile...higher still if the annual milage is bigger....well thats garbages, We run Bigger cars further, have bigger Insurances and maintainance costs..yet we still run it for profit at a little over 70p per mile...and its taxable.

Besides..most of the Volunteers around here run old bangers for cars, so no problem of depreciation there as they are worth next to nowt anyway, These type of cars the council wouldnt licence anyway..

What the volunteers forget when they say their running cost is 50p per mile is that primarily their own car and is used mostly for their own use and enjoyment and 80% of these costs would need to be met by the owner anyway even it were never used for Voluntary work. the only extra cost they incur should be extra fuel and a small amount of wear and tear....on a micra the Fuel would be less than 10p per mile and even allowing for slightly higher vehicle depreciation of approx 10Ppm max....then in truth the cars voluntary use costs are approx 20p per mile...so at 40ppm thats a 20per mile profit.

Strange how the Volunteers conveniently overlook that in their pitiful defence in their quest for more cash...

Still bloody narks me though

Personally I think you should be pushing for higher standards for the volunteer drivers. Lets face it they are driving the same public around that you do. It surely cannot be that they only care about public safety when there is cash involved. You should be suggesting that if it wouldn't pass a taxi plate it shouldn't be used for public transport, free of charge, at cheap rate etc etc or not

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

They put it down as 4 trips round here Sussex not 4 POB's. We all know they've got 4 on board and getting paid for 4 on board.

They should have PH insurance at the very least, I thought that was mentioned a while back by some gov body

im suprised any go for the 40p service when they can get ambulance transport, in many cases a taxi/PHV for free, with a wait admittidley, ive done 1000s of miles as an ambulance car (i was plated) but others were not, passengers paid nothing, i even know 1 guy using his MOBILITY car on the "volunteer" car service with warwickshire, beat that!

Fraud then?

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

Thats as maybe but the word "Volunteer" is to Charity drivers as the word "Teflon" is to pots...in short, bugger all will stick.

They are the Untouchables...

just seen that leics county have given a contract to an oufit called "VOLUNTARY ACTION MELTON", a registered charity

Now thats bang out of order

http://www.voluntaryactionmelton.org.uk ... river.html


a 10 mile each way job, £20 each way

thats more than 40p per mile................




so subsidised AND charging for work over 40p a mile...

double bubble

Thats the rot set in mate...once these people get a foot in the door they will get more and more Council work...your Arse will be out the window.

And Nationally these schemes are multiplying faster than a hen poodle being chased by a rampant whippet.

All they need is a roadworthy car....damn even Del Boys Robin would have qualified, No Vehicle emissions issues..No Driver training...no Extra Licence....no extra insurance..no Special medicals...no extra costs..nowt. Indeed about half the Volunteer drivers up here are so old n dottery that they technically should be the Passenger and not the driver.

To compound the problem retired people are now generally fitter and live longer and feel that this offers them the Ideal oppertunity to keep active and useful whilst at the same time making a few bob to keep their cars on the road and eke out their pitiful state pensions a bit further.

Mark my words...this lot will lead to 1000s of Driver Job losses nationwide and not a Squeak will we hear from the government.

also, the state of the economy, rising prices, falling pensions and investment returns mean an extra £100 cash a week is most attractive to an OAP, even more so to (say) a cop/fireman, etc retiring at 50 ish on a good pension

anybody want to buy a 2006 mondeo tdci with 3 years contract to run?

Aye..retired Ambulance drivers and police up here fill the niche nicely...still..if they can retire on full pensions paid by us at around 55 then obviously theyre going to get a tad bored..

I spotted that this group had been given a contract but I didn't look at the figures. I will now.
Thanks Wannabee

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Grandad,

not being one to flook about, ive emailed thier transport "co-ordinator", who is probably about 20, drives a Ford Ka 5 miles a day to work, is on £20K a year and thinks a hackney carriage has a horse to pull it.

I have just had a look for the tender but I can't find it. Do you have a link?

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Grandad,