Taxi Driver Online

York racecourse

659 taxis [private hire] ranking up at York race meeting ahead of the race course taxi rank, a women with clip board asking punters, do you require taxi

taxi license dept got called out, said they can continue but only using 2 vehicles to park up, but will be watching, not sure about the women touting,
other Private hire want to know if 659 can do it, why cant they

security words, touting illeagal

did the others ASK if they could? were they prepared to pay staff wages for the "marshall"?.....sounds like 659 were just 1 step in front

Nothing different to what was going on at york racecourse, when Ascot meeting was here, with full cooperation from the city of york council, and it involved every PH company in york.
So really, why should any other race meeting be any different?
Why dont you complain about Streamlines private rank while your at it?

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now a licensed hackney driver

surely its not a rank if a marshall is involved?

as a PH driver (not with 659) i can understand why they did this , and i for one hope some good may come of it.
for years now - the hackney cars have been provided with a signposted raceday rank right at the point where punters exit the course and have a total monopoly on the work - problem is the Queue can keep people waiting for 40 mins or more due to the number of hacks who dont want to work !
The racecourse rd area is a "no stop zone for anyone else" including cabs.
its a total disaster to put it mildly !
the police are there to attend to "public order / safety etc " but as usual in york have a go at easy targets such as us cab drivers trying to pick up a legit fare in a crowd of thousands.
between the racecourse / council / taxi associations etc they havent been able to arrive at any workable solution for years.

so i have to say well done 659 as perhaps it will force the clowns at st leonards council offices to take this issue seriously.

why would people spending a lot of cash to stay here & visit the races want to stand in a queue for ages / or get on a bus full of rowdy drunks / or walk in there sunday best ?
By the way at a recent meeting it rained just as the day ended causing utter chaos as the demand for taxis soared,with people running in front of cars trying to flag them down.
FFS people want transport to and from the venue and dont mind paying a premium for it - so lets give them it !

if it doesnt get sorted then more and more drivers just wont bother to work as its too much hassle for the little extra cash and the people will have to wait even longer to leave the races to get into town or back to the hotels etc.

I think my understanding as to why they did this will be slightly different to yours. I believe the only thing needed at the races with regards to PH is a pick up point. There is no reason for PH to be sitting and waiting for anything at the races. They shouldn't be there unless they already have a booking, simples It may also be an advantage to have a marshall of sorts but only to ensure that people get into the PH they have pre booked

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

I do work for 659 and this has come about because were we pick up pre booked jobs has been taken up by a shuttle bus Q not 1 but 15 of them, and they Q up on a large section of this road, with double yellows and waiting restrictions(are they allowed to do this?) if so why cant we?
Now if you stop on this road you now get moved on by the police, or even inspector Blakey from the local bus company, who i told to go multiply the last time i bumped into him.
I dont blame any company who wants to look after the regular customers after a day at the races, but for gods sake get it sorted

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now a licensed hackney driver

I don't know much about buses but they are apparently a law unto themselves. I do know however that PH can't rank up. It appears that you have the same battle with the buses as CC has in his neck of the woods except he's HC so he can rank up but only if there is a rank. It's all too confusing to me

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

Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994

167(1) "it is an offence,in a public place, to solicit persons to hire vehicles to carry them as passengers"

167(6) "Public place" includes any highway and any other premises or PLACE to which at the material time the public have or are permitted to have access (wether on payment or otherwise).

It is an arrestable offence.
It says it all really.

some confusion here about the races post.
i wrote about the difficuilty of PH picking up legit booked jobs and another post said "I do work for 659 and this has come about because were we pick up pre booked jobs has been taken up by a shuttle bus"

i very much doubt any PH driver is going to complain about not being able to rank on a busy road outside the course.

so comments like " There is no reason for PH to be sitting and waiting for anything at the races. They shouldn't be there unless they already have a booking, simples " are completely out of order and ill thought out - if inded any thought was applied ............

it would be helpful if more drivers from York who have relevant experience of this particular issue had a say - rather than people from the other areas in the UK as its pretty impossible to realise how much of a disaster the council have created until you see it for yourself.

as the 659 driver wrote a queue of buses are permitted to park / wait etc on double yellows but the police dont move them on ?

the irony is people are foced onto buses cos the taxis cant get near !

Are you referring to this comment you made?

"the police are there to attend to "public order / safety etc " but as usual in york have a go at easy targets such as us cab drivers trying to pick up a legit fare in a crowd of thousands."

if so how is "659 taxis [private hire] ranking up at York race meeting ahead of the race course taxi rank, a women with clip board asking punters, do you require taxi" the same thing.



Completely out of order Statement of fact. If the PH has no booking wtf are they doing there apart from adding to an already congested situation by all accounts. PH all over the country manage to pick up pre-booked fares from all kinds of events without having to rank at them. What PH need is an accessible pick up point so they can get to their punters. What they don't need is a rank nor should they have one

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

it has been very interesting to read all the views on this matter. now i will tell you all what exactly 659 did on the ebor meeting at york. firstly, the "woman" went to see the council to ask for a specific pick up point as the present arrangements were not working. that was given the go ahead as a trial run. then the woman, went to the police to ask for their co-operation, and was granted it, then she organised the pick up point and stood there all day everyday to make sure the correct passengers got into the correct cars which had been booked by the office. she also made sure that none of the cars waited for any length of time so there was no "ranking up". 659 worked togeter with the racecourse, council and police and the whole race meeting for 659 ran very smoothly thank you. so there you have it, any questions regarding this or any other matter can be answered if you simply ring 659659 and ask for "the woman".

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bread

Why was it necessary to have the pick up point so near the hackney rank?
Why did it have to be there 2 hours BEFORE the first race?
Why were you handing out cards to passers by with your number on them?
Why were you waving people from the hackney rank down to yours?
Why did you have that stupid grin on your face all day?

His ferret got loose in his trousers

for one, i stood where the council directed me to standwhich was nowhere near the hackney rank
two-i was there before the races so that the driverscould point out to customers where to pick up their taxi on the way back and so that the drivers could see where to pick up from
three-i did not give any cards out at all and i did not phone for anyone, the only people coming to me were pre booked by our office
four- not once did i wave customers from the hackney rank as i was too far away ad would not compromise the position of 659 by doing so
five- stupid grin, thats a bit personal isnt it, i smiled at our drivers going by and anyone who said hi because im a generally happy person
now whats your problem with that. and why shouldnt we be near the hackneys, are they something special, there are more private hire cars than hackney so why should they have the monopoly

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bread