Taxi Driver Online

There are plenty of £500 FX4s in Gateshead, bonny lad. Makes my Optimax guzzling turbo-whistling baby do its job so much easier. When I overtake them I think they are parked. I can go faster in reverse.

So Gateshead never got round to introducing an age rule?

Or was it like the London one - 15 years - and lots of huffing and puffing when a 12 year rule was proposed?

Dusty

HI GUYS
reply from crazy fire company

1/ DO YOU THINK THE POLICE WOULD LET US DRIVE VEHICLES THAT ARE UNLICENCED-
our insurance is double the cost of a taxis-i know i used to be a taxi driver,
and do you think i would take the safety of children without insurance,
we have an extra policy in place as dealing with children.

2/seat belts-we are fully seat belted and as a rule everone must wear them before the vehicle takes off.(would u inforce this -the answer is no , because time is money)

3/vehichle inspections-We carry a higher inspection mot and must have a seat belt safety certificate-how many old taxis have a safety certificate,every year. your question on fire extinguishers-yes we must have them in the front cab,or we would fail our mot)

4/All our vehicles carry 2 firemen.we are not a taxi sevice, we are an entertainment service.

5/Tax-We have to have bus tax-a lot dearer than car tax,why not have a higher rate of tax for taxis-this is what they have done to us.

6/We are not allowed in the bus lanes,or allowed to stop at bus stops.

7/WHY DO YOU NOT HAVE A GO AT THE PARTY BUS.THERE IN EVERY CITY,CARRY OVER 30 PEOPLE,AND OPERATE THE SAME AS US.
(PS WE DO HAVE AN OPERATORS LICENCE.)

8/CHECKING OF DRIVERS-WE EMPLOYE EX FIREMEN WHO NOW HOW TO HANDLE THE VEHICLES AND SURELY THEY ARE NOT PEDOS,(and have a set company price -no riping off of fares ,i know i was in the game)

9/ ALSO CHECK THE AMOUNT OF CHARITY WORK OUR COMPANY DOES-YOU GUYS ALSO DO A LOT FOR CHARITY.-we are not all quick buckers.

10/lets get ridicolus ,maybe you could give out taxi hats ,free bubbly,park up after each hire for picture taking
We are a different market,sort out your own problems in the industry ,because got you got enough of them.

ps im not getting at the drivers,its the pen pushers with nothing better to do.good luck to all.
(my views are for the way our company operates-i do not know and cannot comment on the way other fire engine companies run)

SO WAS VERY UNFAIR TO COMMENT ON A COMPANY THEY NO NOTHING ABOUT.

ps i also forgot to mention our vehichles do not pick up of the street and do not run free shuttle services to clubs/pubs.

Maybee if we were licenced as you say ,we could work the streets ,ha even pick up from, your taxi ranks.
we do not want this but as you no extra costs, extra money needed and we would be allowed to do a taxi service,and use your lanes,this we do not want as we drive slower as on tours not out to get to the next job as fast as possible ,this would cause major fights,especialy in glasgow where there is too many cabs on the streets.


LETS STAY SEPERATE AND WORRY ABOUT OUR OWN PROBLEMS........

Thanks for the reply, Mr Crazy Fire Company.

Could you just clarify precisely which licenses your vehicles and drivers hold, and which licensing authority issues them.

Are you saying that your engine is licensed as a bus?

Dusty

All our vehicles are registerd as buses,carry pay and reward full insurence,plus a top up of 5 million on each vehichle for public liability,as dealing with children.
All our employes are checked,and the childrens entertainers are equity memembers. (childrens entertainers union)

We would not give out any company information due to the fact of the amount of cash spent setting up the business through lawers ,insurance,and oufitting of the vehicles(we get to many companies calling trying to set up-why should we tell them the law then i costed us a fortune to set up-dvla even changed the tax class as we were one of the first to set up.

Yes there may be companies in england opertating illegilly...
As they may be in it for the fast buck,but we are a proffesional company,dealing in the entertainment market not the taxi trade, as 99% or our work is city tours.They are already in the town and we do not take them out of the town.

The copmanies operating illigaly is up to the police ,because hell strathclyde and lothion police know the law as we worked closely with them.

The bus may operate a "private hire" in which the whole bus must be pre-booked by a single entity

The police don't know what day it is, so I think the last thing they care about is whether you are pukka.

As long as you take the punters home, then they always have turned a blind eye.

I'm not sure people are commenting on your business, but the system that allows a fire engine to act as a bus/PH/taxi.
I'm sorry, but I have to adhere to many many conditions to be able to take people for payment, from a to b.
I would have the same opinion if my council licensed a Robin Reliant. Just because it may be within the laws, doesn't necessarily mean it right and proper.

FELL FREE TO CONTACT STRATHCLYDE POLICE-AS SAID WE WERE ONE OF THE FIRST TO SET UP,SO THEY KNOW THE LAW ,ANYWAY WHO WOULD BE SO SILLY TO RUN A COMPANY ON NO INSURANCE..GET REAL
PEOPLES LIVES ARE AT RISK....


STICK TO TAXIS AND LEAVE OTHER COMPANIES ALONE...

Could you just clarify what name your PSV operator's license is registered under and when it was granted?

There's no sign of it on the Traffic Area Network (Traffic Commissioners) website.

The police are not directly responsible for licensing either taxis/PHVs or buses. The former is the responsibility of local authorities. The latter is the responsibility of the Traffic Commissioners.

Your local Traffice Area Office is in Edinburgh. There are extensive records on the TAN website regarding application for licenses etc. and it would be great if you could point us in the right direction.

Please note that there was never any intention to suggest that you were acting illegally or were uninsured (or the article would have said so), but the intention was to highlight inadequacies in the licensing legislation.

As regards your particular case, many of us find it incredible that a fire engine can be operated under a PSV license, and if so then this is clearly an issue of public concern, and we would like to raise the issue with the relevant authorities, and we would thus be grateful if you could provide details of your license.

Please send these by email if you don't want to post them on here.

Once again I reiterate that we are not questioning the legality of your operation.

Dusty

Have a look at the latest Galaxy thread Mr Blue:

http://www.taxi-driver.co.uk/phpBB2/vie ... php?t=1430

_________________
Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

Thanks for the info, I have read the latest on the Galaxy problem. Sounds to me that local MP should be hounded to get this one sorted and of course involve Ford, I feel sure that they would not want a negative report about their vehicle.
I have just got two Merc Vito, very good for the job with bags of space, nice to drive, low entry and three years warranty

BTW I hope to get up to Lancaster to hear what Mrs Bell has to Say
(Hearing Latest)

I am very sorry to see some posts on this forum degenerating to the use of bad language. We should be aware that anyone can read these posts and bad language does reflect good on the Hire & reward industry.

I fully agree tulsa

regards

Captain cab

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

Most of the worst language is auto edited out by the software, so I can't really see how the language can be so bad on here.

Alex

_________________
ʎɐqǝ uo pɹɐoqʎǝʞ ɐ ʎnq ı ǝɯıʇ ʇsɐן ǝɥʇ sı sıɥʇ

Simply the best taxi forum in the whole wide world. www.taxi-driver.co.uk