Taxi Driver Online

Jim Thomas has penned an article on a recent news story, from his Anderson Shelter website:



Again the good name of out trade has come under attack from lazy journalism. This time from an online magazine aimed at the City of London called "City AM".

In her article in the Capitalist column about the reintroduction of foot messengers to the square mile, HARRIET DENNYS refers to John Griffin as Britain’s best-known Taxi driver.

Harriet obviously hasn't done her research. Griffin has never been a Taxi driver, he never had the strength of character to made the grade. He is in fact no more than a back street minicab driver who found a way of amassing a fortune on the backs of extremely low paid foreign workers desperate for a job. Apart from the fact he tells his drivers to park on licensed Taxi ranks, there the similarity ends.

You would think that writing for an online City magazine, Harriet would at least take the time to do some basic research into articles she posts but no, sadly not. She goes on and actually calls him a Taxi Tycoon later in her article.

In her interview Griffin takes a pop at the trade he aspired to emulate and now despises, saying;
Addison Lee is on an “upwards spiral”, with revenue up 22 per cent for the year to date, lifted by the new iPhone app for mobile bookings – “the single biggest contributor to revenue upturn in the company’s history”. “The days of standing in the street waving your hand to get a cab are over.” ( Really? Well it keeps me busy enough John!)


MEANWHILE, Addison’s Lee’s legal battle to win the right to use bus lanes has come to a disappointing (for him) conclusion. ( )

The court has refused the minicab firm’s appeal, in a judgment that has left the him fuming.
Griffin has been on tenterhooks for weeks to hear whether he would secure the ruling to allow his vans in Bus Lanes.
“We are only seeking fairness,” said Griffin, who plans to seek a judicial review.
“We demand the right to trade on a level playing field with our competitors.”



Jim writes : That's easy done Johnny, just get your minicab drivers to do the knowledge and buy a fleet of proper Taxis. That way they can legally drive in most bus lanes and use licensed Taxi ranks, instead of flouting the law.
Mind you Johnny, you wont get away with paying them the minimum wage, so you probably wont be doing that!
Harriet, next time you get in one of Griffins vans, ask the driver how much he earns an hour, I promise you, you will be shocked!

The link:

http://theandersonshelter.blogspot.com/

PMSL I love that.

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Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Believe me, don't get Mercury X2

Edinburgh is shortly going to have taxis with livery advertising Edinburgh City Private Hire (ECPH) and working within the same company. In a few years Edinburgh City Taxis and Private Hire, (ECTPH) will be almost indistinguishable from other Taxi Companies in Edinburgh but supplying a broader range of services, a sort of, mini Addison Lee approach to the public transport industry.

Love them or hate them. They are adapting to their economic and political environments. Which is more than can be said for the “TAXI TRADE”?

I really think you guys need to wake- up. That's if, you intend to be driving taxis for the next twenty years.


Griffin might not win every battle, but he is effecting change throughout, what was once, your industry?

I have to agree with you here.

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Grandad,

Quite the opposite Skull, we're forcing him to change his industry.

Thats why Addison Lee now have to charge more than I would to the airports as he can't hang onto staff, even in a 'recession'.
£15 (about that) minimum fare regardless of distance!
The public aren't stupid, they're paying premium rates for a monkey with a sat nav, most of whom speak in pidgeon english. Quality.
The majority of riders in his fleet are accounts, the riders have no option.

Like ECPH, Griffen makes his money through imported Labour, and a few failed Knowledge candidates who couldn't make the grade to become a London Taxi driver.

If they're happy working 7 days a week for half of what I would earn, then I wish them well.

They'll be 6' under by 55.

GBC, I have no doubt you've made a good living as a London Taxi Driver, but you are living in the past. I've watched monkeys with sat navs change the whole face of the public transport industry in the last 10 years. Not even the “London Knowledge” is safe. And it's only a matter of time before guys like you go the same way as the Dodo.

Who could have foreseen Google Earth, Maps and now Street View? What about the I Phone, and I Pad, everything is an app away.

The Arab spring, the recent London riots, Blackberry, Facebook and Twitter.

You don't really believe the world of the London Cabby is going to remain largely untouched do you?

Thanks for the concern Skull, but the London trades doing just fine.

We have the highest standards in the world, we're voted (again in todays Independant) the best taxi service in the world, and to be honest, the recession for me has meant very little as I work nights.

We've survived Two world wars, various fuel shortages, several recessions, attacks on the Knowledge, IRA bombs, suicidal Muslims, Poll Tax Riots and Minicabs which have been around long before you and I were born. I don't think a few hundred chavs stealing from Dixons spells our downfall.

Londons population continues to grow, 9 million people always need transport, and good quality transport always wins. Tristar? Remember them and there big plans for Heathrow? Where are they now?

When I came to London in the late eighties, John Griffen was banging on there about how he was going to take over from the licensed taxi trade. Now he's an old man, and he still hasn't, nor will he ever acheive his 'goal', in another 20 years he'll be dead and burried, the London Taxi trade will still be here.

App's? Yep we have those too, in fact we have about 8 at the moment, all growing and building on our reputation.

I think you have developed an inbuilt hatred of the 'Taxi trade', you shouldn't, you're not part of it anymore, so stop worrying about it.

You concern yourself about your future, and we'll tackle any forthcoming problems, perceived or otherwise down here.

And we will.

Regards.

Not in the Glasgow Herald though

A poor show by Heathrow taxis

I HAVE to report shocking behaviour of two taxis at Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport last week.

We arrived on the 19.50 British Airways flight from Glasgow and proceeded to the attended taxi rank at Terminal 5. We were directed by the attendant to a taxi for the short trip to the Thistle Hotel, Bath Road, Longford. The driver refused to take us as we were going to pay in Scottish bank notes. He claimed they were not legal tender. We tried to insist but he refused to take us. We felt quite intimidated and got out.

The attendant summoned another cab. This time the cab driver charged £16 for the short trip. I paid with a Scottish £20 note. He refused to give me change. He said the note was not legal tender and that he would not accept the correct fare if it included “Scottish” coins. We pointed out that all coins were identical but he then drove off with his door wide open.

This is shocking behaviour at the gateway to London and the 2012 Olympics.

Dr Edward Fitzsimons,

4 Kilmardinny Crescent, Bearsden.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/h ... -1.1119144

I don't hate the taxi trade. What I hate is greedy shortsighted individuals, feeding off the back of everyone else while pretending to look after your interests. And what is more, I've always pointed to the London model as the way forward for the taxi industry.

However, that doesn't mean the London Taxi model is exempt from change. Far from it. And that's not to say it won't adapt, but that change may happen sooner than you think. What used to take 10 years, can now happen in as little as a few months.

You speak of the past, as reassurance to those living in the past.



I speak of the future as a warning to those living in the past.

I take your point but consider this, if everyone in the London Taxi Trade thinks like you, then perhaps your privileged existence could come to an end sooner rather than later.

Scottish bank notes are not even legal tender in Scotland!

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Grandad,

Yes, but isn't it funny that the second driver accepted it, but used the tender argument as an excuse not to give change

The first driver was more than likely just miffed that the job wasn't going to earn him a ton for meandering up to the West End or the City.

And the second was probably just miffed because of the above AND the fact that he didn't look like he was going to get a tip

Credit cards, cheques, dollar bills, euros aren't legal tender in the sense you mean it either - they're an accepted means of exchange - but I would imagine most London drivers accept them if the terms are right.

Like, for example, it's a decent job

I don't mind taking Scottish bank notes.

In fact if anyone has got a few spare bags of them please forward them down to Sussex Mansions.

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IDFIMH

One of the problems for drivers who are offered either Scottish or Irish sterling bank notes is not the legal tender side of things but more to do with the fact that we see so few of them, how do we know that they are genuine and not forgeries? We have a couple of army and air force bases near here and some of the personel use these notes and we take them on the grounds that being members of her majesty's armed forces gives them credibility. However I would not accept them from some of the other scroates in the town.

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Grandad,

But I would imagine that most taxi drivers ranking up at Heathrow would see plenty of non-English notes.

However, no doubt we'll be informed otherwise in due course