Taxi Driver Online

But there are conditions to be met if the trade want it to continue.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-co ... e-15006467

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IDFIMH

He said: "We worry about the service to the people of Coventry. In various parts of Coventry taxis park on double yellow lines and park either side of ranks illegally.


Doh, is that because there are too many cabs not enough punters or ranks these days then clever guy?

That's towards the article btw, not you Sussex.

See I can't see the point of freezing plate issues.

They will have the same number of plates next month as they did last month, so how will that help things?

Or are they alluding to drivers in Coventry as being as thick as pigs s***, in that they would be willing to pay £20-30,000 for a motor only for that cab to sit around all day doing nothing.

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IDFIMH

That in a real sensible brain laiden world would apply, but as you mention, folks will still gamble £30k to join the club, sad thing is most that fail will default and they had that in mind before they joined anyway, taking a risk on other folks money, when the other folk isn't a loan shark but a bank they simply walk away and leave the responsible to pick up the tab.

Our LA did the same about 3 years ago, a year later they re opened the issue, even though the year that it was closed our hack numbers decreased. Sadly only way to earn a living in a hack in our town now is to use it as a PH.

Damage is done now, has been that way since about 2005, only way back is to hope the local pop doubles and they all like a night out, til then it's more 15 hour days picking up the scrapings of the barrel.

Sometimes, Mr Sussex, I do think you live in a closeted environment, or are a little naive.

The state of the trade in many areas of the UK is so oversubscribed that earning a living, even working ridiculously long hours of 12-16 hours daily for 6-7 days most week is almost impossible. That's for the genuine cabbie or scabbie who wants to work.

But now there is a huge, enormous army of cabbies and scabbies all around the country, for whom this oversubscribed situation is 'Manna from heaven'. These are the unscrupulous benefit scroungers who knowing that a living cannot be earned, don't even bother to work a full week and are happy to do just 16-20 hours a week and some weeks not even working at all, because they know that Working Tax Credits and other benefits will more than see them through.

The job in many areas is now meaningless, but there will always be many that will exploit these situation, because the benefits system allows such practices.

But if the trade was not as oversubscribed as it is, there would be little scope for these Working Tax Credit, because questions would be asked if others in the trade were constantly posting good earnings that prevented such benefit claims.

And I would guess that benefit claims from cabbies and scabbies run into a £billion or two every year.

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

This is a sad reflection of the Trade today, However this is happening in the Cities of Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester. I fully expect it is happening in many other places. How did it get to this state.

I'm gonna say cos bigger isn't always better

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

Low entry criteria.

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IDFIMH

I've been trying to tell him this for years now, I suspect although he won't say, he knows unlimited numbers is a bad thing for anyone wanting to earn a living, still, he will be singing a different tune when locally to him he can't get a living anymore because the door is wide open and the whole of Europe and Asia holds a badge and plate, although I suspect his motives are pure, all he will achieve is to allow carpetbagging on a grand scale to go on, just like it has everywhere in the country that has de-regulated, and before you say I'm wrong Mark, answer me this, how does an immigrant manage to arrive in the UK and spend £30 - £100k within a year of being here, the honest one will have gone to a loan shark and the dishonest one will be using dirty money, but either way he will be there and he will be working double shift and effectively for each unit like this it becomes 3 unit's in one compared to the old ways of working a cab, so that is for every 100 new licenses you effectively gain 300 more mouths to feed, might want to think this through before answering, and start considering your future, I am, and it's all because of what I tried to say was happening in 2009 but got banned for what was deemed racist posting, as people can see now, it was never motivated by racial issue, it was me trying to preserve my own ability to get a living, that is gone now, gone forever, I might just as well stock shelves in Tesco now and not have the hassle of keeping a car fit and put up with what has become a scum class customer.

I have worked in a delimited ph trade for many many years.

In fact everyone driving a ph does so.

We don't need Victorian laws to make a living. If you can't earn you go find another job.

The fact that you lot can't is your problem not society's.

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IDFIMH

Does anywhere apart from London have a high entry criteria? Those that do seem to have forgotten to have much of a criteria at all when it comes to ph

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

In many manors entry criteria is the same for both sides of the trade, and in my area I believe the entry criteria is high, but like most places could be higher.

I doubt from a PH perspective their is anywhere in the country with a higher entry criteria than my manor.

We are top dog, on a par with our brothers driving black cabs in London.

On a more serious note I suspect there is an equation indicating higher entry criteria leads to higher earnings.

Perhaps brain box Dusty can formulate it.

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IDFIMH

Well lets examine this reply Mark.

You are working Brighton? no point denying it if you were going to after all you are one of the B&H PH association voices aren't you.

Lets look at Brighton, as Mark says his manor is very well run, and the reason for it? because Streamline took hold of the whole thing many years ago, their offices rival many call centre's in the country, you can get anything and everything you need from Streamline, from a business card to Insurance etc, now Streamline is a Hack company, but it also runs the PH as well, so you have a safe zone of knowing a rogue PHD won't get to work in Brighton again if he's found touting etc, this keeps the touting problem down as there is nowhere to go should you blot your book.

Now for the location, Brighton is London on Sea, the wealth accumulates there, there are poor folks also, but a lot of London money is spent there, so by Marks' own words Brighton is a very professional place for taxis, taxis that are regulated and hold good value, supported by a PH that knows it's a PHC and is also held accountable for bad practice, now as far as I know this model works very well in Brighton so why would anyone need to change things.

Now as said before, what works in one place doesn't always in another, so is it fair that one model is applied to all regardless of local condition's?

How would the Brighton trade feel if I decide to come down and set up a new PH office, only my PH office is full of recruits who are going to charge the customer £4 for what is a £6 fare right now, yes that's right I will move straight in and undercut the whole accepted system, word will go round and I will draw cars away to join me once they hear my drivers are taking 3X what they are, of course I'm not going to do that because it goes against my beliefs on how to do things, I believe in service, but I also believe in a proper rate for that service, cheap tatty cars with a 1999 fare scale doesn't appeal at all, but this could all happen in Brighton, and then you will know what other parts of the country face and how it impacts on the drivers.

So lets imagine Brighton de-regulate, all of a sudden all those PHC switch to Hacks, you now don't have enough rank space and the fighting about whose first etc starts, cars degrade due to lack of funds to repair and replace, and eventually anyone who had an idea who made it how it is today walks away and you are left with a rabble that doesn't know much about much.

And finally, as you are deeply pro PH Mark, what right does anyone from a PH background have to have a say on Hacks are run, we are two different things, I don't get to have a say on what PH is allowed to do, so why should PH have any say on my future, to me it's like the bloke from Bovril telling the bloke from Marmite what he should be doing.


The fact that you lot can't is your problem not society's.


Not so, the problem is with the council, for a long time they were testing foreign drivers with an interpreter sitting in, drivers that don't follow any rules and especially PH ones who seem to think they are Hacks and it's their right to sit outside pubs and clubs without a booking, and the one primary reason isn't a lack of cabs, it's one is 33% cheaper than the other if you actually get an honest driver, in a deprived area where unemployment is rife people will chance it to save a quid fifty, I know none of this is going to change your mind because that is impossible to do, that is well proven, but always remember, what goes around, comes around, and one day the bad news may come through your door, then you will know how others feel when others have been allowed to mess with their lives and income's, not a nice place to be I can assure you, wait until the foreign legion finds you and they will, then you'll know what competing with a workforce that does 18 hour days and tells their family back home how good it is and they must come, and I don't mean the Asians either, and you can only keep them out for so long, they are industrious and if they smell money they will arrive I assure you.