Taxi Driver Online

Hi Everyone. I have had some bad news that I will become redundant this summer. I will try my best here to let you know my position so you can give me some accurate answers. I am 50 years old and I live just a few miles outside Glasgow. I will have around 50k and would like to put the money to good use,I do not need to use this cash for all the usual expenses such as a mortgage etc. I want to invest this cash in something which will create a job for myself. I am realistic about this and would say that I am prepared to work 40 hours per week,not bothered about shift or days/nights etc I would have to work, just saying I am not interested in making great claims of 7 days 247 etc. I am considering taxi work. I have a full clean licence, psv,lgv and no criminal record and an enhanced disclosure scotland cert all clean. My questions are -

1. Would this be enough to obtain a 2nd hand black hack, a licence and anything else I would need, insurance etc, just to get me started ?
2. How much could I expect to make per week after fuel and all other running costs ( will anyone actually tell me that ? I already hear what you are saying !)
3. I know Glasgow and surrounding areas well although obviously not all the vast schemes etc, ie if you asked me to get to erskine, anniesland, easterhouse etc I could get there easy enough although not the particular streets (obviously) would this be a great problem ? I have worked in the southside in private hire for a year or so, I did ok although would not return to doing that.
4. How often do licences and cabs for sale turn up ? (its a general licence I would be after, so able to pick up hires anywhere) I was talking to a cab driver at glasgow taxi firm, he advised he was selling the whole package and was looking around 50k for this, although that was last year would that be a "fair" figure ?


Thanks for reading my post, I have read through some of the posts on here so I would ask for replies that are honest, helpful etc only.

1. I would imagine so.
2. The more you work the more you will earn, especially if you work unsociable hours. Will you get a decent return on your £50,000 if you work 9am to 5pm Mon to Fri, IMO no. Why not rent a shift on someone else's cab for a while, and put the money somewhere safe?
3. You can work where you like, but from experience the harder an area is to get a license, the better return drivers get.
4. If you have the right cash, then a seller will take it. But IMO putting your redundancy into a cab license is a tad daft.

_________________
IDFIMH

Seen all of this before.

Why don't I believe this sh *te?

Tend to agree there Jim, HGV and PCV....why invest in this rat infested, cancer ridden crap ??

Three replies in minutes of each other.
First one - suggests "daft"
Second reply suggest "sh!....
Third one agrees with second and talks about cancer and cr**

Actually it is an honest question, politeness costs nothing, if this is the best you guys on here can do just forget it, thanks for your "effort".

Well have a look at this news story (below) from last year, which provides a suitable contact for you if you want to buy in.

But of course as the article makes clear the whole thing is a bit ropey, so there is a risk element involved.

But don't ask the council for an honest appraisal of the situation

http://www.taxi-driver.co.uk/phpBB2/vie ... hp?t=14046

As for the price, the licences should be broadly similar in value, thus the price to buy in should depend on the vehicle.

Thus if the plate's worth £40k then you might be talking £60k to buy in with a high quality vehicle, whereas £41k would buy a rust bucket.

If you're serious then just have a look around in the hackney offices and what not and you'll get a handle on the prices.

If there's over 1,400 taxi licences in Glasgow then I would expect there to be a few dozen up for sale at any one time, so finding a seller shouldn't be a particular problem.

The taxi offices are probably the best place to look. Not sure if they're advertised in your local press - they certainly do in the likes of Liverpool (or so I'm told )



Again that depends on the condition of the vehicle, and there may be other things included in the price like a radio position (which doesn't always apply).

The article says the plates were worth £40 about 18 months ago, so at a rough guess I would expect them to be worth a tad less now, although probably still comfortably over £35k.

Thus you could easily get a plate and decent vehicle for £50k, although the big question is perhaps whether you should want to.

And you should probably budget at least a couple of grand for insurance.



Well if you've read through some of the posts on here then you should expect to receive the opposite

As you have a psv, why not start a mini bus service, doing hen and stag does or even airport transfers.
Then all it would cost is the price of a decent mini bus

And an operators licence.

_________________
Grandad,

And you have been given honest answers.

Do you really expect any reasonable person to recommend to you that you spend all your redundancy on something that could lose it's value tomorrow?

If you want to join the trade, then welcome aboard, but drive someone else's cab until you get a true picture on earnings and costs.

_________________
IDFIMH

I had forgot about this link, ( Roughly 18 months ago)...Jasbar, N.OW., Expose’ !.

I can imagine the scene.... Jasbar, (Bawlin’ at his per’ missus), slaverin’ at the mooth’, “We’ve got them now hen,we’ve got them now”. Sadly, the News of the World, and their investigative journalists, no longer exist..... I wonder what happened to Jasbar ?.

To be fair to him, if that had been explained at the outset - rather than people assuming he knew - then the thread might have taken a different course.

After all, if he'd been making enquiries about buying a plate does anyone expect a seller to tell him that?

1st step on the ladder is to join the senior service. He should have a go at PH. Take the time to get to know whether he can work with a gentle public. Then, if he's still up for it, sit the brief and work the blacks. preferably on the street. That's the sharp end.

That goes OK and he's not mugged, spat on or reported to the fascists and licence removed for a trivial misdemeanour then he should prostrate himself before the Gods in the companies. Work that, and if he hasn't been cliped on and fined for wearing the wrong clothes, failing to star 75 or just because his face doesn't fit, and if he can get some of the work that the privileged committee boys don't want, then he should dig deep and buy into the illusion, worth sacrificing his hard earned for.



And that's when he should build into his budget the fees of a good trick cyclist.

Cos he has to be a nutjob.

Yes Jasbar, but the OP did say that he'd worked PH.