Taxi Driver Online

Nicolson square. Lights at red. Car waves me out into Nicolson Street.

Down to lights at Chambers Street which are red.

Taxi (Plate 808) comes screaming up the inside like a plink on a mission. The lights change, he zooms forward racing the cars moving through the lights. Bus at stop, he pulls out and past it, just in front of the queue of traffic. Picks up at the Tron, going to Northumberland Street.

Spoke to him at lights. Seems he thinks I wiped him. He was behind the car who waved me out and I should have let him through.

NOT!!! Get it thicko. NOT!!! And NEVER.

How did I know he was going to Northumberland? Because the thick plick told me, almost invited me to follow him. Another dummie unable to win an argument wanting to resort to violence.

Obviously the brightboy has learned nothing from the Stevie Nolan case. What does it take?

Thing is, if someone had stepped through the traffic stopped at Chambers Street, the speed this guy was going at, and the obvious rush of blood to his head needing him to get past me, well he would have totalled them.

Oh, the gem was that he also told me that I was the reason the trade was so vile? Didn't quite understand the bright boy but if he was referring to me personally, and he knew who I was, then the fact that the trade hikes prices, restricts drivers access to the tools of their trade and treats customers with such disdain that private hire is expanding exponentially, obviously hasn't tinkled over his brain cell.

Driving dangerously, putting customers and the public at risk, strikes me as being more reason for the public to think our trade is vile. When cabbies' behaviour descends to playground level, then isn't the game a bogey?

that nicolson square is a tricky one though. almost identical thing has happened to me before and i decided to let the cab behind pass just to be on the safe side. this etiquette thing is not always 100% clear as you've just demonstrated - particularly late on friday/saturday nights when there seems to be a different set of rules altogether. if you're coming back in on places like comiston road or leith walk nobody gives a hoot about pulling out in front of you.

agree with durr, this is a tricky one

the car in front of the cab let you out, but the cab wouldve been 10ft further back and i know in similar circumstances ive slowed to let the cab pass me or give signal if someone sticks a hand out for a fare and let the cab behind pick the job up

if it had been then other way around and a car infront of you let another cab out at a junction 10ft from you and they pick up at chambers street, would you think that fare was rightly yours (whether you confront the driver is neither here nor there, just if you thought it shoukd have been your fare)

It happens to me all the time. But road position is all. It's no different to someone hurrying through the lights to pull in front of you just as your lights are changing to green. Sh*t happens. You don't drive like a maniac to get in front like a petulant schoolboy.

If i had picked up the passengers and he had pulled alongside me, well I may just have deferred the fare to him. I have done so in the past where I've inadvertently picked up when I perhaps shouldn't have.

Look I had a great night last night. And have no doubts about my ability as a street car to ferret out the work while others are languishing on ranks. I didn't need the fare. I never do.

But to want to go boxing for this? And driving like a lunatic to make his point?

The guy is a child. And a dangerous one.

And the next victim, assuming he doesn't kill anyone of course, could be you. Is this what the trade's come to?

Correct me if i'm wrong but are there not 2 lanes going into town on that particular streach of Nicolson St? Why was disgruntled taxi not in the inside lane?

Anyway, taxis get let out by cars infront of you all the time. But it swings both ways. I suspect this wouldn't have happened if 808 had been in the empty buslane rather than stacked back in traffic.

As for Leith Walk etiquette on a Fri/Sat, if they're fighting each other for taxis at the Omni, then i'm getting to that rank as fast as i can. I go to work to make as much money as possible. Sitting behind someone chainsmoking fags out the window of their TTT trundling along at 28mph costs me money. I would overtake and ignore any flag before the rank. Perfectly acceptable in my book.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg8Mzqgq_js


Had to happen living in


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc11shaH ... re=related

808 was in the inside lane. He shot down it at speed. \It usually for the bus lane or turning left into Chambers. Lights change he then raced up the bus lane before the main queue of traffic and swerved out from behind the bust to move back into the outside lane. Pretty fancy driving.

But overtaking at speed on the inside is dangerous. If another vehicle had decided to move round the car heading the queue because he'd just signalled to turn right in to Infirmary street, or if a pedestrian had weaved through the stationary cars to cross the road, the spped involved could have contributed to an accident, even a death.

And all because the guy was behaving like a petulant schoolboy.

What he did was dangerous, end of. And for what ... ?