Taxi Driver Online

Illegal drivers aren’t playing ‘fare’

Published on Wednesday 27 June 2012 16:00

Hackney Carriage drivers operating from Milton Keynes Central Train Station have spoken out against unlicensed taxis in the city.

Drivers, who claim to be losing 1,000 jobs a week between the 60 cabs stationed at the rank, got so desperate that they made complaints to Milton Keynes Council and signed a petition.

One hackney carriage driver said: “People don’t know they are getting into an uninsured taxi at times and it is worrying how easy it is. If a taxi hasn’t been booked first then the driver’s insurance does not cover the passengers. We’re not asking the council to move the ranks around but just to enforce the law.”

Another driver said: “Because the situation has got so heated we have been forced to confront them 15 to 20 times a day, not with violence, but just asking them to stop what they’re doing.

“We are losing so much money. Despite working 10 hours a day and seven days a week we are fighting a losing battle. Things have got to be done properly.”

The council has now responded by sending a licensing officer down to the station at peak hours between 7am and 9.30am and 4.30pm and 7.30pm on weekdays to help with the clampdown.

A licensing spokesman said: “Milton Keynes Council’s Taxi Licensing Team is aware of the legitimate growing concerns of Hackney Carriage drivers, in line with the increase in Private Hire Vehicles operating in the area immediately outside the station while development of the station has taken place over the last few months.

“Our intention is to speak to Private Hire Vehicle drivers about plying for hire and taking details of any drivers that we suspect are plying for hire. We will be taking appropriate enforcement action, following on from us contacting and gaining information from the relevant operator.

“This will also be an opportunity to let the public know of the risk of travelling in private hire vehicles without pre-booking, and that in these cases the drivers’ insurance does not cover them.”

And one of the city’s biggest private hire companies has also advised people they need to book taxis before they get into them.

A spokesman for Skyline Taxis said: “Never get in an unlicensed cab, always pre-book it. Ask for Text-Back – Free text message detailing what vehicle is yours before it arrives.”

He also urged people to always make sure they can see the drivers Minicab licence and call the office if they have any doubts.

Source; http://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/news/loca ... -1-3994773

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

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I wonder if he was the tw** that told the Transport Committee that drivers were earning between £1000 and £1500 a week.

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IDFIMH

Sign a petition to the council yeh right, how about leaving all the drunks and snorters in the town one saturday night and watch em trash it now that might make an impact. dont you just despair sometimes TOSSERS!!!!

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All posts by this contributor are made in a strictly personal capacity

I AM PROUD TO BE A CITIZEN NOBODY'S SUBJECT http://www.republic.org.u

F88K EM ALL WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

BOOZE BOOZE BOOZE

That's the chap.

we had a fare pinched yesterday from Peterborough City hospital coming back to town so I phoned the customer up and it turned out a PH had insisted on them getting in as he was dropping off. Anyway he seemed to get a bit lost and the driver who had had the no pick up and one of my other drivers managed to intercept him at the drop off point.

Unfortunately even though i had asked them to get his license number they decided instead just to threaten to report him and he agreed to give half of the fare to the driver who had gone out for the fare

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

edders, why oh why didn't you tell your customer to refuse to pay,

This is obviously another one who either doesn't know or isn't interested in the rules of his brand of badge, you don't say if he's a migrant or not, if he is it will be that he thinks he's entitled to tout, which even if he was HC he's not entitled to do in this case, or he's working to the I'm only here a year and I will pick off as many grapes as I can regardless and if I get caught I'll simply move on, if he's British or Brit Asian then he's obviously just chosen to do his own thing and to hell with the rules, they really shouldn't have paid him a nook tbh, that's the way to stop it.

easier said than done had I been able to get there the bloke would now have been reported to his LO no point ours as he would have had a ready made excuse for not doing owt

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

These are the jobs you pray are on account.

Happened here a few years back, and I got every penny, and the thief got f*** all.

Made my year.

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IDFIMH

Grow to accept it Mr Sussex, it's an everyday occurance in deregulated areas.

Join the real world of deregulation, where 'dog devours dog' every hour of the day when it's a radio job.

_________________
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.

again i think you will find that the deregulationists state that this sort of behaviour doesnt happen once it goes free for all, obviously it does and free for all doesnt/hasnt stop them

Happens in regulated areas as well, basically there doesn't seem to be any education on whose supposed to do what, only answer is to start taking badges away if found bang to rights, certain denominations are actually told to flout the rules by their whip cracker bosses, others find themselves in a situation that means they can't make a living so go into survival mode, anyway in case nobody has noticed the world is in a headlong slide to the floor now, there isn't enough to go around and primal instinct is kicking in, failure to address this will mean another war, and the way to address it is in two ways, share the wealth more fairly and make sure every able bodied man has a job, no job = mind slush after a period of time, no money = I'll have to steal it, we can all sit in judgement of others but basically the whole problem is the food chain scales aren't working in a fair way.

So we have a story about cars picking up illegally, and all of a sudden it's an issue over taxi restrictions.

Is panic starting to rear it's head?

For the record I work in a trade that has always been de-limited, even before 1976.

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IDFIMH

For the record the PH was plated in a REGULATED area we are based in a Deregulated area but the fare was from Peterborough back to Stamford and had been booked with us

As for this kind of behaviour I have never found any difference between deregulated and regulated areas except those where deregulation goes hand in hand with other forms of restriction such as a requirement to live in the district for which a license is held or tough knowledge tests which naturally limits invasion from outside the district

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector