Taxi Driver Online

Leicester Council forgetting private hire drivers

I understand Leicester City Council is trying to do what is in the best interest of businesses in Leicester, but there are other issues which are not addressed.As a private hire driver, there is a lot of hardship. It is not all plain sailing.

The council has issued more than 1,500 private hire licences. All the operators have limited spaces but they have many times more cabs on their books. The council is trying to create jobs by issuing more private hire licences, which is fair.

But in the first environment city in Britain you should not expect a driver to do a job and then drive back to his base when he could wait near where he dropped his/her last fare for another customer in that area. Doing this also makes us more fuel-efficient.

Private hire drivers are going through a bad spell. We hardly make £100 a day on average, out of which an average of £20 goes to an operator. For that £100, you need £20 fuel, plus insurance is high and there is car wear and tear.

The council is going to increase fear by giving permission to hand out penalty charge notices (PCN). Every time we see a traffic officer, we will have doubt in our mind: has he/she issued a PCN? More stress will create a miserable taxi driver, which is not good for the health of the driver and the customers.

This is the plight of private hire taxi drivers in Leicester.

I don't know if there is an advisory board in Leicestershire for the taxi drivers. If there is, in 13 years, I have not received a letter saying these are the members of the board and you can contact them on these numbers. I know inquiries and complaints most of the time lead nowhere, but I am writing this letter in hope.

Niaz Ussen, Leicester.

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IDFIMH

Regarding dropping off and going back to base, I would suggest working for a company with a pda system etc, also for some reason I have no sympathy for drivers saying they don't make enough money, take the bite and go solo, sometimes you just need to be creative.

As a true saying goes, still waiting to find the first homeless taxi driver in the UK.

Kind Regards

Yellow Cars

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Live life with a smile

I think you will find in some Dumbo councils that's a licensing condition.

I doubt many drivers really want to go back to base time and time again, unless of course they're thick or banging the controller.

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IDFIMH

Well you can stop waiting because we have a homeless taxi driver here. He had to move out of the matrimonial house when his marriage broke up and after spending a few weeks at various friends houses he ended up sleeping rough in his cab.

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Grandad,

Wasn't the loon from Germany living in a tent for a while?

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IDFIMH

sleeping in a black cab? or private hire? if your a black cab come drive for me Ill give you accommodation till you get back on your feet.

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Live life with a smile

I thought Going back to base would be factored into a Private hire Operators price, I live in the Sticks so know full well that wherever I go It's more than likely I'll be driving back empty unless I get lucky over the phone, I therefore factor that into the Price.

Surely that thinking can apply for all PH anywhere. The only thing that would blow that out of the water is Metered PHs that may or may not be run by Operators who cant trust their drivers to charge a fair price.

As for using more fuel, that should be irrelevant if they were charging a realistic price in the first place, seems like they have lost touch with the Basics of how private hire works and have become dependent on their PH's becoming Pseudo Hacks, reliant on never running any dead miles and now that their LA is cracking down on things are at a loss as to how to get themselves out of the mess.

Cant See why Leicester should be different to anywhere else. If they want Loiter about the City maybe they should become hacks.




I thought they had no choice as PH licences could not be limited.

Possibly for the very small operators, but for the 20+ firms it doesn't make sense. And for the 100+ firms it's madness.

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IDFIMH

We hardly make £100 a day on average


tea spit moment

that is an extremely good day here ffs

to be honest most of my guys in 12 hours make £100 minimum even the weather being like this, problem with most owners they dont want to spend money to grow the business.

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Live life with a smile

Do these guys TAKE £100 or MAKE £100? there's a big difference.

I too run a semi-rural operation and always factor the dead mileage into the price. It's very rare to get a back working from anywhere round here. It seems we're back to the "working for nothing" mentality a lot of drivers have; more jobs = more money. not always so. Less jobs at a better price means more profit!

The hotter it is the busier it is down here.

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IDFIMH

Sussex, I hope you didn't try going to Camber today...45 minutes from Rye to there, 3 miles!!

Loadsa work this weekend, 2 beer festivals in town, a fun fair, and grockles galore.

I've been to many places throughout the world, but not as far as Jimbo, but my best ever holidays were there when I was a lad.

Really really good memories.

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IDFIMH

I've known quite a few drivers that have been homeless at some point for various reasons and as you say they tend to sleep in their cars

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