Taxi Driver Online

It wouldn't happen if you had a united hackney carriage trade but you are right in infering there will always be those who will try and exclude others in order that they themselves can get the rich pickings. I suppose its down to human nature.

Regards

JD

all york council need to do is put signs up pointing to the unrestricted taxi rank in the middle of station road, which any taxi can use

I understand Station Taxis issue 138 permits yet there are only 158 Hackneys in York, have you any idea why the other 20 are excluded?

Regards

JD

Or put a big sign up with the numbers of the local PH firms.

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IDFIMH

JD

Sorry but doubt I will have time to argue your points in depth this weekend.

However my posts about GNER were not specific to York it was a reflection on the company's total product. It is an intercity rail company. Enticing people to pay large sume to travel along the east coast.

You and I are clearly at odds on market segmentation and customer focus. I believe that the customer I want in my car wants a good quality, clean car driven by a smart, professional. First impressions are important.

That is my business ethos. It works for me.

I don't subscribe to (as it seems from your postings) your attitude that the customer, whoever he is, should be grateful we condescend to offer him a service of some description.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

As I understand the numbers with permits is just over 100, maybe 110 max, the others are excluded because the permit system has closed at a set date, think 28 May o5 and to run now until May 08 and the quota was reached set by Station taxis, so youv'e had it till year 08 now

some drivers never saw the letter for application for permits as it was displayed in the station taxi office, to which most of us outsiders are not permitted to enter

York council love it, can't upset GNER can we, they seem quite happy with GNER running the Taxi show, the council thought up an idea of all drivers being into the dress code but could not implement it, but hey GNER are doing it for them, waving the big stick and keeping taxi drivers under control, That middle of the road taxi rank is about to dissappear under plans to regenerate the portico of the rail stn.

JD

Lets discuss uniforms.

Why do the guys on my fleet wear them? Because we want to distinguish ourselves from other Hacks/PH service providers.

A large proportion of our work is corporate based and we find we can charge a premium for our service by establishing an upmarket image for the taxi company.

In our town the scruffiest driver drives the crappiest car. And that link continues up through the Hire or reward vehicles.

If putting on a clean shirt and tie, washing the car daily is an issue to a driver then no doubt so is customer service, the add ons that make customers come back to you in preference to others.

That is how I see it!

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

I think you have missunderstood me Tom. I have "nothing against indivual firms stipulating a uniform" if that is indeed what they want? I have nothing against individual firms tendering for a station contract or any other contract. My argument is two fold and I will try and explain it as simple as I can.

I don't believe anyone should be excluded from obtaining a station or Airport Permit. On a peripheral matter I also don't believe that independent Hackney carriage drivers should be legislated to wear a uniform. Having said that I fully appreciate that some Hackney carriage radio firms will have certain regulations and that the drivers or owners who sign up to those radio companies will know beforehand the rules and regulations before they sign up. That I don't have a problem with. The only thing I have a problem with is excluding Hackney carriage drivers from any station in the UK and seeing as we don't yet have a national dress code the uniform issue is a side issue.

So to put it in a nutshell I just want to see every hackney Carriage driver in the Uk have an equal opportunity of plying for hire on any station in the UK. That is consistant with my ideals for equal opportunities for all. I don't belive in exclusion in any way shape or form, that is my position.

Regards

JD

Wot even me.

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IDFIMH

JD

That is fine in Utopia.

But neither you or I live in Utopia.

In real live whether it is NIMBYS or Taxi drivers people want to shut the door behind them and exclude others from the pot.

As Sussex says do you mean him as well? Private Hire drivers are only really in exsistence because Hack drivers shut the door and failed to meet the markets needs so another service emerged.

Public ranks are one thing. But in the cases we are talking where the railway owns the property it is in there control.

Should every burger van in Greater Manchester be allowed to trade outside Old Trafford on a matchday, free of charge?

Should any cab driver be able to park his car overnight in your drive?

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

Yes, that's an interesting juxtaposition (:roll: ) of the lack of competition on taxi ranks with the more competitive environment when it comes to radio work - on the ranks you get the work regardless of your standards, hence the need to regulate.

Wouldn't taking JD's argument to its logical conclusion mean that the trade wouldn't be regulated at all?

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

I think these access issues raise interesting questions relating to competition policy and the public interest.

It was a pity that the OFT gave them a good body swerve when they investigated the trade.

After all, when the Competition Commission ruled on airport landing charges a year or two ago it devoted several pages on the competition aspects relating to the black cab payment system at Heathrow, and also had a few paragraphs about taxi/PH access at Gatwick.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

It was councils who shut the door, not Hack drivers. The ultimate discretion whether or not to have an open hackney carriage policy was and still is down to each individual council. The reference to Sussex and the private hire section of the trade is irrelevant, they do not have the right in law to stand and ply for hire and we can only apply our minds to what is relevant in law.

One wonders where you get this exclusion theory? London or Manchester doesn't have exclusion and neither did York until a bunch of cab drivers formed a radio company and got hold of the permit rights. Greed in the cab game can only be applied when conditions allow for it. It is because of the lack of public road access to many stations throughout the country that these conditions prevail. Put a public rank on the nearest highway to a station and these conditions will vanish over night, assuming of course the rank is close enough to service the public alighting from the station.

I have already stated I have no argument with firms bidding for contracts, my argument is with the situation in York and other places like York who exclude cab drivers from obtaining such permits. There are, as you well know, some stations throughout the UK who are administered by either the local TOA or the TGWU and both these organisations in some cases practice exclusion. Therein lies your greed element, greed is not necessarily the sole domain of individual Taxi companies it can also be applied to the people entrusted to act on behalf of the whole cab trade.

It wasn't so long ago that the Coventry TOA tried to take over the station permits and as far as I know they may have ultimately succeeded but it was apparent the only reason they wanted to administer the permits was to exclude others. No doubt all hell would have let loose if a rival group of drivers had taken over the permit administration and tried to exclude all TOA members.



There is no disputing the property factor and neither have I tried to. My complaint is with those who want to exclude other hackney drivers from plying for hire at stations. If you want fragmentation in the local Taxi trade then excluding your fellow drivers from plying for hire at stations is a very good way of achieving it.



As long as the burger van is on private property it doesn't matter but you are not comparing like with like. The permit phenomenon in most cases is a modern day scenario and in York up until recently anyone could ply for hire on the station. If York council have a mind to remove restrictions next month it would be ironic if a rival consortium came forward and won the right to issue the permits and in turn excluded existing permit holders who in the past have sought to exclude others.

Regards

JD

Or even a Private Hire company took over the station forecourt and ran a similar operation to Airport Carz at Stansted.

You and I are never going to agree because you see Hackney and Private Hire as different trades and I see them as one divided by outdated legislation.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry