Taxi Driver Online

Cabbie, if you read the OFT report, it puts to bed your concerns.

Yes, Mr Villager, you hated Dundee that much that you had to keep the plate!!

OK Mr Villager, I'm glad to hear that you don't mind working hard for a living, but what I was alluding to is that Dundee drivers are presumably providing you with an income in relation to your plate.

And I assumed that you think plates should be sellable, if yours is in a corporate name then why don't you sell it??

Dusty

I would give my plate away to my driver (who`s is also been my mate for 20 odd years) but as he had a plate of his own and chucked it as he didn`t want the hassle of running his own plate i just keep it as he enjoys driving for me ,has no hassles with the taxman, has no bills for the car etc and is more than happy with the arrangement,if he stopped driving i would probably just chuck the plate as i am settled in another area and wouldn`t drive in Dundee myself anymore.I see him everyday and put a new car on every two years, he just doesn`t want the hassle of running his own car, he has driven my car for approx seven years now and i have offered him the licence on numerous occassions, he has declined every offer.
As i have said in earlier postings money is`nt everything, it is to some, but fortunately to me and some of my friends there are more important things in life.
To answer your other query, yes, i think plates should be transferred/sold as some people( widows etc,) should be able to keep, sell or transfer their business as they see fit ,pub`s window cleaners etc can , so why can`t taxi operators sell their business?.

BE HAPPY

villager

I like your sense of humour, but you are just winding the bin and sussex up arnet you?

you must be, what a laugh

NO , Iam not having a laugh ,I am serious, if I didn`t have my driver the licence would be binned .

ive maybe read your post wrong but are you saying your driver doesnt pay tax?

villager when did you last drive in dundee?theres been a big change in customers over the last id say seven years, every housing scheme can now be entered there are no pubs that get refused taxis and i cant remember the last time i refused to pick someone up for either being too drunk/soiled pants/or simply because they are a known idiot,compared to the problems our workmates down south have to contend with i think we are very well off..

The problem is that any benefit to the widow only arises if other people are excluded from having a plate - the widows can now have a plate in Dundee if they want, but I doubt if they'll bother, because as the town is now de-limited then there'll be less scope for renting out plates and/or cabs and of course even if they applied for a corporate license no one would want to buy it.

Your comparisons with other businesses are irrelevant as these businesses are not limited in number - anyone can set up a window cleanering business, but the taxi plate value just depends on other people being prevented from setting up a taxi business.

Try looking closer to home - what 'business' does a private hire plate holder have? None, at least on your terms, because the plate is worthless as they are not restricted in number.

This may seem unfair on the widows, but what about the widows of PH owners and HC jockeys?? Any benefit to HC plate holders widows is at the expense of the latter two if they want a taxi plate.

Any hardship for widows should be dealt with via the benefits system, not by councillors playing God and milking drivers to provide some kind of pension to widows, particularly where there's no level playing field.

Dusty

Here i've been keeping my ear to the ground and been told a few things and i have heard that the dta want a meeting with all hackneys come monday or tuesday to object to all you scallys getting their hackneys. Well i am one that will be putting my money in to fight you all. I will do watever to stop all of you gettin on i think it a disgrace that the board granted those plates as they is no work out there for them we shall see who wins in the end.

why have you got to keep your ear to the ground to hear about a dta meeting ?if there was a meeting planned surely they would give notice a week in advance to get as many hacks as possible to attend,but then this is dundee dta ive asked people who are members(im not)what they have achieved and always get the same reply(they stopped 203020 getting hacks)which is of course wrong but i just let them dream,i am interested as to how many hacks if a meeting was arranged would attend ,none of the hired plates would neither would i expect to see villager there ,but there is also talk that if the 29 applicants who were granted plates do not get them 28 days later then there is going to be a meeting between them and all the other applicants to get funds together to fight the dta, numbers wise i dont know who will have the highest number of individuals to share the cost but i do know all rules and laws are on the side of the new applicants,the hired plate situation can now for the first time be mentioned in court against keeping the town closed then there is the oft report rubbishing surveys and regulation,not to mention the dundee survey itself which stated it is still difficult to hail a taxi in dundee despite claims of no work,dundee chap ive heard you are new to the internet sites check what happened in inverness and ask what their toa was able to do about it...

scot, how do you know i am new i have been scouring forums for a few years now so you are wrong on that count AND wrong on others including how many hacks will attend i have been talking to a lot of my mates out there and they are prepared to fight so i don't know who you have been gossiping to you think you know a lot i don't think so. People i have spoken are P****D off with you guys so don't expect a lot of support.

And just like the battle you are having with 203020, you will lose.

What your trade needs is proper leadership, not people with big gobs telling the lads what they want to hear, but people with sense telling them the truth, and to keep their money in their pockets.

Alas, Dundee is blessed (or maybe not) with the same quality of leadership as many other places.

dundeechap i totaly agree with you scott seems to be very informed with what is going on but like yourself i will put my money as before to fight on as will all taxi owners in Dundee should> look forward to hearing when the meeting is.

thank you cabbie85 us chaps should stick together, together we will defeat them.

One of the problems we as an industry seem to face, is learning how to fight things we think are wrong. I have noticed before, that when we fight eah other, someone else comes in and takes the goodies. We fought to limit plates long ago, and ended up with a new industry called private hire.

Frankly, I feel our fighting should have been done long before the OFT report was published. Not much hope of getting a reversal after the event, so-to-speak.