Taxi Driver Online

Cab firms delivering takeaway food? That's never happened before


City Taxis launches Sheffield's answer to Deliveroo

https://www.thestar.co.uk/business/city ... oo-1326687

Sheffield’s biggest taxi firm has started delivering takeaways to meet soaring demand for fast food.

City Taxis has teamed up with 20 eateries and two ‘dark kitchens’ - which only cook takeaways - to create ‘City Grab’.

Established restaurants Ashoka and Elif on Ecclesall Road, as well as newcomer Kommune, have already signed up to the project which will see City go head-to-head with global giants such as Deliveroo.

The Students’ Union at the University of Sheffield is already using the service via an app called ‘Food Union’ with officials hailing its ‘buy local’ ethos of using independent eateries - including the union’s ‘Bar One’ and ‘Interval Kitchen and Bar’ - and drivers who work for a Sheffield firm.

City Taxis boss Arnie Singh said: “If you have got stuff to move fast, that’s where we come in. We have resources that are pretty under utilised.”

Business development manager Paul Gosney came up with the idea after figures showed City cars have capacity do to more journeys, he added.

Consumers pay the taxi fare on top of the food bill.

City also charges restaurants 15 per cent of the food bill, less than the 35 per cent charged by other firms, Mr Singh said.

He added: “We deliver further and faster because we have the cars and the network.”

The firm, which spent £250,000 on the technology, aims to franchise it in 20 cities over the next 15 months, he added.

Twenty restaurants in each city doing 50 jobs a week adds up to 1m jobs-a-year.

Mr Sing said ‘City Grab’ could also be used to deliver drinks to bars and pubs that had run out of stock and they were investigating delivering prescription drugs from pharmacies to patients and urgent orders for clothes.

City has 1,500 self-employed drivers in Sheffield, some 450 have registered for the new service.

In recent years the firm bought rivals in Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley, Chesterfield and Derby in a bid to stave off competition from Uber. Mr Singh led a management buy-out at the company a year ago.

Under-utilised is certainly one way of putting it


Give that man a cigar


But by the sounds of things, Uber still 'eating' into their work, hence this idea to 'utilise' the excess 'capacity'?

I do hope they have checked that meal deliveries are permitted under their conditions of license

And that they have shelled out the extra £70 to £80 a car for delivery insurance

and of course made sure the t& C 's of every vehicle on the books allows delivery work

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The likes of Deliveroo and Uber Eats don't charge cab rates to deliver.

So the restaurant might be better off, but the punters who are paying for all of this will be worse off.

As for having more cab available, well I suspect there will never be a shortage of L plated scooters, and students/immigrants willing to ride them.

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IDFIMH

And I forgot to mention to check that their Licencing t & C's allows takeaway deliveries

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Most taxi t&c and insurance allow for parcel deliveries. Food in a bag is a parcel. Food in a container is a parcel.

If the punter wants to pay a bit more for a better service, then that's their choice, don't knock it if it works. Keep work legal is the name of the game surely? And with taxis parking outside the take-aways, there's a chance of picking up more work rather than letting the unlicenced delivery drivers take a chance on carrying punters who are looking for a cab.

A takeaway near me was offering £5 an hour for a delivery driver plus tips.They got slated on FB for paying well below minimum wage and gave up.

We can get penalty points on our taxi license if caught delivering food

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But you have a f***wit council.

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IDFIMH

How do your punters get their shopping home

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

That would be my argument. What business is it of the council what goods are in parcels you carry? would the council like to make up your money? Is it in their rules that you can't convey or deliver food? Providing it's not leaving an odour in the car I don't see the problem. You could argue that you're helping to reduce congestion and help save the planet by cutting down pollution.

We had an enforcement officer who told us that we were only licensed to carry passengers.

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Last I checked delivery wasn't a licensed activity. So unless it's specifically disallowed by the conditions of your licence then it's got nowt to do with the enforcement bods.

That is basically what we told the officer.

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Grandad,
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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

Another clueless civil servant.

I would always ask what law prohibits such activities, not what law says what you can do.

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IDFIMH