Taxi Driver Online

Same old, same old, but what stands out is the ludicrous stats from the LHPCA

And, I mean, the LPHCA is 'the organisation representing the taxi industry'?

Even allowing for the t-word to be used to refer to both sides of the trade, it's still a stretch to say that the LHPCA represents it


Public safety fears due to taxi driver shortage

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59158230

The organisation representing the taxi industry said more than half the licensed drivers have not returned to the trade since the pandemic.

The Licensed Private Car Hire Association estimate the industry is short of 160,000 of the previously 300,000-strong workforce.

"This is a real national problem that affects everywhere," said Steve Wright, Chairman of the LPCHA.

Many drivers left the industry during lockdowns as demand plummeted.

A backlog in costly licensing and registration of vehicles, as well as criminal and medical checks for drivers have led to what the LPCHA have called "a perfect storm."

"We have had calls from Inverness in Scotland, right down to Cornwall, with people saying they cannot get drivers and they cannot get licenses quickly enough," Mr Wright told the BBC.

It is leaving thousands of customers in the lurch. Taxis provide a vital service; taking people to hospital appointments, back from the shops and of course safely home after an evening out.

Taz Harrison, Welfare Officer at The Sugarmill in Stoke-on-Trent, said she is worried about both staff and customers getting a ride.

"I am finishing at the club at 4 am and waiting until 5 or 6 am in the morning to get a taxi," she explained.

"It's a long time to be stood by yourself in town - pre-pandemic it was 5-10 minutes."

"I've worked in venues for 20 years and I've never known it this bad."

The Sugarmill is emptying its doors of six hundred music fans at the same time as multiple venues across Hanley do the same.

"The majority of people are giving up and walking," Ms Harrison added.

Students at Staffordshire University are unsurprised by this.

"There's no taxis anywhere, or they're all dodgy," one student explained.

"You get in and they want the money before you go anywhere," she continued.

'Public safety issue'

The student's friend also shared their experience: "A taxi driver let another guy get in a taxi with me when I finished work and he was flat out drunk - I was like, no!"

Another student explained she asked her Mum and Dad for a lift instead.

The National Union of Students said some universities were partnering with taxi firms to create safer routes to students. However, the union urged the Government to do more: "This is a public safety issue, and it vital that we address it now so that we stop seeing students stranded in unknown areas," said Hillary Gyebi-Ababio, Vice President for Higher Education.

The Night Time Industries Association said the issue raises concerns over transport infrastructure. The association's chief executive Michael Kill said he was alarmed by the driver shortage and called for it to be prioritised by the Government and City leaders across the country.

"With a focus on vulnerability, and the safety of women at night, and thousands of night workers across the country, we cannot underestimate the vital role these services play in keeping people safe at night," Mr Kill added.

A spokesperson from the Department for Transport responded: "While provision of taxi licences is the responsibility of Local Authorities, we continue to work with industry groups to address concerns over potential shortages."

"Throughout the pandemic we have supported private hire vehicle drivers through grants from the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme," the spokesperson added.

The Department for Transport also plans to revise licensing guidelines, but consultations on this will not happen until next year.

A taxi driver must apply to their local council for a license, which can cost up to £600 a year. Drivers must also obtain a criminal record and full medical check, as well as the famous "Knowledge" examination.

'Massive' queues for cabs

One council taking a proactive approach to tackle the shortage is Torbay in Devon, where they have slashed the cost of licensing to just £50 to get more drivers behind the wheel.

"We were seeing massive queues for cabs and the tourist trade was being affected, so we thought we'd better step in," explained Councillor Christine Carter.

"In the summer, we had taxi marshals to help people, and we are going to do that again at Christmas to make it as safe as possible."

However Torbay's approach has only provided half of the drivers they need so far.

"All we can keep doing is keep saying, 'please, please apply'," Councillor Carter added.


Analysis by Colletta Smith, BBC consumer affairs correspondent

In the current climate of heightened safety concerns, especially for women, news of this shortage is particularly worrying.

A few hours wait or a walk home on a balmy summer's evening may seem less of a problem than on a cold, dark, winter's night. As long queues grow in many towns waiting for the only available taxis, tempers fray and those travelling alone become even more vulnerable.

The taxi shortage is impacting every corner of the UK. Some rural pubs, are already reporting that customers are being put off coming out when they know they'll struggle to get home.

In bigger cities the shortage has been masked for a while by app services like Uber, but now people are experiencing longer waits, cancelled trips, and sky-high surcharging as drivers have more work than they can cover at any time of the day.

Utter nonsense are the nicest words I can use

Was out a bit earlier than normal yesterday, and waited a total of 3.5 hours at three different ranks before I got my first hire.

Have regularly waited almost two hours at our main night rank in last few weeks. Never quite made it to the two hour mark, but pretty close on a few occasions, including 1 hour 50 minutes early evening on Halloween


That's a bit like saying the shortage has been masked by ABC Cars in Anytown

But that characterises the whole article, which obviously doesn't know what the 'taxi industry' is, precisely

they are carrying this on radio 5 live this morning

very misleading as they are claiming shortages nationwide

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

One or two rehashes of the BBC article above, which in turn rehash the previous rehashes. Glasgow DJ Rosie Shannon puts in a reappearance

And the second piece in the Evening Standard quotes the GMB.

So nothing particularly new, but it's interesting to read these pieces sometimes to see how they frame things, such as the nonsense in the first piece below about the 'Knowledge' tests. I mean, I'm sure there are tons of areas where there's not even any kind of knowlege test, particularly for PHD badges.

And they seem to think, too, that the criminal records checks are some sort of unncessary hurdle. I mean, the next article will be about drivers attacking women


Why is there a shortage taxi drivers? Experts fear for safety of women

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/u ... r-22076329

The UK has lost thousands of taxi drivers as public behaviour worsens during Covid-19 pandemic.

In a recent report, the Licensed Private Car Hire Association (LPCHA) estimates the industry is short of 160,000 drivers having previously boasted 300,000.

The shortage has sparked public safety fears, with night-time revellers waiting hours for a taxi to take them home.

Glasgow nightclub DJ, Rosie Shannon, told the BBC : "I am waiting for a taxi for up to two hours when I leave work at the club," Rosie, 29, said.

"It is freezing cold, sometimes it is raining. I am being approached by random men on the street. It is getting to the point I am having to walk home on unlit, dangerous streets. It is extremely scary."

"It is only a matter of time before something really bad happens to a woman on the street. I am not only fearing for my safety…but also my friends."

The real solution to this is the education of men and overhaul of their behaviour towards women, but the shortage of taxi drivers has exasperated fears women have at night.

Why is there a shortage taxi drivers?

When demand for taxis plummeted at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, many cabbies left the profession.

Remaining drivers are now complaining of increased abuse as things open up in the UK. Many have reported being spat at, punched and verbally abused.

Taxi company directors have said this is the worst they have known it, with customers increasingly 'angry and violent'.

Instead of taking this horrific treatment, thousands of cabbies have chosen to seek alternative employment.

For those looking to get into taxi driving, bureaucratic obstacles are stopping the shortage from being eased.

There is a backlog of expensive licensing and registration of vehicles, this is on top of lengthy criminal and medical background checks.

The LPCHA have called this a 'perfect-storm' to create a staffing crisis.

"This is a real national problem that affects everywhere," said Steve Wright, chairman of the LPCHA.

To become taxi driver, you must apply to the local council for a licence, which can cost up to £600 annually then pass the criminal and medical background checks.

Then comes the infamous taxi driver 'knowledge' test, which sees potential drivers show off their extensive local understanding of routes. The sort of knowledge only a cabbie could know.

There is no real demand for these background checks and exam to be scrapped, but a reduction of licensing costs of vehicle registration length has been urged by many.


Taxi driver shortage prompts public safety fears

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/taxi ... 64553.html

More than half of licensed taxi drivers have left the industry since the beginning of the pandemic, a trade association has warned.

The Licensed Private Car Hire Association (LPCHA), which represents the industry, estimates that the UK is short of 160,000 of the previously 300,000-strong workforce - prompting safety fears for women and workers trying to get home at night.

It comes after successive national lockdowns saw a sharp drop in demand for taxi services.

Elsewhere, a backlog in expensive licensing for vehicles and fuel shortages caused by the supply chain crisis have created problems for drivers. Applying for a licence can cost a driver as much as £600 a year.

Steve Wright, chairman of the LPCHA, told the BBC that the combination of issues represented a “perfect storm” for the industry.

He said: “This is a real national problem that affects everywhere.

“We have had calls from Inverness in Scotland, right down to Cornwall, with people saying they cannot get drivers and they cannot get licences quickly enough.”

It comes amid heightened fears over women’s safety at night following reports of spiking in clubs and bars and a wave of mistrust in the police following the killings of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics, published in August, revealed that 49 per cent of women do not feel safe walking alone after dark.

A minicab drought is also affecting passengers in London, with drivers saying poor rates after a switch in pay levels last Christmas is causing up to 80 per cent of journeys to be turned down.

In September, private hire taxi drivers warned they were “on their knees” as a result of fuel shortages.

The GMB Union wrote to the Department of Transport urging them to classify taxis as an essential service.

GMB members working in private hire transport NHS patients, care and local authority workers and deliver essential school services, and are often the only form of transport for people with disabilities, yet many are now unable to drive, the union claimed.

Forgot about this in the original BBC piece:


But I see the article has been amended by including 'in some cases' at the end

And the word 'check' has been added, presumably because it sounded like the driver has to commit crimes before getting a badge

But I'm sure most readers would have worked out what it meant


And I'm sure there are plenty other errors and misleading statements, at least if someone wanted to go through all this stuff with a fine tooth comb.

And at least the BBC has amended some of the more obvious clangers, although I doubt if other sources are quite so ready to do so. And because of the stats and the BBC's false portrayal of the 'taxi industry' more generally, to a degree the whole thing is misleading, but pretty unlikely they're going to pull the article

Looks like this and the LPHCA angle has been featured on a few media outlets today. This was on BBC Breakfast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0nta1Mpbtg

But good to see the HC ranks brimming with cars in the video

And nice of Steve Wright and the LPHCA to claim to be representing all of us

It represents the spivs in this industry, nobody else.

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IDFIMH

It seems the whole wide world is now worried about an assumed shortage of taxi/PH drivers.

Everyone it seems bar taxi/PH drivers.

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IDFIMH

The problem is getting worse here because the few drivers that are left covering the late nights are getting so much abuse from customers who are having to wait that some of the drivers are stopping early to avoid it.

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Grandad,

Getting worse here as well. I mean worse for taxis getting onto the ranks. Waited almost two hours again last night on our main night rank. But at least it meant it was after 2200 when I eventually got a hire, so I got an extra pound on my three-minute run because we were on to T2

But you're right, Grandad, it's bound to be a sort of vicious circle - the shortage makes the punters lairy, which makes drivers less likely to drive late at night, etc, etc.

In fact that's one reason I'm quite glad there's never huge queues of punters here at the ranks, because that tends to lead to trouble. And for reasons I've never quite fathomed, I think they're less inclined to form an orderly queue in oh-so-civilised St Andrews than in Dundee. But I never liked huge queues at the ranks in Dundee either, and had a few hairy moments there, most obviously at the main rank in town where the punter was killed after the rammy among the people queuing.

Anyway, I think the BBC's description of the LPHCA has been changed at least a couple of times since the original article. The latest version reads:


So that's obviously a lot more accurate a description than portraying the LPHCA as *the* group representing both sides of the *whole* UK industry

But obviously the YouTube clip of Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt describing the LPHCA as "THE trade body for the industry" is there to stay

Anyway, pity the LPHCA hasn't been taken to task over its claim that the industry is 160,000 short of drivers from the previous 300,000

Just noticed the new description 'mini-cab taxi drivers', too

I mean, we're used to 'private hire taxi', but 'mini-cab taxi driver' must be a more unusual one

Assuming drivers can earn what they need during normal times I don't blame them for not wanting to work with the drunks and smackheads.

Maybe the answer is for firms to blank punters that moan and concentrate on punters that understand the situation and are grateful for drivers working unsociable hours.

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IDFIMH