Taxi Driver Online

That's a bit like a point made by one of the St Andrews taxi offices in a local article . The only difference is that they said that it was independent taxis that the public had a problem with when property was lost - we don't have any PH really.

Like our man in St Andrews there's sense in what you say, but up here his problem was that all taxis have to hand lost property into the police within 24 hours, so if all drivers followed the rules it would be as easy to get back property left in and independent as in an office car.

And a lot of people won't even know what firm they have used, like when they get in at a rank and are so bladdered that they can barely tell you where they want to go....that's when they tend to lose phones and that anyway.

But it's probably easier to trace property from an office car than an independent, but another problem our man in St Andrews had was that his office would hold on to lost property anyway and just ignore the rules, so if anyone didn't know whose taxi they were in but went to the police for lost property, it wouldnt' be there.

I am sorry geoff but i have to disagree with you there. Bailey has been allowed to put offices just about where he pleases. Acedemy way was phil westons idea i know but crown did not rank there while he owned it. (i know this as i was workin on that system at the time it opened) there simply werent enough cars to do it. but now bailey is the owner and abba are using their office to pick up there is plenty of cars for that sort of thing. Also, knutsford road office was done there for the pure and simple fact that bailey wanted to poke one in the eye at harry as if to say "your next" But punters vote with their feet and the first night that office opened the chorus of "THERE IS ONLY ONE HARRYS TAXIS" could be heard over the din in the town centre. I guess the point i am making is that bailey has the money to try and take over the town when it comes to PH and thats exactly what he is trying to do. The fact that it would be the end of the PH trade as you know it means nothing to bailey or barnsey alike. Are there any other towns or cities in england where that has happened? one PH firm over all the region. I dont know personally but i would be interested to hear how long it lasted before punters got pi**ed of with it and complained to the council. The fact is, that abba and crown systems are as bent as a pink fiver and for a company that has so many cars working for it (200+ cars if you believe the posters), it cant run a job on time.

As for the ranks.

The point is that some of the ranks in town have become unusable, for various reasons including ranks being parked on by blue badge holders and able bodied drivers alike,PH offices being opened directly on top of a 3 car rank and also thru lack of use. Slowly HC drivers in warrington are twigging to the fact that our side of the trade is going down the sh**hole if we dont act quick. Bailey is expanding his offices further and further into the town centre if unchecked then it will only be a matter of time before he sits in bridge street blocking up the road with PH on what is at the moment our only truly working weekend rank, Which i admit that the majority of the time is over ranked but the only way we can remedy this is to start claiming back what ranks are left which includes acedemy way, which was the starting point because, frankly, it was the easiest to get back on to as the drivers (in general) stay with their cars more often than not while parked on it. While this may feel like a personal affront to all the drivers that have been working from it on the PH side, it isnt its just a bid to get back in the game, which i must admit is our own damned fault for getting into this situation in the first place. but HC drivers are getting younger all the time (I'm only 26 married with 2 kids) so its our future we are trying to secure. i'm sorry to say but the older generation is begining to thin out in more ways than one and a younger generation has been left with this mess to untangle. so my apologies if this puts someones nose out of joint but that is the way it is, and the sooner everyone realises that the better. FOR ALL OF US

The real issues here are enforcement and peoples futures, not drivers and lost property.

The Coucil needs to be more strict on drivers, and i stress this point more than the rest, on ALL sides, public road users, HC and PH alike.

An abba base op ( who shall remain nameless) said that there was plenty of work to go round, she is right, but only if EVERYONE gets a fair shake of the stick and I am afraid that the balance at the minute is tipped heavily in Phil Baileys favour

Lets not forget that this is the council that is demanding that all HC vehicles must be wheelchair accessible by 2010 yet wont give a definitive answer to whom is liable should the loading of a wheelchair or the transfer of a disabled passenger into a car using a council issued shuffleboardgo wrong. I seriously get the feeling that they are setting us up for some kind of fall, because a lisencing office that is unable to provide these answers is a joke, and THESE are the people who are meant to govern us! make things run smoothlyand they dont. You put a poll out to see who has been let down by on an abba booking, i bet the results are not good for abba. Phil Barnes should be researching this and be like a monkey on Phil Baileys back til it is sorted instead of thinking up new ways to screw us ALL over.

There i think i got it all out

Big Show

I don’t generally get involved with this sort of debate but given this is on my home patch and involved with both PH and Hacks with no axe to grind, I’ll add my say for what it’s worth.

Let’s leave out the silly petty arguments between PH and Hacks though; This sort of stuff has gone on for as long as I can remember and will probably continue forever; all it does is cloud matters.

The real issue here, is large Private Hire companies who appear to be opening offices right next to the taxi ranks and the Hacks are understandably “hacked off” about it. The casual observer would probably say well that’s business for you but for me there’s a bigger underlying problem.

Just to fill others in on how we ended up in this mess, let me give my potted history behind this.

When we first became involved in the taxi trade, Warrington like other towns was awash with small taxi firms, the largest from memory probably being Macs taxis with a whopping 20 cars! Then two companies, Crown and Abba both invested in technology and soon absorbed many of these smaller companies. As both companies grew, they were aggressively competing, each offering lower prices and claiming better services thus the term Taxi Wars became commonplace in the town. Both seemed hell bent on becoming the dominant company within the town. These days, I’m not so sure if the same person owns both companies or what, but while the wars seems to have stopped the mentality of wanting to dominate seems to carry on.

I work with taxi companies both private hire and hackney right across the UK and can honestly say that what’s happening here in Warrington is the exact opposite to what most other companies are doing. The larger taxi operator tends to use a call centre type of operation to make best possible use of staff and resources which is good business sense. Splitting the business into multiple small offices across the town to me demonstrates a certain mindset and I don’t for one moment buy the idea that all this is about giving people what they want.

I live in this town and like most people I would like a taxi service that is first and foremost reliable and that’s not what we seem to have at the moment. Seems to me that the company could do itself a favour and put some effort into picking me up on time instead of fighting with the hacks over what was traditionally their town centre trade. It really is unprofessional and shows the whole trade in a bad light.

Bill

By the way, I post on a local forum and it may be worth a look at others had to say on this matter. It's a bit out of date makes interesting reading.

http://p212.ezboard.com/fwarringtonsspeakfreelyfrm7.showMessage?topicID=60.topic

Click this horrible looking link to read more.

Bill

Whilst were on that subject Alex, you or Dusty, may want to reinstate my www link back to what it was, opposed to Addison Lee.

Many thanks.

Well Bill, you being in the trade so to speak should understand more than most how things work.

Firstly a purpose built call center is just about finished and should be ready to take it's first call very soon.
But Town Center Offices are an important part of the buisness for both the public and the company, Tradition counts for nothing, try telling 2-3,000 people on a saturday night that they'll have to queue up in the street for an hour to be taken home by 60 Hac's!
We dont pick up in town at night from the pubs and clubs, they have to walk to the nearest office (which is why we have so many)

As for running on time, it's getting better but still has a long way to go. Using Warrington as an example, The staff are told how many jobs to take for all the areas of the town and by and large stick to it,(bearing in mind they dont know exactly how many drivers will be on the road, they can ony make an educated judgement). The drivers get the job sent to their data unit 7 mins before the pickup time to enable them to get there on time and usually there's cars spread all over the town to cover the work thats been taken.
So I'm due to pick up Mrs X at 7.15pm in Padgate and shes going to town (3 1/2 mls) . I get there at 7.10. Hubby comes out and get's in at 7.15 and moans about how long it takes women to get ready. At 7.22 she get's in and tell's me there going to Woolston to pick some friends up and then to town (2m the opposite way) so we get there and wait another 5mins for them to get in.
So from a job that was booked for 7.15 to take me to town by 7.25 ready for my next job, it's now 7.47 and i'm only just free to take my next job, and thats only the first of many jobs like that that.
Now your going to ask why we dont allow more time for the jobs, both to get there on time, and to allow for diversions like i've just shown, Well we can, but the fare's will have to increase to compensate for the extra time.

If the driver is cutting his job count by 25% to allow extra time to pick up punters, then the fare will have to go up 25% to keep his wages the same or it wont be worth him working.
Its a very fine line as i said.

Going further on to Bills point.

I guess what you say makes sense but how can one company back down? as the drivers will think he has lost and therefore transfer company's.

What makes it hard is the ease in which a driver can move around, if they were tied like a footballer and traded - lol only kidding

i think a call center is very cold and computerised(lol which it is) but id do it because its professional and you will find staff that are willing to work in a nice quiet environment.

From my experience if a driver is looked after by an operator, and that's not just financially, then they seldom change firms.

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IDFIMH

Unless they suddenly find themselves with a free plate?

Aren't they all?

But to answer your question, most people I know that have got 'free' plates have been with an operator for many years, and unless that operator has p***ed them off in the past, then they stay.

And then have two bites of the cherry.

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IDFIMH