Taxi Driver Online

I know that I was contesting the hypothesis that the supply of immigrants has ceased it hasn't ceased it is just waiting for the bureaucratic process to filter them through so they can take up all the jobs no one wants to do now

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

A tour guide in Ruanda, for instance?

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Former taxi driver

Think I'll leave it to Sussex to post all the news today...

even better why not train them as tour guides for Rwanda or as Uber drivers in Kigali

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

you obviously haven't had your Weetabix today !

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

Are you suggesting that UBER drivers receive training?

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Grandad,

Yes they run special courses on how to get take punters the long way round, fake soiling pictures and how to club together on whats app to stay off the road until the surge kicks in

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

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Grandad,

Plymouth taxi drivers threaten to quit over being forced to re-paint their cabs green and white

https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/20 ... their-cabs



Taxi drivers in Plymouth are calling on the council to reverse a controversial policy which would require them to re-paint their cabs to promote 'pride and professionalism'.

The change, which is part of a wide-ranging re-vamp of the city's rules for hackney carriages, could cost each cabbie between £1,500 and £2000.

That could be reclaimed as a business expense, but some they say they cannot afford the outlay with the rising price of fuel and other essentials.

John Beaumont, chair of the Plymouth Licensed Taxi Association, said: "I believe the driver should have a choice about what colour vehicle he buys.

"All the public look for is a tout light in the vehicle, that's all they need. Why do we need to change colour? We've had this for years."

Driver Roy Perrett said the change might force him to quit.

He said: "I would say 'There's your badge, there's your licence, bye-bye.' I think there would be a lot of other drivers doing the same."

The other rules coming into force soon include a requirement for taxis to take contactless card payments.

The council says more people are going cash free and expect to be able to pay by card, which is simpler and easier.

In a statement Plymouth City Council said: "We accept that the new livery is an expense for the trade at a time when it is facing other financial pressures which is why we now have a five year lead-in time for to comply with this requirement.

"The new livery is designed to give people confidence that they are hailing a properly licensed and approved cab.

"It will help make people – particularly women – feel safer to get a ride in a distinctively marked vehicle. The lighter colouring will also help with identification and support clearer CCTV images if required. Livery costs can be claimed as a business expense.

"More and more people are going cash free and expect to be able to pay by card. While there is an installation cost, thousands of other businesses have taken this route to make life simpler for them and their customers.

"Plymouth lost around 160 drivers over the pandemic and part of the refreshed policy has made it easier for taxi drivers to return by removing hoops they would have to jump through.

"We have also scrapped the limit on the number of hackney carriages Plymouth can have and hope to encourage more drivers to work in the evening and night time economy. The policy which we consulted on with the public as well as the trade was approved at Full Council in May with cross party support. It will come into effect on 1 May 2022."

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IDFIMH

Fairly sure that you can off set the cost against tax which would mean that you would get 20% back not the full amount.

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Grandad,

I think within 10 years the number of councils NOT having a district paint job (supporting the local football/rugby club mostly) will be the minority

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

I think that if the colours are for a sports team then it would be considered unreasonable because drivers cant even wear a top that has the team on it. It may be different if the District has their own colour.

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Grandad,

Tout light? Never heard that one before. Not the best choice of words, particularly given that touting is illegal, even for HCDs.


A major factor in all the safety stuff is the women getting stupidly drunk, in which case I don't think things like colour schemes are really much of a help


As Grandad says, makes it sound like it won't cost the drivers anything, but that's just not the case. It can be claimed as a business expense *against tax*.

So not sure if this is just poor, ill-informed wording. Or deliberate comms-style gaslighting.

'Gaslighting' seems to be an increasingly prominent term in politics. It seems to have moved away from its original meaning of psychological manipulation to make someone think they're imagining things etc. But I use it here to mean stuff like demonisation in the eyes of the public and to make drivers feel they're in the wrong, because the livery is portrayed as something that's zero-cost rather than a couple of grand coming out of the driver's pocket.

Ditto that bull$hit about drivers queueing up to get EV conversions in Fife. Makes the public think LEZ compliance is easy peasy for the trade, and makes it look like drivers are cock-a-hoop about it all.

The gaslighters make it sound like it's for the drivers, while the reality is

Reclaimed as a business expense lol.

So can vehicle repairs and business insurance and licensing costs etc.

It's all the cost of doing business.

But if you earn £25,000 in a tax year and you have fuel costs, licensing costs, insurance costs, vehicle finance costs, and unnecessary vehicle livery costs and congestion charges and a bad year in repair bills from your car and end up with £4,000 profit after working 50 hours per week then it turns out you have wasted your time and should have spent that year stacking shelves part-time for minimum wage and saved the hassle.

You would even get holiday pay too.

Doesn't matter what costs you can claim as expenses it's your turnover and profit margin that are important. Firstly you need a high turnover. Higher the better. Secondly you need a high profit margin. Again the higher the better.

And councils are eating into drivers profit margins unnecessarily through all this nonsense.

Any company or self-employed person operating a business has the number one priority of maximising profits.

You do whatever you can to remove unnecessary overheads that reduce your profits should you have to such as painting your premises every year or having fresh flowers every week delivered to your office etc.

All these extra luxuries can be a part of doing business and it is all well and good if you are a successful business that has plenty of profits left over to spend on those things but not all business can and do those things.

They are FREE TO CHOOSE to have those things or not.

However, councils forcing drivers to spend on them is unacceptable and is none of their business.

If they want drivers to have livery then the councils can pay for it in full for each driver.

If not let them choose. Put it in the licensing conditions that the council would prefer certain livery colours but it is optional.

They could encourage it by giving drivers free licensing costs for a number amount of years.

But I would not expect them to do that or for many drivers to take up the option.

It's all well and good when you give out orders for people to spend money that is not yours.

When it's your own money it's always a different story.

often the two are the same or the district chooses the sports teams colours as that would be the most popular choice in a vote in the council chamber perhaps

Manchester might be interesting as you have a red half and a blue half

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