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No men, please, we're cabbies
Robert Watts reports on how two mothers from Warrington spotted a huge gap in the market and launched a women-only taxi service that is proving extremely popular
'I wasn't exactly straight with my husband," says Andrea Winders in her Lancastrian accent, chattering away with plenty of giggling and not a jot of guilt.
Before Winders can continue, her business partner, Tina Dutton, interrupts. "She was naughty, she was … She didn't tell him until the night before we launched."
Back to Winders. "I gave him alcohol and told him about Pink Ladies. The next morning he said: 'Did I have a nightmare last night or have you actually bought 14 pink Renault Kangoos?'. Poor Geoff … he's an accountant, you see. Bit of a pessimist."
That was last June, when the two mums from Warrington, Lancashire, launched the UK's first cab company just for women. On February 16, it will go head-to-head with London's black cabs. Franchises in Manchester, Plymouth and Carlisle are planned to open this spring.
Dutton and Winders insist their candyfloss-coloured cabs (with pink interiors and pink steering wheels, of course) will be available nationwide within 18 months.
So what is Pink Ladies? Isn't it sexist? And haven't these energetic northerners pilfered their business model from Carry on Cabby?
Of course in the 1963 classic, Hattie Jacques' Glam Cabs - a firm of taxis driven by eye-catching ladies - lured punters away from a more traditional cab firm run by Jacques' husband, played by Sid James.
But Pink Ladies have moved well beyond the Jacques school of business theory. Women pay £1 to join what is effectively a club, and then pay fares that are the same as those for conventional cabs. The law wouldn't allow Pink Ladies unless it is a club because it would simply then be a taxi firm discriminating against men.
It was Dutton who first dreamt up the idea for Pink Ladies when she worked for Winders' stationery company. The two put in £80,000, the bulk of which came from the sale of Winders' company. They also took out a £185,000 business loan to buy the vehicles.
Women clients are driven to their destination by female drivers, who have been trained not just in "the Knowledge", but also in first aid and self-defence.
"There was the case of this young girl on a night out who had been murdered by someone posing as a taxi driver," says Dutton. "It was just horrible, but there are so many cases of rapes and old ladies being robbed. When we did our market research, girls told us they didn't want to be the last one to be dropped off at night. And we've both got teenage daughters, so it's something that's always bothered us."
So what did the male taxi drivers of Warrington make of their new competition? There were some ructions at the start, with a few disgruntled cabbies claiming Pink Ladies weren't just poaching their punters, but also trying to present their ilk as demons.
"I've never had a bad word to say about a male cabby," says Winters. In fact, the Pink Ladies have had far more bother from the box-tickers who refused to allow the Winders and Dutton to advertise for staff in local job centres.
"The ladies from the job centre and their head office in Sheffield deemed that we were sexist and that they wouldn't let us advertise," grumbles Dutton.
A fair point, perhaps? Within a flash Winters starts quoting the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act. That stipulates that an employer can refuse to offer someone work on grounds of their sex if "the holder of the job provides individuals with personal services promoting their welfare". The Equal Opportunities Commission approved this canny interpretation of the law and the job centre was forced to take the Pink Ladies' listings.
Women's welfare, Dutton insists, is at the heart of Pink Ladies. The service offers greater safety for the fairer sex, be they enjoying a night on the town or behind the wheels of one of the Pink people carriers.
To protect the drivers, all fares are paid on account, so no cash is kept in the cab.
At first Winders and Dutton expected most clients would be young women out on the town on Friday and Saturday nights. In fact, they've found themselves called into help with school runs, children's parties and even bingo nights.
But does the business case stack up? The firm was only incorporated at the end of April so the company has yet to file accounts at Companies House. Winders will only disclose that the Warrington franchise is now profitable, and that a second operation in St Helens will be in the black by early next year.
On average the pink Kangoos net £20 an hour for at least eight-hour days on the streets of northern towns.
However, Dutton is much more bullish about what they can achieve on the streets of a city. Some 20 Pink Ladies cars will be on London's streets within two weeks, with plans for 200 by the end of this year.
"There's a real problem in London with unlicensed mini-cabs," says Winders. "That mayor of yours, Ken [Livingstone], is right to be concerned about it. Now, we're the answer to that."
Apparently there are nearly 100 parties interested in taking on a Pink Ladies franchise, not a bad achievement considering not a penny has been spent on advertising.
So far, Pink Ladies' problems seem to centre on supply and demand. Mondays to Wednesdays can be quiet; later in the week many jobs go begging.
"On some nights we could treble the number of cars and we'd still be turning down jobs," Winders admits.
There are other issues. "We've had ladies who didn't understand the concept ladies only and tried to get their boyfriends in too," Dutton says. "But we stick to our guns."
However, the Pink Ladies have an even more resonant argument to win over sceptical males. "Just think of all those men who've had to stay sober all those nights because they've had to pick up daughters or wives. With us here, they don't have to now," says Winders.
"You see … we're liberating men, we are.
_________________ Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk
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