Taxi Driver Online

I will be going PH from June 6th as there are far to many taxis in my town and there is to be an extortionate fare rise from that date, and I do not agree with it, What I would like to know is as I will be a one man band, and my cab will be my office (I use call diversion) if someone asks me to come back for them say from a pub or club can I legally accept the booking verbally, and if someone approaches me and asks to be taken somewhere what is the legal implications of this as they have come to my mobile office
I know that I will no longer be able to stop for someone who puts there arm out, and I wont be able to sit on the rank
, its ok I will buy an all day parking ticket for £1.50 then I have a choice of 4 car parks

That'll be 'D' Day then

You can discount from the metered rate can't you?

Captain Cab

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

No where in the act does it say all bookings must be via the phone, all you must do is keep a record of the booking.

I think you will be fine, but not everyone will agree.

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IDFIMH

We used to have a "rule" saying landines only and no mobile phone numbers were allowed on the vehicle.
But now all the mini busses (7-8 seaters) carry them.
I think as long as the jobs pre-booked its ok, as long as you have your own operators licence.

So can't you just do this in your taxi without going PH?

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

Are P/H vehicles in your area allowed signage which displays the tel number of the P/H company.

Regards

JD

Your best option may be to keep your hackney license and concentrate more on private hire work. You can charge what you like as long as it isn't more than whats on the meter? I can't see any advantage going from Hackney to P/H.

Regards

JD

The question of being able to charge what you like, can be answered by the tax man, who says that any missing money must be accounted for,
say you have taken £100 and there is £120 on the meter he is insisting that you pay tax on the full amount.
We had a meeting with the council to discus all mater's relating to taxis in our area and they invited the tax man to this meeting, the council have stated that the meter must be on from A to B and that they will be checking at random using sleepers, who have the power to remove your licence there and then.
so thats why i,m going PH I will still have a meter but set to my own rate
£2.oo start and 0.10 every 176 yards where as the taxis will have a £2.00 start and 0.10 every 131.24 yards or 120 meters and £1.00 extra from midnight.
I have asked the council if its OK to keep my roof sign but with PH only written on it as most area are now allowing it for the safety of women
they have still to get back on that, I hope they will.

The taxman can't take your meter as gospel, you are entitled to run your meter for self checking, every day if you wish, etc etc, council mileage checks, pressing errors and forgetting to turn the meter off after a job, how many times have you done a small job then got back to town with your meter still running.

The Taxman doesn't need your meter to find your earning, he does it another way via the council by obtaining the data from your documents given or taken from you by the Council, ie. mileage

I have seen and heard drivers with spare dash instrument panels and change em before motc and or council tests

I refuse to give the Council my vehicle mileage on Inspection, but they get it from the mot certificate anyway.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/bens/ben25.htm

can't you just have the meter set to charge a lower rate than the fare rise so you will still be running leagally just not charging the maximum fares that way you can stay hac we have a hackney carraige fares table which states this is the maximum we can charge but we can charge less if we want to

Maybe the council can tell you that the meter must be on, but they can't tell you to that you have to charge the metered fare.

Section 17(1) of the act says that the fares for the hire of taxis shall not be greater than those fixed under the act.

Therefore it only says they can't be greater, not that they can't be less.

Refer you council and the taxman to Scottish Civic Government Licensing Law, Hajducki and Smith.

They say, at page 53, "The fares fixed are the maximum fares, although there would be no objection, in principle, to taxi operators or drivers undercutting or waiving any of the charges".

Up here discounting is rife and all drivers and firms do it to a greater or lesser extent. Some of them probably do pre-booked work for most of the night and never use the meter once. I saw a Fife magazine last year which had about 6 adversts for taxis. Four of them offered 25% discounts, and another one didn't in the advert but I know it offers big discounts.

No one likes this, but your council is incorrect.

The council says that the fare shown on the tariff sheet is the maximum but they are insisting that all meters are calibrated the same
or I would stay hac
Doing it my way I will be the only Ph in the area and I can get all the students from the uni and theres 5oo of them and they always want to save money and I have handed out posters to all the pubs and clubs and the bosses have all put them up anything to keep there punters happy
and I have also been able to put flyer's into the bingo hall on every table
the manager was more than happy to do this as the women will have more money to play table top bingo
And it will help me as the Borders is the lowest payed area in Scotland and I would rather be busy than sitting still for long periods

How will you cope with all this prospective work?

Whats that they say about little acorns?

Regards

JD

I will manage I have been doing hack for 25 years,I even started the company with £25.00 and an old hillman hunter estate and no phone mobiles where bricks then and cost a fortune, but when things go quiet you have to do something, and the council is still handing out plates like a Greek waiter on a party night and all those new drivers have a shock coming to them I know the proverb a new broom sweeps clean but iv seen them come and go most give up after 2 years, I have loads of regulars most runs only take 10 Min's I can do 10 runs per hour from the uni as long as they are ready
and the bingo comes out at 2 times and my regs from there all wait for me as there is cheap drink £1.00 for 2 pints