Taxi Driver Online

Captain Cab[/quote]



As public servants it is their knowledge "of the results of limitation" that makes them responsible and accountable for the £40,000 plate value. Why should a driver who is prepared to go to the expense of putting on a vehicle and paying the required licence fee be denied the opportunity to operate his own taxi?

The driver already earns his living driving someone else's taxi? The only difference being he would be doing the same work driving his own?

Where's the problem?

As for the "results of delimitation" this is hardly relevant when you consider they already have a Ph fleet that operates without limitation and doubles every few years.

_________________
All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

Captain Cab[/quote]



As public servants it is their knowledge "of the results of limitation" that makes them responsible and accountable for the £40,000 plate value. Why should a driver who is prepared to go to the expense of putting on a vehicle and paying the required licence fee be denied the opportunity to operate his own taxi?

The driver already earns his living driving someone else's taxi? The only difference being he would be doing the same work driving his own?

Where's the problem?

As for the "results of delimitation" this is hardly relevant when you consider they already have a Ph fleet that operates without limitation which doubles every few years.

_________________
All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

I doubt it, because the Scotttish legislation was specifically set up so that the plate had to be handed back when the owner sold the vehicle or ceased to operate it as a taxi.

But the act was poorly thougth out because whoever drafted it didn't realise that the plate buyer and seller would get together in a huddle with the council to hand a new plate out to the benefit of the buyer.

In England the license is transferred, but in Scotland thats not alllowed, so they swap it instead. Same difference in the end, but it's not what was intended when the act was passed.

only thing is Skull you have already had two plates and chose to sell them for wahtever reason, now you want to drag the entire industry down with you

captain cab i think that fae fife makes my point -



when i decided that i wanted to drive in the hire trade i decided that i wanted to work for myself after i investigated the cost of driving a TAXI the price of the plate put me off i could aford everything else but the plate was a bridge to far for me and put me off and the only option was PH as the set up cost was much lower and i dont want to double man my motor as i need to have the freedom to work round my family life.

so why should the councial turn a blind eye to plate transfers and not insist that they be returned and the next person inline gets his or her chance

in the future i may move over to driving the blacks but that would have to be on a rental as the system does not let me work for myself with out paying a fortune to do and IMO thats wrong.

The "industry" in Edinburgh is going down the pan and that's with the status quo. Protecting plate values is bringing the business down our competitors are ripping the taxi game to pieces. No work means sooner or later the plate premiums will fall along with earnings.

_________________
All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

Mr 187, Is it really any concern of yours how someone else conducts their business? Does Mr Skull tell you how to run your life? Does it really matter if he had a hundred free plates and sold them? The fault does not lie with Mr Skull or anyone who capitalises on the system, the fault lies in the Inherent failings of the system.

I say Good luck to anyone who can make money out of a free plate because it exposes the system for what it is. Many people who apply for multiple licenses are doing so in order to show the local authority that such a policy is fraught with difficulty. We have had recent examples in Trafford and Plymouth. The exception perhaps was our friend in Cardiff Mr Cummings who wanted all six licenses to himself while still retaining a restriction on numbers. When he was given the opportunity to have as many licenses as he wished, he threw his toys out of the pram because it meant everyone else could have the same opportunity as him?

When more emphasis is put on quality control of driver and vehicle we might see an end to the self-righteous attitudes of some people who think they have the right to moralise on others.

If a system is flawed and it allows you to make money without turning a hair then exploit it to the full, the system might soon be changed.

The difference between you and Skull is that skull doesn't mind who gets a free plate where the likes of you wants to see no one get a plate unless they pay you 80 grand for the privilege.

The likes of me wants to see the likes of you pass a quality control test that dictates you know all the bye laws in Oxford, without having to refer to a book and that you have an adequate knowledge of the area and in addition you have a good understanding of written and spoken English and that your background history can be checked for the purpose of a fit and proper person.

These criteria should be at the forefront of any Taxi license application. The bye law element might be difficult for some but that's what driver quality control is all about.

Of course there are other elements of driver quality control that should be implemented but I'm sure the ones I mentioned will raise more than a little controversy. However if you don't want the market flooded with people from outside the UK then such quality controls are going to have to be implemented.

The sad part about all this is that many of us have been advocating higher quality controls for a very long time while a great many in the trade with a vested interest in retaining quantity controls have been advocating exactly the oposite. The reason for this is because they want license entry made easy so they can get others to drive their vehicles. Typical examples are cited in Liverpool and Manchester and perhaps to some extent in Edinburgh.

Perhaps when Rumania and Bulgaria become EU members in seven months time depending on the success of the negotions, the impact of Eastern European migrants on the Taxi and Private hire trade might resonate in the minds of those who are mandated to act on our behalf? However, the full impact of Eastern European migration will be felt when Turkey and the Balkan Nations Join the EU in perhaps the next decade.

If negotiations with Croatia go smoothly, the Adriatic State with its population of 4.5 million is expected to join the Union in 2008 or 2009. Other Balkan states, such as Albania, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina are likely to follow. If Turkey is ever allowed in then we really do have a problem because it has the potential to produce the largest mass exodus of migrants within the EU.

It may not have escaped every ones notice but the European Union is spectacularly successful at attracting new members. Where it will stop is any ones guess but one thing is for sure the inhabitants of these countries will be looking for better economic prospects and we all know what that means.

The current EU population is 450 million from 25 countries, the population will expand to 600 million once all the countries I mentioned above are admitted, that’s twice the size of America.

Its no good thinking now and acting later, we have to act now or suffer the consequences.

JD

and no skull Mr Taxi baron cartel owning wanna plate merchant should not get a free plate

Only a really sad individual would ask such a question based on JD's post.

Please if you want to act PC to such a degree, then go down to your local council and debate the world with them.

_________________
IDFIMH

Isn't that as useful as saying that if you don't like the taxi situation in Carlisle then you should shut up because no one's putting a gun to your head and telling you to operate there?



Again, that's presumably the basis of the taxi policies pertaining in Carlisle, so to that extent your complaints are effectively irrelevant.

And why do you seem to complain about LAs that derestrict, since presumably they've adhered to the checks and balances that you outline.

.

I very much doubt it. For example, if councils are so well informed why were you and others getting so excited about councils being made aware of plate premiums and suchlike?

And if the NTA claims that plate premiums are merely 'anecdotal', and presumably you subscribe to this view, then you must think that LAs are pretty gullible?

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

I would in turn suggest that you should have stuck to your original stance...



....since the Weymouth case seems to have little relevance to Scotland.

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

only a sad individual would even make a statement like that in the first place, as for being not me, just stating an obvious fact, perhaps you should re read the paragraph

I would expext Oxford to have a knowledge test likewise almost every other authority. But I wood put money on the fact you don't know the bye laws without looking in your little red book. Under my version of quality controls you wouldn't get a badge until you did.

JD

as for who should get a free plate.
well as i did then so should all my mates.
and even my non mates.