Taxi Driver Online

Got a phone call last night telling me about a guy from the Ph who passed ‘the knowledge’ approximately 4 weeks ago and applied for a job to City Cabs, ComCab, and CRT?

Three weeks later he was still waiting. This guy is now working 6 nights for CRT, while paying £300 big ones for the opportunity - with only one big weekend night - alternating Fri/Sat. Fair enough you might think, regardless of what you feel about the cost of the rental. The bigger problem is he wanted a Mon-Fri day-shift. He has a young family and a wife who is climbing the walls, and now he’s out of the house at least 5 nights a week.

Now he’s between a rock and a hard place because day-shift rentals are apparently like hobby horses shi*. (One City Cab owner wanted him to work for half the clock)

This guy is now thinking about applying on the back of JT if he can come-up with the money, because as he puts it “he can’t afford not too” but failing that he fully intends to apply when the council go to the Interested Parties List (IPL).

Now as I have said before ‘read it and weep’ boys. This situation is going to become all too common for drivers entering the trade. The huge increase in Ph is a springboard for more hack drivers formalising ‘the knowledge’ through the taxi schools.

If there isn’t an increase in plates within the next 12-18 months and I mean, a substantial increase, working a full-time rental while choosing more or less your own hours will become a thing of the past.

Get prepared to pay a lot more for a lot less…that’s if you can find a job.

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

That's not trade representatiuve Muldoon who stated he would prefer our customers to take a bus rather than put on any more taxis, is it?

Fleming and Colquhoun surely can't be the same dynamic duo who did everything they could to suck up to Wiggies committee can it?

Here's the Millionaire question.

Has anybody in the trade ever been consulted by an alleged trade representative before they engaged with the council over any issue?

So, why are they called "trade representatives"? Who in fact do they represent? Where's the accountability?

Skull what is happening at the moment can anyone now get a licence or not????????????

I don’t know who they represent but I can tell you what it is they represent….

‘Increasing the number of employees increases employer power’.
In practice the larger the available employment pool, the easier it is to control the work force. This leads to high employment for low paid workers and a nice not so little price tag on a plate.

Drivers are a commodity to be traded between owners, nothing more….

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

Not yet but it’s not far off….

The first step is beating them in the next court case and then if that’s not enough stuffing them over the IPL. At this moment we have them in a sort of pincer movement, trying to envelope them completely.

All we have to do is win the next case which we then expect them to appeal- then to stop them going to the IPL through their next general SUD while the appeals process is underway - thus rendering their SUD useless - giving everyone plenty opportunity to get their money down on the back of a ‘significant demand’ being recognised. A complete mess being the ultimate situation with the council having applications up the yingyang.

The key to this just might be putting Councillors into the witness box? We don’t know how the council is going to react to this. It could be a career ender for any politician who stands-up and makes a fool of himself. We think that corporate services are all over the place and as far as we can see, having never been faced with councillors being forced to take the witness stand. Corporate Services solicitors and their hired guns (court solicitors and QC’s) have always acted as a buffer stopping anyone getting to the elected officials. This is not the case this time around. This could be very interesting….

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

Had an interesting chat with a legal type at the weekend.

Seems that the fact that the council has issued twice off the IPL, although we know it has no formal legal status, could be construed as an implied agreement and that those who are waiting on the list may have some legal recourse if it is crashed without them getting their licence.

He did say that some research would need to be done.

Although interesting, I'm not sure I subscribe to this view. However, isn't it intriguing? Wouldn't it help explain why the council seems to be defending the restricted paractices of their policy so stoically?

Let's see. If compensation was possible, at £54K a pop, around 100 people still on the list .... hey that's £5-6 million. That's a lot of taxpayer's money.

Think Jim Inch would survive this little faux pas?

We're looking into it.

If that be the case I would be very wary of how this came about. The only thing I can immediately think of is perhaps one or two of the existing licenses became available through revocation or perhaps a death and re-issued? A simple letter to licensing should confirm this.

Regards

JD

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Surely this is all about the commitment the council made to those placed on the IPL? The fact is there was no ‘what if’ with this agreement, verbal or otherwise, but a definite commitment. It was the council who proposed the interested parties list in the first place, the applicants merely accepted the council’s alternative to a waiting list?


I don’t see how the council could pull the plug and not be responsible?

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

Perhaps I should explain this. When I stated that the council had issued twice from the IPL what I meant was that it has issued two tranches of licences from the list. The first was around 100, the second was around 49. The original list was around 250, it's now believed to be 99.

The council has declared its intent, through the bumbling Wiggie, to come up with a survey to disburse the number remaining on the list. This is expected to be within one year of my licence refusal. I suspect it will be conducted during a sufficiently busy period to justify the result.

However, the council are mistaken if they think this will solve their problem. As soon as a licence is issued from the list, notification of that even, it is open house for anyone to apply. They could not be discriminated against in favour of those on the list under the terms of the Act. Indeed I may well apply myself once again.

What does the council then do. It will have to issue licences sequentially according to date of application. Their unmet demand number could be welll satisfied long before the list is disbursed. Where do they draw the line? In court?

The simple fact is that the council can not issue from the list in isolation. End of.

Geee Whizzzz Jim, it looks lie there maybe only one way out for the C.E.C? This could be to de-restrict the trade for a short period of time, then use the forthcoming SUD to put the cap back on?

Just think Jim, if they got the SUD and then intended to issue 99 off the list sequentially, and them someone slapped them with an Interim Interdict, where would they be? They could be in court for months while other applications come pouring in through the door and all when a “significant unmet demand” has been recognised? Oh and lets not forget what their position will be if they lose the next court case?

It might not be a good idea for the C.E.C to come-up with a SUD at all? Oh but then again, this would mean they had no up-to-date demand information to deny licence applications….

It looks like the C.E.C is in deep doo, doo over this…


BTW Edinburgh plate holders, I wouldn't take all of this too seriously, it's only a game after-all

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

Been reading this thread with interest for a while now.
Can anyone tell me how many Hack plates are currently in use in Edinburgh?

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

1260

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

That doesn't seem all that many for a city of Edinburgh's size.
Aberdeen had 929 back in February. Edinburgh is at least twice the size.

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

When i first started there was 1800 brief holders now there,s about 3600!
Talk about an over supply of drivers with just 1260 taxis!!!!BTW that was nine years ago!!!!!

My thoughts exactly They do have around 800 ph as well although they don't do taxi work, now do they boys (Edinburgh Plat Owners).

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