Taxi Driver Online

You're right, I used the phrase in reply to JD's point that "no one twisted your arm to become a cabbie".
I meant it in the way that employee T&C is described but it was the wrong phrase for this

Councils DO have a lot of say over the conditions under which we work.
Thanks

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Our safety is Paramount

Well if you read the articles on this site and the OFT's report then you'd realise that TDO's stance is quite the reverse - the site has generally advocated stiffer quality control.

But it's a common misconception, however I'm not sure if the point is made through ignorance or a deliberate attemempt to misrepresent.



Ditto - no one has ever been banned for disagreeing, although it's a common claim when peoples' arguments are being challenged.

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

JD is right, no-one twisted your arm.....but that might be coming from someone who isnt actually involved in the trade, who doesnt actually own a cab, or may have had a cab...go a free issue and sold it on.

CC

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

Well it’s not surprising that you confuse "working conditions" with "licensing conditions."

The two are "OBVIOUSLY" distinct but it would appear you conveniently overlooked the fact that in order to ply for hire you first need something to ply for hire, in? Then you need a badge to say that you are a competent person to do so.

I'm afraid the council aren't obliged to give you anything more than a license and if you don't like the choice of vehicle conditions set by a council then you can always appeal.



A licensing authority cannot tell you to drive a certain vehicle they can only set conditions which all vehicles have to comply. I'm beginning to wonder if a one way ticket to the Prague school of Taxi driving excellence might be in order? Why is it that you peddle such unadulterated nonsense on here, I would have thought you of all people would have known better?



The one thing you conveniently forgot to mention which incidentally I did, is that a licensing authority is not obliged in law to provide "Taxi ranks". However, Mr allo allo was offered the opportunity to clarify what he actually meant by his remark "that is no excuse for poor returns or working conditions". He chose not to answer but he did say it wasn't related to the council. It would seem you are trying to cloud the issue by implying the council in some way provides your working conditions when in fact nothing could be further from the truth and that especially rings true for Private hire drivers. The only conceivable thing a council could supply is a Taxi rank to work from but considering cabbies have a habit of following the work then in many cases Taxi ranks remain unused.



Utter nonsense, oversupply of cabs might be bad for business but the fact is in most authorities supply is not controlled. Councils prefer to leave supply and demand to market forces. Again you conveniently forget a council only issues licenses, it is not there to dictate how you or anyone else might earn your living, no matter how much spin you generate. Legislation dictates that councils do not have the option to limit licenses, except where they can "PROVE" demand is being met. However the vast majority of the 343 licensing authorities in England and Wales have a policy of not measuring demand and luckily for Mr allo allo, Crawley is one of those authorities, otherwise he might never have become a cab driver?

Perhpas you can get out of Mr allo allo exactly what he meant by

"that is no excuse for poor returns or working conditions".

because it is patently obvious he is shy about letting everyone else know what he meant and I find that rather amusing considering he made such a song and dance about restricting numbers.

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

Same here only it's Turks, they were allowed into an empty office with the test paper and left alone, so they just read the questions down their mobile phone to someone in a Kebab shop with a map and hey presto another HC driver is born! Soon as they got thier Doblo the put a TomTom in and used it to get them to the destination.

We had to get our meters time locked because they would put the meter on Tariff 2 if the job was a small one! The council won't touch them cause they play the racist card all the time!

So much for a level playing field!

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Life? Don't talk to me about life!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjm2eslm6hI

Far from it, the more folks discuss de-limitation the better.

Things might not be perfect in your manor, but the issue that always sticks in my mind if it is so bad then WTF are people joining the trade on mass.

Especially in an area that has near on 100% employment.

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IDFIMH

Because some people listen to Radio 4 ................... or the gobshite down the pub who sugest earnings of a grand a week are achieveable.

Oh yeah .............. and then there's the people who keep going on about masses of un-met demand.

Its like giving an American student a loaded gun, and then accepting no responsibility when they go on a rampage.

B. Lucky

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"Here's a simple solution. If you don't want to pay more for a premium service then wait in the queue, problem solved".
Skull on TDO

TF pi$$ed on his chips.

That's the problem with many in the trade, they have big fat gobs.

How many times has one member of a family joined up, only to be followed by many more members who have been lured by the thought of untold riches.

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IDFIMH

Dare we say it, Councils know best.

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

Please see my previous post.

BTW What job do you do?

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Our safety is Paramount

The problem here in Crawley is loads of "students" working on a Self Employed basis in breach of their Visa conditions, also a number of asylum seekers who again have the right to work but NOT on a self employed basis, only on PAYE.

We're talking serious numbers here maybe 60 or more.

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Our safety is Paramount

Why? Does your previous post explain what you meant by

"that is no excuse for poor returns or working conditions".

If you don't want to explain what you meant, its no big deal. We all know that you provide your own working conditions when you buy your vehicle because the only person who can provide working conditions is "you". The reason for that is because "you are your own boss". Quite elementary to some.



I don't really see what that has to do with you, do you? And I also can't see why you are trying to divert this subject from your own abject failure to put across a coherent argument about derestriction?

If you want to change the policy of Crawley council petition them because you won't get much change out of the Government.

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.

I'm inclined to look at the issue the other way round - if more people are joining the trade then that means economic conditions elsewhere in the economy are bad.

Say a town depended on a major employer - if the employer shut up shop then chances are that a lot of the unemployed would join the cab trade, since it's in effect open to anyone.

OTOH, if there's lots of good jobs with good wages then the cab trade will be less attractive.

I always take this 100% employment business with a pinch of salt - for example, there may be job vacancies, but they may be for people with specific skills, whereas those without might find it easier to get a driver's badge, especially if the LA has lax quality control.

And as Mr allo allo rightly says, a lot of cab drivers are working in the black economy anyway, and while in my experience it's not an immigration issue (because there are few immigrants in my manor) it is a part-time/weekend driver issue - those who don't go "through the books".

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

Hastings have a HC limit of 48 plates but non for PH. It is too small a town with not enough business for delimitation. Council think they will cut down prices. They only cut down the driver's income which is below the minimum wage for several weeks of teh year and barley just makes it at other times. Summer and Christmas is good but it only averages out at minmum wage thrroughtout the year for long hours. Also prices being SE are more expensive, Rents twice the price and property to buy like London prices. Would be good to get some of these copuncillors on a"Fact Finding Exercise" to sit in the drop seat of a HC and go round with the driver on a Saturday night see what you have to manage and how much you do it for. Public Relations

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Safety In Taxis. Website and survey.Raising awareness of safety in taxis for driver and passenger.

NTA, T&G GMBU and "practically" every other tom dick and harry who belongs to a local and national association or organisation say,

"Councillors know best".

So where do you go from there?

Regards

JD

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Copyright notice © The contents of this post are copyright of JD and are not to be reproduced outside of TDO without written permission.