Taxi Driver Online

for they know not the difference between Newark Northgate railway station, and Lincoln Central railway station.

A PH dropped of a punter at Lincoln station today and promptly drove off, (which was a first, they usually lurk as long as they can) a couple of minutes later, the punter came back out and asked me if this was Newark station. I told him it was Lincoln station, so he asked me to take him to Newark, which I did.

Curious of course, I asked, and he told me that the non english speaking driver had been requested to take him to Newark station, but took him to Lincoln station, "station" being the only word he understood.

The City Council are considering introducing an english, maths and knowledge test for drivers. I wonder why?

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Former taxi driver

Nothing would surprise me where lincoln PH drivers are concerned

Are the stations both in the same area?? and how much did the punter get riped off, by both of you

Newark Northgate station is 16 miles away from Lincoln Central station.
You would think the controller would have wondered why the driver cleared so quickly.

The last I heard, it was set for March 2008.
It involves Basic English and Maths, local places of interest such as restaurants, pubs, hotels etc. I'm not sure if street level is included.

And about time too.

Mr Cybro answers your first question.

As for the second the punter was not "ripened" by me.

He certainly did not feel like he was "riped off" by me.

In fact he said he should have known better than to use minicabs, being from London, and gave me a decent tip for getting him to his requested destination.

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Former taxi driver

And a DSA test too.

And Medicals. http://www.dvla.gov.uk/media/pdf/medical/aagv1.pdf

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Former taxi driver

Perhaps the private driver was thinking of the economical liability of the passengers pocket and under those circumstances he though he would save the passenger a few bob by driving him to Lincoln station where he thought he might get a connection to Newark. lol

Enterprising thought but one assumes trains from Lincoln don't go to Newark? In that case the private hire driver might have had an ulterior motive for dropping him at Lincoln station? Perhaps he charged him the fare to Newark upfront and dropped him off at Lincoln? That seems unlikely but I'm surprised the passenger didn't say something when he saw the signs saying "Lincoln station" when he wanted to be at Newark Station. Was the passenger blind?

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 re-post this from elsewhere, and suggest that a quality licensing regime would establish a decent standard of PH service, if indeed this was down to the driver.


The thing is that in areas with a quality licensing regime the practical difference between a Hack and a PH becomes simply how one is booked, ie either with the driver or with an Operator and the end result for the public is a quality transport service both hack and PH.

It is allowed to deteriorate by a low standard of licensing and enforcement... Vehicles which cant be easily identified as PH, drivers who dont know their way around or cant communicate with their customers, bogus cabs working because the chance of getting caught is virtually nil, ancient heaps being plated, LO's who try to raise revenue by badging as many drivers as they can.etc.etc.etc.


Brighton is an excellent example of a quality Licensing regime and no I dont work in Brighton.

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Our safety is Paramount

well i dont blame the driver. I blame the council for allowing him a badge.
You could send a monkey into the LA and he could get a licence to drive a minicab so long as he doesnt have a criminal record.

I always get saddened when i see folk on here almost falling over themselves to ridicule anything that seems foreign or cant speak the language to the same standards as most of us.

Well if its worth anything, i personally think some of the rudest and arrogant folk on our roads today are taxi drivers. Especially BLACK HACK drivers.

That must be me you're talking about. Arrogant, rude and impossibly good looking. (well, two out of three 'aint bad)

BTW, you're not George, are you?

George, from Birmingham, I met him in a Brighton Hotel about fifteen years ago. We were seated for breakfast, three couples to each table. George was a "Sun" reader. He liked to take part in those telephone polls, you know "bring back hanging ?" that sort of thing. The other guy, retired age from London, was wearing a star of david gold necklace, so I assumed he was jewish. Nice people all of them . George started a conversation about driving standards, which turned into a rant, which finished with him railing against the worst, most arrogant, most rude drivers on the road. Taxi Drivers. But the worst of the worst, in Georges opinion, were black cab drivers. i interupted him, saying, "George, before you dig any deeper, can I just tell you that I'm a black cab driver? I know what you're getting at but I thought I'd mention it" The jewish guy said "Well actually I was a London Cabbie for thirty five years" Very funny moment, but you had to be there, what were the chances of that happening?

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Former taxi driver

Is that ethnic people who drive Licensed Taxi's, or Licensed Taxi's which happen to be Black in colour? That could be construed as racist.



You've spelt 'richest' wrong.

Lets chuck a grenade in the fire.

Councils can bring in all the barriers for drivers they like, it won't make any difference.

5h1t drivers work for 5h1t operators. Good drivers work for good operators. We all have new guys on the road who make mistakes in their first few weeks,some of us watch them like hawks and 'put their mistakes right' as best we can.

We need laws where the buck stops with the operator not the driver.

How often do you hear of councils checking operators records?

Make it easy for guys to get their badge. But make it the operators responsibility that the driver is professional. When a council receives a complaint hold the oprerator responsible. Don't let him say '5h1t driver, I have sacked him' every time there is a complaint.

Councils should be prepared to remove operators licences if their drivers/company persistently under performs.

Also make anyone who 'accepts' advance bookings required to be a licenced operator even if they only run hacks on their circuit.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

Not often enough, and when they do they nearly always pick on the ones that do the job properly in the first place.

I suspect they get a nicer cup of tea there.

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IDFIMH

Well I thought I was being radical, but obviously not.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry