its the ones who have ALWAYS worked 100 hours a week (and had a 100 hour jockey) who have buggered it all up anyway, and thankfully they are now reaping thier rewards, all the others did it to keep up and the cake gets sliced thinner, and thinner until theres bugger all left

and you know whose spoilt it, mainly cos taxi work is mainly cash and they love cash.....

So most drivers are discounting but they want a tariff rise?

Sounds like something from the Skippy Handbook of Taxi Driving

Rising fuel costs put taxi drivers on 100-hour week

TAXI drivers across Redditch are having to work up to 100 hours each week to make ends meet due to the spiralling cost of fuel.

And with petrol prices edging towards the £6 per gallon mark, they are backing plans for an increase in fares.

Safder Hussain, chairman of the Redditch Taxi Association, said increased running costs were making it difficult to make a living in the town.

“There are a lot of taxi drivers doing scary hours,” he told the Standard.

“Many are going between 80 and 100 hours each week and for that they will be earning a basic wage.

“Our biggest overhead is fuel and the maintenance of our vehicles and fuel prices have suffered an astronomical increase.

“If they reach £1.50 per litre then it is going to be very tricky for a lot of drivers. We cannot afford to run our cars at a loss.”

Mr Hussain was speaking ahead of a meeting of Redditch Borough Council’s Licensing Committee next week where a proposal to raise fares by six per cent is set to be discussed. The last fare increase was in January 2009.

“We realise that an increase would affect our customers but we have no alternative,” Mr Hussain added.

“Most of our drivers are still charging below the council’s recommended fares and most of them weren’t charging double over the Christmas period.

“We had been against any increase in fares but the the VAT increase has forced us to change our minds. The cost of fuel affects everything.”

A report to members of the Licensing Committee states fares in Redditch are slightly cheaper than those in Bromsgrove, Stratford, Worcester and Warwick but slightly more expensive than in the Wyre Forest area.

http://www.redditchstandard.co.uk/

I've spoken to lots of passengers about a fare increase and about what they expect from taxis/ph.

The general opinion is they don't object to the prices it's the service they want more than anything else.


If companies let them down and charge for the inefficient service that's what makes them see red. They also don't mind waiting so long as they are told they may have to wait