Taxi Driver Online

I can claim from 8am Saturday 16th May

So looks like I'm not last in the queue after all

But lot of complaints in this article from people claiming the system saying they're not eligible. Not sure if there are glitches in the system or if they're misunderstanding the eligibility criteria, but wouldn't be surprised if there's a bit of both - some saying they've been knocked back initially, but have tried again and been told they're eligible:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/ ... scheme-to/

Mines said 8am 13th of May

one of my drivers has been given after 12 midday on the 14th I've got 12 midday on the 13th they seem to be allocating everyone a time slot to control the numbers

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Taxis Are Public Transport too

Join the campaign to get April fools jokes banned for 364 days a year !

I was going to suggest it was being done in alphabetical order, but if that was the case SW wouldn't be eligible till September.

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IDFIMH

Indeed, but apparently the slots are being allocated randomly

It will be interesting to see what it does to the number of drivers still working, especially for companies. Most drivers still working will currently be making less money or doing longer hours to try and compensate.

If they were pretty honest with their tax returns some could be getting enough money to think stuff working I'm going to have 2 months off. So there may be some firms struggling for drivers.

Are you saying that some firms who lose a driver or 2 will be overrun with work?

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Grandad,
To support my charity text MAYORWALK to 70085 to donate £5

Sounds to me that he’s saying there are drivers saying why work when the government are giving away free money, which appears to me to be the case. Strange that the only drivers I am seeing out are the ones Who really don’t need to work, they just want to work. Like me, for instance.

The magic money tree that everyone is furiously shaking right now is very quickly going to wither and die. And then where will we be?

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Former taxi driver

I think there is a case of saying every firm is struggling for drivers.

Not to cover the work, far from it, but to cover their overheads.

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IDFIMH

But the money being given by the gov is only based on the tax return's profit, not our actual running costs. So almost all drivers are going to be worse off even with the 'free' money.

I would say less than a third of the drivers, that I personally know who are working, need the money that desperately that they have no option other than risk working.

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IDFIMH

A trade with a lot less drivers, and in the short to medium term a lot less work.

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IDFIMH

No formal announcement of the self-employed support scheme being extended yet, but the Guardian has this quote on one of their online articles.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... oronavirus

The chancellor did not provide any update about the support being provided for self-employed workers, but he said people who work for themselves could claim from this week for money. The support package for the self-employed was launched to run from March for three months and was planned to be extended “if necessary”.

So maybe it wont be a one off payment we receive this month, although it wouldn't surprise me if the % of profit reduced towards the end of August/September.

But 40/50/60% of something is better then nothing.

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IDFIMH

Hopefully, but extended "if necessary" is what they've said from the kick off. And that's two extensions of the furlough scheme been announced since, but nothing on the self-employment grant.

And, as I've been saying, maybe the bounce back loans scheme is intended as a substitute for extending the self-employment grants.

That said, I'm slightly more optimistic after today's announcement that the self-employment grants will be extended, and obviously a reduced percentage of profit would be better than nothing

Personal finance expert Martin Lewis has just said he'd be 'flabbergasted' if the self-employment scheme wasn't extended

He's tweeted:



See his comments in the video here - it's mostly about the furlough extension, but the bit about the self-employment grants is from about 2.00 on:

https://twitter.com/MartinSLewis/status ... 3184018438

It's probably encouraging that the chancellor hasn't actually said anything specific yet - maybe if the scheme was set in stone then he'd have said so by now.