Taxi Driver Online

Where to start with this? On second thoughts, maybe not

But this is pure advertorial (the photos captions credit the images to own of the co-owners in the photo, and supplying photos for the article is often a sign that's it's PR/advertorial, or whatever).

Anyway, absolutely nothing new about this kind of thing (and not much new about how the firm's grown, either, whether locally or nationally) in the grand scheme of things.

But I'd put money on this being related to last week's stuff - wondered if this lot would pipe up in some way, shape or form about it all, since they're often not shy about criticising the council and/or local politicians.

But rather than addressing the inspection stuff directly, I'd guess they've taken the approach that it's all an opportunity to be seen as being above the fray, and thus in effect last week's stuff became a marketing opportunity (it's an ill wind that blows no good/every cloud has a silver lining, sort of thing).

But, of course, they won't want to mention who had half their cars fail the tests that councillors were jumping up and down about last week

Not that I want to criticise them for that necessarily, or sweat it on here, because I know how it all works.

And I know that it can happen to anyone


St Andrews couple went from single taxi to company with 17 drivers

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/busines ... ws-taxi-2/

St Andrews Taxis has doubled in size since 2021 and is launching new services.

Fife couple who bought their first taxi five years ago now have a fleet of 10 cars and 17 drivers.

James Glen started driving a taxi in 2020 – but he and partner Linda Holt realised owning a cab would be more profitable.

The St Andrews couple then acquired Big Yellow Taxi Company, which had a single taxi operating in the East Neuk of Fife.

What began as a bold move to purchase a single taxi has since turned into a full-fledged transport enterprise.

They followed this initial purchase, by acquiring well-established firm St Andrews Taxis in 2021.

They now have plans to develop their own app and launch a new high-end service.

Getting started

“We bought our first cab during the second lockdown,” recalls James.

“Shortly afterwards, we saw an opportunity to take over a local service and suddenly we went from owning one taxi to seven.

“The workload increased by about 400 to 500%.”

James’ background in web design proved invaluable during the expansion.

The couple brought in a wave of modernisation: electronic bookings, shared staff calendars, WhatsApp group co-ordination, and a much more structured workflow.

“It made everything so much more efficient,” he said.

“Taking on a new business with existing structures and long-term staff can be tough, but luckily our team was open to change.

“We’ve kept all the original drivers and doubled the size of the team.”

Serving the community

But growth wasn’t the only priority.

Alongside expanding their business, Linda and James set their sights on improving the reputation of the local taxi industry.

Having been former political campaigners, the couple have a strong sense of social responsibility.

They say reports of drivers overcharging unsuspecting tourists had long tarnished St Andrews’ reputation.

“It just doesn’t sit right with us,” Linda said.

“There’s been a myriad of dodgy practices for years, and we’ve been putting a lot of pressure on the council to regulate better.

“We want to ensure passengers always get a fair fare and feel safe on their journey.”

St Andrews Executive Cars

Now, the pair are preparing to launch a new premium brand.

St Andrews Executive Cars will cater to high-end clients with a luxurious, confidential service that goes well beyond a typical cab ride.

The couple say the potential future arrival of Uber in the region would present a challenge, but the couple remains undeterred.

Linda said: “We do more than just take people from A to B. We offer an exceptional service.

“We’re so grateful to our staff who accepted us and grew with us.

“And we’re incredibly thankful for our loyal customers.”

There are three photos with the article, and a bit big to display on here.

For what it's worth, if anyone's visiting the original article, two of the Courier's photo captions are incorrect - co-owner James Glen is the one with the brown/biege trousers, and only appears in one of the photos.

https://wpcluster.dctdigital.com/wp-con ... 40x564.jpg

https://wpcluster.dctdigital.com/wp-con ... 40x564.jpg

https://wpcluster.dctdigital.com/wp-con ... 02x564.jpg

Guess who's banging the drum for Reform locally?

Wouldn't be at all suprised if they stood under the Reform banner in the next council and/or Scottish Parliament elections - they have done previously, albeit under other banners

Not if you secure the candidacy first !

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

I did think about voting Reform, but they've destroyed the whole thing over the Rupert Lowe affair, in my opinion at least

So I'll probably just revert to Plan A - never vote again

But, I mean, Rupert Lowe today over the CPS decision not to charge him:

Farage "is a coward and a viper"

And "for the good of this country, Nigel Farage must never be prime minister"

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gq5wq5MXkAA ... ame=medium

he's a man with a grudge so of course he'll say that

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Read some of the stuff in the article at the top of the thread six months ago, then compare what the same couple have said recently via the local association:


Of course, we all say different things to different audiences, but something or other doesn't ring true about all this.

As, indeed, I said when the first time they posted on social media, which was the first time I was even aware that they'd started in the local trade

Well they were only announced as candidates a couple of hours ago, and it's all going swimmingly already


EXCLUSIVE: Fife Reform election candidate called Humza Yousaf ‘Islamist moron’ and ‘not British’

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/54 ... inda-holt/

The former Fife councillor was censured by the Standards Commission in 2023

A Fife Reform UK candidate called Humza Yousaf a “grandstanding Islamist moron” and “not British” in a series of offensive social media posts.

Linda Holt, revealed on Thursday afternoon as the party’s choice for Fife North East, also claimed the Scottish Government was “becoming a Hamas PR support act” while he was Holyrood leader.

In another post, Ms Holt said Scotland didn’t have a “British first minister” while Glasgow-born Mr Yousaf – who lives in Dundee and is of Pakistani heritage – was in the role.

The taxi firm co-owner wrote: “His background means his allegiances are naturally, even rightly, elsewhere but not with the vast majority of Scots.”

In a further statement, she referred to Mr Yousaf as a “brown FM”, saying he was “denouncing a 97% white country from being structurally racist”.

Censured by Standards Commission

Ms Holt, a former Conservative councillor in Fife, was also censured by the Standards Commission in 2023 for behaving “in an aggressive, disparaging and dismissive manner” towards the secretary of a community council.

In its report, the panel “was concerned that former councillor Holt had not demonstrated any insight into the effect of her behaviour on others.”

It also noted “she had failed to show any understanding that, as an elected politician, she was in a role with inherent influence and was in a position of power over community councillors, who were acting in an unpaid and voluntary capacity.”

In other X posts uncovered by The Courier, Ms Holt, from Pittenweem, refers to former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as “bitter, childless Sturgeon”.

Reform’s previous ‘p*** poor’ vetting

She was unveiled alongside Reform UK candidates for the constituency seats in the run up to the Holyrood election on May 7.

During a visit to Kirkcaldy in January, party leader Nigel Farage promised better vetting by his party for the upcoming Scottish elections, blasting the process of previous years as “p*** poor”.

He told journalists at the time: “Sorry it’s crude but it’s been p*** poor in the past and it won’t be in the future.

“Nothing angers me more than all the work that I put in for this, seven days a week, being let down by people who haven’t told us the truth and we, frankly, haven’t put enough effort in or professionalism in to find out the truth about them.

“So yes, I’m enormously angry that many times over the years I’ve been thrown into political crises through no fault of my own.”

The Courier contacted Ms Holt for comment on Thursday afternoon.

She responded by asking for the dates and context of the posts on X, formerly Twitter.

Reform’s Scottish leader Malcolm Offord told us: “She [Ms Holt] has only just become a candidate, and she wasn’t a candidate when she made those comments.

“I don’t know the context in which she made it, I don’t know when she made those comments.

“I’m not commenting on individual comments on 73 candidates.

“I’m very clear that we’ve done a good vetting process. I’m very clear that we’ve got a very interesting group of candidates coming into Holyrood.”

Her other half (both in the personal and taxi business sense) is also standing for Reform, but in an Edinburgh constituency.

But they're the pair who've been making a big noise about this, that and the next thing in the local trade in the last couple of years, and who resurrected the corpse of the East Fife Taxi Association, and have been making even more noise via that channel

Clever people, but not long in the trade, and thus not much, er, historical knowledge. And they're proprietors/office owners as opposed to a grassroots driver like me, thus our interests don't really coincide. And slightly too far to the right of politics, even for right-winger like me

But I won't be voting anyway