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Reminds me of this article from 2004:
WALKOUT BY TAXI DRIVERS
MARTIN FREEMAN
12:00 - 20 November 2004
A bitter row has broken out between four Czech taxi drivers and a Plymouth firm over a £3,500 recruitment repayment demand. Taxifast told the men they must pay back the cost of flights, accommodation and training if they wanted to continue with the company.
The four self-employed drivers refused and left, saying there was no written agreement to repay recruitment costs.
Two of them told the Herald they were 'disgusted' at Taxifast's treatment of them.
But Taxifast chairman John Preece said there was a 'verbal contract' with the men to recoup costs.
He branded them as 'greedy', saying that one Czech made over £2,500 in 13 days as a Taxifast driver.
The Herald revealed in September that Taxifast was the first UK taxi company to recruit from the Czech Republic.
Eight men and one woman were flown over, accommodated, trained and put through city council tests, to help satisfy the expanding company's need for 60 new drivers a year.
But since the recruitment payment row four have left Taxifast.
Two have returned to the Czech Republic. The Herald tracked the other two down to rival firm Central Taxis, where they now work.
Vaclav Milacek, 28, and Martin Behounek, 38, say they left good jobs - as a sales manager and a graphic designer respectively - in the Czech capital, Prague, for the chance to earn more and improve their English in Plymouth.
Both say they were well-treated by Taxifast during their training.
Mr Milacek said: "It was all right. I had no problem. I worked for 13 days, then I was told I had to pay back £3,500 in recruitment costs.
"Mr Preece gave me repayment options, either £40 a week for two years, £60 for one year or £120 for six months, but I refused.
"I said 'Why should I pay that?'.
"We know that nothing is for free and we were prepared to pay something, maybe £1,200."
The money was on top of office and car rentals totalling £280 per week, he said.
Mr Milacek said he "may have seen" a document from Dunross, a recruitment company in Prague used by Taxifast, which explained that recruitment costs would be recovered once he was trained and working.
But they claim no indication was given about how big the demand would be. "There was no written contract," said Mr Milacek.
Mr Behounek said: "It was the same with me, the same demand for £3,500 for all of us."
Both men are now working as drivers with Central, paying a total of £280 weekly in office and car rental.
Mr Preece vehemently denied that the four Czechs had been treated unfairly.
He said: "We have had to pay their flights, their accommodation and food for four weeks and their training, and we will pay for flights home for anybody who is not happy."
There had been 'a verbal agreement' with the Czechs in Prague to recover the money once they were trained and working, although no figure was mentioned.
"We wanted to recover £3,500. In fact it has cost more than that, a lot more than we ever thought."
Taxifast has talked to its Czech drivers and has now agreed a repayment figure of £30 a week for six months, said Mr Preece. Five were still happily working with the company, he said.
The Herald has seen Taxifast documents which show that Mr Milacek earned £2,597 in 13 days with Taxifast, working between five-and-a-half and 15.25 hours a day. He worked 10 days in succession and on two successive days, totalling 26.5 hours, earned £280 per day.
Another Czech driver earned £1,575 in one week, working seven successive days of up to 14.5 hours a day.
Mr Preece said: "I have given them everything, paid for their training, their licences, clothes.
"If they want to walk away and pay nothing and work on that licence for another firm, that's on their conscience. I think they are greedy."
Mr Milacek said: "(What I earned) is a different story. It is nothing to do with this."
Dan Taylor, a director of Dunross recruitment, based in Prague, said: "We were asked by Taxifast to find potential drivers, to arrange interviews and help get reference checks.
"We gave them (the recruits) a document telling them the information about Taxifast and working conditions."
Mr Preece said that Taxifast - the South West's biggest taxi firm with over 320 drivers carrying over four million passengers a year - had not been put off recruiting from the Czech Republic.
Up to nine more Czechs were in training in Plymouth and a further eight or 10 were waiting in Prague if Taxifast wanted to bring them over, he said.
_________________ Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk
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FAQ
has a lot of very strange business ethics imo, Dont get me wrong i admire the man in some respects as he has made the money he has by being a very shrude businessman and he wasn't born with any silver spoon neither, However to charge what he charges of the poles chez's and whoever else is quite simply astonishing, its basicly daylight robbery, however what he is doing is perfectly legal although imo not morraly so i also believe its up to these people who do still have a choice to make the move and work for someone whom i would consider to be a bit more reputable, afterall they are not handcuffed to him!!!!