Taxi Driver Online

Same reason it is today. To protect the incomes of greedy owners and exploit the working man.

You want a limit? Why not limit the number of drivers by making sure they all speak english and know where they are going?

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

You will note that I have made no argument for or against regulation in my post above. I do, however, feel strongly that those wishing to argue for one side or the other should get themselves a little more clued up as to the factors affecting the argument rather than merely spouting dogma.

This site gives a basic introduction to supply and demand:

http://www.basiceconomics.info/supply-and-demand.php

There also appear to be many other useful articles on the site. Once read, I invite you all to come back and make cogent argument to support your point of view, either for or against deregulation.

And who's exactly to blame for non english speaking residents and cheap wages acroos the board ???

The government !!! Can't blame the guys who want regulation in their Trade...The blame lies with de-regulated immigration.

I'm not knocking you mate, I'm just pointing out in a few of your posts things appear rosy at your end, but to others reading it reads that you are an Indy Hack doing well, it just needs the full description to show it as a fair summary, I could do better if I went on radio, but I just can't face the barrage of £2.60 fares in a traffic jam with a punter who insist's it was only £2.50 yesterday even though the min fare is £2.60, my main priority when I bought my plate was to escape PH tbh, I'd done 11 years of it and was sick of waiting outside pubs and blocking narrow roads waiting for ppl who'd rang before they were ready but would still kick off over the waiting time I was going to charge after the 5 minutes gratis I always allowed.

This effect has worsened the situation, but to be fair even before they were here there were British ppl seeking to Baron flood it, I even know of one guy who thinking it was about to open up ordered 10 brand new TX's on the strength of it, and had it opened he'd have ordered another 10 a week later, in the end he had to make do with flooding PH instead, and now actively advertises all over Eastern Europe for drivers, promising them the holy grail, so to be fair to the migrant's they are drawn in here with lies and even if they got here on their own steam the 1st thing the job centre offers them is some money for a badge and an application form.

Legislation regarding PH's has got to be challenged and changed ! It's a national problem that unless regulated, will most always be there and IMO,
will break the camel's back !

Actually there already is legislation regarding PH, it states that no PH firm operator shall employ any more cars than there are parking spaces for, it also states when a PH car becomes unhired it should return to base for redispatch, both are ignored and both are unworkable tbh but both are law on PH, and I know someone is gonna so I've got it wrong, but I assure you I haven't, there is only one real answer to it and that is badge gone if you get caught touting or sitting within a quarter-half of one mile from ranks, imo that's quite close enough to be available for a genuine call.


Roll on the day when those seeking to destroy the trade no longer find it interesting and move along to find something else to play with, when I first started the job had a reputation for scumbags, these ppl were classified because they liked a gamble and lived outside the 9-5 bubble, I have to be honest I'd trust 90% of them a lot more than the low belly sneaks trying to worm in for nothing using the loopholes to do so, so in effect the scumbag cabby has been replaced by a Locust cabby.

Could you point me to which part of the 1976 act states this please?

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

A little diversion, to try and lower any possible tensions that could creep into the thread. I'm hoping to open a burger van. Having now read the information on "supply and demand", I've identified a prime site on the high street, near to McDonalds, but the bloody council won't let me open there. They insist that such things must be regulated, even though I would be happy to be insured and be licenced etc. Why can't I open where I like and let the public decide my fate?! It's almost as if people are happy for some forms of regulation, but not others.

I'm only kidding of course, so let's not debate the quality of my hot dog....now, moving swiftly on....

cabbyman wrote:



Fair point, but what is the purpose of simply changing the make-up of the taxi/PH trade, if there is no overall unmet demand?

If deregulation takes place, surely it should only be allowed if there is a guarantee that either a) there was sufficient rank space for the vehicles licenced to use them or b) that an amount of drivers must be "on a radio" if there was not enough rank space.
Oh hang on...isn't that called being regulated?

If there is no consumer need for more cabs to be located on ranks, then why fill up a town or city with further traffic? If there is a need, then issue more licences!!!....but plan ahead by first identifying possible new ranks (as a priority!). Furthermore, if the "excess demand not catered for by HC" that you describe, that may be being met by private hire... is private hire/telephone work, then that should have little or no bearing on the number of hackneys needed.

A good unmet demand survey should account for both patent and latent demand and ensure that the ranks are adequately served. If people are saying that the surveys are not accurate, then target them and either correct any inaccuracies, or have them binned for good as unworkable, but please identify a guaranteed fix for the problem first. De-reg, in its current form at least, has not been the cure for any claimed problem. It has been a "sledgehammer to crack a walnut".

Sadly I can't CC, maybe it's a different thing depending on where you are but I was informed of this when I was first a PHD, as I no longer have a bylaws copy for PH I can't refer to it, and it wasn't just hearsay either I asked the LO at the time about it and they agreed.

My point exactly, ppl wait for entrance to a club, wait at the bar, wait at the supermarket, wait at the bank, wait for service just about anywhere, yet when it's a cab there is this devine right to have it materialise in front of you within minutes, the real issue is ppl fight and are aggresive after drinking, the police and the government have no answer to it so one pressures the other to act,i.e the police, who in turn then think that the problem will go away if ppl get home quicker.

Wrong!!!

Years ago we had a system where the queue enabled us to load six cars at a time, now it one car and nobody tells Mr Important or Miss Reality to move their ass as there are others waiting as they have to take their respective bows to their audiences before getting in, the answer is the marshall to instruct them to get in or lose the cab to the next person and rejoin the back of the cab queue, also whose great idea was it to have all the bars in one place? the police that's who, so instead of 2 ppl having a manageble ruck you now have an escalation that develops into a 20 head ruck, saw it the other night 30 or so ppl fighing on a roundabout outside a club, 5 units responded and guess what, all 5 units chased a bloke who'd ran away and left the rest of them fighting still, had anyone asked if this was a good idea 10 years ago I could've given reason against it, but oh no it's the old we know best routine, if I could upload pics here I could show you some great examples of clueless planning that we have here.

It was possibly a local condition of PH operators or of the drivers license but theres nothing in law that I'm aware of.

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Yeah I think it must be, that or everyone else tucked it away to prevent the LO from getting all those fees, mind you if you ask to set an office up where there is no parking or it's residental you will be told no, no one seems to mind over supplying the trade, but ask to set a shop up and it's the third degree.

That would be part of the conditions the planning committee attached to a grant of consent for a particular use.

One of the conditions attaching to our office is that no taxi shall be parked on the public highway within 500m of the office.

The planners are quite at liberty within the legislation to impose any condition they see fit providing it is for 'planning purposes,' which has been proven in the courts to be a fairly loose, catch-all term!