Taxi Driver Online

ALL OF IT.

As is prostitution and racketeering.

The issue isn't whether 'Sussex' can afford a plate, but the fact that people are getting plates for nothing from a council and then selling them on for tens of thousands.

Wouldn't it make sense if that money stayed in the trade instead of lining the pockets of those who don't give a dam about our trade.

In my area dozens of drivers have left the taxi trade and bought their own PH vehicles. Now wouldn't it be better if they could have bought taxis instead, without having to pay the leeches.

Better for who some might ask, better for those customers they currently have to drive past and ignore.

But certainly not better for the 'too many cars, not enough drivers' brigade.

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IDFIMH

Reply.
So your beef is not the limiting of plates but people profiting from it. You want to scrap the whole system just to stop someone making a profit.
Why not look at who the Councils are issuing plate to, how do they qualify ? I would think most areas having a waiting list or some criteria to use. I would think the majority of plates go to people with some connection with the trade. The money does not necessarily leave the trade. If there is abuse of the system then close the loop holes, there is no need to destroy or dismantle the whole system.
If my area I proposed that they use a waiting list and to get on that list you had to have held a HC drivers license for 3 years. That demonstrates commitment to the trade and gives a supply of drivers, it also ensures that those who get the plate know what they are getting into and are competant at doing the job, a sort of apprenticeship. It gives new drivers something to work towards, a sense of ambition, that it need not be a dead-end job without propects. Despite widespread opposition from existing taxi-owners the Council adopted the policy. The existing owners wanted no more plate at all, never, ever, they controlled the taxi trade in this area and were not about to give that up. Nothing in the system is discrimatory, to say PH drivers are disgrimitated against is mis-using a very emotive word and total nonsense.

Repy.

Quote" don't give a dam about our trade". OUR TRADE, it is not your trade you are PH, you are not in "our trade", you may desperatley want it to be "our trade" but until you have a HC you will always be on the outside. The PH trade does not exist on its own, nobody ever asks for or books a PH, they want a taxi. not a a wannabe.

Reply.
They have made a choice, their own free will, they chose PH, so where is the discrimination.
Are all businesses that charge for their goods and services leeches or is it only those that frustrate you path to the good life.

Well I have just re-read the DDA and the bit about wheel-chair vehicles hasn't been adopted yet. Is it 2010 or 2020 until it's law?

The dog bit now applies to PH as well. Thus nothing that applies to HCs, applies to them only.

You seem to have forgot that 'the whole system' is mostly scraped already.

But I can't work out why anyone would defend a situation were drivers are given a taxi plate for nothing, only to then sell it onto one of their fellow colleague for fortunes.

If you don't restrict, then the trade is available to all fit and proper people, not just those with £30,000 in their pockets.

Isn't that what we want?

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IDFIMH

Personally I doubt the legality of waiting lists, but that's another issue.

However not all areas have waiting lists, take Southampton didn't they have a lottery to give away a number of plates? Didn't some go to people without a HC or PH license?

Manchester have two by all accounts, and when it was all getting sorted the lads at the top of the main list already had plates. And they didn't mind getting another one.

But you have to ask what is the point of waiting lists, when drivers on them can be queue jumped by those with plenty of cash?

As for the loopholes, thankfully they are being closed by the process of de-limitation.

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IDFIMH

Well I beg to differ.

If someone has to adhere to the same standards as others, if the vehicle they license has to adhere to the same standard as others, but the others are afforded better opportunities. Then that's a classic case of discrimination.

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IDFIMH

Spoken like a true dinosaur.

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IDFIMH

You don't have to fit a taximeter, you are free to charge whatever you wish, I would say that is a very significant difference. As you have the choice of which to use PH or HC there is no discrimination. It a financial decision.
Your whole argument is based on falsehood.
When you start with a lie no matter how many facts you surround it with it is still a lie.

Coming from a parasite leech that is a compliment.

What is the fact that I don't have to have a taxi meter got to do with it?

And how do you know that I don't need one to operate on the firm I work with?

And where in any of the acts does it say that you must have a taxi meter?

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IDFIMH

I find that comment quite amusing.

If for no other reason than I use that phrase to describe people that buy plates, never drive them, just suck out money from our trade.

You know, the sort of people you support.

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IDFIMH

Ive driven a PH and Ive driven my cab. It was the same me I didnt change one bit.
My mates drive PH and my mates drive taxis. I dont have a lot of time for those that think one side of the trade is better than the other.
We have bad taxi drivers and bad PH drivers.
The more some try to split tha two sides of the trade the more likely the powers that be will try and make sure we only have one.