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When Two Tribes Go To War, We Lose
17th July 2008
The latest skirmish in Reading’s cab wars involves a minicab firm opening an office near the station – where there is a black cab rank.
This is perfectly reasonable competition in the free market yet is described by black cab drivers as ‘stealing their business’.
“We’ll lose our jobs”, they cry. Welcome to the real world cabbies – who decided it was ‘your business’ in the first place?
It’s the usual absurd over-reaction – in reality most people getting off the train won’t have a clue where that minicab office is, let alone bother to walk to it when there is a line of black cabs (not to mention buses) waiting in front of them.
In an equally pathetic outburst of moaning, minicab baron Manzoor Hussain, who recently lost his licence after being convicted of assault, wailed that new taxi ranks around town would “kill off the business” of minicabs and “wasn’t in the best interests of the public”.
So being able to find a taxi when we want one isn’t in our best interests? This is all a litre short of the full tank of diesel.
The public doesn’t care about the distinction between a Hackney carriage and a private hire car. All people want is a ride at a sensible price when they want one with a driver who isn’t a serial killer.
The leaders of Reading’s rival taxi tribes should be locked together in a padded room until they re-discover their sense of proportion. But there I go calling them taxis when some of them aren’t really taxis at all. It doesn’t help that we have half a dozen different terms for what is basically the same thing.
Hackney carriages sound really rather quaint. If I hail one I expect horses, maidens in empire line frocks and smouldering Mr D’Arcy types being chauffeured by neatly uniformed forelock-tugging chaps in top hats.
A black cab, which is apparently the same thing, brings to mind reliable geezers with chirpy stories of famous fares, who’ve ‘done the knowledge’ and can find any place in the capital.
In Reading we have London-style cabs with London-style fares – the 29th highest fares out of 375 licensing councils in the UK.
For the sake of balance that’s about average for the South.
Minicabs, as private hire cars are also known, would suggest something small but these days are often people carriers larger than the black cabs.
The important difference is that while you can hail a black cab on the street you are meant to ‘pre-book’ a minicab over the phone, internet, carrier pigeon or by turning up at their office.
Pick one up on the street and you’re probably not insured.
The next time you hear a private hire representative complaining about the council’s enforcement officers, try picking up a minicab on the street – I give you a nine out of 10 chance that they will offer to take you.
You would be wise to decline the offer or you could call their office from your mobile, which means you have pre-booked.
The rules are bonkers, the distinction between private hire and Hackney carriage is arcane, the fare structures are incomprehensible and enforcement of the rules impossible.
There was a Government review a while back, but it failed to even try to sort out the mess.
I feel sorry for everyone involved except for the self-serving leaders of the rival taxi tribes whose whining only makes things worse.
The public deserves better.
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Kind regards,
Brummie Cabbie.
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