Taxi Driver Online

Frank Lay writes:-

What is going to happen come September?

With lots of drivers leaving now, just before the summer, How many are going to leave after the festival?

From talking to jockeys, I suspect that many of them are going to leave after the festival is over.
They are not prepared to go through another winter like this year, and there is no reason to believe that things will improve, and many are already thinking about what they are going to be doing from this autumn onwards.

There are going to be a lot of owners single shifting their motors soon, and I mean by themselves and not by a driver, and this may hit the radio companies too. Do you want to single shift a cab and pay over a ton in radio dues?

Without getting into whether the current rentals are fair or not, the realities are that drivers have been struggling to pay their rentals and make a living at the same time, some have been struggling just to make their rentals without making a penny.
It cant and wont go on like that.

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Right on Frank. It can't go on.

Drivers have a right to be able to contain their own costs. They have a right to work when the demand is there, and not because they've paid a rental to be on parade when its not.

Drivers are being squeezed because they have no unfettered access to the tools of their trade. And those fettering the access are charging way over what the current market can justify.

If we are to have any reasonable taxi service, if we are to avoid capitulating to PH, then the imperative is to give drivers the right to full unfettered access to their own taxi, so they can provide the service the public wants and when it needs.

The solution is de-restriction of licences.

The alternative is companies losing revenue, and PH becoming the senior service.

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Skull, "You are a police inspector, aren't you?"
Cab Inspector Smith, "Yes."
Skull, "So, are you going to tell Mr Taylor what his rights are?"
Smith, "And ... What rights?"

jimmy boy,

On the whole Its past that stage,
Jockeys are not longing for their own motor,
They are just looking to get out of taxis altogether.

How many drivers want or can afford to have their own cab ???
prob very few...

And do you honestly believe de-restriction would cure the worldwide epidemic know as Credit crunch ??

And out of the few that actually want their own cab...how many would become the Rental baron ???

Wake up and smell the coffee PLEASE........

Aye stoic to the end


I love it.

You'd be quite happy for the trade to be downsized by desertion rather than do what is needed to restore it.

Just as long as your illusion of business grandeur is maintained.

Wake up and smell the Nescafe guys. The trade is in ruins. It's YOUR status quo which has failed us all. All around is burning. A recession and the trade that you shaped is in destruction. It's YOUR trade. You're responsible.

It's nothing to do with us. We're just working to clean up YOUR mess.

What we need is new thinking. Well new to Edinburgh at least.

What we need is moderniation.

What we need is for the vested interests supposedly representing us to be ousted.

What we need is for a council to allow real enterprise to flourish, rather than imposing its incompetence on it.

What we need is a trade that respects the customer as king, and realises that we thrive through real quality service to the customer.

What we need is to lose forever the quint notion that the world owes us a living and that by limiting the tools somehow the cake will be bigger for everyone who does hve access to them.

What we need is to relearn how to compete in the marketplace against PH, buses, trains, rickshaws, bicycles and walking.

What we need is for common sense to somehow prevail.

Its a massive shift in thinking. History shows that such a massive shift is usually only gained through turbulence.

Perhaps the answer is to put the council and the owners in front of a wall and administer a 9mm injection tothe cerebellum (just joking )

Put your brains in gear guys. Sort out the vested interests and we could be building our better future now. Immediately.

It's not difficult. One small sacrifice now, one giant leap for the taxi trade.

_________________
Skull, "You are a police inspector, aren't you?"
Cab Inspector Smith, "Yes."
Skull, "So, are you going to tell Mr Taylor what his rights are?"
Smith, "And ... What rights?"

Listen up !!! I am an owner/driver who is not interested in giving my Cab to any old badge holder to rally and thrash the t*ts out of ! And i ain't no office disciple handing over hard earned so sum leech can sit and watch telly and his bank account bulge with earnings off others sweat !

I am merely trying to make a living same as you and, the only way this is going to be possilble for either of us is,

lobby Parliament and get the goal posts in a fair,easy accessible position that both Full time Operators/Drivers can have a proper game o Shootie in.......

As I mentioned elsewhere good riddens to them all.

I well remember, a few years ago, the chap from the Edinburgh bit of the Scottish Taxi Ass stating that he would rather see more buses out late at night to help clear the streets rather than more cabs.

Sort of summed it up for me.

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IDFIMH

sussex,

why would you say "good ridance", these guys are only trying to make a living.
What is wrong with jockeys?
Is it that you are an owner and see yourself as a cut above them for some reason?

I just dont understand your attitude at all.

I have no problem with anyone earning a living, but if they have to leave because they can't earn isn't my problem. It's their choice.

I have no problem with jockeys, it's lazy bast***d owners I have an issue with.

Do I think I'm a cut above the rest? You couldn't be further from the truth.

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IDFIMH

One of us perhaps was not clear then,

I was talking about jockeys leaving, not owners.

The owners that think they can sit on their back sides while drivers earn money for them are going to be in for a shock soon, when they realise that they have trouble getting drivers, and so need to put in long hours themselves.

Well I'm not too sure that changes my viewpoint.

If drivers choose to leave the trade then that will mean a larger piece of the cake will come my way.

Yes it is sad to see colleagues leave, but I would rather more left than more started.

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IDFIMH

The bottom line is:-
The days of Greedy [edited by admin] owners will soon be OVER.. The days of working 2 days a week to supplement their golf and bevvy money will soon be OVER..They have screwed jockeys over the years to buy their big houses, 4 holidays a year, 2nd houses abroad etc etc they are now sweating buckets that their world will crumble at their feet...
Owners with 2 and 3 taxis will soon find themselves with no drivers and also nobody to buy their taxis ( their retirement pot) oh dear. This is just not the effect of a recession but jockeys stating a fact-- reduce the rentals to an acceptable level or see you later Mr Owner..
Who wants to work 11-12 hrs to take home £30.. The sooner the Cooncil are proved wrong in court the better.. Letting jockeys get their own plate and working the hours that suit them and not the owners is the only way forward for this trade to survive.. Change the application criteria to brief holders only who must work a minimum of 35 hrs a week...this would weed out the greedy non brief holding [edited by admin]..also I go along with Frank that Plates should not be allowed to be sold on
Also who says there are no jockeys out there that can buy and run a taxi or is that the Business Owners talking pash again thinking that they are the Richard Bransons of the Taxi Trade and only they are capable of such!!!
TIMES ARE A CHANGING AND PRETTY FAST BY THE LOOKS OF THINGS!!!!!

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LET THE TRUTH BE TOLD

Jinky,

I hadnt considered the owners who have more than one taxi,
You are right they could be in big trouble.
If you own one motor you can drive it yourself, but you cant drive two or three at once.

Frank, you are an owner, and you just might be an owner that can see the bigger picture, but most owners can't. The trade is fecked, and not just a little fecked, it's the whole enchilada. The fear of the future blinds them from the inevitability of their situations. Watch this space Frank, unless something miraculous happens, a lot of owners are going out of the box, driver rentals will tumble and plate “values” will fall. . .

Welcome, to the real world.

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All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell, "Animal Farm"

whats a tew solution ffs

CC

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