Taxi Driver Online

Taxi tour guide up for national award gets Manchester tattoo to prove love for city



Taxi tour guide John Consterdine has been nominated for a national tourism award and to prove his love for Manchester has got a tattoo.

Taxi tour guide John Consterdine is in the running for a national tourism award - and to prove how dedicated he is to his home city he’s had a huge tattoo celebrating Manchester’s history.

John runs his taxi tours across Manchester, and has been nominated for a prestigious Tourism Superstar award alongside just 11 other people who go the extra mile to help promote different parts of the country.

So to prove to the public - who can vote for their favourite - how dedicated he is to Manchester he’s had this huge emblem inked onto his shoulder.

He enlisted the services of star tattoo artist Lou Molloy - famed as David Beckham’s tattooist - to create the bespoke image which celebrates “Manchester’s firsts” many of which John regularly talks about on his taxi tours.

It includes books to represent the first public library, the splitting of the atom, the first street lighting on Chapel Street and a ship wheel to represent the Bridgewater Canal.

John says: “I’m Manchester through and through, and I’d thought a lot about getting a tattoo to show my love for the city.

“And after being nominated for the national tourism award it seemed like the perfect time to prove my love with a tattoo.”

And of course the tattoo also include’s Manchester symbol of the bee - for industry.

“I like to keep myself busy so the bee seemed right,” laughs John.

John, 52, who lives in Prestwich with his wife and three children, won the Manchester Tourism Star award in November, and was then selected for the national Vist England Tourism Superstar Awards, with the winner announced on March 29.

He’s up against tour guides from across England, including the world’s tallest town cryer from Shrewsbury, and a yachting tour guide from the Isles of Scilly.

John first started his taxi tours in 2008 after completing an official tourism guide qualification, and tailors tours to his clients - including Manc music tours, football tours and even an Alan Turing tour.

John says: “I’m born and bred in Manchester so I’ve always been interested in the buildings in Manchester, and when I started on the taxis I got more interested seeing them every day.

“People were always asking me about the buildings, so I found the more information I provided, the better the tips!

“It’s all about providing a pleasant experience for customers, so it came from there, and when the chance of going on a tour guide course came up in 2008 I went for it and I’m now a qualified green badge Manchester tour guide.”

The tattoo took a couple of hours to complete at Lou’s Middleton studios - although the famous tattooist didn’t charge John for the special ink - as he’s asked to be taken on one of his taxi tours instead!

And John’s is pleased with the results too.

He laughs: “It’s a work of art, so she likes it, she thinks I’m mental anyway.”

source: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... hn-6863009

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