Taxi Driver Online

Minicab bid to halt bogus drivers

http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=1770242005

PRIVATE-HIRE car operators have called for logos to be put on their vehicles to prevent lone women falling victim to bogus cab drivers.

One of the city's leading private-hire firms has asked the city council to sanction the controversial move, which could pave the way for company logos on the side of hundreds of Capital vehicles.

OnwardTravel, which provides cars to and from Edinburgh Airport, said a livery would help clients recognise their vehicles, as well as protecting female passengers who may otherwise be tricked by bogus drivers.

But the move has sparked outrage among the city's black cab drivers, who fear it would encourage private-hire cars to illegally pick up passengers off the street.

Councillors considered the idea at a regulatory meeting in the City Chambers earlier this week, and have asked OnwardTravel to provide more information before making a decision.

At present, private-hire vehicles can only display identification plates on their front and rear bumpers. No other advertising is allowed, in order to prevent people flagging down the vehicles - a right reserved only for black cabs on the city's streets.

In a letter to the city council, OnwardTravel's management agents, Allan Criggie and Colin May, wrote: "We would like to propose that vehicles operating from the airport should display some form of livery.

"This would assist our clients in recognising they are boarding the correct licensed vehicle allocated to them.

"We would also like to point out that there would be a safety element attached to this proposal as female passengers travelling on their own would be boarding a readily identifiable vehicle."

But Keith Bell, chairman of taxi drivers' group CABforce, said the move was a "cynical" attempt to introduce advertising on the side of private-hire cars.

He said: "The vehicles have a plate on the front bumper, the rear bumper and the dashboard. There is also a disc on the windscreen and the drivers wear identification badges.

"The council has made it clear that only taxis can advertise, and private-hire companies knew this when they chose to operate their vehicles and they have to live with the rules."

A city council spokeswoman said: "The letter from OnwardTravel is being considered."

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

So Mr Bell doesn't want any rules changed at all, ever?

Funny that the black cabs in Edinburgh wanted numbers restricted once they had got their plates freely, and also wanted to transfer licenses under the corporate license scam when the legislation forbade transfers?

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

I have always, and always will, believe that proper signage on PH vehicles is a good thing.

Not because it makes it easier for the bad guys to pick up, they don't need signage for that just thick punters, but to make sure that the right folks get into the right cars.

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IDFIMH

Keith Bell needs to get with the times, its better for all concerned to have thier operators sticker on the side of the cars. We have it and like you say Sussex its distinctive.

Let’s think about this, the Ph have doubled in the last three years and in most cases have better quality vehicles and if not better quality, vehicles which are more cost effective to run. Then we give them a market advantage of 6-8 seats and a driver that is suited and booted to do the job with satellite navigation which makes the knowledge test almost redundant. Then there’s Licence Plates on both the front and back of the vehicle, and now advertising on the vehicles as well. Now let me guess the advertising wouldn’t happen to be the company phone number would it? (Mobile phone and all that) Following that, the next move has got to be getting into the greenways.

Now let me get this right, Keith Bell is against the Ph getting advertising. As much as I hate old clichés, “to little to late springs to mind”

I’ve just had a brilliant idea why don’t we put a limit of numbers on black cabs and bump the plate value up to say £50,000 earn less money than we did 5 years ago or work more hours for the same money. And here’s another good idea, lets watch the Ph double in numbers while expanding their market share while giving them every market advantage we can think of.


I can’t think why I never thought of this before, of course they should have advertising on their vehicles for all the difference it is going to make. If it stops one wee girl jumping into a bogus Ph it has got to be worth it. At least the punters will be able to see the company number on the side to the vehicle so they can stand in the street and phone the company direct.


It will be great for the punters, the taxi rank will become a thing of the past and that’s not the only thing that will be in the past.

On a more serious note I agree that the Ph should be allowed to advertise on their vehicles if only from the point of view that we shouldn’t have the right to stop them. All’s fair in love and war and all that. And there goes Mr. Bell cap in hand to the council hoping that they will save the plate value from the scourge of the Ph.


Sorry, now I remember Mr. Bell is doing this for the trade…

While reading the above, one point conveniently NOT mentioned is that, since the said PH operate from a private secure area at the airport, why should their clients need help in identifying the vehicles? Where is the safety element for women travelling alone? No other vehicles are allowed in their little private world - so you couldn't possibly get in the wrong vehicle!!!!
It's all just more bullshit and lies from the Onward Travel PHC.

But they do, just go to google and type in women raped in car she thought was a taxi, it's not nice reading.

If every pub/club had a rank outside serviced by black cabs, then you may have a point, but they don't.

Thus women phone for a car, or dads book a car for the kids. They then come out and will see (maybe) half a dozen cars picking up, not all of them licensed.

If PH had proper signage, instead of a soppy little plate that only ever gets noticed by other taxi/PH driver, then the customer has a far better chance of getting into the right vehicle they booked.

As I said, to me this is all down to safety, the bad guys will be, and are, doing it now without signage, so what's the big deal?

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IDFIMH

If you run your own business you should be allowed to advertise it. And at the end of the day this is all we are talking about.


Everyone is looking for an edge and in a private business they understand that if you don't expand to meet the needs of the market, you die. And if that is at the expense of your competitor then so be it.


Need I say, its a big bad world out there.

If taxis were private hire cars and private hire cars were taxis and they all advertised their phone numbers etc etc I can not see a problem. THE PROBLEM SEEMS TO BE TAXIS OPERATING IN THE 1950s. Everybody has a mobile you do not have to walk to a rank or queue at one in the rain anymore pick up your mobile the vehicle comes to you how clever but now the job becomes private hire

But the problem is often that people just don't bother whether or not it's the right car - if they were really that bothered about finding the right car, then the lack of signage shouldn't matter, but often all they're bothered about is finding any car and/or the cheapest.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

In some countries I think taxis can't do pre-booked work, now there's an interesting idea.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

That does have a few plus points.

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IDFIMH

I agree, but my point is that if they get into the wrong taxi, or wrong PH, by mistake then that's not the end of the world. The problem is when they get into an un-licensed vehicle by mistake.

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IDFIMH

I think the reason there's a problem with the latter is the lamentable lack of enforcement in some areas, and I don't know if more PH signage would solve that.

And I'm not so sure if people getting into the wrong licensed vehicle is not problematic, since obviously many (if not most) attacks are perpetrated by licensed drivers. A licensed vehicle out-of-area presents the ideal opportunity for the opportunist attacker I would say, and making PH look more like taxis exacerbates this problem.

But I agree that there are good arguments either way, but as always I think that whatever is deemed the right solution should be standard practice, since it's the mishmash of rules that cause the problems.

As I said before, your PH vehicle looks more like a taxi than my taxi does , and that's the kind of thing that blurs the distinction between the two trades and thus perpetuates public ignorance.

By the same token, and in support of your argument, since many PH vehicles are effectively unmarked, it's easier to pass off a private car as a licensed vehicle.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk