Taxi Driver Online

need this info sorted guys....
im in ayrshire,Scotland....starting my Own p/h company... now...2 other companys said....
i need to get car plated...yep...bit obvious that one! but also....
i need to obtain a OPERATORS LICENCE on top of that !

but the lady at the local licence place said....
if i only have 1 VEHICLE working from a PRIVATE address ( not a council house) i do not need operators licence WTF !
some guys on here say that scottish law say we dont need/have operator licence.....your plate IS your operators licence !!

so...what i have now is.....

1 car...passed taxi test ( new car ) no probs
1 plate coming on the 12 dec.
P/H fully comp hire n reward insurance ( £1783)
and...my drivers/taxi badge ( i can drive P/H or hackneys with it so i was told ).

IS THIS ALL I NEED TO GET UP AND GOING ?

Yes that is all you need up there.

If you was down here then you would also need to obtain an operator's license.

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IDFIMH

thank you sussex...
so the other 2 P/H companys are talking BULL then ? mmm.
take it they are crapping themselfs cause i,m starting up myself and know about 80% of THERE customer base and have a lot better car

Quite possibly.

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IDFIMH

Down here in Birmingham you need to be badged and plated and also have an operators licence, the op licence costs about £1150 for the year, I'm not sure what they charge for a PH operator with just one car other than for a renewal of the same they charge about £333.

The other companies are probably just trying to put you off in fear of loosing out.

Just a question on this for myself here. I was looking at going into the same thing here (my own operation) next year but I just can't seem to get any figures for the running of a radio, licence cost etc.

Does anyone know any rough figures?

thing is sussex...i used to WORK for the other 2 companys over the last 2/3 yrs....maybe that make a differance
hey...they [edited by admin] me about with crappy hire and kept all the distance work/good hire for themselfs.....
and er....they said i couldnt do it by myself that alone is a red rag to me....oh yeh...we are gonna do it...

just went and bought a good taxi number off a old man who used to have his own taxi company here in my town....
he only been retired for 1 yr...
so the number is really still kinda fresh in folks minds.
dont need radio here....
got my home phone on call divert to my mobile ( bluetooth hands free )

only thing is guys....the cost...well.
its 8p per min for me to pay for people calling my..i pay for the divert bit .
but i suppose its cheaper than a radio + licence + paying someone to operate the dam thing !

Hey, that's a very clever idea!

I'd be worried about paying out all that money for a well known number.

The first company I worked for 4 weeks ago had the same idea. He jointly ran a successful PH company a while back but they had a fall out and he left but paid out a lot of money to take the number with him on the assumption that the work would also follow him.

Put it this way, the phone hardly every rings (the reason why I ain't there anymore) but the company he walked away from is doing just as well as before but on a different number.

I always thought that was part of the operator's license i.e. the boss or his family must always do the long distance work.

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IDFIMH

I always thought that it was the job of the operator to find work for the drivers so that they can afford to pay their rent every week, not in the case of the first place I was working for, he was quite happy to have his rent paid without making the effort to bring more work in ffs.

similar here m8..the last guy i just finished with never advertised anywhere.... done ALL/most of the glasgow airport/prestwick airport runs HIMSELF....done all the travel connections HIMSELF....came out ON SHIFT with the other guys that were on there own shift and joined in/so effectivly spliting the takings 3 ways instead of 2...all this and >>>>>> he still wanted £170 for the rental of HIS car ( he paid insurance/tax ) i serviced / tyred it).

wot an arse

The plate is often referred to as the operators license, although I think that's what they call the base station license south of the border.

So all you need is driver's badge and plate/operator's license, since there's no third tier license for base stations, although this will probably change in the next few years.

The lady at the licensing office sounds as if she was talking about planning permission rather than a license.