Taxi Driver Online

GBC, iv'e got my sleeve's rolled up and i'm ready for you

GBC state's that " london taxi's have a full rebuild every year and the pco won't pass a cab unless it is 110%".

Well that's not quite right, yes, they have an overhaul every year, but only the stuff that need's doing get's done. I have seen some recentley plated hac's and the body work is a digrace!!.

GBC, you seem to think that phv's just turn up for a test and get issued there badge's, i'm afraid it's not like that. I'm going to tell you what we have to do to get our car's licensed.

1; within two week's of the test, the car must be taken for an MOT test and pass.
2; The car is then tested by SGS who are approved by the PCO, they make sure that the bodywork is in good condition, that the radio is fitted correctley and all the door's open and that the window's all work.
3; six month's after passing the test, you must take your car for another MOT and pass.
4; Every week, somewhere in London there is a PCO stop check making sure phv's are behaving themselve's.

I agree that some PHV's are in a bad state, but then again so are some HAC's.

WE are trying to improve ourselve's, but it will take time, and remember, we would have been licensed year's ago if the HAC's hadn't of kept stalling it.

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stressed controller!!!

Don't worry about him, he and his like are the past.

Ollie

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Happy to be legit.

I have got to agree on this one. Last months O/H almost 2K to get the plate and on the road. It came back with an oil leak, pulling slightly left whilst driving along.
I took it in yesterday as the inhibitor switch went. Also there was a leak on the master cylinder.
Got the lot done £260. I noticed when I parked up at home, that there was gearbox oil on the drive.
Where or when will it all end

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Make trafic wardens redundant. PARK LEGALLY.
Congestion charge! Before it was free.

You keep working yourself to death Ollie, I'm of to sit in the garden again, a three day week this week I think.

Then I guess most of your drivers are used to the hotter countries? reminds them of home?

Taxee boss? pleeze boss?

That'll include the Rover Metro's then?

The Ford Fiesta's?

The Harringey cars Peugeot 2 door hatch specials then?

The paneled vans / buliders vans licensed as Minicabs?

Come back to me on this one Rambo when you have a specific standard of vehicle you have to adhere to, and specific standards of accessability, and specific standards of drivers that can communicate in English, and are forced to take guide dogs without the 'I'm a muslim and i can't do it' sheeite.

Come back when your vehicles are subject to the same overhaul standard as ours, including on street inspections, and home visits.

With all due respect Mac, i'm all for older cabs being on the road, providing they're kept up to scratch, but given yours is now approaching 20 years old, don't you think its going to cost more cash / hassle than its worth to keep it going???

If you do a couple of days a week surely its better to find a share or rental?

£2K overhaul
£1.5K Insurance?
£2K repairs per annum.
tax etc . . . soon adds up for someone who is semi-retired.

You can rent a TX for around £35 a day from Cricklewood carriers who run a rather well looked after fleet of cabs.

Or you could buy a £300 Rover metro, get an MOT and run it as a Minicab.
Accessability should'nt be a problem as long as your picking up 16 year old Russian Gymnasts.

Clearly written by someone who has never put a Taxi up to the PCO for a plate.

My one failed on its first visit this year as I provided a photocopy of the blue note and registration document.


Do you honestly think they let bad rust patches through?

Ollies rented Merc minicab maybe, but not a real London Taxi.

So's he.

Recorder Michael Sayers QC warned that minicab passengers could not travel "with any degree of safety". As he jailed Razaq Assadullah, a 31-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, for eight years, the Old Bailey judge said that anyone using a minicab had "no assurance that the driver is who he claims to be or has got any insurance, driving licence, etc".

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IDFIMH

I can't make up my mind if that's a taxi rank scene from Edinburgh, Sefton or Brighton.

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

Here we go!
I can't comment on the 2 door peugeot's, but find it hard to belive as the regulations state it must be a 4 door vehcile.
Driver's talking english, well I would like to see a written and spoken english test for london phv's and the rumor is the pco will be starting one.
GBC, you one failed on photo copy paperwork, that's your fault, as the regulation's state that all paperwork must be original. That applie's to phv's as well.
GBC, you make out everything get's renewed on a hac before it's plate, well it does'nt, as stated before, only the stuff that need's doing to pass the test get's done.
GBC, there are pco/tfl stop check's all over london so we are checked on a regular basis. I have been stopped 3 time's in the last year(I drive a 54 plate passat).

We are trying to improve ourselve's, but it take's time, and one of the reason's that london hac's were licensened is because of the villian's and drunk's in the 18th century

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stressed controller!!!

The thing is the black cab trade don't want you to improve.

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IDFIMH

They would have a job to be any worse.

Have a little drive along St Anns Road next time your passing, you'll be impressed with the collection of junk they get away with operating.





Thats good news then, our share of the market should treble when that comes in.





So my new discs, top ball joints, wishbones, track rod ends etc etc, which were fine, but replaced as a matter of course 'needed doing' ?

I'll re-emphasise, there are many parts on a Taxi which are replaced as a matter of course to prepare it for its annual inspection that a Minicab does not have to do, hence my point our vehicles are subject to a much more rigorous test than your MOT.





Well you'll be the first one i've ever seen stopped by the PCO.





Best slow down then.

Here's a couple of classic 'easy access' minicabs for you Rambo, as you seem to 'allude' to the fact they don't exist.



http://www.ltda.co.uk/taxi/issue_117/pg05.htm