Taxi Driver Online

Click below to read the ariticle:

http://www.taxi-driver.co.uk/money.htm

Post your views below!

So is it the fault of the poor sod who has bought his plate in good faith, or is it the fault of crazy out-dated regulations that has let this come to be?

I wonder exactly how many would have bought there plates in the last few years, if they know what they know now?

But it's so much easier for the powers that be, to simply copy the actions of the Ostrich.

Alex

Or is it the ignorance of the trade.

When I bought my house, I got it checked out.

If people are prepared to queue jump the waiting list. Then what goes around, comes around.

most people objecting to deregulation are plate owners . taxi drivers will benefit from deregulation as vehicle rental will come down in price as you will only be renting the cab not the plate , drivers will when there ready be able to purcase there own vehicle if they wish . the insurance premiums we pay regulate the industry now anyone new to the industry cant get insurance . deregulation will hurt a few who have bought plates recently but eventualy it will be a fairer system for all who genuinely work in the trade .

I couldn't agree more Mr biskit.

Am I happy that some drivers will lose money, hell no. But if that's the price that needs paying to let all be treated equally.

Then so be it.

Yes, a reasonable analogy, but not a perfect one.

After all there's plenty of consumer safeguards imposed by regulation, particularly when there's megabucks involved.

In the case of a house purchase your bank/BS will make you have a survey at the very least, and will only give you a loan based on a house with adequate value, which effectively protects you.

But as Ged said, they will only lend you money to buy a plate based on the security of a house or similar, so any normal protection is effectively by-passed.

Yet there's nothing for buyers of taxi plates.

Of the two major planks of the OFT's work, one is consumer protection, yet for buyers of plates their message seems to be caveat emptor - let the buyer beware.

Yet that is far from their approach to other matters.

Dusty

I got my plate for nothing and have never banked on it being worth fortunes in the future. If i had it would havbe gone two or three years ago.
I feel for the lads who bought them recently. But only about half of them actually drivre fooltime.

But no matter how well a purchasor was informed, from my experience he would have been so ignorant and wrapped up in his 'god given right' to a living without any sense of customer service that he would tell you 'things will never change'.

I know about 4 drivers who brought there plates about 5 months ago for £55,000 and a very upset due to the OFT report

Was that 55K upfront, through the books. Or was it some much official and the rest in brown paper bags?

theys people have borrowed loans from other people

Well perhaps they should give those that lent the money the plate back to them.

Oh, but that's the property of the council !!!

So perhaps they should give them back the car.

Oh, but that's not worth a tenth of the money !!!

And all the time those lads were buying, nobody from the council or one of those unions said a dickie bird about the OFT study.

Which perhaps says more about them, then I ever possibly could.

Only the the driver selling his taxi know about it or the buyer averything is kept secret from the council

I see so we should feel sorry for people caught out doing an underhand deal in the black economy through illegal money lenders?

I think the problem is, that most of those new plate buyers think that what they are doing is the norm.

If there was any doubt on the procedure, then anyone new to the trade would think that councils would have nothing to do with it.

Alas some just turn a blind eye.

Alex