Council crack down on English Speaking taxi stickers

[INFLUENCED.COM]

driving tired can create the same impairment level as driving while over the drink-drive limit.

 

This is getting a little silly now, I am sorry but it is.

 

On the basis of a few taxi drivers not speaking brilliant English we are making assumptions that foreign born cabbies work excessive hours and might well be under the influence of alcohol to boot!

 

Sorry, but that I think this is precisely why some of us have a problem with these bloody signs.

 

 

Or is it because some misinterpret what is meant ?

 

Noone has suggested cabbies have/are drink driving.

 

Noone has suggested taxi drivers should speak brilliant English.

[Nineteen Canteen]

On a side note, my father (who would be 88 now) hated Indians (and Japanese as well but that was for a different reason). He had no problerms whatsoever with any other race.

His problem was that, after spending five years in India during the Second World War fighting the Japanese to help keep India out of their hands when the time came to embark for England, the indigent population lined up along the route stoning the British troops and screaming for them to get out of India.

His thoughs were "Why did we bother?"

 

Similar reasons why my Grandad would never eat rice and he would have been 95 this year. Their views are understandable and as he never spoke about it we can only surmise the horrors he saw or went through. Partly thanks to them the world is a different and hopefully more tolerant place and their personal and understandable prejudices will hopefully pass when the last of their generation passes on.

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

Hamster you are missing the point totally. It is sinister that these taxi drivers that 'dare' speak out are labelled as 'racist' and people are told to report them. It is you that are pre judging the taxi drivers who speak out; assuming racism. Are they not just wanting council rules to be upheld? Do you endorse the council and want to take their right to make a living away from them when they question the fact the rules are being ignored. You either have rules or you do not. Argue with the rules not the taxi drivers that have the stickers.

[INFLUENCED.COM]

I agree and was thinking more about driving unsocialable hours so they cover the hours more likely to bring in more lucrative work. Its not exactly a 9-5 job and if you are willing to put yourself out the more likely you are to earn more money but the harder it makes the job. Ever tried booking a cab on Christmas day for example despite the lure of double or triple fares for drivers?

 

 

For me I think cabbies are driving more hours due to the volume of cabbies out there, I would assume they have a minimum amount they like to earn daily, the volume of fares they became used to a few years ago which allowed them to work say a 8-10 hour day can now only be achieved in a 12-15 hour day due to 'competition', I am not a cabbie so simply my opinion.

[hamster]

............this is more to do with Nimbyistic attitude of the more established drivers worried about the competition to their income / lifestyle, probably aware that drivers from other cultures may be prepared to work longer hours.

 

 

................ if as some will have you believe, some drivers are out for 15-16 hours then they/we have every right to be worried, driving tired can create the same impairment level as driving while over the drink-drive limit.

 

 

 

Or is it because some misinterpret what is meant ?

 

Noone has suggested cabbies have/are drink driving.

 

Noone has suggested taxi drivers should speak brilliant English.

 

My apologies .com, I read that wrong and agree that driving excessive hours is very dangerous indeed, sorry.

 

That'll teach me to try read too fast.

 

 

Hamster you are missing the point totally. It is sinister that these taxi drivers that 'dare' speak out are labelled as 'racist' and people are told to report them. It is you that are pre judging the taxi drivers who speak out; assuming racism. Are they not just wanting council rules to be upheld? Do you endorse the council and want to take their right to make a living away from them when they question the fact the rules are being ignored. You either have rules or you do not. Argue with the rules not the taxi drivers that have the stickers.

 

Are the drivers not asking to be judged though? Surely they want to be judged, otherwise why display the signs?

 

Anyway you are spot on I am pre judging them, I am doing it on the basis that they appear to think that I and others will be more inclined to jump in their cab purely because they 'speak proper English'.

 

I want a cab to pick me up within a reasonable amount of time - most do.

I want a cab to be clean - most are.

I want a cab to get me from A to B in the shortest amount of time - most do.

 

I also like to chat on my way home after a night on the beer, I think it is polite but accept that some find it a little grating, - (but hey) I'm paying so I think I am aloowed to set the rules on that one surely? I can not remember one single instance, when riding in a cab that I have not been able to engage the driver in a little light conversation. Maybe I should use them more frequently but seriously is anyone else (apart from the drivers in question) complaining about this?

 

Is it really that rife? If it really is causing problems for the fare paying passengers then I 100% retract my comments on this thread, seriously.

[Gemmel]

Similar reasons why my Grandad would never eat rice and he would have been 95 this year. Their views are understandable and as he never spoke about it we can only surmise the horrors he saw or went through. Partly thanks to them the world is a different and hopefully more tolerant place and their personal and understandable prejudices will hopefully pass when the last of their generation passes on.

 

 

Spot on.

[Huffton]

Why is it no-one gets up in arms when you get one of those supermarket adverts showing a competitors prices in comparison to theirs? All they are doing is trying to gain a competetive advantage by showing up an area where they believe they can tempt a customer to use them.

Is this not exactly what a taxi driver who puts up one of these stickers is doing? Trying to gain the custom of a public who are perhaps fed up of recieving what they may think is a below standard service?

[Huffton]

Is it really that rife? If it really is causing problems for the fare paying passengers then I 100% retract my comments on this thread, seriously.

 

From my experience, yes it is.

[Nineteen Canteen]

Why is it no-one gets up in arms when you get one of those supermarket adverts showing a competitors prices in comparison to theirs? All they are doing is trying to gain a competetive advantage by showing up an area where they believe they can tempt a customer to use them.

Is this not exactly what a taxi driver who puts up one of these stickers is doing? Trying to gain the custom of a public who are perhaps fed up of recieving what they may think is a below standard service?

 

Perhaps it's because its comparing their prices not the ethnic base of their staff. You like to see an advert like ...'Not only are our baskets cheaper by 200,000 from 2,000,000 compared but we also employ less Asians and east Europeans.' or .....' we also ensure all our staff are fluent in English and will sack anyone that a customer considers not up to their own high linguistic standards'

 

You are displaying the sticker to gain advantage over drivers with accents. As previously discussed if you displayed a sticker saying you speak French then your argument would be relevant otherwise you're a bit like a farmer slapping a branding iron on his dairy cows saying 'produces milk'. Just in case there is any ambiguity.

 

If you are not inciting racist hatred you are inciting hatred which is best served directed at the council and not to undermine those drivers who have ligitamately received their license through the same path as you whether you agree with that or not.

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

Hamster the taxi drivers are asking purely to be treated by the current rules . You may disagree with the rules but they are the rules; the rules Hamster were not made for you exclusively. You clearly advocate that these poor guys who barely scrape a living are now declared racist and are deprived of their living. We could perhaps have a show trial of all those publicly reported. Maybe you should spend a year making a living as a taxi driver and understand the pressures that they have - I would bet money they make the same money that they made five years ago. Maybe you would be a bit more Watt Tyler if you were in their Vauxhall.

[Nineteen Canteen]

Hamster the taxi drivers are asking purely to be treated by the current rules . You may disagree with the rules but they are the rules; the rules Hamster were not made for you exclusively. You clearly advocate that these poor guys who barely scrape a living are now declared racist and are deprived of their living. We could perhaps have a show trial of all those publicly reported. Maybe you should spend a year making a living as a taxi driver and understand the pressures that they have - I would bet money they make the same money that they made five years ago. Maybe you would be a bit more Watt Tyler if you were in their Vauxhall.

 

Maybe they should direct their anger at the council instead of targetting drivers with accents who have received their licences via the same means as those with perfect pronounciation and the stickers to prove it. Who tested them before they could display those stickers?

[Huffton]

I wasn't going to rely to any more of your posts but this one I will

 

 

You are displaying the sticker to gain advantage over drivers with accents.

 

Wrong.

Before I start this post I would like it known that I do not display, nor do I intend to display, one of these stickers.

 

Now, onto the point. It has nothing to do with accents. It is to do with pepole who cannot or will not use English to converse with their passengers, and then due to their language difficulties, make the journey difficult or even unpleasant for the passenger by not knowing where they are going, or not being able to understand where the passenger wants to go. It is affecting the trade as the public, who are already cutting back on unnecceasary spending, are becoming even more reluctant to use taxis due to bad experiences with these drivers. Who can blame the guys for trying to protect their livlihoods?

 

Look at it from another point of view NC, imagine you are just off a cruise ship, first time in Southampton, and you get into a cab. You want to go to the airport. Would it be unreasonable of you to expect the driver to a: know where the airport is, and b: be able to understand you when you ask to be taken there?

[benjii]

I had a bad experience with a taxi in Bristol yesterday. Fact.

[Nineteen Canteen]

I wasn't going to rely to any more of your posts but this one I will

 

 

 

Wrong.

Before I start this post I would like it known that I do not display, nor do I intend to display, one of these stickers.

 

Now, onto the point. It has nothing to do with accents. It is to do with pepole who cannot or will not use English to converse with their passengers, and then due to their language difficulties, make the journey difficult or even unpleasant for the passenger by not knowing where they are going, or not being able to understand where the passenger wants to go. It is affecting the trade as the public, who are already cutting back on unnecceasary spending, are becoming even more reluctant to use taxis due to bad experiences with these drivers. Who can blame the guys for trying to protect their livlihoods?

 

Look at it from another point of view NC, imagine you are just off a cruise ship, first time in Southampton, and you get into a cab. You want to go to the airport. Would it be unreasonable of you to expect the driver to a: know where the airport is, and b: be able to understand you when you ask to be taken there?

 

As I said you should make your voices heard at the council if the system is not working instead of the 'divisive' action some cabbies are taking. I accept your last paragraph but although it doesn't make it right i am assuming you have never flown into New York and caught a cab from the airport? They don't know where to go and their streets resemble the co-ordinates on a piece of graph paper.

 

If our cabbies don't know where they are going then there is clearly a problem with those issuing the licences and not those who receive them and targetting them will only cause division within the ranks and their customers and aleinate the one group you need to meet to resolve this mess - the council.

 

Who can blame the guys for protecting their livelihood? Who can blame unemployed people trying to make a living for themselves after they have been granted a licence through due process? The sticker 'campaign' will do anything but protect the guys livelihood and they need to embrace the changes and then influence updates to the qualification process through less emotive channels and I'm sure the council will be more willing to listen.

[Nineteen Canteen]

I had a bad experience with a taxi in Bristol yesterday. Fact.

 

Did it not have a sticker or were you in St Pauls?

[benjii]

Did it not have a sticker or were you in St Pauls?

 

Didn't end up in St Pauls luckily but the driver either didn't know where he was going or was being a complete dickhead. So I got out.

[scally]

As I said you should make your voices heard at the council if the system is not working instead of the 'divisive' action some cabbies are taking. I accept your last paragraph but although it doesn't make it right i am assuming you have never flown into New York and caught a cab from the airport? They don't know where to go and their streets resemble the co-ordinates on a piece of graph paper.

 

If our cabbies don't know where they are going then there is clearly a problem with those issuing the licences and not those who receive them and targetting them will only cause division within the ranks and their customers and aleinate the one group you need to meet to resolve this mess - the council.

 

Who can blame the guys for protecting their livelihood? Who can blame unemployed people trying to make a living for themselves after they have been granted a licence through due process? The sticker 'campaign' will do anything but protect the guys livelihood and they need to embrace the changes and then influence updates to the qualification process through less emotive channels and I'm sure the council will be more willing to listen.

 

The problem is nobody will address the issue because then they will be accused of being racists. There is a loop hole that is being exploited that allows people that clearly have no idea of how to get from A to B in Southampton to become taxi drivers. Unless some one has the ****** to stand up and challenge how and why this is happening the situation will only get worse. Don't accuse the drivers who are fighting for the right to keep their jobs and also give a good service of being racist. If a large number of residents in Southampton feel they are getting a bad service from some foreign taxi drivers then that not only effects the white drivers but also and probably more so the other drivers of ethnic minorities who are also providing a decent service. The race issue should be kept out of this because this is all about doing whats fair for everybody and not letting some drivers have an unfair advantage that allows them to become taxi drivers when clearly they have no knowledge of the roads of Southampton.

[miserableoldgit]

70% ? Can you validate that statistic? On this issue I am very pleased I have alienated 70% of the bigots because having a sign saying the driver speaks English in England has racial undertones whether you agree or not. Shall he have tattoo on his head saying 'driver' just in case of any ambiguity?

 

IMO this is more to do with Nimbyistic attitude of the more established drivers worried about the competition to their income / lifestyle, probably aware that drivers from other cultures may be prepared to work longer hours.

Isn`t this a racist remark?? Comparing the work ethic of different races in a stereotypical way? I am sure that the "Witch Hunters", looking for racism everywhere, even in places where it doesn`t exist, would have jumped down your throat if you had questioned the work ethic of "other cultures.

[Wade Garrett]

Cabbies should be able to speak English, and shouldn't have to ask you directions. If they can't do this they shouldn't have a taxi licence.

 

I have never been asked directions by an English driver, but am asked all the time by others. This is not racist, this is fact.