Essruu or Jeff le Taxi ?

[Saint in Paradise]

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/8748499.Lone_taxi_driver_scuppers_cut_in_Christmas_fares/?ref=mr

 

A TAXI driver has been dubbed the Grinch Behind The Wheel after he scuppered a bid by trade bosses to cut fares this Christmas.

 

Marc Smith, 50, called the festive goodwill gesture “truly bizarre” and claimed many passengers did not care what they were charged to get home from a night out in the city at Christmas.

[hypochondriac]

Too much hair.

[fish fingers]

Perry McMillan has a day job.

[moon monkey]

I think the cabbies should go out and milk as much as possible from all those gullable people who spend hundreds on news years eve.

[franny]

Perry McMillan has a day job.

 

He wants these guys to take a pay cut for working over Christmas (and if you are a paying customer great) but wonder how that would go down with the London Tube drivers who want triple time plus a day off in lieu!

[EastleighSoulBoy]

He wants these guys to take a pay cut for working over Christmas (and if you are a paying customer great) but wonder how that would go down with the London Tube drivers who want triple time plus a day off in lieu!

 

Perry is displaying a true socialist spirit at this time of the year. Is he altering his views on things?

[buctootim]

Hairy arse is right though. People worry more about whether they will get a taxi at Christmas, not how much it will cost. It is plain weird to reduce fares at Christmas and increase them to higher than they were in the New Year.

[Wade Garrett]

I don't blame the cabbies for making extra money at Christmas. I'd rather be on the razzle New Years Eve than working, so fair play to them.

 

Supply and demand. Basic economics. If it's good enough for the City, it's good enough for the cabbies.

 

There needs to be a clampdown on foreigners driving red plates without a taxi licence though. It's definitely a problem. This is not racist, but I know one bloke (himself a taxi driver), who wouldn't pay an asian driver because he refused to show him his taxi id. (This, incidentally, was because the passenger had to give directions to the driver from town to his home in Woolston). When challenged, the driver drove off without collecting his fare.

[tony13579]

I live a few hundred yards out side the city boundery and the cheating little blighters keep trying to charge me boundery charge on pre-booked rides.

I hope they all starve!

[buctootim]

I live a few hundred yards out side the city boundery and the cheating little blighters keep trying to charge me boundery charge on pre-booked rides.

I hope they all starve!

 

Get out and walk the last 200 yards cheapskate!

[Essruu]

I live a few hundred yards out side the city boundery and the cheating little blighters keep trying to charge me boundery charge on pre-booked rides.

I hope they all starve!

 

Anyone who lives outside of the City boundary and hails a taxi or jumps in one on a rank is an idiot if they then moan about the 25% boundary charge. Phone Radio Taxis (023 8066 6666 or follow on Twitter @Radio_Taxis) to pick you up and you'll never be charged a boundary charge (even if it's a Hackney that leaves a rank to get you!) Some other companies have followed suit and don't apply boundary charges also.

 

With regards to the Christmas charges: Tariff 4 used to commence at 8pm Xmas Eve until 6am 27/Dec, then 8pm New Years Eve until 6am 02/Jan. Now it's 11pm Xmas Eve until 6am 27/Dec and 11pm New Years Eve until 6am 01/Dec (just 7hrs!)

 

Tariff 4 is double the daytime tariff: so yes, on Xmas Day during the day a £10 fare would be £20, but the usual night time fare (11pm-6am) for the same journey of £12.50 would be £20 - a 60% increase, not double! Therefore, it's pretty much time and a half for us to be out taking drunk people hone at 2am on Xmas morning, or missing NYE celebrations with family and friends to be working through until 5 or 6am. How many of you would choose to work those days and times for time and a half?

 

When it was 8pm that tariff 4 started, it was worth working. This year I'm not working Xmas Eve night for normal pay. I'm also considering not working NYE until after midnight because why should I do it for normal rates up until 11pm?

 

Instead I will batter the hours on Boxing day (still missing any family plans) and the 7hr NYE Tariff 4 period.

 

I don't blame the driver at all. Our costs have escalated - I've spent £3800 on fuel in this financial year so far, £1000+ on insurance, 2 MOTs a year, Council Licence fees have risen, a new compulsory Taxi Camera is £800 fitted: yet fares haven't increased in 3+yrs so this is all eating away at our profit.

 

Would you be happy if, for the one brief period of the year when you can make a but more for working the unsocial hours over the festive period, you were told you had to do it for less money?

[stevegrant]

Would you be happy if, for the one brief period of the year when you can make a but more for working the unsocial hours over the festive period, you were told you had to do it for less money?

Almost certainly not, which is why it intrigues me that the union has agreed to it.

[Thedelldays]

some taxi drivers are plain rip off merchants..

 

A couple of months ago, a load of us from work stopped at the holiday inn next to the Rose Bowl... On a sat night we wanted to go out in town..we got a taxi and he tried charging us £30 (to get from the Rose Bowl to London RD) and then claimed he would be the cheapest all night..

 

obviously he heard the different accents in the back and thought he would rip us off...his face was a picture when I told him I was from millbrook and he was a lying c*nt....we gave him £18 in the end

[Essruu]

Almost certainly not, which is why it intrigues me that the union has agreed to it.

 

The 'Union' doesn't represent me or any drivers I know. It's run by the usual suspects with their own agendas. Many of them and their members own multiple Red Plates and will make the same amount of money from renting their cars/plates out regardless of what the tariff is. The same group of people maintain a stronghold on Southampton's taxi trade and have a vested interest (when Red Plates are fetching £45k at the moment) in opposing the deregulation and unrestricting of the Hackney numbers when almost all other cities in the country have done so. The same group of people who scare people into thinking they should use only white licences Taxis and not PHVs because of the safety for lone females etc; When, in fact, if you call a taxi firm there is a record of which car and which driver is sent, taxi cameras and GPS data boxes in most PHVs, which is much safer than jumping in a white taxi where there's no record of your journey. I'd never let my daughter use a white Hackney from a rank (someone else has mentioned foreign/unlicensed drivers) only a pre-booked PHV.

 

Don't ever agree a price up front with a Hackney; make them rub the meter and ask to see their badge so you can record their details and the car's licence plate to inform the council if they refuse to run the meter.

[Huffton]

I live a few hundred yards out side the city boundery and the cheating little blighters keep trying to charge me boundery charge on pre-booked rides.

I hope they all starve!

 

If its a pre booked ride then its illegal to charge a boundary, and if you hail a cab you only have to pay the extra 25% on the portion of the journey that is outside the boundary.

And like Essruu says, don't accept the 'set fare' bollix. You can agree a (fair) price with a PH driver if you want, although they are pretty much all fitted with meters anyway.

[hypochondriac]

some taxi drivers are plain rip off merchants..

 

A couple of months ago, a load of us from work stopped at the holiday inn next to the Rose Bowl... On a sat night we wanted to go out in town..we got a taxi and he tried charging us £30 (to get from the Rose Bowl to London RD) and then claimed he would be the cheapest all night..

 

obviously he heard the different accents in the back and thought he would rip us off...his face was a picture when I told him I was from millbrook and he was a lying c*nt....we gave him £18 in the end

 

Other side of that is when I went to a festival in Weston Super mare. Guy knew we didn't know the area so charged us hardly anything for the taxi fare and gave us a load of advice. Great bloke.

[tony13579]

They just lose my trade unless I am desperate. Southampton must have some of the highest taxi rates in existance. If they charged fair I would use them more often.

[Essruu]

They just lose my trade unless I am desperate. Southampton must have some of the highest taxi rates in existance. If they charged fair I would use them more often.

 

You are so wrong!

[Huffton]

They just lose my trade unless I am desperate. Southampton must have some of the highest taxi rates in existance. If they charged fair I would use them more often.

Cheaper than Eastleigh and New Forest. SCC plated cars are all under 7 years old, one MOT and one compliance test (like an MOT only a lot stricter) a year. Most vehicles now fitted with CCTV for passenger and driver safety. Compare it with other local councils where any old shed will do and their tariffs are higher, and Southampton cabs start to look a lot more attractive.

[hamster]

I paid just over £6 last night from the Cricks to The Fleming and have in the past paid over £9 for the same journey.

 

I understand that there are different rates and different plated vehicles but surely an identical journey should cost the same no matter what?

 

I tend to use happy cabs nowadays.

 

I really do think that 'boundaries' should be abolished too. It seems to be just another tax on commuting to me, if anything they should encourage people to leave their car at home for longer journeys by introducing a boundary discount?

 

Ess, who gets the boundary tax and why?

[Huffton]

I paid just over £6 last night from the Cricks to The Fleming and have in the past paid over £9 for the same journey.

 

I understand that there are different rates and different plated vehicles but surely an identical journey should cost the same no matter what?

 

Comes down to licensing authorities, each one chooses their own tarriff. Also if a particular firm is private hire only they can charge whatever rate they choose, take West Quay for example, they don't have a night time rate, but their day rate is more than the normal Southampton tariff.

 

 

I really do think that 'boundaries' should be abolished too. It seems to be just another tax on commuting to me, if anything they should encourage people to leave their car at home for longer journeys by introducing a boundary discount?

 

Ess, who gets the boundary tax and why?

 

THe driver gets it, as with all fares. AS I understand it, a Hackney carriage (red plate) cannot pick up off the streets outside its licensing boundary, therefore they are entitled to charge a bit more for going outside the boundary as they then have to drive back to the boundary before they can pick up another fare. A Private Hire can be booked to pick up from anywhere, therefore a boundary fare cannot be charged. Not saying I agree with it, its an archaic rule going back to the days before their was a limit on red plates and ph's didn't really exist, most of the red plate drivers I know don't bother charging it anyway as its just not worth the hassle, and it puts people off. As has been pointed out just phone up for a cab, you won't get charged a boundary, and if the driver tries it on. take the number off the inside of his/her windscreen, and their badge (which MUST be displayed) and report them.