Minicabs in London
Discussion
They're an absolute nuisance, you'd think that if you do something for hours a day, every day you'd become good at it, but Minicabs seem to be the exemption to this. Even worse than black cabs.
Erratic driving, parking in stupid places, stopping with little or no warning and the lane discipline of a drunk. If there's something holding up a line of cars it's normally a Minicab. The hastag 'ubered' on twitter comes up with a hilarious array of battered and bruised Priuses.
There's been a couple of occasions where I've parked up near one and the driver looks like they haven't slept in 2 days as they stumble out of the car. Sometimes they even sleep in them - evidence of this is the bottles of piss they like to leave about in residential streets. They should ALL be forced to pass an advanced test to get the Minicab licence and have a tachograph fitted.
The last time I got a minicab to the airport, despite picking a local company the retard still got lost after 3 roads and I had to direct him out of a housing estate, proceeded to take the apex on every roundabout even if there was a car on the inside and seemed oblivions to the fact his people carrier had shagged suspension at the rear (every bump went up my spine and the thing was an inch lower at the rear before I got in it).
They're all crap and need to be tested/controlled. Discuss.
Erratic driving, parking in stupid places, stopping with little or no warning and the lane discipline of a drunk. If there's something holding up a line of cars it's normally a Minicab. The hastag 'ubered' on twitter comes up with a hilarious array of battered and bruised Priuses.
There's been a couple of occasions where I've parked up near one and the driver looks like they haven't slept in 2 days as they stumble out of the car. Sometimes they even sleep in them - evidence of this is the bottles of piss they like to leave about in residential streets. They should ALL be forced to pass an advanced test to get the Minicab licence and have a tachograph fitted.
The last time I got a minicab to the airport, despite picking a local company the retard still got lost after 3 roads and I had to direct him out of a housing estate, proceeded to take the apex on every roundabout even if there was a car on the inside and seemed oblivions to the fact his people carrier had shagged suspension at the rear (every bump went up my spine and the thing was an inch lower at the rear before I got in it).
They're all crap and need to be tested/controlled. Discuss.
Edited by Janesy B on Saturday 28th November 08:48
I have , in the past , had a little bit of experience with private hire / private hire companies .
Most companies want cheap ! Cars , tyres , maintenance etc .
Most drivers are between jobs / cannot do anything else .
Most punters want cheap and thats what they get .
Advanced tests and tachographs/ regulating driver hours would kill the industry almost instantly .
Not just confined to London .
Most companies want cheap ! Cars , tyres , maintenance etc .
Most drivers are between jobs / cannot do anything else .
Most punters want cheap and thats what they get .
Advanced tests and tachographs/ regulating driver hours would kill the industry almost instantly .
Not just confined to London .
A few years ago, my London hotel was over-booked, so they moved me to a sister hotel. As I had booked the original hotel because it was next door to the venue I was to attend next day, I wasn't too happy. But the hotel said they pick up the taxi fare, so I thought "fair enough". A black cab took me to the second hotel. Next morning, a minicab picked me up. Casual conversation in the car reveled the driver had been on duty for over 24 hours. I told him to stop, and got out. Hailed a black cab to take me hotel #1 and told the driver to come with me to reception to get paid. Reception none too happy, but when I reveled that the minicab driver had been driving for over 24 hours, did they really expect me to put my life at risk?
They paid up and ever since I've only used black cabs in London.
They paid up and ever since I've only used black cabs in London.
Private hire driver here or as you southerners call us Minicab drivers
wholeheartedly agree with you regards standards in the industry.
drivers who don't give a monkeys vehicles held together with gaffer tape and polyfilla(yes i've seen this before) and a level of enforcement that is laughable.
both the minicab and taxi industries need a degree of oversight and scrutiny, personally i lay the blame squarely with the licensing authorities( TFL local councils etc etc) to give you an example most local authorities will inspect a vehicle once a year (some like Glasgow- my local authority are twice a year) this is ludicrous for vehicles that can quite easily be covering in excess of 100k miles a year. Drivers don't care as the cars aren't theirs in a lot of cases, operators(vehicle owners) don't care as long as they can spend the bare minimum to keep the car running and take £150-200 a week of the driver.
enforcement is non existent, for example i've been stopped by our supposed enforcement team up here in Glasgow once this year, and it was nothing more than a cursory vehicle check lights work a black bit of rubber on each corner and your wearing your ID badge. the local authorities need to up their game undertake more work to root out the unsavoury elements in the trade and act more forcefully to transgressions. As a member of the public i would urge you to report any incidents that you think are wrong, dangerous driving, littering and unsavoury behaviour, if the people controlling the trade don't know, they can't act. don't waste your time reporting drivers to companies though, drivers are a cash cow for them and as long as their making money off the drivers they couldn't care less.
BUT, there is a silver lining, not all drivers and operators think like this, some of us do maintain our vehicles properly(see my thread in readers rides as an example) and some companies (albeit only a few) do regulate drivers hours and respond appropriately to complaints.
if theres anything specific you'd like to ask or query re the trade then feel free
wholeheartedly agree with you regards standards in the industry.
drivers who don't give a monkeys vehicles held together with gaffer tape and polyfilla(yes i've seen this before) and a level of enforcement that is laughable.
both the minicab and taxi industries need a degree of oversight and scrutiny, personally i lay the blame squarely with the licensing authorities( TFL local councils etc etc) to give you an example most local authorities will inspect a vehicle once a year (some like Glasgow- my local authority are twice a year) this is ludicrous for vehicles that can quite easily be covering in excess of 100k miles a year. Drivers don't care as the cars aren't theirs in a lot of cases, operators(vehicle owners) don't care as long as they can spend the bare minimum to keep the car running and take £150-200 a week of the driver.
enforcement is non existent, for example i've been stopped by our supposed enforcement team up here in Glasgow once this year, and it was nothing more than a cursory vehicle check lights work a black bit of rubber on each corner and your wearing your ID badge. the local authorities need to up their game undertake more work to root out the unsavoury elements in the trade and act more forcefully to transgressions. As a member of the public i would urge you to report any incidents that you think are wrong, dangerous driving, littering and unsavoury behaviour, if the people controlling the trade don't know, they can't act. don't waste your time reporting drivers to companies though, drivers are a cash cow for them and as long as their making money off the drivers they couldn't care less.
BUT, there is a silver lining, not all drivers and operators think like this, some of us do maintain our vehicles properly(see my thread in readers rides as an example) and some companies (albeit only a few) do regulate drivers hours and respond appropriately to complaints.
if theres anything specific you'd like to ask or query re the trade then feel free
Janesy B said:
They're an absolute nuisance, you'd think that if you do something for hours a day, every day you'd become good at it, but Minicabs seem to be the exemption to this. Even worse than black cabs.
Erratic driving, parking in stupid places, stopping with little or no warning and the lane discipline of a drunk. If there's something holding up a line of cars it's normally a Minicab. The hastag 'ubered' on twitter comes up with a hilarious array of battered and bruised Priuses.
There's been a couple of occasions where I've parked up near one and the driver looks like they haven't slept in 2 days as they stumble out of the car. Sometimes they even sleep in them - evidence of this is the bottles of piss they like to leave about in residential streets. They should ALL be forced to pass an advanced test to get the Minicab licence and have a tachograph fitted.
The last time I got a minicab to the airport, despite picking a local company the retard still got lost after 3 roads and I had to direct him out of a housing estate, proceeded to take the apex on every roundabout even if there was a car on the inside and seemed oblivions to the fact his people carrier had shagged suspension at the rear (every bump went up my spine and the thing was an inch lower at the rear before I got in it).
They're all crap and need to be tested/controlled. Discuss.
The worst I'm a black cab driver and I don't like minicabs rant everErratic driving, parking in stupid places, stopping with little or no warning and the lane discipline of a drunk. If there's something holding up a line of cars it's normally a Minicab. The hastag 'ubered' on twitter comes up with a hilarious array of battered and bruised Priuses.
There's been a couple of occasions where I've parked up near one and the driver looks like they haven't slept in 2 days as they stumble out of the car. Sometimes they even sleep in them - evidence of this is the bottles of piss they like to leave about in residential streets. They should ALL be forced to pass an advanced test to get the Minicab licence and have a tachograph fitted.
The last time I got a minicab to the airport, despite picking a local company the retard still got lost after 3 roads and I had to direct him out of a housing estate, proceeded to take the apex on every roundabout even if there was a car on the inside and seemed oblivions to the fact his people carrier had shagged suspension at the rear (every bump went up my spine and the thing was an inch lower at the rear before I got in it).
They're all crap and need to be tested/controlled. Discuss.
Edited by Janesy B on Saturday 28th November 08:48
sicasey said:
Put that that telecoms knowledge to use and book an Uber.
one thing guaranteed to start a fight, mention the big bad Uber a majority of the public love it, a majority of the trade utterly hate them
but in fairness they've came into the industry done the job right made cabs accesible cheaper and more reliable and taken a huge chunk of the UK market already
sicasey said:
Put that that telecoms knowledge to use and book an Uber.
Why don't you put your knowledge in being a smart arse and book yourself an uber off the side of a cliff?If you don't have anything useful to add don't bother posting. I'm sure a clever boy like you can work that out.
Edited by Janesy B on Saturday 28th November 15:26
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