Scumbag Hacks!??!!

I have just read a load of rubbish in here and feel i must reply…. it is in relation to the ferry terminal and blueline and that ginger haired muppet representing the coast. i quote a recent post “we tendered and were successful against the associations tender !! ”

for your information ian, we (the association)tendered a bid of £1 because we are the ones providing a service so why pay for it ?
greedy people latched onto the idea that you could charge the very people that are providing a service. No doubt the same mentality happened at the banks and other financial institutions and look where that has got us……. for those who likes crosswords, its got 6 letters, starts with fuc and ends with ked
regards Sam

tbh,if am parked up am waiting for a job, I go home when the work stops

“A HC can ply the streets for hire whilst in motion, and stand for hire at an appointed stand…..but it cannot sit around the streets.” maybe a few need to reminded of this around Town and the coast

Mr Shanks…if the customer has the choice to use who he wants, I presume you’ll be giving passengers lists of various companies

And HC’s dont have a godforsaken right.

A HC can ply the streets for hire whilst in motion, and stand for hire at an appointed stand…..but it cannot sit around the streets.

regards

CC

Ian you only convince yourself & your partner down the coast when it comes to the dfds terminal !! 16 thousand reasons why the NTHCA didnt tender for the right to ply for hire when it was free to do so, & what gives you the right to say there wasn’t a good service given by the hack trade !nearly 20 years i worked down that terminal & along side other drivers provided a good service at a FARE PRICE !

admin if your correct maybe you should advise the airport and the central station of this !!

competition, i mean by that, we tendered and were successful against the associations tender !! do you suggest the association should have a second go at the tender after they failed to get it right? we won the rights to trade from there fare and square and when it comes up for tender the next time we take our chances like any other organisation !! and its not all about money its what we could supply to the port of tyne in a total package.

i think if you refer to the QE2 visit this would be because the Port of the Tyne would not allow cars down to the boat side and therefor there was some turmoil with passengers going hunting for taxis

the Marshall was only helping customers where they needed help and direction !

but the facts are its private property ! and while the Port of the Tyne is very PRO working with the Local Authority and so are we,it can set its own operational rules if it so wishes !

but if you are asking about the day to day running the help given to customers after asking within for taxis or seeing the taxi Marshall who Carry’s a booking sheet out side is know as customer service ! Steve i hope this answers you question in some way. but if you are a hack that used to work the POT you must realize this is a competitive market and the joint service and efforts of Eastcoast and Blue Line are offering not only the POT but the fare paying passengers better service and value, with many more vehicle and types of vehicle than the hackney trade could offer, this is not meant as a snipe its just the way it has turned out

Andy

the dispatchers at our office do not get involved with the taking of work and with the computer being automatic dispatch the dispatcher only gets to deal with the jobs that the computer can not find a match for after a number of minutes and several attempts !

so to many operational things to contend with for a dispatcher to do it ! it would become very obviously to the room of staff around him between 5/10 call takers, plus a radio enquiries channel operator,

the computer only gives the dispatchers any work it has failed to find a car for so it would be incredibly lucky if it happened to be the long job and his mate free ! not impossible but as much chance of winning lottery ! i will also say nothing is impossible but with all the staff around (unless everyone of them is in on it) it would be obvious, and if all 5 plus staff are in on it he then needs to get by why he took the car of auto dispatch as this sends a report to management.

maybe the modern Newcastle office you worked for does not have the same passion as we do to make sure everyone is equal and gets their fare share. your still welcome to come and see it as you lot still wont believe what goes on behind OUR doors !!

ian, you will defend your business to the grave, and quite rightly so. at least you don’t hide under a rock and come on here a talk to people in the trade, for better or worse.

But i don’t belive that for one minute that your ‘dispatchers’ (desk clerks) are constantly that busy that they are not able to send a quick text after taking a say, job to edinburgh. And no driver would mind dragging himself 20 miles or more if he knew there was a job worth £’s at the end of it.

I could be wrong, but ‘modern trade’ or not, the same problems with offices still, and in my opinion, will always exist. Favorites get looked after, and always will.

P.S. I have worked for a very large ‘modern’ office in newcastle, and I would imagine that they have more or less the same ‘dispatch’ per driver ratio as you do, and I lasted 1 month there.

Thankyou for your offer anyway, but I am quite content on the street.

‘BLT driver and proud of it’ – Blue Line propagander at it’s best!
like others most BLT drivers I speak to that are hounest admit they struggle, but dont we all at the moment. Others who cannot look you in the eye when they talk to you, take home in excess of £1,000 per week, oh and only work part time!

‘Mr. Ian Shanks’ – your offer of 2 weeks free bit to see if you can make what you say we can, well, really it is not worth jack. for we all know that the first 2 week at ANY office results in you being ‘fed’ some of the better jobs to get you think that its a great place to be. And when things go quiet you stay in the hope that things pick up again! I bet you have a copy of the Art of War on a shelf lying around?

I have worked for several offices in Newcastle and currently a hack driver, and to be hounest I find this more lucrative and at least I make my own luck, not a ‘bent deskclerk in an office. i recently had a desk clerk for one of the ‘big’ firms in newcastle say that it wasnt possible to be ‘bent’ with data heads, yeah right so people dont have mobiles?

And finally, this trade’s always been the same, when it’s good it’s good, when it’s bad it’s bad. not that it helps with the berwick situation.

“oh, hello wayne.”

Charva

oh, hello wayne.

‘the judge is clever enough to see the problems here but i am not convinced he can see the ramifications of any judgement he may decided upon? but lets wait and see.’

Now that is worrying….strange choice of a judge though.

CC

Names or alias’ don’t matter here, nobody’s slating anyone. I for one appreciate your updates on the case Ian. They’re the only news we have of the case at the moment. I would still vote for Hacks on the street and P/H in an office. Market forces would truly come to bear then. If a driver wants to work P/H then why would he need a Hack licence? There would be a much leveller playing field. For years P/H moaned about Hacks having two bites of the cherry and used that to justify any Flimping they may do.Taxis work Ranks and take Hailings from the street and P/H carry out the phone work.Doesn’t that sound quite natural? Just my opinion, I’ll survive whatever the outcome and so will you and everyone else involved in this situation that,between us we have brought about ourselves.

This comment is scaremongering from the two biggest P/H operators on North Tyneside (Buttonites All)personally in our situation if the Law said that no Hack could work Private Hire it would please me. As I spend most of my weekend queuing up behind Private hire in the guise of Hacks who have already made their money and now come onto the street to take some of mine. I know they are Hacks and are entitled but without an office they could not carry on and would be forced to go back from whence they came (Private Hire) and give back the streets to the Hacks.You would have to have worked here to understand what I mean.We have 200+ Hacks where there used to be 100 but we have roughly 75% less in the nighttime economy than we did. Thus 200 Hacks are vying for 25% of what 100 Hacks used to have 100% of! Confused? Sorry but I know what I mean and I’m sure a lot of Local Hacks do too.

MR Shanks hang your head in shame with your side kick and his for ever servant ,wake up ! the bloody drivers who depend on your company and the drivers that depend on other companys along side the hack trade are struggling , its not big nor clever the whole berwick scenario ,every legit driver who thinks the so called loop hole was to benefit them by avoiding council MOT`s & CRB checks along side the cheap fee`s wake up man it was about licensing drivers who don’t meet the criteria, be they polish or other ethnics ,& i’m no bigot I just believe in a level playing field if it`s good enough for me then it is for every one else who wants to work in my area too , I get great pleasure of informing the general public who are apalled at the situation of whom started this and to why they wanted it and it wasn’t down to providing a better service no it was in the name of profit.

Referring to this court case, why cant it be as simple as this: you plate your car in Berwick YOU WORK IN BERWICK, you plate your car in NORTH TYNESIDE YOU WORK IN NORTH TYNSIDE, and so on and so on ????

i am in London attending the court case as we speak !

i am getting the feeling you are not fully aware of what the case is to resolve !

the only thing that is being asked by Newcastle is that if berwick continue to issue plates they ask one simply question !

that’s is “WILL YOU IF GRANTED A LICENCE WORK WITHIN THE BOUROUGH” all applicants will simply say yes, ! the judge has already questioned that the length of time the applicant may be required to work berwick could be as long as it takes to driver out the town !

no one can say how long it must be, if this were the result what has been achieved ?

another argument which is being put is that hackneys should not carry out any private hire work unless they have both a private hire plate on there vehicles and hold a private hire badge ! this could bring much upset but is unlikely to win as you can not get a hackney carriage to apply the private hire vehicle policies in many cases.

its certainly a buggers muddle and even the judge has said this is more complex than one might think as the ramifications could be bad.

those words of “BE CAREFULL WHAT YOU WISH FOR” come to mind

well the so called day of reckoning, lets hope for a satifactory outcome for the sake of the industry and our lively hoods on north tyneside & newcastle amongst other places, some how i dont think we`ll be popping champange down the coast for a while not with the record of you know who up in Killingworth …but even if the out of town plates are eradicated by the pied piper somehow the very few people who ill edvised Mr Wilson up in Berwick that licensing cars and drivers that he`ll never see will move on to some thing else to just to make that extra penny profit ,at the heart ache of every driver whether it be Hack or P/H ,but be warned if Berwick wins its case every above board driver trying to scratch a living your days will be numbered !!!!

RM!
Nice to see a honest BLT driver on here!!!!!!!
I know a Guy who works at BLT who likes Mr Shanks, but still states that the work during the day is very poor, he feels that anyone who can do £100 on normal day time hours is a “blue – Line eyed Boy”.

Steve!
Mr Lighthouse Keeper and Myself at times address Shanksy as Mr Shanks because despite disagreements, he still is a successful Businessman who deserves respect!, this is the WWW. remember!
Also Mr Shanks’s only scathing on here came from one of his own Drivers “micky” on a earlier posting!….obviously micky does not earn £120 a day like BLT Driver!
I hear and stress HEAR that Mr Shank’s sidekick is taking a Driver to court for defamation, so it’s fair to be careful what you say!
Regards
Central Enthusiast

No, I didn’t miss your point Ian Shanks. I bet a Co-op could run the same business as you for around £50 weekly rent! That would be a £50 investment with a potential return of up to £700. You see a Co-op is for the benefit of the workforce not a single owner.When you do away with the owners’ wages you can cut down on Rent!

Hello Ian

This may surprise you, but I do agree with a lot of what you are saying in your last comment about any ideas about starting a workers co-operative Association Company and the Corporation Tax and VAT etc, etc.

Most people who go on about the IDEA, and I am not one of them, may I just make clear, who like the idea of a worker owned company, but I fear they would not be prepared to put up the kind of investment money required to make it successful along with all the headaches that would come with any such venture.

We are in a recession where even if someone was prepared to risk all they had to give it a go, they may find the banks would not be willing to assist in the current climate.

I would therefore conclude a status quo of what is already out there will remain unless the ones who want the idea, actually do what is required to establish the workers co-operative instead of just pushing for someone else to take up the challenge.

THEREFORE THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER, (NOT IAN SHANKS) CHALLENGES THE DRIVERS TO GO OUT AND SET IT UP THEMSELVES INSTEAD OF JUST PUTTING IT FORWARD ON HERE FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO TAKE ALL THE RISKS INVOLVED OR ARE YOU DRIVERS NOT PREPARED TO RISK WHAT YOU HAVE ALREADY, TO START IT GOING?

I do not want any arguements about this, as it will become very clear if only DEBATING ON THE SUBJECT CONTINUES, THAT IT IS NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR VENTURE.

A co-operative is what I think the last commenter had in mind.Taxi co-ops can and have been very successful in recent years,one of the most successful taxi companies in the UK, Computer Cabs in London, was built around a small fleet of black cabs wanting to offer customers a better deal. The firm was floated on the AIM stockmarket in 1997 with a flotation value of 8.5 Million pounds and now has a fleet of 3,700 taxis, taking over 13,000 bookings a day. You make the Money you pay the Tax! We’re all businessmen here and as such we all understand the ins and outs of accounting. I for one would be keen to have a go at a co-operative. I think it would be interesting and as each member would be an owner I think they would work harder at making a success of such a venture. Maybe,Maybe not.

Ive been watching this site for a while now and its all very fine and dandy how much yous claim to earn at BLT but i think its time to start taking things more seriously and get back to reality,someone mentioned before on this site about ph and hacks all getting together and have one office to benefit every driver not the owners of these offices who are getting rich through our hard work. We no it can be done, the reality of it is every one would have to stick together and being in touch with the right people we could make it happen. Why pay these extortionate fees what these offices are charging when we could create one big office at less than half the rent they are charging now and actually make some money, lets face it these big operators are rich now through some hard work of their own but mainly through their drivers making them rich.

Hello Ian and BLT

I am SORRY if last nights comments by me were not taken as a bit of fun with Stephen (Central Enthusiast), to try to have a bit of light hearted banter instead of always being serious on here.

I have not become doubtful again, as I will go on to explain.

My original point was about the £10 Minimum Figure with the £7.40 expences figure giving that a vehicle for 10 hours worked out at £5.00p an Hour and fuel at around £2.40p an Hour for 14 Miles if the vehicle returned 7 Miles to a Litre of fuel and I GUESSED 14 MILES PER HOUR BEFORE THIS LITTLE EXPERIMENT STARTED. I did if you recall say in 2006, I thought £13 per Hour was the average generated working in the Private Hire Industry over a 3 Month Period back then, and I stress back then.

The BLT Driver Figures were granted only over 8 Hours, 8 Hours and 4 Hours and completed in their own vehicle of course, but lets look at them and I think we will both agree hopefully at the end of this, that in a way we are both right.

Monday £124.40 divided by 8 Hours = £15.55p
Mileage was 126 Miles divided by 8 Hours = 15.7 Miles an Hour

Tuesday £111.60 divided by 8 Hours = £13.95p
Mileage was 121 Miles divided by 8 Hours = 15.1 Miles an Hour

Wednesday £48.80 divided by 4 Hours = £12.20p
Mileage was 54 Miles divided by 4 Hours = 13.5 Miles an Hour

This exercise lasted only two and a half days generating £284.80p divided by 20 Hours = £14.24p an Hour and the Mileage was 301 Miles divided by 20 Hours = 15 Miles per Hour

Now if you take the £250 Vehicle Rent originally stated for 5 Days and reduce it to £125 as the experiment lasted only two and a half days then divided by the 20 Hours worked (Not 25 Hours as experiment was 8 Hour Days not 10) it equals £6.25p an Hour and then as we have 15 Miles in the Hour(not 14 Miles)we for this example will still show vehicle doing around 7 Miles to a Litre meaning at £1.20p a Litre a cost of £2.40p an Hour as not all vehicles will return 42 MPG.

This raises the £7.40p figure to around £8.65p as this example only worked 8 Hour Days, but as the £10 per Hour Minimum Figure has also risen to around £14.24p then a Driver on these figures would have made around £5.59p an Hour Gross if they had rented the Vehicle is what this little experiment has established on dayshift.

This little experiment therefore and I hope you will both agree proves around £14 can be generated per hour and around 15 Miles could be operated in an Hour to generate that £14.

I am a very fair and reasonable man who only ever wanted to debate this issue not argue about it, and therefore hope we have not all fallen out over this matter.

My name is Dave, as we are being open and honest hopefully at last and as I said in an earlier posting, should I ever not have my other Contractual Obligations then I would happily accept the trail period to see things for myself, just like I did in 2006 and my vehicle is a July 2003 vehicle with full leather trim that I purchased in September 2006 when it was 3 years old and therefore is not an old rust bucket you will be happy to hear and well serviced to the highest standards.

Take Care All.