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Long,Long ago in 1985 the now owner of the very successful East Coast Taxis drove a Private Hire car out of North East Minicabs, based at the Esplanade in Whitley Bay. The weekly rent at that time was £25 per week. There were set fares in place as follows £6.50 Newcastle, £5.50 Blyth & £8.50 to the Airport. This was 23 years ago you will have noticed.
So when Drivers come on this site calling Hacks ‘Scumbags who drive £200 Mondeos’ I don’t get it!
What’s a Hack done to you? Your Rent Collectors are charging you in excess of £100 per week, even more if you choose to buy a car from them on the never,never, to earn coppers more than you would have at £25 a week 23 years ago.
Commenters have said “Take a Long look at yourselves” well I have and I still don’t get it. I don’t cough up hundreds to anyone to make my living, I go to work using the Rates prescribed by the Local Authority. What are we to look at? Maybe you are Blinded by words like “we strive to enhance our drivers earnings” I don’t really care that Drivers are willing to pay 2008 rent for 1980′s rates, that’s entirely up to them.
Cut rate Taxi firms rely on the Hackney Carriage Fare table being in place it gives them a point at which they will not go above, It perpetuates the “Rip Off Hack” Tag.They also rely on the Hacks getting a Fare increase on a regular basis so that they can raise their rates but what will happen if the Scumbag Hacks decide not to have a Fare Increase, We might be wise to sit it out and wait for the offices to catch up, Level the playing field a bit. We did just that about 15 years ago and for a time there was very little difference in Fares between the two trades. What eventually pushed our rates back up was a massive increase in numbers of Hack Licences, Due in part to protests by Private Hire drivers who all wanted to be Hacks.
Recent Fuel price fluctuations have been a minor irritation to the Hacks, I won’t say it hasn’t been tough, but it has been bearable as we are on a pretty decent rate. In 1988 a Gallon of Diesel was £1.57 we were charging roughly the rate then that Private are charging now but we were doing it for £1.57 a Gallon. You are now paying £5.45 a Gallon. I can only assume that Hacks are Scumbags because of this!
All of this pales into insignificance if Berwick wins their case in September. North Tyneside Council could potentially lose upwards of £230,000 per annum in lost revenue from test fees and badges. facing that kind of loss they might possibly see no reason for the existence of private hire as everyone has gone and got a Berwick plate. They might then pull the Rabbit out of the hat and say ” O.K. lads n’ Lasses you can all be ‘North Tyneside scumbag Hacks’ (to quote from Big Silvers comment)
Who loses? All Taxi Drivers, I mean “All Taxi Drivers” The office owners lose nothing they can only gain more Rents and maybe even raise them a bit more often. What else are you going to do? Now that there are a thousand scumbags all trying to get into South Parade. You will have to pay the Rent,whatever it costs because that’s the only way to make your living. If pointing this Obvious truth out makes me even more of a Scumbag well O.K but don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Oh Yeah! and the Council will want some of the action they will bang the test fees up a bit and probably add a few new charges aswell. Most of all, those that call Hacks Silly names, for no apparent reason other than they exist, will have no one to hate as we will all be Scumbags together,Brothers at last. Who will we Blame? Every single one of us!
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{ 118 comments… read them below or add one }
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P.s I should not get so wound up as looking to get out off as you Cannot make a living out of this down here…!!!! Just feel for the one’s who want to try and make a living without working 90hrs a week
DO YOU LOT WORK IN WESTON-SUPER-MARE???
lol you should try it…not
“”"”In the following ‘SCUMBAG’ refers to someone ph or hack who will not sort a difference for a better cause but 100% true!!”"”
Where SCUMBAG HACKS who work for private hire firms and the SCUMBAG P/H who work for same firm will not stick together…and sort out the BIGGEST SCUMBAGS OF THEM ALL..(private hire firm in weston)……….
“the firm!!!!!” (all seen that film the little man gets screwed???)
NOTE!!!!! I refer all to being a scumbag in weston private hire or hack who can read the following and say your wrong!!!!
It WAS good until the owner of a Private hire firm called Apple central put a COMPLETE bully in charge and moved away. Fares never went up and more cars got took on WITHOUT work to cover.
Mr Thacker who is the manager is totally unaproachable has put the fairs up buy 60 pence across the board in nearly 7 YEARS!!!!YES 60 IN 7 YEARS.. you get 60p more to go to heathrow as you did 7 ish years ago.. 120 mile journey…a lie sorry he put out of town fares up.. still no more than £2.00 in the that time.. DUHH.. HELLO.
As they are the biggest and all the drivers (most) who pay them are spineless and will not get together we are all screwed. The only persons gaining are the the owners. 100% more drivers no proper fare increase. Rather than taking the bull by the horns and trying to bring things inline they choose not to…
So much so that after a rather clever hack fair rise in line with a lot of places went fare and a quarter after midnight.
Strangly all the drivers who are hack (a lot of them because of a cheat sheet) left them and plyed leaving them in the £$”£%!!!
Forcing them to go fare and half to compete…
It would seem Mr Thacker has a degree in maths from pLaYsKoOl.
because he is convinced that all are better off.
They have doubled there fleet since 7 years ago. the fares have gone up by an average of 0.3% a year.
All I can say is you lot in Weston are clearly DUMB… and you all know where to find me!!!!
Off soap box now…..
p.s Mr Thacker if you read this and wish to defend yourself you are more than welcome as you cannot…. cannot defend it and do not have the balls to approach me, as I have asked many many times!!!!
It appears that their could be a new topic “the locality/knowledge Test”.
If the Test is so hot property, then why does everyone have a SatNav??, nearly all NT & NC drivers have SatNavs, if we need them, then we are no better than the Boys from Berwick.
The NT Test is bloody defunct!!!!!!!!!!
Most of the places of interest in North Tyneside have either closed or changed names, look at the state of Whitley Bay???
Mr Shanks had a point about working out the Borough and not needing the Test, for example if you opened a Office in Earsden, you would probably do a lot of work in Northumberland/Blyth Valley, ie Deleval, Seaton Sluice etc and Holywell.
Local Authorities are in the wrong anyway having a Pass mark of 90%, do you know what a Pass mark is at some Universities????…40%!!!, so Nurses, Teachers. Physio’s, the people in the public sector/NHS & local Authority that you depend on to patch you up after a accident or deliver education to your kids can pass their exams at 41%, and yet someone who drives Chavs, penny pinching plastic snobs, single mothers that litter your boot with crumbs from a Greggs sausage roll and drug dealers, have to pass a test at 90%??????
Not good is it!
Regards
Stephen
Captain Cab, you seen this new website http://www.nomoretaxis.co.uk/ stumbled across it in the pages of ‘infront Taxi Mag.’
Ian Shanks for Prime Minister, A Ginger Muppet for Chancellor & Stephen FKA etc as chief Spin Doctor…World Crisis Solved…
just do it then and publish on here?
why don’t we all, under the freedom of information act apply to North tyneside council for the information regarding licensing policies & the zoning policies & lets see who can park where or zone where ? i bet it makes very interesting reading especialy down the coast ?
not only the serious issue of why mr wilson woke up one morning & decided the way forward for Berwicks finances was to plate & license galore, knowing full well they would never work the streets of Berwick needs to be investigated so too does the need why some one at the port of tyne suddenly thought lets make money out of the Taxi trade ? by charging them to provide a service ? the more we all keep shouting to as why! maybe some one up top will start to think the same….
Just a quick comment to Mr Shankscomment about local knowledge,and the fact that London has no limit on plates.
Firstly,local knowledge,I would have thought,would be essential in our trade,the `satnav` idea is fine as far as it goes,but it is not 110% upto date,or accurate.
Just this wednesday gone,9th oct. we had a driver on a berwick plate.though I admit NOT one of Mr Shanks cars,but possibly tested by him,askes to take some people from the west midlands,back to the Stonebrook travel inn,at Holystone/Shiremoor.The driver was told the place was on the Silverlink,but mistook Silverlink with Silver Lonnen in Fenham.
On top of that,the said driver didn`t want to let the people out of his car until they had paid his fare,until some legitimate drivers persuaded him otherwise and took his passengers where they wanted to be.
Drivers in Newcastle are getting this more times than not,1 passenger asked me last night if I knew where south gosforth was,another asked if i knew where Tynemouth was, what the hell is going on with our trade that drivers have no idea where these places are,amongst others.
If Mr Shanks thinks that local knowledge is unnessesasary.then why do so many councils up and down the country insist on it,and why is the London `Knowledge` regarded as the best in the world.
London `Black cabs` as im sure we all know must have an intimate knowledge of London,and are regularly checked on it,while `satnav` will get you around London,it maynot take you the shortest route or get you around traffic,where local knowledge will and in the case of a taxi,where mileage counts,a damn site cheaper than a silicone chip.
Satnav will take you down the A1 from Newcastle to Durham,then the A690 into Durham City,cost between £35 and £38 pounds.
If you go through Low Fell,A1,Chester Le St,A167 direct into Durham its about £32/34 pounds now…if that.
We are supposed to go the shortest routes…are we not!
Secondly,as Mr Shanks points out,quite correctly,there is NO limit on Londons plates,in fact there is a recognised shortage of cabs in the Capital,but to get a plate takes on average about 2/3 years I believe to do `The Knowledge` and obtain the Green Badge.
Theis applies irrespective of culture,race,creed or any other such issue. Even little green men from Mars have to do `The Knowledge` if they want a badge.
In that case,is Mr Shanks seriously trying to say his idea of no local knowledge,and you get to know the area as you go,is a better way to go.
I doubt many councils will go down that road,far better idea I would say is we follow Londons lead and improve our local knowledge,be far more proffesional.
Incidentally,in London,when a plate is finished with,it cant be sold on,it has to go back to the PCO and reissued,and London cabs cannot pick up fares outside of the Metropolitan District,unless booked,so no real difference there…think about that Mr Shanks.
No heavily tinted windows,body kits,stupid exhaust pipes,and only approved advertising allowed on cabs. Definitly NO BERWICK plates working as `hacks` in London…the drivers would deal with them.
ADMIN
your point needs to be taken up with the POT or North tyneside Council (good luck with the council) all i can say is i was offered a business opportunity and i gave it my best shot and got it as anyone else would ! you say its a public place, it is my belief this land is private land and not owned by NTMBC in the sense POT pay for it so therefore is there decision who they choose to operate from there
SAM
as a so called business man if i asked people to tender, then received a £1 bid i would take that as a bloody insult. So while the trade do provide the service, you need to realize that everyone makes money of our backs from the council to the store owners and the revenue services, and all we are is money making machines for other people and that’s the way of the world. We just have to make enough to pay everyone and be left a little for our selves !
Ian… I thought you were a businessman, the £1 was a nomimal bid, a token sum, peppercorn rent, call it what you want. It was the POT who insisted on tender documents being placed with them, we were simply making the point that it is US who were providing the service, so why pay for it ? Anyway, now that the Norwegian ferry is no longer running, the “boats” are not worth a toss.
My main concern is that the operation down there is not being operated legally, if you want i will gladly post the plate number and the comments that a certain driver made. And if you want i will tell the story of a blueline driver who took £60 off a Norwegian for a trip from North Shields to the boat.
Finally, i can assure you i am neither greedy or naive.
firstly im a south shields taxi driver and office owner and would like to make a few comments if i may. Whats the problem youve all got with blt you say that its imposible to make that kind of money and mr shanks says it is he has offered 2 weeks free rent to anyone who doubts it. now you cant get fairer than that so take the guy up on his offer and do it then come and put your findings up on here. no one can deny that blt are doing the job right and i can tell you from personal experience that running a office is not easy because when the crap does hit the fan its the owner that has to get the mop out and start to clean it up and to get where they are today they have done well.
the present economic climite is not a good one so in times like this we should all try and pull in the same direction
I’m not on any horse let alone a high one. The whole point of having a Hack is that you don’t have to pay to get work, that’s the Private Hire industry you’re thinking of. My point about the Ferry Terminal is simple. There was a Hackney Carriage Rank there for a lot of years why should it have been removed just because someone had a contract down there. There are pubs and clubs all over Tyneside with Taxi/P/H contracts but Ranks are not removed because of them. When the Terminal was revamped several years ago POT wanted to move the Rank but NTMBC flatly refused saying “private land or no,this Rank is NTMBC property and will remain where it is” So why was it moved this time? I’ve got no argument with you, you are there cause you paid to be there but the Council should not have allowed that Rank to be moved. Fact is I’ve lost work and am not now able to ply for hire in a certain public place within North Tyneside which is what my Licence supposedly allows me to do and somebody should be able to give me and every other NT HC an explanation as to why. I’m sure You, Ian would not sit back and say nowt if you thought you had been wrongly treated,would you? Mr.Glass took the photograph he didn’t write the article and he doesn’t ride horses either.
Oh, I think I know that very hairy Ginger haired muppet, do you mean (edited)
each time the contract is up for renewal they will want a little more, and eash time it happens the cost will be passed onto the drivers, hackney or office. We ALL already pay too much just to go to work!
A hotel in newcastle had a ‘contract’ with a newcastle firm, unitil a gateshead firm offered the ‘manager’ a cash payment for the ‘contract’. He went to the existing company and basicly said “they are willing to pay me £xxx how much will you pay me?” to which he wqas told the same, WE PROVIDE A SERVICE TO YOU!
Now the gateshead firm have this ‘contract’
firstly they treat it as a rank, continuly ranking there assuming that they have every job that comes out. NOW YOU DON’T, THAT IS PLYING FOR HIRE, AND FLIMPING IF THE JOB IS NOT PRE BOOKED WITH THE OFFICE. Any job that walks out is, a newcastle hack flag down.
But sceondly, and more importantly how valid is the ‘contract’? I mean could newcastle enforcement ask to see a copy of this contract? As I dont suppose it exits as we already know that if you go above the manager and ask who there cobtract is with, then you are told that the hotel chain dont hold contrcats with taxi firms.
sam !!
no wonder you lost it !! because if i were the PORT OF THE TYNE receiving a tender from you lot at a £1 i would take that as a very big insult and i would teach you a lesson as they did.
what was your idea of insulting the POT with £1
that’s the level of you lot you believe you should not have to pay for work but then charge the maximum you can to the fare paying customer and keep asking for more from the councils.
your the greedy and naive one !!!
“who is the ginger haired muppet”
Beaker?
sam who is the ginger haired muppet
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