Birthdays and time off

Yesterday was my Birthday and so I decided on a day off work mainly just to recover from the night before as I was out at a local pub playing my guitar and singing and as I wasn't driving I decided that I would have one or two drinks after the gig and celebrate my birthday with a few friends.

All in all it was a very good night and I am looking forward to playing there again in January 2010. Had a great birthday as well and today I`m back at work.

Why is it that time off seems to go ten times faster than time spent at work. It was good while it lasted and now back to the grindstone.

Wheres that at?

Wheres that at? Its a question that from time to time a driver will ask, especially if he is new or uncertain and theres no problem with that as its better to ask rather than the job run late due to not being able to get to it.

However, we do have a little laugh from time to time at the drivers expence, mainly due to them reading the info on the screen incorrectly.

The system works by sending the job details to the driver. The details usually include the pick up address, the customer name and the type of car required such as a 6 seater or an 8 seater, an estae car or a saloon car.

On this one occasion it was a saloon car required at the railway station so on the screen appeared the word "STATION" and the word "SALOON".

It was quite amusing when the driver contacted the office to ask if it was a new pub and wanted to know where the "STATION SALOON" was.

System Upgrade

Its been one of those weeks where I have spenmt more time in the office than out on the road as the firm is changing over onto a new system for the taking and dispatch of taxi fares to the driver.

The new system uses GPS technology together with a PDA , internet and a mobile phone network allowing the taxi driver to work in a safer environment without having to use a two way radio.

We have been phasing this technolgy in for a few week and the drivers seem very happy about it. However, it has meant me spending a lot of time in the office dealing with this and I guess the same is to come for the next few weeks and trherefore it means that not as many storys can be told if I`m not out on the road to hear them so bear with me til things get back to normal. I`ll try and keep you updated with latest events.

Meanwhile, you can now book your cab by text message or you can do it on line at the website www.838383.co.uk

London Cabbies

Not sure how true this is but a passenger I picked up this week tells me that a mate of his is a taxi driver in London and can take £600 for 5 hours work.

My passenger tells me he got a taxi from North London to South London and it costs him just short of £50 and their meters start on £4.50p

It seems a lot of money and to earn £600 in 5 hours equates to £120 per hour.

London fares may be more expensive than ours but there again ethers a lot of ground to cover as London is a large place but if we were to start our meters on £4.50p I think there would be a public outcry up here.

Every Little Helps

Quite often I pick up a fare from Tesco and take them home. They pay the fare and I help them unload their goods but this week I pick up a fare and I take them home. The fare was £4.10p They paid me a five pound note and told me to keep the change.

With the £5 note was a Tesco receipt and I passed it back to him saying he had given me his receipt with the fiver. He then told me that it was a little extra for me as Tesco have a promotion on where if you spend more than £50 on goods then you get 2p per litre off your fuel and as my fare didnt drive, he passed it on to me.

Not bad then, a 90p tip and a voucher for 2p per litre off fuel.

Figuring it out

I picked up 6 girls and took them into Barrow. They asked me if I could turn the music up on the radio and so I did. My radio display is part of the cars computer and this is what is normally displayed.


To explain it a bit it shows the time, the temperature and the radio station. (The 218 miles was how much fuel I had left)


Anyway this computerised thing in the car tells you when you have a blown bulb or if your oil or coolant level is low and also tells you if your windscreen washer fluid is low.



I was really surprised to hear the girl sat in the front seat say this and I quote.
"Is there really a radio station called "Washer Fluid Level"?"

I was so surprised by what she said that I told her that there must be if that's what it said and she went on to ask me what frequency it was on. I didnt have the heart to try and attempt to explain to this dimwit that it was warning me that my washer fluid was low.





At the end of the journey I asked for an £18 fare to which she took out her mobile phone and used the calculator on it to divide the £18 into 6 people and then blurts out to everyone that it will be £3.00 each but then asked if one of her friends could check it on their phone just in case her calculator is faulty.

I`ve said it before... Some people are only alive cos its illegal to shoot them

Passenger forgets taxi

Picked a fare up today from a local pub. He was very drunk but happy with it. He wanted me to take him to a local shop so he could buy some more beer. I did this and he asked me to wait whilst he went in the shop.

5 minutes went by and no sign of him. I thought that he cant be far away as he is a regular fare so I gave it a few more minutes and I failed to see him come out of the shop and walk off down the street so I`m still sat there outside the shop waiting. I knew he would be back as he left some things in the car including his jacket and house keys.

Another couple of minutes and nothing so I decided to get the callers number and ring him back. He answered, apologised to me and sai d he was at home and forgot I was there and to call round and get the fare. I did this. He got his belongings out the cab and I got my fare which had clocked up nicely on the meter.

He was very apologetic, said he had been celebrating and was drunk and when I asked him what he was celebrating. he said.... Super Sunday......

Its now November and the last Super Sunday was at the end of August.

Confused

I was sent to pick up a fare on Walney Island when I pulled up outside the house and this elderly man from next door came out and jumped in the cab. He asked me where his lady friend was and why I hadn't picked her up first.

Scratching my head I told him that this wasn't his taxi but he insisted that it was and that he wanted to know why I hadn't picked his lady friend up. I asked him where from and it was pretty much around the corner so I thought if I`m only going to be a few minutes then I would take him round the corner.

I did this only for him to find that his lady friend wasn't at home. I knew now what had happened. He had rang a different taxi company at the same time that my fare had booked me and he thought I was for him The best thing I could do was take him back home and as luck would have it, his taxi was outside his house complete with his lady friend in the back seat.

The other taxi driver had panicked wondering where he was and thought he may have fell ill in the house. I managed to get the elderly man out of my car and re-united with his lady friend but with all this happening and not knowing how long I was going to be sorting this out I decided to contact my office and get them to send another car to my job.

The whole incident lasted about 10 minutes and I lost a job through it but I couldn't very well throw a 97 year old man out of my car onto the cold street.

At least all worked out OK for them. He found his lady friend and she was relieved that he was OK. It was just a genuine mistake on his behalf but after talking to the other driver I was told that this couple are a regular fare of theirs and he is 97 years old and gets very confused.

I`m just glad that all was sorted and I didn't mind losing a fare as the health of a 97 year old is more important

Access all areas

One of this weeks fares was two ladies, one was elderly and in a wheelchair and the other was able bodied and in her early 50s. I picked them both up from a house in the Town Centre and took them home where upon asking for the fare of £4.20p I was given a £10 note and told to take £7 out of it.

What a generous tip I thought to myself and it was too. I got £7 for a £4.20p fare. I opened the boot of the car and removed the ladies wheelchair. She didnt need it for short distances as she could walk a little bit so her friend insisted on taking the wheelchair in so in effect all I had to do was put in in the boot of the car and take it out at the destination and this earned me the tip.

The elderly lady thanked me for taking her wheelchair and went on to tell me that she felt a burden to people and always paid the extra for drivers to carry her wheelchair. She said she knew she didnt have to pay the extra but felt guilty if she didn't as the drivers are so helpful.

This got me thinking that its really nice to have praise for our drivers but why should an elderly disabled person feel compelled to give a large tip just because thet are in a wheelchair?

Its not right that they should feel like this and I suppose its down to the individual driver if they accept the tip. If you do accept it then you feel as if you've got extra because she is disabled. If you don't accept the tip then you offend the person that's giving it you, so you cant really win.

I just don't think its right that elderly or disabled people that need a little help from the driver should feel they have to tip a lot more as a way of saying thank you. After all, helping our customers in and out the car with or without any luggage is all part of the job description and people like this shouldn't have to feel compelled to pay more.

We don't charge any extra for wheelchairs and never will do. Its all part of the service that we provide. We look after the customer but some customers that feel they have to give a large tip because we took their wheelchair and helped them with it.

As in her words and not mine "You took my wheelchair and lifted it in and out the car for me and I feel guilty that you have to do this and I dont want to be a burden to anyone so please take it". were her exact words.

I didnt want to take the extra money after hearing this story and tried to give her it back but she insisted and told me that if I didn't take it then she would feel guilty about asking for my help.

Mr Jobsworth

This week I was parked outside the local "Subway" shop when a traffic Warden... Oops, I mean Civil Enforcement Officer (Thats what they are called now) came up to me and told me I couldnt park there.

I looked around and there was no yellow lines and no signposts saying I couldnt park but he was adamamt that the whole area was restricted. This could easily confuse a lot of drivers as part of the street has double yellow lines meaning dont park and the other part of the street doesnt have any markings which now means "Don`t park" I didnt argue with him as I couldnt be bothered and just moved off.

About an hour later I was waiting at the local train station for a fare when one of their own private wardens approaced me and told me I couldnt wait there without putting money in the "pay and display" machine. This annoyed me and I told him I was waiting for the train to arrive as I had a fare and he was having none of it so I moved to the near by telephone exchange about 20 yards up the road and waited there.

He approached me and warned me to move otherwise he would give me a ticket. I told him that it wasn't railway land and he was out of his jurisdiction to which he started taking photos of where my car was parked so I got out and took a photo of him.

He then changed his tune and said that he would give me a verbal warning not to park there.

It was only a few week ago that Bob (The owner of this blog) had very similar issues and probably with the same Jobsworth.

I have been told by the local council that their wardens are not on any bonuses relating to the number of tickets issued but I beg to differ. There are lots of tickets issued every day and of those that are appealed then it seems the council are not prepared to listen and innocent motorists have been issued tickets.

I do think that traffic wardens get more bonuses the more tickets they issue but ask any of them and they will deny it.

I found a rather comical clip on the internet (below) and seem to get the impression that this could really happen

Emergency Call

Its not every day that you get an urgent call to get you to the hospital but I felt really sorry for the two young boys I picked up this week when they asked me to get them to the hospital casualty department as quick as I could.

They started telling me their story of how they were a happy family, just the two brothers and their mother when all of a sudden without any warning whatsoever that the mother suffered a stroke. Apparantly she is only 53 years old I was told and the two boys were quite upset not knowing what was going to happen. I got them to the casualty department and wished then the best of luck and hoped that things weren't too bad but I couldn't help but think afterwards how lucky we all are.

Someone once said to me that theres always someone worse off than yourself. We take everything for granted and one day it could happen to anyone of us and from that day on your life and the lives of the people around you are changed forever.

All I can say to you is enjoy life while you can as you never know whats round the corner., I felt really saddened for these two young lads as there life will now change forever, and from such a young age.

They did tell me that whatever happens that they love their mum and will do whatever they can to look after her.

If only more families were as caring for each other like this. There's too many people out there that think of only themselves and only visit family as and when they want something. Life's too short. Give someone close a hug today.. Go on.. do it right now.. Tell them that you love them. Just do it and see the smile on their face.

After all, this is life. We only get one chance at it. Its not a rehearsal, its the real thing ...

So live it........

Bread and Gutter

This week I picked up a passenger who had been to a local supermarket to buy supplies to sell in his own shop. He loaded the car with numerous goods which included about 15 loaves of cheap supermarket bread which he was to then sell in his own shop for a bigger profit.

Whilst unloading the bread at his shop, one of the loaves of bread spilt open and about 4 or 5 slices landed in the gutter. I would have expected the passenger to throw this loaf away but to my dismay he just calmly picked up the bread, put it back in the wrapper and re-sealed it ready to place on a shelf in his shop for sale.

He didn't seem to think it was wrong and didn't seem to care as all he was interested in was the taxi fare which was 20 pence higher than what it should have been because he asked me to wait whilst he went into an off licence to by alcohol for his shop.

He also pointed out to me that I shouldn't charge him for waiting as he was a regular customer but I pointed out to him that it was my living and if he wanted me to wait then he has to pay for it. He expects very cheap taxis but sells his goods at raised prices and moaned at me over the fare costing an extra 20 pence.

Compensation

You may well remember that I mentioned that I had an incident occur on Boxing Day last year and the case went to court in January this year with the courts awarding me £100 compensation...

Well, finally, after 10 months of waiting I have received my first instalment of £20 which is being paid monthly. The first payemt arrived this week so I guess I will have to wait til the end of March 2010 for the final payment.

I really cant see the court awarding compensation when the defendant doesnt even miss it and can pay it at £5 per week.

If you missed the original post then take a look HERE

Counting the pennies

It seems to me that this is not a one off thing but a regular occurrence between most drivers and their customers. Usually its a bunch of young lads or girls and its the same routine everytime.

At the end of the journey you ask for the fare. In last nights example the fare was £4.50p so I would have thought it would be easy for the fare to hand over a £5 note and I give her 50p change but no......

I`m parked up in the Town Centre whilst these girls take a good 4 minutes to start counting out their money to pay me. After adding up all the small change it comes to £4.10p and they had the cheek to ask if £4.10p will do for the fare as they dont want to break into a note.

"No it wont do.. The fares £4.50 and thats what you pay" is what I said.

"But I don't want to split ionto a £5 note" was the reply from this girl.

In the end she paid with a £5 but it annoys me to think that they get a taxi into town and want to use their loose change to pay for it as they don`t want to break into a banknote. I don`t mind the loose change but when they try and pay you less than the fare when they have the means to pay is not on.

You know whats next. They go into a pub and have no change so what do they do. pay with a note and I bet they dont try and say to the bar staff that they are 30p short for a drink.

At the other end of the scale I dont mind letting someone off with 10 or 20p p their way home if they get in the cab and ask how far can they get for their money but when they are going into town for a night out then it doesn't wash with me,. If they've got money for their night out then they have money for the fare into town.

Maybe I should go into my local pub tonight and order a pint and then haggle the price... I know what they would say...

Taxi smash

A collision between a police car and a local taxi at the junction of Abbey Road and Holker Street.
The local paper reports as

A police van and a dark green Peugeot 306 taxi collided in the middle of the road. Police say investigations are underway and it is not yet known how the collision occurred.

An officer said the police van may have been either on its way to or returning from a job, and it is not yet known whether its sirens were in use.

An additional police van was also called to the scene, and an officer kept traffic moving freely by diverting cars around the scene.

Rural Cumbria

Reading an article lately in a taxi magazine. What do you think. A good idea or not.
Personally I dont know much about this or how it operates. Anyone care to explain?

Another fine mess

I know the law is the law and it is supposed to be upheld but there should be discretion used when dealing with blind or partially sighted people.

We pick up a few of these people and our drivers will always (NO EXCEPTION) help this person from where they are picked up at to where they are going and that means getting out the car, guiding them and offering help in every way possible. This of course does mean leaving the vehicle unattended for a short period of time.

The issue is how long is a short period of time as each person will maybe vary depending upon their disability. Maybe 5 mins should be enough. 1 minute certainly isn't as can be seen in the story below.

Double click to enlarge

Thats Just Fine...

As taxi drivers who carry disabled passengers it is not always easy to find somewhere for these passengers to get in or out of our vehicles due to obstacles such as double yellow lines or cars parked on both sides of narrow roads.

What would you do? go on, answer honestly. Would you park as near to the disabled persons house as you can so as to make it easier for them even if this meant blocking a road for a few minutes or being on a double line or would you park somewhere where there is a parking space and let the disabled person walk back and you carry any shopping for them. What would you do. Lets hear some answers.

OK, so its illegal to park on a double yellow line but you would have thought that some local officials would give a little leeway to our disabled customers but in the story below, this doesnt seem to be the case. It just seems like the usual money grabbing councils are interested only in your cash and even if you have a right of appeal the chances are that your voice wont be heard. Our local council is no exception. In fact I think they are all like this.

The story is below. Double click to enlarge

Oh and on a similar note. What if the person you are picking up is not disabled. Should you park a few metres away and make them walk to your car or will they not come out the house as they cant see you parked outside.

Sorry, we don`t accept Cash.....

This week I have to submit my details for my CRB check renewal. For those not familiar with this, we need to have a CRB (Criminal records Bureau) check every 3 years to make sure that we are what the council deems as "Fit and proper" people for the job.

In all honesty I wouldnt like to think that any of my family were being picked up by a convicted killer or rapist so in my eyes the CRB check is a good thing.

However, what I do not agree with is the cost of £36 to the Town Hall and they don`t accept cash. Payment by credit/debit card or cheque and the procedure to make this payment is as follows.

First you go into the Town Hall and see the "Floor Walker" who takes your name and issues you with a ticket. You then sit and wait til its your turn and then they realise they cant deal with it and then ring someone from taxi licensing to deal with it.

After someone from licensing has seen you then you need to pay the fee and to do this the taxi licence person gives you a little slip of paper and you have to get another ticket from the floor walker and queue all over again just to pay.

Today, handing in my CRB check and paying for it took near on 35 minutes.

And these are the people that boast that the new payments system, speeds things up.

No match for a sad chav

Found this video on youtube. How this man stayed calm for so long I`ll never know. Personally I wouldn't have had the patience and he got what was coming to him.

Air and Water

It seems that Tesco have started charging the motorist for air and water. Well not exactly water but it seems like water, it looks like water but it has a very small hint of screen wash in it and the charge for this, £1 for an 80 second squirt of the stuff. Hopefully 80 seconds is enough to fill an empty window washer tank.

If you just want air for your tyres then it costs you 20p



The photo above is of the machine and closer look at it shows a pipe sticking out the side. Pressing a button on the pipe will send water coming out of it. This is free but the pipe is fixed so there is no way you can put it in your radiator.

Its the last time I go to Tesco for my air and water when others are supplying it free. Even the screenwash is cheaper to buy and mix with water

Double click the image to view full size

Fixed Fares

This week I picked a fare up from the Town Centre and took him into the nbext town and aksed him for the £6 fare. He paid it but started asking questions like.

That's extortionate, we`ve only just come up the road?
Is it a higher rate on a Sunday?
Why do you charge so much?

The fact that he said we had only just come up the road made me calculate the mileage to around just short of 4 miles. I explained this to him but he said it seemed like a few hundred yards.

The guy spoke with a broad irish accent and told me that where he came from that the same journey would cost him around 75 pence.

Is there any taxi firm out there that has a minimun rate this low?? speak up...

Inflation

Today, I picked a fare up from the local hospital. It was a lady who`s battery had gone flat on the car and had got a lift to the hospital but needed a taxi back home.

At the start of the journey she asked me how much it would cost and I estimated around £3.00p to which she exclaimed that it was too expensive and I must have got it wrong as she had never paid that amount to get home before.

I asked her what she normally pays and she said about £1.80p. This had me a little baffled as I knew that £1.80 would only get her part way to her house so I started digging a bit deeper and decided to ask her when the last time she got a taxi was.

Her reply...... "I don't normally use taxis as I have my own car but last time I got one from the hospital to home must have been about 5 years ago or maybe longer"

Did she not realise that due to inflation, the rising costs of running a car that taxi fares would have increaded in that periood of time

Seems to me she was stuck in some sort of timewarp and expected to pay 2003 prices.

Another One Bites the Dust

I got a call recently to pick up a fare at the Kings pub at Hawcoat in Barrow In Furness. When I got there it turned out that one of the men I was picking up was Barrows Ex Mayor councillor Jack Richardson who was quite the worse for wear. As he tried to climb into the back seat he fell off the pavement and landed on his backside and had to be helped into the car by his friend.

Councillor Richardson was so drunk that it wasn't easy to understand his slur of words as he tried to explain where he wanted to go to. Eventually we made it to his house then carried on the journey with the other passenger in the car.

So why was our ex mayor so drunk that he couldnt stand up or speak? Was he preparing himself for a council meeting? No.. Nothing like that as his friend explains.


For a number of years now the councillors son has been running the village pub at Hawcoat which is actually a nice quiet pub with its regular local yokels from the village visiting their local hostelry most evenings. Now this pub is one of the oldest in the town and a little bit of history research tells me that it was built in 1860 by a Mr King who then applied for Cliff Lane (the street that the pub is on) to be renamed King Street. The application was refused so he named the pub the Kings Arms and it was granted a full license in 1874



So why is our councillor drunk?? Because it was to be the final night of the pub being open.
135 years that pub has been serving beer and its now the end of an era. Another pub bites the dust and possibly due to the credit crunch.

Unfortunately the pub will not be handed over to a new tenant as the brewery have stated that the pub isn't profitable and it will no longer be a pub.

I guess it will be converted into houses or flats like other pubs in the town have been.

Some of the regulars that live in the village never see many people and are quite elderly. Some of these people use the pub to meet up and socialise. What will they do now? The village pub is dying out. Not many left in this area.

So now you know, Councillor Richardson was supporting his son and enjoying a last drink with friends in a pub which has been home to many people in the village and very soon will just be a fond distant memory

Young Mums attitude to child safety

Earlier today I was travelling along a major road in the town when I saw a young mother pushing a pram. She wanted to cross the road and was stood on the edge of the kerb waiting for a gap in the traffic. She was on the edge of the road and the pram was actually on the road.

I saw this and indicated to pull out into the middle of the road giving the pram a wide birth. She just stood there with her hand son the pram, fag in her mouth looking very much like "Waynetta Slob" from the Harry Enfield shows on the television.

You could see her nervously pushing the pram further into the road and then back again in a hope that traffic would stop to let her cross.

This isnt the first time I`ve seen this and it seems to be a thing with young mothers lately where they dont seem to put their childs safety first. Personally I don`t think some of them even care.

The crazy thing about this was that 20 yards down the road was a zebra crossing and she couldnt be bothered to walk towards it and use it.

Standing on the kerb with the pram in the road is a dangerous thing to do. I wish these idiots would think about the consequences of what damage could be done to their child.