Well-spoken woman then asked H, 'What sort of cars do you have? Are they comfortable?'
I was present at the time of the call and so heard what was being said. It was at this point that I snorted. Why? Well, because it makes me mad.
It's always the wealthiest people that want the bargain basement prices for an airport...and they NEVER tip. But at the same time they want to be driven in a Rolls Royce. We have Peugeots, which are good work-horses. They are reliable, comfortable and good on motorways. But we don't claim to provide executive vehicles...that's not what we are about with our bargain prices.
There are guys out there that do specialise in executive vehicles but they will almost always charge more. And so they should because their vehicles will cost more to run than ours.
So it really makes me irritated when these people phone wanting a bargain price but in an executive car. They want their cake and eat it.
]]>The taxi business is plodding along but January and February are notoriously slow months in this trade anyway. Roll on the spring.
]]>Our 15 year old son was stabbed in the street by a nasty little weasle on the saturday night and was rushed to hospital. I spent that night in A&E with him. He had to stay in for two nights overall as he had to have an operation-the wound was only half an inch from his kidneys and it was bone that prevented the blade from penetrating his spine and paralysing him for life. As a mother, I can't describe how that makes me feel.
But my boy is made of strong stuff and thankfully he is home now and although sore, is making a good recovery
For us there have been financial implications. We are self-employed and so if we don't work, we don't get paid. The days spent at the hospital have meant that I personally haven't worked at all. It also meant that there was no-one around to answer our taxi telephone number so we had virtually no bookings at all on New Year's Eve. This is unheard of in the taxi trade. Our son came home on the afternoon of New Year's Eve so H and I hit the streets that night but for us it was very poor business-wise. We managed to get some ASAP's (As Soon As Possible's) but most people were understandably sensible and booked their taxis in advance. We know for a fact that we missed in excess of 25 calls on the 30th of December alone. But because we could not answer the phone for three days, we had no bookings to speak of.
In the grand scheme of things, our son's welfare is the most important thing without a doubt. No question of that. And we are so relieved that he will make a full recovery. But we need to pay the mortgage to keep a roof over our family's head and to put food on the table. So the actions of that disgusting excuse for a human has had far wider implications than probably even he would have realised.
And the best bit? The police have stated that our son will have to be 'arrested for affray' as soon as he is up to it. We are astonished by this. Our son and his friends were jumped on by two men who parked their vehicle in our (no-through) road and lay in wait for them. As my son tried to push his attacker off him, the man stabbed him in the back.
So basically my son has a hole in his back and is lucky to be alive at all (let alone that he isn't paralysed) but he will be charged with affray (street fighting) the same as the man that stabbed him.
Talk about a stab in the back from the law. Makes me sick.
]]>While I was driving. I could see out of the corner of my eye that he was peering at me which I have to say did make me feel uncomfortable. He also made a few complimentary remarks about my appearance (damn, I must get some of those beer goggles myself!). While this might sound nice, it can in fact feel vaguely threatening from some men, especially if they have been heavily drinking.
The first rule in these situations is to obtain as much information as possible from the customer in case you need it in the future so I started a conversation with him, asking him about his job etc. He was in fact quite conversational and volunteered a great deal of personal details, including the fact that he was a long distance lorry driver for a large local factory.
When we got to his home, I requested the fare showing on my meter and he paid without any trouble. However instead of getting out, he lunged towards me for a kiss. I anticipated his action and was able to lean back away from him and so deflected it. I calmly reached for my radio and said, "Car 2 clear, heading back to base" which told the man that I was in direct contact with the office. It seemed to work because he then started to get out of my cab and headed into his house in a wobbly fashion.
When I got home, I told H what had happened. He actually became quite upset about it and seemed very worried about me. I was touched by his concern and while I was basking in the warm glow of his protectiveness, I pondered whether he was more worried about me being a lone lady driver or he was jealous of another man trying to kiss me....or even a mixture of both.
Then he ruined the moment:
"I shall definitely have to get a Black Cab now. That situation just couldn't arise in one of those. You will have to drive it in the evenings for your own protection".
Altruistic motives? I don't think so.
]]>Now I knew that not only had I NOT asked any sellers any questions, but I hadn't even logged into eBay for at least three weeks. It didn't take me long to work out who was behind this.
So I asked H, "Why did you use my eBay account to ask some seller about their Black Cab on auction, when you have a perfectly good eBay account of your own"?
His reply?
"I thought if I did it in your account you would take the hint and bid on it for me as a nice Christmas present".
What could I say to that?
]]>H was pre-booked to take a guy from a village near our town to Tetbury in Gloucestershire as he wanted to meet his family for lunch there. We asked if he minded if I came along (no he didn't) so once we dropped the customer off, H and I were able to go off and have lunch together. This was of course very pleasant for us both but also meant that H didn't have the boredom of trying to kill 3-4 hours on his own in a town in which nothing was open (it being Boxing Day).
The customer was a young man in his thirties and was extremely easy to be in company with in the cab. H quoted him a fixed price for the job which he happily accepted. But when we dropped him back home, he gave H a £30 tip saying as he did so, "Thank you both for making it such a good day out for me". We thought this was extemely nice of him to say so and along with his generous tip, we felt appreciated. What a contrast to the old dame (see last blog entry titled 'The wealthiest are the tightest...').
We had not intended to do any more work on our return home as we had done so well from the Tetbury job. But our phone would not stop ringing. So we began to take some bookings. We quickly realised that there seemed to be few-if any-other taxi's out and about. Not wishing to sound mercenery or anything, but Boxing Day is tariff 3 so we decided to milk it as the demand was there.
Just to explain for those not in the know-there are three tariffs on the meter:
Tariff 1=daytime rate.
Tariff 2=between 10pm and 7am & all day Sundays.
Tariff 3=Christmas Eve after 6pm, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Eve after 6pm, New Year's Day.
We could not believe how busy we were in the end. We made several journeys each to Wincanton and back (as the races were on) and amazingly we both had full cars both ways. This is a taxi driver's dream...it's not often this happens. So to drive backwards and forwards with fares on board in both directions is fantastic.
Later on I personally had a fare to another neighbouring town, then to my astonishment H radioed me to say that there was a young lady waiting there to come back to our home town. Both ways again. Jammy.
Of course people are more generous with tips at night too. A few bevies seems to loosen their grip on their wallets as well as their tongues!
So all in all a good night followed a good day but I was knackered this morning. However it was definitely worth it.
]]>This elderly lady lives in a village on the outskirts of our town. Her house is...well, think stately home size. Seriously wealthy, she has never had to do a day's work in her entire life and can boast of mixing in royal circles. We have had the pleasure of collecting her from our local upmarket supermarket since we began our business two years ago. The fare from the supermarket to her home runs to just over £6 but she only ever offered £5, which was a legacy from the guy that used to have the business before us. For that discount fare, we are expected to carry all her shopping both into the cab and to her front door. And NEVER a tip for our trouble.
We tried to shake her off recently when she asked a jewellery shop in town to call us for a cab. We tried to be clever and said that there would be no cab for at least two hours...to our astonishment, the old dame was prepared to wait for us rather than call another cab company-just to save herself one pound!
On that same day, she waffled on to H about how she was having her three-piece suite re-covered. She accidentally dropped her receipt for this in H's cab and it revealed that she was spending £600 on re-covering the suite. This from the woman who seems reluctant to pay the correct fare for her taxi rides. What a slap in the face.
But she really took the biscuit on Christmas Eve. She phoned for a cab to collect her from her home and H assumed that she was coming to the supermarket as always. But when he got there, he discovered that she in fact wanted to go to another town which was double the mileage. He put the meter on and on reaching the other town, it read £12. She started to climb out of H's cab and at the same time thrust a fiver in his hand.
At this point he had to explain to her that the fare owing was more than her usual £5. Her reply? "Oh, why is that"? H explained that it was double the miles than usual so she flopped back into the car in a petulant fashion and made a great show of rifling through her purse and looking through the change. Unable to find enough, she thrust her purse at H and asked him to find the fare amongst her change. H could see immediately that there wasn't even remotely enough to cover the amount needed so he said to her, "You don't have enough change in here to make up the £12 fare. What can we do about it"?
Sighing deeply, she reached into her handbag, pulled out a SECOND purse, opened it to pull out wadges of notes and said, "Oh, I suppose I will have to give you a note now".
Presumably, this tight-arsed woman made such a show of rooting through her small change in the hope that H would say "Oh never mind, I'll take the £5". But why should he? We work just as hard as say, the person that is re-covering her suite so why does she begrudge us our fares? Does she think we work for fun? Does she question the prices of the food in the upmarket supermarket? No. How ridiculous that she expected to travel twice the distance for the same amount of fare that she usually pays.
She has shot herself in the foot now because we will no longer take any bookings from her ever again. We will be 'unavailable' everytime she calls. Every other taxi firm will charge her the full fare to go to and from her home and the supermarket, so she had better get used to it.
The wealthiest people are always the least generous. I'm not just referring to tips here either...they always seem to expect us to drive them for virtually nothing but will happily tell us about the vast amounts they have spent elsewhere. It's insulting to us when we are just trying to earn a living.
We just don't want customers like that.
]]>Note:
I was saddened ro hear on Christmas Eve that there was an explosion in a taxi office in Lincoln which killed (I think) three people. What a horrible thing to happen on the day before Christmas. My sympathies go to the familes of those killed.
]]>I'm not much of a shopper as a rule. Especially at christmas. So I thought it was very brave of me to tackle Yeovil. As we didn't arrive until lunchtime, we headed straight to this great chinese place there where you pay a paltry sum and in return you can help yourself to as much chinese food as you can scoff. This put me in a good humour so I was able to cope with the crowds of people and cheesy carols blaring out so much better.
H and I have two teenage sons and I find them more difficult every year when it comes to knowing what to buy them. So when I walked into Woolworths and spotted DVD's of the tv series 'Life on Mars', I thought "Bingo, ideal for son no 2". He had adored this programme when it was on tv and I was proud of myself for my flash of inspiration.
I waited in a long queue with the empty boxes but when I got to the front, the assistant coolly announced to me that they were out of stock. I felt my good humour evaporating and began to recall exactly why I find shopping so tiresome. Disgruntled I made my way to HMV and to my rapturous joy, they had it in stock. Thank you HMV-I will go to you first next time.
The rest of my shopping was fairly straightforward, I'm glad to say, with things on my list found along with other things that came under the banner of inspiration (that is; not exactly planned beforehand but needed to fill out the boy's stockings).
As far as taxi work goes, this was a day off for me although I was the one that drove Mum and I to Yeovil.
And she gives rubbish tips!
]]>We had a call to say that two guys from a local restaurant/wine bar wanted collecting and taking to the other side of town. So I duly went along at the requested time and waited outside the restaurant. Almost immediately a large guy in chef's whites came out and got into my cab...then did a double take when he realised it was a lady driver (I've seen that look of astonishment many times!).
His mate hadn't yet come out so Chef made himself comfortable in the front seat, turned towards me and in silky tones said, "what a pleasant surprise. I wasn't expecting a lady driver".
I need to mention here that this guy was HUGE. I'm not fattist, I can assure you...I'm no Kate Moss myself and I like a man to be solidly built. But Chef was absolutely massive. And he clearly had personal hygiene issues. The strong stench of body odour was overwhelming, which coupled with a powerful smell of 'unwashed' clothing made me nauseous.
We waited about five minutes for his mate to come out which Chef made full use of by proceeding to chat me up. Even when his mate got into the cab and we set off to the address they gave me on the other side of town, Chef continued to chat me up using silky tones and leaning towards me.
Embarrassingly for me, every time I changed gear my hand had to run along the side of his leg. Maybe he enjoyed it...I certainly didn't. But to be fair, the guy was so huge there was just no-where else for his leg to go. He couldn't have moved it even if he wanted to.
Once we reached their destination, his mate got out which left Chef to pay me my fare. This he did and as is my norm, I thanked him. He looked at me with the most lecherous expression on his face, leaned even closer towards me and said, "No, thank YOU. The pleasure is all mine". I fixed a polite smile to my face as he shunted his bulk out of my cab. Then I gagged.
The smell lingering in my car was horrific. Mortified at the thought that subsequent passengers might think the smell was coming from me, I was forced to go home and spray 'OUST' liberally inside my cab. Then I drove around town a couple of times with both windows wide open. But I still felt sure I could smell his odour several days later.
I'm sure Chef was probably a really nice guy and I certainly didn't feel in any way threatened by him. But his utter self-confidence, given his size and hygiene issues, was impressive. Maybe it was alcohol that made him this way.
But I have never wanted to eat in that restaurant since meeting Chef.
]]>Where ever we go, he plays an obsessive kind of 'I spy' but only cabs will feature in the game. He will happily 'spot' any type of taxi cab; that is, he likes to look at the type of vehicle, the name on the side and which county it is plated to. But any kind of London cab will leave him with a mournful expression.
Not content with that, he will spend hours on the computer looking at London Cabs on the internet, both on eBay and on other sites. Most worrying of all, he is able to identify each cab by model and year.
He is constantly nagging me to go with him to the Birmingham Taxi Warehouse, which-as the name suggests-is a HUGE warehouse housing more taxis than you can shake a stick at. For him, this would be a good day out. He did go once before with our poor son and so has longed to repeat the experience ever since. I am somewhat reluctant. While I have a certain amount of gentle affection for my own cab, that's about as far as it goes. It's still a working vehicle to me.
Personally I think his interest in black cabs is slightly odd...and I've told him so. But he doesn't give a monkeys what I think.
Yesterday he (quite seriously) said to me that he would like a black cab for Christmas.
Not really normal, is it?
]]>im so glad that your local police have such an excess of resources that they can spare 3 oficers to check out such a dangerous and heinous fellow like your husband - the next time my car/van/bike(s) are stolen i wil make sure it happens near you
You are absolutely right with this comment. Their heavy handed approach would be better spent on sorting out the vast number of crimes being committed in every county, every single day. However I did laugh at your comment, so thank you for making my day!
Which brings to mind a report on the news today about Michael Schumacher. He is apparantly in trouble because he took over the driving of a cab as he wanted to make sure he and his family caught their plane. Now both Schumacher and the taxi driver are in trouble for it, which has caused no end of hoo-ha.
I don't know what the laws are like in Berlin (where this transgression took place) but over here a taxi driver SHOULD be in trouble for a similar offence. Once a vehicle is plated as a hackney cab or private hire, absolutely no-one is legally allowed to drive that vehicle UNLESS they are a licensed registered driver. When applying for taxi insurance, it is necessary to send proof to the insurance company that you are a licensed driver before they will insure the vehicle.
Before I obtained my hackney badge, I was forbidden to drive H's cab even though I am his wife and we have had joint insurance for years on our domestic cars. As the insurance company explained it, "once a cab, always a cab".
So it seems quite appropriate that the taxi driver has got some questions to answer because he gave Schumacher permission to drive his cab knowing full well that he would be uninsured to do so.
]]>Now the customer lives just over the county border from Dorset so when the officers said that they were stopping and checking all taxi and private hire vehicles, H gently stated that he wasn't actually plated to their county but was in fact plated to Dorset. One officer smirked and said, 'But you are in our patch'.
They ordered our customer to remain inside the vehicle, then the three of them proceeded to tear the car apart, checking everything possible. The customer was so alarmed that he even said to one officer that he knew the taxi driver well and could personally vouch for his safe driving. But the officer neither answered nor acknowledged him.
The whole thing went on for about fifteen minutes. H's plate, badge and insurance were checked along with the MOT, Tax and tyres. They couldn't find anything out of order so settled on a telling off for not wearing his badge (yes, we are supposed to wear our badges at all times).
Finally, they cross-examined him regarding his fire extinguisher in the boot (had it been checked for safety lately? Yes, his car had been hackney checked only two weeks ago). Then they turned their attention to the fact that he did not have a first aid box in his vehicle. H said he did not believe that it was a legal requirement for our council in Dorset but anyway (politely said) he was not qualified to use one. The smirking policeman said, 'That is the correct answer; however you should have one available to offer your passengers should they require one, plus you can use it on yourself'.
While we wholeheartedly agree with random checks as a good thing because it rules out the unlicensed cabs and unsafe vehicles, our objection here is that the whole thing was rather OTT. Their approach was rather formidable.
But our main objection is that it was carried out with a passenger on board. This was embarrassing for H (even though he was confident that everything was in order) and could have been potentially disastrous if the customer had been on his way to the airport or station-the time taken to do the checks would have made him very late. Surely it would have been better to insist that H should make his way to a police station after he had taken his customer to their destination?
It all seemed very bullish.
]]>On one accasion we had a double booking. By that I mean that we were both booked to collect a whole family and take them to and from a celebratory meal in a local pub. He had a tip of £5. I had a tip of £25. Of course our money is pooled and comes into the same household pot, but he is slightly narked by the blatant sexism when it comes to tips.
It's not just men that tip me more either-women can just as likely tip generously because they like having a lady cabbie.
]]>We are fortunate enough to live in a town right on the mainline to London-Waterloo, which gives us two trains an hour. For the privilage of using the station rank, we have to pay the princely sum of £217.00 every December. This is annoying, having to pay so close to Christmas. All the cabbies in our town complain about the timing. But what is even more aggravating is that one of our regular customers, who works for South West Trains, has found out that taxis in Andover (just a few stops along the same line) pay £240.00 for their station passes....but they get FOUR trains an hour. Who worked these figures out, for goodness sake?
I don't have a station pass so I am not permitted to tout there. However, I am still allowed to wait at the station (off the rank) for a pre-arranged booking taken over the phone.
On quiet days there can be as many as ten cabs waiting at the station rank. The drivers can get very tetchy on days like that, sitting around waiting for each train to come in. There is a protocol that states that passengers should be guided to the front of rank as those cabs have waited the longest and so have earned their position at the front. So when they get a passenger jump in and ask to just go across town, this can really upset them. They are not allowed to refuse a fare without good reason but it will really p*** them off that they have waited all that time for a £3 fare. You can't blame them really. We are all just trying to make a living.
It's on friday afternoons that the station can be most busy. We have a huge amount of London commuters living around here and they all come home for the weekends. That's when you see the cabbies smiling because they are kept busy with decent sized fares going out to the surrounding villages.
And that's what our job is all about-earning a living in a small town and trying to beat the other cabs to the best jobs.
]]>We recently spent a week in and around Weymouth, you live in a great part of the country. I think we'll be back down there for longer next time, we didn't get chance to see half of what's there but what we did see was worth the nine hour drive down! (Delays, delays!).
Weymouth is great and is one of our favourite boltholes when we need a night away from the business. We live on the other side of Dorset but it only takes us about an hour to get to Weymouth. However this is enough to give us the break we need to get away from it all (phone always ringing, thinking about the business, etc etc), even if it's just for one night. There is a fabulous little B&B we have found which is just off the sea front. Run by a smashing couple, it is good value and their breakfast is the best we have ever had in a B&B. It is clean and relaxing too-perfect.
Besides, I have a soft spot for Weymouth. I attended college there just after I left school which has left me with fond memories. I love to go back there and retrace old steps. It makes me nostalgic!
]]>The answer to that is that I take sensible precautions. We have a nightclub here in our home town and things can get pretty lary at chucking out time. Many male drivers have had some unpleasant moments from there. So I don't work at the club's closing time. I take plenty of people TO the club but I never collect from there.
I have constant radio contact with my husband which is reassuring for me...and for him! He is constantly asking me where I am and what is my position (this latter question always seems to make on-board customers titter. Can't think why)!
When I drive at night with no passengers on-board, I ALWAYS keep the central locking on. It's a simple thing but is crucial for a lone woman.
But the critical thing here is that we are based in a small market town in a largely rural area. At night most of our work involves ferrying people to and from various pubs scattered around our surrounding villages. We don't generally face the kind of threats that taxi drivers must face in cities.
But this brings to mind an issue that bugs ALL drivers in general but is particularly aggravating to a woman driver. To all taxi customers everywhere, please learn from what I am going to say here-
Too many customers fail to understand the difference between a taxi service and a chauffeur service. When a taxi is booked for a particular time at a particular place, the onus is on you-the customer-to go outside and look for your cab. Do NOT expect us to come into the pub/club/restaurant etc to look for you. For a start we probably don't know what you look like so how can we find you? And in a busy, crowded pub/club/restaurant, we really don't want to have to shout at the top of our voices just to get your attention.
Critically, in order to come and look for you, we are left with two equally unappealing and potentially dangerous choices. It doesn't take a genius to work out that a cabbie will be carrying cash, so do we:
1)Leave our money bags unattended in our cabs while we walk into the pub/club/restaurant to look for you? This scenario invites the watchful and opportunistic thief to smash their way into our cab in order to steal our money. The prospect of losing our takings isn't exactly welcome in itself but the smashing of our cab would render us unable to work for the rest of the night-and several more days besides.
2)Carry our money bags into the pub/club/restaurant when we look for you? This opens us up to a potential smack on the head from a determined and aggressive thief as we leave our cab, as well as the theft of our money.
A recent example of this was when a lady customer booked a cab at a local pub for 11pm on a saturday night. I drove to the pub and got there almost exactly at 11pm. I waited outside in my cab for a full 15 minutes but the customer didn't show up. We can't waste any more time waiting for a customer than this, especially on a busy saturday night as it has a knock-on effect to later bookings.
Finally, 45 minutes after the scheduled time, the customer phoned our office to ask where her cab was. It was explained to her that the cab was there for her at 11pm, waited 15 mintes but then gave up. She then asked why didn't the driver come into the pub to look for her? She was told in no uncertain terms that it was up to her to look for the cab outside at the appointed time as it was a taxi service, not a chauffeur service and why should any driver face the risk of leaving their cab unattended. She didn't like this and got fairly gobby on the phone so she was informed that not only would no more cabs be sent for her on that night but also on any other night. She would have had grave difficulty obtaining another cab that night in our area at that time. Tough luck.
So taxi customers everywhere-please consider this when you book your cabs.
]]>'Have you got a cab?"
I get really annoyed by this-of course we have a cab, we're a taxi company for Gawd's sake. One of these days, when I am in a particularly facetious mood, my reply to this will be, "Why? Do you wanna buy one?"
"Can I have a cab?"
A variation of the first question. Irritating because how do I know when they want the cab? And how am I supposed to know where they want collecting from and where they want to go? These variables all make a difference in whether or not a cab is able to be available.
"I phoned last week and asked about a taxi for tomorrow to go to (xyz) at (123). Can I book it now?"
This one makes me want to scream. When you phoned a week ago, we had a free slot at the time you asked for. But guess what, some other person-rather annoyingly for you-has since booked a taxi for that time. So now we can no longer provide a cab tomorrow at the time you wanted. You're too late. You should have booked a week ago when you first phoned.
On phoning us for a price for a particular journey but not being able to book because we are already taken at their preferred time:
"How much will the other companies charge?"
How do I know? They are separate companies to us and do their own thing. How can I possibly say? We get along fine with the other taxi companies in town but we are not joined at the hip.
On booking a cab to collect from a pub at night:
"Will the driver come into the pub to find me?"
No dear. He is a taxi driver, not a chauffeur. Why would he want to leave his taxi unsupervised and come into a crowded pub to find a person he has never seen before? This is how it works-at the time you booked, you are supposed to be waiting outside the pub for your cab. Not hard, is it?
"Will the taxi be comfortable?"
Jeez, had you meant to book a limo? And let's not forget here that the reason you booked with us for your airport run is because we were the cheapest. So although our cars are averagely comfortable and perfectly clean, the price does not include being taken by Rolls Royce. Live with it.
Any taxi firm will no doubt be able to add to these. It's a small flavour of what we get on a daily basis.
]]>In this busy world, I suppose it is too difficult to get family or friends to take the patient to hospital. Bur also so few people are entitled to the Hospital Car these days. So this is where we come in. It's not always the same hospital either; today we have had both Shaftesbury and Southampton. Yesterday we again had Southampton but also had Salisbury.
And of course we drivers love doing these long-haul jobs. Makes a good day's work for us.
]]>Obviously they think we are running a chauffeur service. All the time a cab is just waiting, he is losing money when he could be at our local nightclub and picking up a stream of work. They asked R to return later but he didn't bother. They also asked for our company to send a 'load more cabs'. The Manager memorised the number from the side of R's cab but I had already switched the phones off, as is our custom at 2am on a Saturday night (or Sunday morning!) because R won't take bookings from the nightclub. He prefers to just tout and take what's available. They will have a devil of a job finding another cab from anywhere around here now.
At one point, some other people at the party asked R where the 'taxi rank' is. This made us laugh. They are in the middle of the Dorset countryside and they expect there to be a taxi rank? The most they can hope for is a tractor on a nearby farm! We find this happens regularly-people staying in this area from London expect to find a surplus supply of cabs here like they would in London so they get a shock when they find out that actually there is a shortage of cabs around here. They never seem to learn to book in advance which is a necessity in this area if a cab is to be secured.
As for us sending a load more cabs to that party, R was the only driver available at that time. He decided to head back to the nightclub so that he could pick up more lucrative work.
This isn't about greed though. This is about making a living and knowing that the weekends have to be worked in order to make our income up. Sitting around and waiting for people who may or may not decide to come out of a party is just not an option if we have any hope of earning a living wage.
In the past, R has had the presenters of 'Under the Hammer' in his cab (Martin Roberts & Lucy Alexander) who were both very nice people. As it is one of our favourite programmes, R enjoyed chatting to them. He has also driven Georgie Fame.
]]>Now today we have a busy trade in a growing market town here in Dorset. As a husband and wife team, we are both licensed hackney drivers and get to see both the very worst and best of the human race!
This will be about the day to day running of our business and the things that both uplift or annoy us!
Plus anything else that happens in life that I might feel is worth mentioning.
]]>