Would love to do this. Any ideas how? Where do I start?
Thanks:)

Im guessing but.....

1) Get a taxi licence

2) Get a nice car big enough for a family and their bags

3) Advertise

Deepak

Make sure you are well insured. You may have to register for VAT. I think you'd need more than one vehicle otherwise you'll find yourself turning down business; consider delays etc.
Others have done it so it isn't insurmountable but there could be more problems than you first envisage?
Isn't there a small businesses advice bureau somewhere?

You could use some loopholes in the law to use unlincensed cars on airport runs but that is all changing from January. All cars or limos and even fire engins used to carry fare paying passengers will have to be plated for private hire. To be able to drive a licensed vehicle you need to have a badge for private hire. That means a knowlege test plus a crb check, so get working on getting a badge then a car and insurance and you've got yourself a job, picking people up at 3 and 4 in the morning and driving under pressure of making flight times and worrying about not letting people down etc. Good luck.

What would be the knowledge test be about tab1? I imagine it could only be about the main UK motorways and on how to get to the airports. Bear in mind I'm clueless about the whole business at the moment!

I would get proper, professional advice for anyone engaging in a business venture.

Where from exactly? Thanks!

Try SENTA www.senta.co.uk - they should be able to tell you where you need to go to get further information about any aspects of business that are relevant to you.

Good luck,

Ade

Just out of interest Sony, what is it that appeals to you from this type of work?

What would be the knowledge test be about tab1? I imagine it could only be about the main UK motorways and on how to get to the airports.

Nah I think it'd be the same knowledge test that anyone wanting to be licenced for private hire by Sheffield City Council would have to take. So you'd need to have a good general knowledge of the whole of the metropolitan district of Sheffield, no current convictions, no more than 6 points on your licence, also need to know routes to various places and you may have to pick the examiner up and drive them to whichever destination/s they ask for. Not 100% on that but I don't think there's a different licence for airport drivers.

That's YOUR licence sorted but I think there is also one required for the car itself. You'd need to put it through a Private Hire test, so the council is satisfied about its condition, which if passed lasts for 6 months, so it needs testing again after that. From what I've heard it's a very rigorous test, so buy a car in excellent condition first off. Finally you would also need Hire and Reward insurance.

Hope that helps! :)

Nah I think it'd be the same knowledge test that anyone wanting to be licenced for private hire by Sheffield City Council would have to take. So you'd need to have a good general knowledge of the whole of the metropolitan district of Sheffield, no current convictions, no more than 6 points on your licence, also need to know routes to various places and you may have to pick the examiner up and drive them to whichever destination/s they ask for. Not 100% on that but I don't think there's a different licence for airport drivers.

That's YOUR licence sorted but I think there is also one required for the car itself. You'd need to put it through a Private Hire test, so the council is satisfied about its condition, which if passed lasts for 6 months, so it needs testing again after that. From what I've heard it's a very rigorous test, so buy a car in excellent condition first off. Finally you would also need Hire and Reward insurance.

Hope that helps! :)I second all of what Andy has said plus a little more. If you intend to take your own bookings then you will need operator's licence from the local council. Here is the basic fees for PRIVATE HIRE LICENSING.
CURRENT APPLICATION FEES.

KNOWLEDGE TEST £75

DRIVERS LICENCE FEES.
NEW £210
VEHICLE LICENCES (NEW APPLICATION).
PRIVATE HIRE £210

PRIVATE HIRE OPERATORS LICENCE.
NEW APPLICATION £1200

RENEWALS

1 to 2 CARS £200
3 to10 CARS £600
11 to 50 CARS £850
51 to 100 CARS £1000
101 + CARS £1200

ISSUED OCTOBER 2007.

There maybe a way around the council regs by going over the top to a twelve seater or a sixteen seater minibus in which case you'll need a different type of driving test but otherwise less complicated. I don't know enough about that side to advise you though, save to say it comes under bus regulations and council doesn't control them.

How do I practice for this? Is is just a question of learning the A-Z by heart and practising in your own car?

Oh and thanks again chaps for your help! But where can I get advice on exactly what is required to do this job?

The Town Hall licensing depatment. Its situated at the back corner of the old town hall next to Surry Street. They would take the fee for a pack which would contain all you need to know for the knowledge test and give you further advice on how to proceed. Alternatively look up phone number (in Yellow Pages) of any airport transfer specialists and ask them for guidance.

Try sending email to taxi.licensing@sheffield.gov.uk ask for all the details and they will get in touch

Many many thanks tab1 and everyone who replied on this thread!!!!

Where from exactly? Thanks!

Try a Citizens' Advice Bureau for where to best visit to ask your questions and get the necessary advice upon what to do. maybe someone at a Job Centre could tell you of available advice?

if you only intend to do airport runs get a minibus and take your test in that insure it for hire and reward and I believe you will not have to take the taxi test and all that goes with it as you will not in fact be taxiing I may not be right on this but check before you start spending money with the SCC. THE TRAFFIC COMMISIONERS IN LEEDS WILL GIVE YOU MORE INFO.Bus drivers dont have to take the knowledge only prove they can drive a bus

price up insurance before you take the plunge - its MUCH dearer than normal car insurance.

Why not have a chat to somebody who does airport runs,I would suggest first of all get your private hire badge and then purchase a mini bus which you can use as a private hire vehicle and also do school runs and airport runs.Ideally you need another licensed driver to drive the vehicle at nighttime ,you would probably have to pay him on a 40/60 basis.If you want to make a living out of the taxi business you need to run the vehicle 24/7.

Firstly you gotta apply for a private operators licence which aren't cheap. I paid around £980 but i think its gone up like tab1 states.

If you are setting up an airport business best to get in the yellow pages asap. The deadline ends in a few months for next year. I was paying 50 pounds a month for an advert but best to barter with the salesman who comes round. Try not to get roped into other forms of advertising such as prmotional calendars as they seem pricey. yellowpages are the best imho.

choice of car is a must. if you intend to run a 6 seater check with licensing first as they have stringent rules on these. if its a car make sure it has a huge boot and space ample enough for 4 passengers.

hope you like waking up all hours of the day, checking flight times and waiting at the airport.

In all honesty there isn't that much work out there during offpeak periods and even in holiday times you'd be suprised how some of these companies undercut each other to get the work. Personally i'd strongly advise you to go the minibus route as you will get more work around weekends for parties and be able to charge more. hope this helps.

I've gone back to cabbying in town as i simply decided airport work wasn't for me with all the irregular work times. anyway good luck watever you decide.:thumbsup:

In all honesty there isn't that much work out there during offpeak periods and even in holiday times you'd be suprised how some of these companies undercut each other to get the work. Personally i'd strongly advise you to go the minibus route as you will get more work around weekends for parties and be able to charge more. hope this helps.
Sony, take in this good advice from Tab and Popeye. The rates that some people are doing Man Air for, just aren't worth getting out of bed for.

By going for the minibus option, you avoid Sheffield Licensing, and have to do the minibus test thingy (technical name I can't remember) which is about £400. But as Popeye says, you can then hire a radio off a taxi company or advertise for weekend bookings/parties/weddings/alton towers type trips to add to your airport jobs. Or both even. You have lots more options.

editted to add, Dans point about insurance is also a very good point. Insurance is steep!!! and I do mean steep!!! (mine was £2750 a year) I had a quote to get working again today of £4160 and that's TPFT only :shocked:

:)

Talk to Spruce, he knows the ropes.

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=276286

Taxi license is a long way round to do what you want with sheffield council, I did mine and took a good 6months because of how slow things work, maybe not there fault, but it will be no quicker than that

the knowlage test they will give you a list of about 75 pre done routes fro a-b with all the roads on the way for the shortest route, in your test you sit in a room with the examinor and he will ask you three of the routes at random, you have to tell him pretty much exactly,, very doable but means hours memoriseing the routes by gonig over and over them in your head, i did it by driving about 25 of them,, then you end up with a good working knowlage of sheffield and after you have about 30 down, the rest fall into place because you are used to where the roads are and where they lead onto, so very doable, but takes a bit of time to get into.

i would just get some sort of mini bus licence or a taxi badge from a smaller city like chesterfield as there easyier i hear and if you are doing airports you national anyway so you only need one local license.

good luck with it all.

It is true that it would be best to talk to people who are doing airport runs at the mo.
I was thinking of using my A6 avant for the business, it surely is plenty big enough? It will take a battering though, that's for sure!
The only thing that puts me off with "proper" taxiing in town is picking up the drunks etc.. I can't see myself doing that at all. Which is why I had thought of airport runs as generally I would have thought the people would be ok.
I would like to earn at least £250 a week though if at all possible.

The only thing that puts me off with "proper" taxiing in town is picking up the drunks etc.. I can't see myself doing that at all. Which is why I had thought of airport runs as generally I would have thought the people would be ok.
I would like to earn at least £250 a week though if at all possible.

If you have the car then thats a better start. Audi A6 is easily big enough for job but agian you limit yourself to just 4 passengers. Work at this time for airports isn't great and will pick up for summertime but i heard Manchester airport has lowered its car parking which will have a knock on effect for this. Unless your in yellow pages i wouldn't start your business as you really do need that avenue for a kickstart.

Town cabbying isn't that bad believe me. I suppose i was like you when i first started weary of picking up the 'wrong' sorts but if you join a big firm then they will look after the drivers first. I've had probably a handful of bad fares which i've coped with. SHeffield compared to Manchester is alot safer for private hire drivers.

£250 after expenses is achievable but believe me its dog eat ddog out there for airport work. Do u really want to be driving to Manchester airport in rush hour thinking i'm doing this for peanuts? Let me put this into perspective you burn about £8 more or less of diesel there and back and some companies will do the job for £40-45. Not great is it?

Minibus route is the best way. More options, more bookings and you can charge more per person. :D

If you decide to go down the minibus route then you need to be aware that they will all need to be fitted with a tachograph and this will impact the number of jobs that you can do. Look into it before taking the plunge.

Town cabbying isn't that bad believe me.

Could you give me more information on how your day to day routine is like? Do you enjoy it? Do you think it's a good line of work to get into? Etc etc.
Many thanks for your informative posts btw.:)

It is true that it would be best to talk to people who are doing airport runs at the mo.

Yes. But obviously approaching a business that you're going up against isn't going to get you the best advice. Popeye did this for about a year or two I think. So take on board his advice.:thumbsup:

There are people doing Man air for 40-45. Personally, I think they must be doing it for a bit of extra cash, or perhaps semi retired and just keeping busy and topping up their income to work at such rates. It's not possible/very difficult to earn a proper living at this rate- unless you're fully established with many regular customers.

By the figure of 250 a week, I assume that you are wanting to earn a living, rather than topping up.

Could you give me more information on how your day to day routine is like? Do you enjoy it? Do you think it's a good line of work to get into? Etc etc.
Many thanks for your informative posts btw.:)
You need to think about which you would prefer. It's seems to me that have 2 main choices.

Get a bus and specialise in airports, topping up with party bookings at the weekend.

Get your car licensed (needs to be less than 3 years old) and specialise in airports, and top up with Sheffield Taxi journeys.

:)

Get your car licensed (needs to be less than 3 years old) and specialise in airports, and top up with Sheffield Taxi journeys.

:)I don't wish to contradict the professionals here but I think the limit was changed to 4 years recently, so if your Audi is older than 4 years then it wouldn't be accepted by SCC.

I think in this thread between a few of us we have covered just about everything you need to know to be a private hire or taxi driver, and it doesn't look easy at all.:)

I don't wish to contradict the professionals here but I think the limit was changed to 4 years recently, so if your Audi is older than 4 years then it wouldn't be accepted by SCC.

yes it is 4 years old for the vehicle now.

I think in this thread between a few of us we have covered just about everything you need to know to be a private hire or taxi driver, and it doesn't look easy at all.:)

It is so difficult to make a living these days. Any idea I seem to come up with seems to be a no no! I would love to pursue the airport/taxi run idea though but it has to be said that it doesn't look too rosy!

There maybe a way around the council regs by going over the top to a twelve seater or a sixteen seater minibus in which case you'll need a different type of driving test but otherwise less complicated. I don't know enough about that side to advise you though, save to say it comes under bus regulations and council doesn't control them.

instead you'd have to satisfy the traffic commissioners, work to EU drivers hours, be tacho trained and have a tacho pass card , have to have a proper O-licence and operating base


the only easy way to run a bus is on a S.19 permit and you can't run a business via an S.19 permit bus ... ( charities, community groups, schools ? SCT are the kind of people who can get S19 permits)

limo is great money for very little effort, £150 an hour, if i was going to start a business in driving i will do limo

limo is great money for very little effort, £150 an hour, if i was going to start a business in driving i will do limoIn that case I invite you to have a read on this site about the rule changes coming in from 28th Jan '08
http://taxi-driver.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7365
Most have been getting away under the contract loophole but not for long.

Would love to do this. Any ideas how? Where do I start?
Thanks:)

From my knowledge of it all this would be a good start, put on some weight, smoke a lot, drive with your right elbow hanging out the window & say "Ta luv" a lot & when you drive in town remember to do U turns whenever you can & cut other drivers up at roundabouts. Prity sure that covers it :)

The airport transfer business is hard work at first. Once you have been through the first couple of years it does get easier as you build up your business. The money is made when you are say going to say manchester with a customer and then you bring a fare back. Business is good in the summer, but can be very difficult this time of the year when you are new.

Would love to do this. Any ideas how? Where do I start?
Thanks:)

You could run it from your cafe

You might also need to re-take your driving test, which is more rigourous than the normal one whilst stopping short of being an advanced test (although seeing the driving of some of the exisiting private hire drivers, the examiner must have been blind!!)