Is there a 'knowledge' for Sheff taxi drivers? I don't see many riding round on bikes taking notes as I did in London. Now they have kicked it into touch via technology, in London I mean. But thats sad, how can you go to a certain club by name, or company. The satalite don't cater for that.

Am I just looking for my long lost youth? careful how you answer that lol

I wish they had to.

In one week I have been in three taxi's where the driver has pretended they didn't know the way to the destination in order to put extra on the fare.

It was totally obvious that was what they were up to.

Bah.

Yes they do have to do 'the knowledge' in Sheffield.
Are you sure that the driver driving you was the one who passed the test though?

I had a run in with a taxi driver a couple of days ago. He headed for my road, as we were close I gave him more precise directions (as you do) along the lines of 'don't take this turning onto the road, go straight on and join it at the other end'. He then ignored me and started to turn the long way. I had to shout at him to stop and go straight on. He got really agitated and told me that nobody had ever spoken to him like that in 12 years of driving. He did hear me and understood, he was just after the longer route round. Tosser.

Weird. The three journeys I had were similar. Pretending not to know how to get there in the first place, me giving directions, them pretending they couldn't hear and one time just completely going the long way round. We knocked two pound off the fare.

:mad:

Fare for taxi-meter drop according to the city council is 20pence every 267 yards, and for you to have knocked off £2 he needed to have gone 10 of the 20p drops, and in my simple calculation that comes to about a mile and a third extra. Me thinks the taxi driver is not the tosser here for doing his sums wrong.
If inadvertently he did take a wrong turning it never would be more than say 20pence extra (267yards), and if he did go more than a mile out of his way why were you st***d enough to just sit there and not say anything till time to pay, and then of course wonderful you decide to rob the driver and still gloat, how pathetic!!!

Chill.

The wrong turn was onto a dual carriageway with no turnoffs and then we had to come back. The fare is usually around £5 and this time it was around £7. The maths weren't that hard.

I didn't call anyone a to££er and nor were we rude, drunk, threatening or gloating about stealing from him.
Which was probably why he didn't seem to mind at all that we said we were not paying the full fare.

I should have explained the story better the first time.

Getting a bit heated!

What gets me is, they would get so much more business if they were honest anyway. Last time I got a cab, I was pleasantly surprised at how cheap it was compared to doing the same journey on previous occasions.

So now, that company gets my business all the time. Now that's simple maths, surely?

Originally posted by tingle
Getting a bit heated!

What gets me is, they would get so much more business if they were honest anyway. Last time I got a cab, I was pleasantly surprised at how cheap it was compared to doing the same journey on previous occasions.

So now, that company gets my business all the time. Now that's simple maths, surely?

That was my fault for not fully explaining what happened. I'm a nice polite boy honestly.

Most taxi drivers are honest but it was just a bit odd to have three in one week where they seemed to be pretending not to know where places where. (One of which was Abbeydale Road).

Originally posted by tab1
Fare for taxi-meter drop according to the city council is 20pence every 267 yards, and for you to have knocked off £2 he needed to have gone 10 of the 20p drops, and in my simple calculation that comes to about a mile and a third extra. Me thinks the taxi driver is not the tosser here for doing his sums wrong.
If inadvertently he did take a wrong turning it never would be more than say 20pence extra (267yards), and if he did go more than a mile out of his way why were you st***d enough to just sit there and not say anything till time to pay, and then of course wonderful you decide to rob the driver and still gloat, how pathetic!!!

Goodness greif Tabs!

Do you work for the National Taxi Drivers Welfare Union?

The other evening, we got a taxi back from Walkley to Eldon St. (behind the Forum). Told the taxi driver 3 times going along West St that he could just drop us there, he totally ignored us (we were pretty clear) and proceeded to drive the long way round, adding about 40p to the fare. Grrrr.

Originally posted by skyfitsboy
Goodness greif Tabs!

Do you work for the National Taxi Drivers Welfare Union?

Ha ha!
negative to that, one of my neighbours got a black cab and just simply nipped ou to look at the fare chart in the back of his cab. I just find it insensitive to tar everybody with the same brush, and I accept my response may have been a bit OTT. Taxi drivers are no more dishonest than people in any other line of business, and people pontificating in general terms and calling hundreds of people dishonst is way out of line. If you have tried hiring a plumber a builder or a mechanic you would know what I mean.

Anyone with any common sense at all knows that in complaining about one or two taxi drivers, no-one is saying they are all the same.

I use taxi's quite regularly and have to say some are brilliant (minority), others just plain ordinary (majority) and others are rude, ignorant and rip off merchants (minority).

We got a taxi a few weeks ago and he took us a route we'd never been before. I thought it was a bit strange but usually let the drivers get on with it once i've given them the destination (unless they specifically ask for directions). On this occassion, the fare was a couple of pounds less than it normally would be. I was well impressed with this particular driver knowing all the short-cuts :thumbsup:

Others (usually black cabs) seems to go wierd and wonderful routes, and tend to drive on or turn around in the road when you ask them to stop :loopy:

One driver once picked me up on Young Street to take me to The Pamona (Eccie Rd), he went up London Rd, via Sharrowvale Rd and eventually ended up at the Pamona and charged me £4 wtf?!

I have refused to use any of Sheffield's black cabs after a frightening incident a few years ago.

Got off the London train late one midweek night in January, hardly a soul around apart from a mass of cabs waiting for the very few punters coming off my train.

Anyway I went to the front of the queue and asked to be taken to my (then) home in Nether Edge. The driver didn't look too happy and promptly headed right out of the station towards Ponds Forge, despite repeated requests from me to turn round/going the wrong way etc. he didn't stop until we ended up at Attercliffe,outside a fairly run down looking caff where a few of his colleagues were waiting. He told me to get out, pay the £8 I owed, otherwise there would be trouble. An older driver approached us, told me to pay up and he would take me home at no further cost.

On the way back home the older cabbie tried to explain how hard it was to make a living after Christmas, how some of the younger guys shouldn't be riled etc. and I should forget the whole incident. I wasn't prepared to do this, so called the police who told me to call the licensing office at the council the following morning. Called them and gave them the full story including the reg. of the cab and the driver's registered number, they promised to get back to me........ which didn't happen.

Called the licensing office again and was told that my information was incorrect there was no cab with that number licensed in the city and the driver had informed them he wasn't working at the time of the incident!. Not happy with this so put all of the facts in writing and after a reminder I finally got a reply stating that the driver had claimed that I had been racially abusive and he had witnesses. This was simply not the case - leaving aside that this is something that I would not do I was hardly going to exacerbate a very dangerous situation for myself.

This was the worst incident I have experienced with the city's black cabs, like many others I have been fed up with their constant trying it on to extend the fare. Nowadays hell will freze over before I get in a taxi in Sheffield and when I travel by train I use the park and ride at Chesterfield.

Sorry this has been a long post but I really think this is one of the worst aspects of our city that needs to be resolved.

I've noticed that taxi drivers are getting more and more useless on the whole

In the last couple of weeks I have had more taxi drivers that hadn't a clue where they were going than those that did. I live in a really easy place that is actually on the main taxi circuit from town, and they still don't know where it is.

We even got one who didn't know where the CITY CENTRE was from Ecclesall Road!

Please somebody tell me that taxi drivers don't share the cab among the family and friends. :shakes:

Originally posted by Hels
Anyone with any common sense at all knows that in complaining about one or two taxi drivers, no-one is saying they are all the same.

One driver once picked me up on Young Street to take me to The Pamona (Eccie Rd), he went up London Rd, via Sharrowvale Rd and eventually ended up at the Pamona and charged me £4 wtf?!


Hels
Indeed I accept mostly anyone with common sense would not regard all taxi drivers as the same but just read what "GHS1961"posts in the first line," I have refused to use any of Sheffield's black cabs after a frightening incident a few years ago."
Now if that is not blaming 700 black cab drivers for one incident, what is? The solution given seems to be a simple request for hell to be frozen over, out of this world or what?
They are people doing a job, and it does help to have a little trust, but avoid stress by making sure the driver understands where you are going and the rout you want him to take. We have more than two thousand taxis (private hire and black cabs) and if they were all as some would have us believe, then no one would ever get in a taxi.
When was this incident you mentioned Hels of being taken via Sharrowvale Rd to Pomona, because I took a cab this week from bottom of Moor to Hunters Bar and paid £4.70, and if your journey was recent and you came all the way back down eccie Road to Pomona, your bill should have been way more than £4, why was yours so low?

Whether they do the Knowledge or not they all seem to know how to do u turns on busy roads, weave in and out on dual carraigeways, block roads to sit and talk to each other.

Originally posted by BoppinBruce
Is there a 'knowledge' for Sheff taxi drivers? I don't see many riding round on bikes taking notes as I did in London. Now they have kicked it into touch via technology, in London I mean.

To get back on topic, yes they do, in a roundabout sort of way (no pun intended).

To qualify for a taxi drivers licence, they first of all have to take a driving test again (a stricter one than the learner test) and if they pass that, they then have to take a test paper where they have to say which route is the shortest between 2 given points (multiple choice questions).

This allows them to operate as a private hire driver, and if they want a hackney licence, there are other 'qualifications' needed.

Originally posted by Saxon
...they then have to take a test paper where they have to say which route is the shortest between 2 given points (multiple choice questions)...
Hmmm, given the amount of times I've had to give directions to that little known part of Sheffield called Crookes(!) I'm guessing that an example of the two points would be getting from the Station to Ponds Forge or something equally, er, taxing.

Well I don't know that much about the taxi licencing operational side in Sheffield. But, if they have to take an additional, more difficult test than the average driving test, and if they have to give examples of shortest route's before being granted a license - all I can say is from my own experience, something is wrong with either a) the quality of the test/exam or b) the monitoring of who is actually driving.

As I said previously, the majority of drivers are pretty average. But the minority of 'poor' drivers in terms of driving ability of knowledge of Sheffield is difficult to comprehend.

My first husband was (and still is) a taxi driver in Wakefield and we know there are some pretty dodgy drivers over there - he works with some of them.

As for why was the journey from Young Street (behind Moorfoot) to the Pomona so cheap at £4 - well I for one don't know why it was so expensive ?! It was only a year or two back and I don't think fares have gone up too much during that time. :suspect:

Am I the only person that has noticed that most taxi drivers dont even know English and tend to drive all the way round Sheffield before you get to your destination. I think Ill stick to the bus, thanx I might have to wait for ages but at least they know where theyre going

Originally posted by chill
Hmmm, given the amount of times I've had to give directions to that little known part of Sheffield called Crookes(!) I'm guessing that an example of the two points would be getting from the Station to Ponds Forge or something equally, er, taxing.

Many a time talking to taxi drivers I have been told that they love to let customers direct them because majority of the time they end up making more money by you knowing nothing more than your traditional bus route and it also keeps the customer happy. Students are particular favorites, just because they don't know where they are, they assume that the taxi driver doesn't either, and maybe its his first year as well.
In his effort to keep you smug and satisfied don't think a guy who spends ten hours a day on these very roads would not know where Crooks is, if you do then that is naive of you.
The tests for taxi drivers have been carried out since the seventies. Sheffield is not such a large city that you would need to do the knowledge for three years on a bike like in London, hence the reason you don't see people doig that, but still have to take a test though.

There does tend to be a problem whereby certain nationalities tend to share the taxi 'badge' (because they look very similar)so that the car is on the road almost 24 hours a day, and not all those sharing the badge have passed the appropriate tests.

Originally posted by Hels
Well I don't know that much about the taxi licencing operational side in Sheffield. But, if they have to take an additional, more difficult test than the average driving test, and if they have to give examples of shortest route's before being granted a license - all I can say is from my own experience, something is wrong with either a) the quality of the test/exam or b) the monitoring of who is actually driving.

As I said previously, the majority of drivers are pretty average. But the minority of 'poor' drivers in terms of driving ability of knowledge of Sheffield is difficult to comprehend.

My first husband was (and still is) a taxi driver in Wakefield and we know there are some pretty dodgy drivers over there - he works with some of them.

As for why was the journey from Young Street (behind Moorfoot) to the Pomona so cheap at £4 - well I for one don't know why it was so expensive ?! It was only a year or two back and I don't think fares have gone up too much during that time. :suspect:

In your previous posting Hels you described that a journey not simply from moor to pomona but said he went via sharrowvale road, and if he realy had then your fare should have been about £6.50. In order to protray these guys in a bad light you seem to have exagerated the journey a little.

Originally posted by Saxon
There does tend to be a problem whereby certain nationalities tend to share the taxi 'badge' (because they look very similar)so that the car is on the road almost 24 hours a day, and not all those sharing the badge have passed the appropriate tests.

ABSOLUTE RRUBBISH!!!!

They do take a knowledge test but as of last year it was under review here's the official record. See the point about English below - is this discrimination?

Remember you did ask!!


The law permits a Council to issue a drivers licence for any period up to a maximum term of 3 years. It is the policy of Sheffield City Council to issue drivers licences for 18 months.

5.2 When an applicant first applies for a drivers licence they have to pass a number of “tests” – driving skills test, knowledge test, medical with the Police Surgeon and a criminal record check and driving licence check are also undertaken. On renewal applications a criminal record check is undertaken and the DVLA driving licence is inspected.

THE CURRENT POSITION

3.1 The current knowledge test was introduced in May 2000. The previous test had been a fairly simple, multiple choice, test of roads in the city.

3.2 Approximately 15% of drivers currently licensed have passed the current knowledge test.

3.3 The current test includes a test of routes between various locations in the city together with questions on private hire and taxi law, the safe carriage of wheelchair passengers and customer care issues. Potential applicants are given a test guidance pack that details all the routes and other questions that could be asked on the test together with all the answers. The guidance gives details of around 80 routes and around 40 other questions. A typical test will have 4 routes questions and 15 questions covering the other matters – the questions are picked out at random, by Officers, from the test guidance.

3.4 The test is timed with a specified amount of time allowed for each question. The time allowance is generous, if an applicant used up the full time allowance on each question then the test would take around 1 hour. In practice few tests exceed 30 minutes.

3.5 The test is a one-on-one verbal test with a Licensing Officer. The main reason that the test was designed in the format that it takes, was that it would also be a test of an applicants ability to communicate to a reasonable standard in English.

3.6 Work to upgrade the test was commenced following the Licensing Board decision in June 2003. Events in late 2003 demonstrated that it was possible to pass the test without having an appropriate standard of English. Applicants, having passed the test, were referred to the Board as Officers had significant doubts whether they had a sufficient knowledge of English to communicate with passengers and to fulfil the duties of a licensed driver. This resulted in applications being refused after a Board hearing. One of the refusals resulted in an appeal to the Magistrates Court. The appeal took place in January/2004 and the decision of the Court was to dismiss the appeal. The grounds given were that despite having been able to pass all the relevant tests the applicant would not be able to fulfil the duties of a licensed driver and could put the safety of their passenger and themselves at risk due to his inability to communicate to a reasonable standard in English.

3.7 As it is now clear that the format of the present test does not adequately assess an applicants ability to communicate to a reasonable standard in English a different type of test is proposed (see below).

4.0 PROPOSAL

4.1 The test continues to be a one-on-one verbal test but some element of written English is introduced. It is proposed that the written English component comprises of these three parts:

The candidate to read a clear handwritten note of the type a passenger who is unable to speak English (or cannot speak at all) might pass to a taxi driver eg “Please take me to . Can I have a receipt please.”

The applicant is given information verbally regarding a journey and asked to complete a receipt.

The applicant is given an A – Z and asked to find a particular street.

A fourth written part is being considered to deal with customer care matters. As customer care questions tend to set a scenario and require the applicant to explain how they would behave in those circumstances it is hard to envisage at the moment how such questions could be asked and the answers marked with the degree of consistency that is necessary to ensure fair and equal treatment of all candidates. It may prove to be necessary to introduce some form of written multiple choice questions.

4.2 Routes. Instead of there being prescribed routes which applicants must learn the guidance notes will have a list of locations only. On the test the applicant will be given two locations from the list and asked to specify the route they would follow to get from A location to B location. Five questions on routes should be asked. The purpose here is not that they give the specific route previously determined by Licensing Officers but that they can explain a reasonable route that they would follow in getting from A to B.

4.3 In addition to questions relating to customer care, the law and the safe carriage of wheelchair passengers there will be questions on other aspects of dealing with disabled passengers, the highway code (aspects which have particular relevance to taxi drivers) and keeping a vehicle in a suitable condition. The intention is not to produce a list of questions and answers but a guidance booklet that provides information on the areas covered in the test. Applicants will therefore need to understand the information in order to answer questions.

4.4 The pass mark to remain at 80% on the routes and 80% on the other questions – both parts of the test must be passed.

The current test is overly generous in terms of the time allowance given, by giving a more realistic time allowance it is anticipated that the new style test could be conducted in one hour.

Sorry this is so convoluted but you asked !!

(quote)Now if that is not blaming 700 black cab drivers for one incident, what is? The solution given seems to be a simple request for hell to be frozen over, out of this world or what?.(/quote)

Where tab1 in my post have I blamed every taxi driver in Sheffield?.

The fact is that I was effectively mugged by a number of taxi drivers in this city. Despite making every effort to report the incident to the authorities nothing was done. these people are probably still driving cabs in this city.

For me this incident was the final straw, prior to this I had, like many others, got in cabs driven by people who had no idea where they were going, drove badly and in one memorable case dangerously, often they bore no resemblance to the photo on the badge, and in many cases had little understanding of English.

Until the authorities and the majority of taxi drivers sort this problem out then I and my family will continue to make other arrangements

Originally posted by Tony

Please somebody tell me that taxi drivers don't share the cab among the family and friends. :shakes: [/B]

This definitely does happen - one gets the licence and then the cab is shared between say 2 or 3 brothers so it is working more or less 24 hours a day. I'm not saying it happens across the board but I do have first hand knowledge of this happening. I don't really know how this could be avoided unless the council spend more time making checks.

Originally posted by tab1
...If inadvertently he did take a wrong turning it never would be more than say 20pence extra (267yards), and if he did go more than a mile out of his way why were you st***d enough to just sit there and not say anything till time to pay...
Originally posted by tab1
...Many a time talking to taxi drivers I have been told that they love to let customers direct them because majority of the time they end up making more money by you knowing nothing more than your traditional bus route and it also keeps the customer happy. Students are particular favorites...
Lets have a little consistency here tab1, surely these “honest” drivers can’t make much by taking a few odd turns different that would only add 20p to the fare at most.


:rolleyes:


Originally posted by Tony
I've noticed that taxi drivers are getting more and more useless on the whole

In the last couple of weeks I have had more taxi drivers that hadn't a clue where they were going than those that did. I live in a really easy place that is actually on the main taxi circuit from town, and they still don't know where it is.

We even got one who didn't know where the CITY CENTRE was from Ecclesall Road!

Please somebody tell me that taxi drivers don't share the cab among the family and friends. :shakes:
Got to agree with you here, over the past few years the standard of "Black Cab" drivers is increasingly slipping to a sensationally low level, and no, I don't accept the excuses that tab1 is giving.

It's about time the authorities cracked down on this trade, before it gets beyond the point of recovery (if it hasn't already).

:suspect:

I think a big problem with black cabs in Sheffield is that there simply are not enough of them, and as is the case when there is a shortage of anything, it often means people are attracted into the business who are perhaps not suited to it.

Since coming back to Sheffield I have noticed the shortage of black cabs even more. I have to say I haven’t had any problems with the cab drivers themselves. What I have found problems with is other people jumping queues for cabs late at night. I find this especially intimidating as me and my friends don’t live anywhere near each other, so often have to get separate cabs home. I have experienced several times being the only person at a taxi rank waiting for a taxi and then when one finally arrives a large group of lads, who’ve only just arrived themselves, jump into it instead – when they have plainly seen me there and shout that they are sorry! I’m not a great believer in civilry, but surely a woman on her own at night who has been waiting ahead of you should get preference! I have experienced this a lot in Sheffield since coming back and it is not something I like.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by foo_fighter
[B]Lets have a little consistency here tab1, surely these “honest” drivers can’t make much by taking a few odd turns different that would only add 20p to the fare at most.



I TOTALY AGREE WITH YOU foo-fighter, they can't make a great deal by cheating, but if they stay quiet and let you take them 20p or 40p longer route and kept you contented then don't take that as them not knowing where they are going. Simply because I may not know a different route, doesn't make him as the driver wrong, and all I was suggesting was that everything should be clear between both driver and passenger at the start as to where they are heading to avoid misunderstandings.
The standards have slipped indeed when in just over three years black cabs have gone from 300 to more than 700, then surely law of averages would dictate more plonkers in amongst the good guys. Say there were ten percent idiot drivers then that number has gone from thirty to seventy, and more of a chance for you to get one of those on your journey home ha ha !
If anyone has proof rather than prejudice of drivers sharing badges surely they should report these bogus taxi drivers to the police, but I suspect its more prejudice than proof.

I got a taxi from a club at sheffield uni to moorfoot a few years back and havent used black cabs that often since.

Simply as going down hanover way, my friend asked the driver to slow down - he did not he actually sped up - which we then asked for his licence number so we could report him, he wouldnt do this.

:(

There are a lot of bad drivers, they cut people up on the roads drive dangerously - first hand experience of this, as used to drive late at night to pick my partner up.

It is the majority of black cabs and private hire cabs who either need to be off the road or take their test and lessons again.

I know the city reasonably well and some parts I know extremely well and when I'm a passenger in a vehicle I'm often paying attention to the speed, direction and general skill of the driver.
It annoys me intensely when a drivers grasp of english means he can't understand 'turn left here' or similar I've had the driver asking me for directions on more times than I care to remember which I'm sure is as other people have mentioned just a way of hopefully getting more money as plenty of people don't know short cuts although the taxi drivers obviously do.
Nowadays I tend to stick to one private hire taxi company which is useful as the drivers have got to know me and even knew were my girlfriend lived.
You will always get bad drivers but hopefully they will be in the minority and there is one private taxi firm that I know will employ drivers with no questions asked, I believe that if one of the unlicenced taxi drivers had an accident and the passenger was hurt there would be no insuraance cover.

Originally posted by tab1
Many a time talking to taxi drivers I have been told that they love to let customers direct them because majority of the time they end up making more money by you knowing nothing more than your traditional bus route and it also keeps the customer happy. Students are particular favorites, just because they don't know where they are, they assume that the taxi driver doesn't either, and maybe its his first year as well.
In his effort to keep you smug and satisfied don't think a guy who spends ten hours a day on these very roads would not know where Crooks is, if you do then that is naive of you.
The tests for taxi drivers have been carried out since the seventies. Sheffield is not such a large city that you would need to do the knowledge for three years on a bike like in London, hence the reason you don't see people doig that, but still have to take a test though.

OK, cheers. Now I know that they are doing this because they are corrupt rather than just incompetent, I'll be sure to kick up a stink next time it happens.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by banesmabes
[B]I think a big problem with black cabs in Sheffield is that there simply are not enough of them, and as is the case when there is a shortage of anything, it often means people are attracted into the business who are perhaps not suited to it.

Since coming back to Sheffield I have noticed the shortage of black cabs even more.

sorry i did the quote thing wrong, i'm fairly new on here
To answer the shortage of taxis, there used to be a limit of 310 black cabs until a couple of years ago, when the limit was lifted, there are now around 750, far too many for a city of this size. The problem is that most people require taxis at the same time i.e pub closing times etc. The problem i would have thought will be sorted if they ever allow late licences in bars in the city, like other cities.

To answer a question posted by another forumer:

I asked for a taxi from the back of Moorfoot to the Pamona. The driver took me a bizzare route, no where near the shortest or quickest.

I had to get a taxi because I was not able to walk. The fact that he could have charged me a lot more is irrelivant, the fact that i was charged £4 for a very short journey is the issue here.

If this particular driver had 'taken the knowledge' then I assume when he was taking me to the Pamona he was therefore taking the p*ss.

Either way, this particular driver went a long way round. I don't know what mileage he clocked, but maybe he thought £4 was enough of a rip-off and maybe he did have some sort of conciense. Or maybe, he just didn't have a clue about driving around Sheffield and charging fares.

As I said before, I have a reasonably good knowledge of the taxi business, although in another town. I know there are drivers who do not know how to work out how to charge a fare when they have to calculate on a 'round trip' basis.

I also acknowledged when I have had excellent service, and that the bad drivers I have experienced are in the minority. Now get off my case ok! If you want to argue the point, do it via PM.

Why don't taxi drivers wear seat belts?
Are they exempt?
You look in any passing taxi.
Every one. :suspect:

Originally posted by Don_Kiddick
Why don't taxi drivers wear seat belts?
Are they exempt?
You look in any passing taxi.
Every one. :suspect:

Yes they are exempt, black cabs all the time and private hire only whilst carrying passengers.

Originally posted by Don_Kiddick
Why don't taxi drivers wear seat belts?
Are they exempt?
You look in any passing taxi.
Every one. :suspect:

Under the Road Traffic Act 1988, the follwoing are exempt from wearing seatbelts:-

delivery persons engaged in deliveries (e.g. mail, newspapers) or collections
persons reversing or supervising provisional licence holder while reversing
persons in a vehicle being used for police purposes
taxi drivers while plying for hire, answering a call for hire or carrying passenger(s)
private hire drivers while carrying passenger for hire
persons in vehicle being used for fire brigade purposes
persons in crown processions
persons holding an exemption medical certificate provided it is produced at the time or within 7 days
conducting a driving test if wearing of the belt would be dangerous
vehicle driven under a trade licence for purpose of investigating or remedying mechanical fault
where seat belt is an inertia type which is locked as a result of being, or having been, on a steep incline
a disabled person wearing a disabled persons belt.

Well!
bugger me :o

Do Hearse drivers' wear seat belts then. I cant say I remember them wearing them. Nothing to do with my origianl thread but just a question.

I assume taxi drivers are excempt, in all or in part, for safety reasons.

IIf anyone has proof rather than prejudice of drivers sharing badges surely they should report these bogus taxi drivers to the police, but I suspect its more prejudice than proof. [/B][/QUOTE]

i'm not prejudiced at all - I was just pointing out that I have first hand knowledge of it happening - confirming what someone else had already posted. But as I never use black cabs I have never thought of it as my problem to be honest. I see it as the licencing and police's responsibility to 'police' it. The council licensing department concern themselves far more with catching our private hire drivers who illegaly ply for trade than with black cab drivers who share licences.

What's the reason for taxi drivers being exempt from wearing seatbelts? I never knew they were exempt, I just thought they generally didn't like wearing them!

I must say, for so-called professional drivers, the standard of driving consistently demostrated by both black cabs and private-hire cars astonishes me - it's frankly dangerous. We all make mistakes when we drive, but taxis seem to have a total disregard for traffic law, speed restrictions and common courtesy.

Originally posted by dan_999uk
I must say, for so-called professional drivers, the standard of driving consistently demostrated by both black cabs and private-hire cars astonishes me - it's frankly dangerous. We all make mistakes when we drive, but taxis seem to have a total disregard for traffic law, speed restrictions and common courtesy.

agree completely - especially seeing as they dont like small city cars as they want to speed round town, more interested in getting as much money as possible than safety of themselves, passengers, pedestrians or other road users!

from my experience of taxis in sheef, the drivers dont know thier a**e from their elbow, but will overcharge you and drop you off no where where you wanna be

Originally posted by sirdrinkalot
from my experience of taxis in sheef, the drivers dont know thier a**e from their elbow, but will overcharge you and drop you off no where where you wanna be

Are we to understand that you know where your a**e is then, so stop contemplating it and look where you are going, and don't even give'em a chance.

Do they do the knowledge ?? - I didn't think they even did a driving test.
One swerved round a double parked car on Eccy Road, completely on to the other side of the road. The little foreign gent driving was not aware of anyone else on the road. I was travelling in the opposite direction and had to swerve and emergency brake to avoid him. Before that, I saw a black cab run into the back of a car (Eccy Rd again) while a different foreign gent driving the cab was trying to force his way into the adjacent lane.
Add your cheating ways, reported in this thread, to your obvious lack of driving awareness and impudence - you don't score many marks with me.