typical. friday afternoon. nice weather. looking forward to the weekend. traffic gridlock in the city centre because some selfish taxi drivers block all the roads.
maybe we should protest at their protest and block all the taxi ranks?

seriously though. this is out of hand and no way to behave in civilised society.

If the Council weren't complete idiots we wouldn't have to put up with Taxi strikes.. :loopy:

The Taxi people are whinging at the Council for some reason..

taxi drivers are thw whimgers the prices are stupid too very selfish people why are nt the police doing something about it

Originally posted by ormester
taxi drivers are thw whimgers the prices are stupid too very selfish people why are nt the police doing something about it

Cos the Police have got enough to cope with trying to protect us from Terrorists..

I have the solution. I will never, ever, ever, use a black cab again and I am going to persaude others to do likewise. Even if it means lugging 2 suitcases 4 miles into town so I can go on holiday. They will have to look for new jobs or leave.

Sorry, missed this as haven't been to town for a day or too - what exactly is going on???

The council want to cap the number of Hackney cabs in Sheffield, so consquently the cab drivers have got the lip on and are bullying people who have nothing to do with the problem.

Originally posted by U_Got_It
The council want to cap the number of Hackney cabs in Sheffield, so consquently the cab drivers have got the lip on and are bullying people who have nothing to do with the problem.

NO.

The taxis want to cap the numbers so that they can go back to a closed shop and sell plates for £20,000 or more.

The council want to increase the number of plates (maybe without cap).

Originally posted by U_Got_It
The council want to cap the number of Hackney cabs in Sheffield, so consquently the cab drivers have got the lip on and are bullying people who have nothing to do with the problem.

from what i heard the taxi drivers want them to cap the number of liscences as there is no work and they are issuing new drivers with liscences and basiaclly saturating the streets with taxis,.. was on hallam fm news other day.

Yeah that was it ... bit irrelevant really as I've vowed never to get a taxi again. :D

black cabs are genrally known for been a rip off either they take the long way round or they dont speak very good english , got a bc on bellhouse road to longley park and he charged me 5.50:o

If there are too many taxis, why can't I get one to arrive at my house on time????

market forces - more taxi's more choice should mean cheaper prices - I always use the private hire one's anyway - don't trust the meters on some of the black cabs - they seem to charge a fortune for short rides in comparison to the private hire vehicles - and they never go the quick route either....

so I'm all in favour of boycotting them :)

they take prices up nearly as often as busses

In February the taxi drivers association presented a petition to the council calling for the number of taxis licenses to be limited. The association claimed that there is not enough work to go round, and that taxi drivers are having to work longer hours to make a decent living.

The petition was initially sent to the Licensing Board. They sent it to a Scrutiny Board, and added additional concerns. One of those concerns was private hire cabs not honouring pre-booked jobs. I supplied the Scrutiny Board members with copies of two SF threads where complaints of this nature had been made.

The Scrutiny Board took evidence from taxi drivers, MPs, councillors, etc., and then held a second meeting on Wednesday of this week, where they made numerous recommendations. After considering all the evidence, the Scrutiny Board voted overwhelmingly to recommend to the Licensing Board that there should not be a re-imposition of a limitation policy. The Licensing Board will meet soon to consider these recommendations, and make a final decision.

The taxi drivers appear to be unhappy with this recommendation, and appear to be driving around the city centre with empty cabs, as some form of protest.

Black cabs in Sheffield are a RIP off!! :rant:
My brother in law lives in Doncaster, we went out round donny centre, flaged down a black cab. As soon as we got in the fare was £1.10, in sheffield its £2.90!
Cost us £5.30 to his house which is about 4 miles. :thumbsup:
Black cabs are a no go for me!

Originally posted by redrobbo
After considering all the evidence, the Scrutiny Board voted overwhelmingly to recommend to the Licensing Board that there should not be a re-imposition of a limitation policy. The Licensing Board will meet soon to consider these recommendations, and make a final decision.


Redrobbo.

If the 'Scrutiny Board' took notice of the comments on this Forum, may I commend you upon bringing it to the 'Scrutiny Board's attention.

May I now also state that I hope that the Licensing Board also take note of the advice of the Scrutiny Board and the comments on this Forum and do not impose any CAP whatsoever.

So, does that mean we are in for never ending gridlock in town because of over-militant taxi drivers where it takes more than 40 minutes to traverse Pinstone Street?

There was speculation after the first 2 "events" that the police would start arresting drivers for causing an obstruction but they were nowhere to been seen yesterday.

If any taxi drivers are reading this - your actions will turn the public against you. If your battle is with the council, keep it with the council DO NOT p*** the public off!

I'm off to give my 3 local councillors an earful.

My mate asked one that if they do cap the number of cabs then they may be allocated randomly and what is to say that he would be given one? Then he would be ****** wouldnt he.
Funnily enough he didnt have an answer. Flippin taxi drivers.. who do they think they are!!!

I have a solution.

Let the council cap the number of cabs. In return the existing taxi drivers must sit a refresher exam every year all within a couple of weeks. This exam should cover customer service, time keeping and knowledge of the city.

However, at the same time none taxi drivers should be able to apply and sit the same exam.

Whoever has the highest score, whether they are public wanting to become taxi drives or existig one's, get the license.

However can you imagine how many existing taxi drivers would fail?

especially if the highway code is included in the exam :)

they are without doubt the poorest drivers on the road, total disregard for everybody - you'd think they were bus drivers the way they go off sometimes :)

I think we should have a go slow along West Street on a Friday night,that will teach em!

boycott black cabs thats the best bet they always seem to complain about any little thing what happened to the rule on making them look tidy and smarter someone coming to sheffield first impression of sheffield must be what a dump with the star traders looking untidy and the taxi drivers

What a negative lot you are!

Put yourselves in their position - you are a black cab driver, trying to earn a living. Your overheads are: tax, insurance, taxi test, petrol, repairs and maintenance, MOT, cleaning of cab etc.

Then you sit in a taxi rank for most of the day, waiting for a fare - you could get a £3.00 fare that takes you ages around town, then you join the taxi queue right at the back and maybe wait an hour before it's your turn for another fare.

The 'rush hour' comes, you get a drunken lout who gives you loads of verbal and pays you maybe £7. Then you have to race back into town to pick up another fare before everyone has gone home. It's not the best way to make a living.

Now, add to that the council who only give space for 50 something cabs to stand on a rank (with some 300 taxis in Sheffield) and the knowledge that anyone who applies for a taxi licence will get one - I'd not be too impressed either.

I for one have stood in the taxi queue on a weekend waiting ages for a cab and wishing there were many more on the roads, but I guess that's because many of them pick up fares after being flagged down before they can get back to the rank.

The council need to balance the needs of customers wanting a cab and the ability for cab drivers to make some kind of living. They should have some idea on what the capacity required in Sheffield is. Maybe they could limit issuing of new licences to say, so many each month? The more cabs there are in Sheffield, the more difficult it is for each of them to make a living, therefore the more likely it is that when they get a fare, they will try to make that fare clock up as much as possible.

This isn't London, there isn't a never ending supply of people wanting black cabs, why do Sheffield council act as though there is?

And while we are at it why don't we cap other trades.

There's way too many shops, let's cap them so that others stand a chance!

And have you seen how many Big Issue venders there are?

As long as people can pass the exams needed then I don't see why there should be a cap. It's a free market where competition is encouraged. If they can't deal with it tough.

If the supply get's too saturated then let the taxi drivers decide individually what to do i.e. stay in the trade or leave.

I think Helen talks some sense. I true have sympathy with them as if there's too many cabs then they'll be little.

One of the biggest issues for me is simply cost of fuel. Although i have sympathy for them, they want the work easily. What the council want is for the cabs to drive round the city centre looking for work rather than having go to a rank. How many people nwo hail a cab?? It's very rare!

The council wants the drivers to pick up people rather than the other way. (this is why the drivers hold a go slow drive round the city centre, it's their sarcastic way of doing what the council asks but slowly!). But due to the cost of fuel, the taxi drivers do not want to drive round the city centre (plus it's easier to sit and wait!)

I too prefer to use private as i hate seeing the meter at £4.00 even before i've lift the city centre!!

I don't have that much sympathy.

Ok, their point about there only being one garage in the entire city that the council will allow to maintain black cabs is a fair one I will admit.

The point about taxi ranks would be a good one if cabs actually ever turned up in a rank..... You try getting a taxi at night from either the station or city hall and you'll be waiting a long time..

As for there being too many cabs - when I come out of a late bar or nightclub finding a taxi is still like a military operation.

There are plenty of taxis floating about during the day when I don't need one though - I'm not paying the rip off £10 fare from town to Bradway when I can get a bus for £1.60!

Maybe if they had a special cheap fare at off peak times there may be more business to go round!

Originally posted by Internetowl
market forces - more taxi's more choice should mean cheaper prices - I always use the private hire one's anyway - don't trust the meters on some of the black cabs - they seem to charge a fortune for short rides in comparison to the private hire vehicles - and they never go the quick route either....

so I'm all in favour of boycotting them :)


Nice one
Being in favour of market forces and all that perhaps you could enlighten us of how many cabs there need be for the price of a black cab comes down from nearly £30 000 to an affordable £15 000, and how do you bring down the cost of fuel and insurance and maintenance. If you want the b*****rs to provide a decent and safe service then they have got to sustain the cost of providing that service. As for the protest, even though I personally don't agree with it but they are doing what many on here and the council want, namely to drive round and round. The cap is not the only issue but more ranks at better locations too.
Just like in the case of bus routes, chip shops, supermarkets, or even no left or right turns, everything has certain amount of regulation for the benefit of the public. You could argue that it's a free country and anyone should be able to do pretty much anything they like, but it rarely is like that. There is a system used by many other councils like Manchester, and Birmingham and in the past by Sheffield also to determine the unmet demand in the taxi trade and issue the number of licenses required.
The private hire may be trustworthy but you are taking their word for it where as the black cab driver has no control over the fare other than to switch the meter on and off, and you don't trust the meter? Now that is so logical. The starting price for private hire is £3 (and £3.50 for some), whereas £2 in day and £2.50 at night for black cabs, but psychological effect of seeing the meter ticking away, I agree is irritating

Originally posted by Andy C
I don't have that much sympathy.

Ok, their point about there only being one garage in the entire city that the council will allow to maintain black cabs is a fair one I will admit.

The point about taxi ranks would be a good one if cabs actually ever turned up in a rank..... You try getting a taxi at night from either the station or city hall and you'll be waiting a long time..

As for there being too many cabs - when I come out of a late bar or nightclub finding a taxi is still like a military operation.

There are plenty of taxis floating about during the day when I don't need one though - I'm not paying the rip off £10 fare from town to Bradway when I can get a bus for £1.60!

Maybe if they had a special cheap fare at off peak times there may be more business to go round!

The taxi charges you £10 to bradway and the bus charges £1.60, but you forget that the bus company on average maybe getting 40 passengers and potentially making £60 for the same trip. £10 rip off? doesn't seem that bad realy, you could even save the bus fare by getting a bike.