Having worked on a big firm in Sheffield(work for myself now see banner advert at top right of screen), I got really fed up of seeing scruffily dressed taxi drivers especially with ski hats on driving around town trying to perform a service to the public.

Call me a snob but when i worked the town circuit i did my best to dress smartish and especially clean myself and my car regularly lol. Some drivers out there really don't know there's a word called 'hygiene'.

Also helping clients out and being courteous goes hell of a long way. LOL I heard one guy on my firm actually went shopping for 20 minutes and left an old lady in the car to wait.

:clap:

Council regulations seem to be very tough for us regarding our cars. How about bringing back a dress code and bring some pride back into the profession? Maybe i'm just old fashioned. :loopy:

Gotta agree with you there!

No taxi driver gets a tip from me, unless there'a a reason to warrent one.

i.e. Prompt pick up/delivery.
Politness, helps with the bags or makes a noticable effort to please.

I don't agree with the "you should tip, regardless" rule at all.
So what if what they charge just about covers the car/petrol and leaves little for a wage. . it's just like any other job. If you don't take pride in your work, then you can't expect to get a lot from your work. .

There's nothing worse than having a dirty, battered taxi turn up when your going out somewhere, and there's definately nothing worse than getting a smelly, scruffy driver who stinks of fags!

I have seen a car driving round the town centre quite a lot that has a well know taxi rank sticker on the side. It's a battered blue thing (3 door!) with dents and scrapes all over it. No way would I get in it if it pulled up outside my house!

It reminds me of the comedy sketch where a car does a handbrake turn near the taxi queue, and the driver jumps out with the crash helmet on and shouts 'taxi!' and you can see all the people in the line just staring in horror!:hihi:

Originally posted by munky
No taxi driver gets a tip from me, unless there'a a reason to warrent one.

i.e. Prompt pick up/delivery.
Politness, helps with the bags or makes a noticable effort to please.

I don't agree with the "you should tip, regardless" rule at all.
So what if what they charge just about covers the car/petrol and leaves little for a wage. . it's just like any other job. If you don't take pride in your work, then you can't expect to get a lot from your work. .
Hi Munky, I have worked on the taxi circuit for over two years and recently changed profession. There seems to be a lot of missunderstandings between the public and the driver..

It is never the drivers fault if they turn up at an address after the allocated time-that is due to the company who 'organise' such things/take bookings and the driver has NO control over.

Plus the driver has very little course of action to take if the customer hasnt heard of a bar of soap/stinks of cigarettes. The amount of people who can afford to pay the companies rates, yet not buy soap is phenomenal!

Agree about what you say with the 'tip where tipping is due'. Some drivers give the rest a bad name, this is the reason I changed jobs- people expect you to be a complete psyco/no-hygiene-scruff as soon as they come into contact with you, and it is impossible for them to change their minds and treat you like a human being at work. *rant!* Never mind the fact that as soon as someone gets into your car they are half way to a carjacking. Yes this kind of thing happens.

Originally posted by Windsor
It is never the drivers fault if they turn up at an address after the allocated time-that is due to the company who 'organise' such things/take bookings and the driver has NO control over.


Not that I doubt you, but I often see drivers using their little touchpad things and selecting other jobs/marking me as finished when we've got a good 5-10 minutes of the journey left...

surely if you're doing things like that, you're going to be late...?

The reason they do that is do try and get another job as soon as they drop you off. Its all about time in the taxi game. If you can do four jobs an hour then you make more compared to dropping someone off and then waiting in the queue for a job to come in.

I did three years of town taxiing. Money was fantastic but it does take its toll when you have to work the long anti-social hours to make it pay. plus the traffic is horrendous and private cabs have no meters so a five pound job can take 45 minutes which isn't profitable.

I had one memorable fare outside Netto. picked this woman up and as she walked round to my passenger side door I thought i could smell some bad drains. When she got in I realised it was her. A friend of mine saw me driving down queens road with my windows down and my head out lol. Dropped her off for a 3 pound fare. As she got out she left a nice sweat stain on my seat. Finished my day off as the smell was so bad. Even fabreze didn't work!!NEVER AGAIN!!!!:hihi: :hihi:

Originally posted by HomeJames
Having worked on a big firm in Sheffield(work for myself now see banner advert at top right of screen), I got really fed up of seeing scruffily dressed taxi drivers especially with ski hats on driving around town trying to perform a service to the public.



Quite right. they are a disgrace to their queen and their country.:clap:

I use RCA (2393939 if you're interested) and I'm really surprised at the comments on here - I've NEVER had a bad experience.

The drivers turn up on time in decent cars and the office gives an honest estimation if you want a taxi 'as soon as possible' (to the extent of being cool about you saying ok I'll leave it then, thanks). Oh and you get that ring-back thingie so that you know when the taxi's outside.

Just the ticket!

Originally posted by SHsheff
I use RCA (2393939 if you're interested) and I'm really surprised at the comments on here - I've NEVER had a bad experience.


Got to agree with SHSheff - they were also most helpful when I left my mobile in the back of one of their taxis. I never thought I'd see it again but the next morning the driver knocked on my door to return it.

Originally posted by munky
No taxi driver gets a tip from me, unless there'a a reason to warrent one.

i.e. Prompt pick up/delivery.
Politness, helps with the bags or makes a noticable effort to please.

I don't agree with the "you should tip, regardless" rule at all.
So what if what they charge just about covers the car/petrol and leaves little for a wage. . it's just like any other job. If you don't take pride in your work, then you can't expect to get a lot from your work. .

Im the same. The day I get into a taxi, give them my address, and they actually know where it is without me having to give them directions to it, theyll get a tip. Unfortunately, thats yet to happen.

Yes I got a taxi from west st once and told the driver crookes. I had to direct him???? The knowledge we have to learn is by no means perfect but neverless they should know where they r going.

Quality drivers can make all the difference to the reputation of a company.

Originally posted by HomeJames

I had one memorable fare outside Netto. picked this woman up and as she walked round to my passenger side door I thought i could smell some bad drains. When she got in I realised it was her. A friend of mine saw me driving down queens road with my windows down and my head out lol. Dropped her off for a 3 pound fare. As she got out she left a nice sweat stain on my seat. Finished my day off as the smell was so bad. Even fabreze didn't work!!NEVER AGAIN!!!!:hihi: :hihi:

Well that's Netto shoppers for you :P

There's nothing like beating your own drum, is there HomeJames?
You must agree that there are whole variety of drivers good, bad, smart and some smelly, and indeed many who may be more knowledgeable and smarter than even you. One Asian driver described a typical conversation with his passengers as:
Driver,” Good evening"
Passenger,” Hullo, Crooks please"
Driver,” Where about in Crooks?"
Passenger,” Drive on, I'll show dee where I'm goin"
From that point on the passenger decides that the driver hasn't a clue and makes his drunken mind up to start directing a guy who has done this job on these very streets for twenty five years, and yet avoids an argument by quietly driving as directed. It's not always as it seems, but then you should already know that.
I agree with you on what should be, and most of what you suggest is already part of the council's policy. It’s sad that instead of standing and building your business on merit by providing excellent service you decided on cheaper stunt of defaming others, tut tut.

So chaps whats it gonna be, this (http://www.algonet.se/~tourtel/images/thunderbirds/Parker_car.jpg) look
or this (http://www.fanderson.org.uk/images/tbep30.jpeg) look :hihi:

Originally posted by munky
No taxi driver gets a tip from me, unless there'a a reason to warrent one.

i.e. Prompt pick up/delivery.
Politness, helps with the bags or makes a noticable effort to please.

I don't agree with the "you should tip, regardless" rule at all.
So what if what they charge just about covers the car/petrol and leaves little for a wage. . it's just like any other job. If you don't take pride in your work, then you can't expect to get a lot from your work.

just one lil example..
My taxi is spotless (got a guy who does the hoovering, seat clean, wash/wax everyweek, at a cost of £30/week to me)... and this aft, i did a supermarket job, when they had an estate car load of stuff, i opened the door for all of them, help them pack and unpack the car, 10 mins waiting at least, and it was nearly a mile, i charged them £3, which is minimum charge, did i get a tip? did i **** ...

and last week someone got in and put dog muck all over my clean carpets, not only did he not wanna pay the fare, he told me i should lick his shoes clean...after a load of abuse...luckily his friends had a brain...

try and think of what we have to put up with too, i know all jobs have there bad points, and the majority of customers are fantastic, have a lot of laughs... you'd be amazed how few people tip.. i use a tomtom for house number finding, and when ive had "fare complaints" i show them the fastest route on the tomtom, and even when ive beaten the tomtom's fastest route, they still complain!!!

rant rant!!!!

Originally posted by GoGo_dancer
There's nothing worse than having a dirty, battered taxi turn up when your going out somewhere, and there's definately nothing worse than getting a smelly, scruffy driver who stinks of fags!

i actually prolly do stink of fags, but i do open all my windows b4 a pick up, if a job comes to me unexpectedly.... but i have a bath everyday, and taxi is spotless as my previous message says, so is that acceptable?

i think my other half would have said something if i smelt....mmmmm getting a complex now

As a Taxi driver myself, I find when I go out unshaven and scruffy looking, I get less hassle.

When i'm clean shaven and clean cut looking, I seem to get quite a lot of hassle.

Image seems to play an important part when it come to peoples attitude towards you.

Originally posted by munky
No taxi driver gets a tip from me, unless there'a a reason to warrent one.

i.e. Prompt pick up/delivery.
Politness, helps with the bags or makes a noticable effort to please.

I don't agree with the "you should tip, regardless" rule at all.
So what if what they charge just about covers the car/petrol and leaves little for a wage. . it's just like any other job. If you don't take pride in your work, then you can't expect to get a lot from your work. .

LOL don't worry about tipping, I generally add 50p on to a journey anyway :thumbsup: I think we Taxi drivers deserve it. I'm Private Hire, so its easier to do it. I do have arguments from time to time, but so what?

If they are nice people, or pensioners I generally charge them the correct fare, somtimes I even deduct 50p.

Also i'm not a total git, if someone as overspent in town, and they only have a fiver and they tell me before hand. Then I take them home, even if the fare should be £8.

dress to impress? You asked, I will.........SNOB!

Open the door for you? are you the Queen? Crippled? or Frail? If not whats wrong with you opening your own door?

Do your arms not work or is it simply below you?


Besides it the people that you don't have to 'dress to impress' that in general give better tips. The fatter the wallet, the harder it is to open! ;)

All the SNOB comments aside, have you even got an operator license Homejames? If not you could be on the wrong side of the law by taking bookings.