I am thinking of getting myself a car and having a go at working private hire. Any advice from existing/past private hire drivers out there would be much appreciated. eg. who are the best companys to work for, typical start up costs, what sort of money can you earn, insurance etc.

dont bother. Its getting worse all the time with new rules and regs. It'll cost you many hundreds to actually get to the point where you can rent a radio from a company @£80 per week and get insurance @£50 per week. You will get abuse and attacked, people will try to steal from you, your car will get damaged by idiots. Then some **** will decide to vomit in your car!!!:thumbsup: -and decide he/she doesnt owe you anything to pay for cleaning it/loss of wages. If you find a viable alternative, let me know.

The car has to be less than 3 years old to make it into a taxi, so quite an expense to start with.
You'll have to do the Sheffield 'knowledge' to get your taxi plates.
The car has to be MOT tested every 6 months I think (not sure).

Plus all the things that Windsor has said.

My next door neighbour is a private hire driver and he says it's virtually dead at the moment. He's having to get up at 5am just to try and take the people on early shifts to work.

If you're going to do it, you need to be very determined. It's not something you can just have a dabble in to decide if you like it. You've got to work a fair few hours each week just to cover your expenses before you make any money for yourself.

Thanks for the replies Marky & Windsor.
I have looked into this a bit further and am now a bit more clued up as to how to get into this sort of work regarding startup costs and regulations.
I would still be interested to know what sort of money you can earn, I have heard that a taxi driver in Barnsley can expect to earn £500 - £600 / week before taking off costs and that a Sheffield driver can expect to earn more than this.
Is this so? plus, is the hassle really that bad? ie abuse, drunks etc.

In theory the sky is the limit!
Unfortunately I never managed to earn 600 per week, even if I worked solid 7 days a week it has never happened.

Oh another point, Sheffield city council like to 'impose' themselves upon you. They also try to catch you out by knocking on your car windows some weekends and offering you large amounts of money to take them places (unlawful). Obviously they dont state they are from the council.
If you proceed down this line of work you are truelly on your own, and everybody will want some of you. In most cases they will expect if of you.

Sheffield Council have very strict regulations. I worked the town circuit for a few years. You have to be prepared to take the odd bit of verbal, drive people around you wouldnt entertian even your own dog to. Use industrial seat covers as I had a few people throw up, one urination aswell!!!!!

The most crucial factor is reliability. If your car is off the road you don't earn simple. :gag: : Its very stressful but can be rewarding but like someone else said loads of people at it.

Other options. Driving instructor?? Or move to CHesterfield as their regulations are so lax you can drive a mk1 cavalier around from the local scrapper :thumbsup:

'Unfortunately I never managed to earn 600 per week, even if I worked solid 7 days a week it has never happened.'

Weekends(5 till 5) alone you can take 400-600 quid.


oh and a taxi driver will never tell you what he earns
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

:loopy:
I have given up working 12 hour shifts, especially at weekends, Iwork 10-11 hours max now. But even when it was time and a half at new years I could only pull 270. You're doing something right:)

You have PM Jayliver!

Thanks for all the comments, especially the pm from Windsor. (Tried to pm back to thank you, but wouldn't let me as I havn't enough posts).
It certainly has given me a lot to think about.