In message , at 07:25:48 on Tue, 26
Apr 2016, Robin9 remarked:

O. K. How about this then? A young mother is at work and
receives a phone call from her son's school. He's had a serious
accident and needs to be taken to a doctor and then probably
home. Obviously the mother needs to get to the school as
quickly as possible. Neither bus nor train will get the job done
so she needs a cab. She's in the suburbs where black cabs are
rarely found, so a minicab is the obvious mode of transport.

Are they really so rare that you couldn't phone for one and have it
arrive as soon as a minicab? The places I've lived outside of London
with a mixture of hackneys and minicabs it's been just as simple to call
one of the former as the latter.

Our black cab propagandist wants her to wait 24 hours. I make
no comment.

--
Roland Perry

In message , at 15:32:45
on Mon, 25 Apr 2016, remarked:

Imagine, for example, that you are in an industrial estate in Peckham.
There are no black cabs cruising the industrial estate looking for
passengers.

How do you get home?

Bus or train?

At 3 in the morning? Good luck with that.

You phone for a black cab. Why is this so hard??
--
Roland Perry

On Tue, 26 Apr 2016 12:11:40 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message
-septe
mber.org, at 21:08:12 on Mon, 25 Apr 2016, Recliner
remarked:

The police are a lot more fierce about moving cars along in the Heathrow
drop off lanes. It's now much harder for mini cabs to pick up their booked
fares from those lanes than in the past.

Not just that, but there's heaps of signage that makes it very clear
that the lanes are *drop off only* and that for pickup people should use
the short stay carparks.

Perhaps if someone were to drive a car bomb into a Glasgow station,
rather than their airport terminal, things might change.

True

On Tue, 26 Apr 2016 12:14:57 +0100, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 07:25:48 on Tue, 26
Apr 2016, Robin9 remarked:

O. K. How about this then? A young mother is at work and
receives a phone call from her son's school. He's had a serious
accident and needs to be taken to a doctor and then probably
home. Obviously the mother needs to get to the school as
quickly as possible. Neither bus nor train will get the job done
so she needs a cab. She's in the suburbs where black cabs are
rarely found, so a minicab is the obvious mode of transport.

Are they really so rare that you couldn't phone for one and have it
arrive as soon as a minicab? The places I've lived outside of London
with a mixture of hackneys and minicabs it's been just as simple to call
one of the former as the latter.

I just tried to order a cab to my home in the suburbs of North
London using the Hailo app and it says there are no drivers currently
available. Perhaps that isn't the best way of ordering a Taxi though?

In message , at 13:27:32 on
Tue, 26 Apr 2016, David Walters remarked:
O. K. How about this then? A young mother is at work and
receives a phone call from her son's school. He's had a serious
accident and needs to be taken to a doctor and then probably
home. Obviously the mother needs to get to the school as
quickly as possible. Neither bus nor train will get the job done
so she needs a cab. She's in the suburbs where black cabs are
rarely found, so a minicab is the obvious mode of transport.

Are they really so rare that you couldn't phone for one and have it
arrive as soon as a minicab? The places I've lived outside of London
with a mixture of hackneys and minicabs it's been just as simple to call
one of the former as the latter.

I just tried to order a cab to my home in the suburbs of North
London using the Hailo app and it says there are no drivers currently
available. Perhaps that isn't the best way of ordering a Taxi though?

I'd try whichever outfit I got my last taxi receipt from.
--
Roland Perry

You can go to the trouble of finding out the phone number of a taxi firm in your current locality. Or you can just use the Uber app that you have already installed on your smartphone.

In message , at
07:14:45 on Tue, 26 Apr 2016, Steve Lewis
remarked:
You can go to the trouble of finding out the phone number of a taxi
firm in your current locality. Or you can just use the Uber app that
you have already installed on your smartphone.

I don't have it on smartphone, and would avoid that organisation on a
matter of principle. If I needed specifically a minicab I'd call a local
company that had served me well in the past and gave the impression it
had a reputation they wanted to preserve.
--
Roland Perry

On Tue, 26 Apr 2016 07:14:45 -0700 (PDT), Steve Lewis wrote:
You can go to the trouble of finding out the phone number of a taxi
firm in your current locality. Or you can just use the Uber app that
you have already installed on your smartphone.

But that wouldn't help in the situtation being discussed where private
hire requires 24 hours notice and I require a cab in my bit of suburban
North London right now for an emergency so need a black cab.

Although if private hire did require 24 hours notice there might be more
black cabs about serving the short notice requirement.

David Walters wrote:
On Tue, 26 Apr 2016 07:14:45 -0700 (PDT), Steve Lewis wrote:
You can go to the trouble of finding out the phone number of a taxi
firm in your current locality. Or you can just use the Uber app that
you have already installed on your smartphone.

But that wouldn't help in the situtation being discussed where private
hire requires 24 hours notice and I require a cab in my bit of suburban
North London right now for an emergency so need a black cab.

Although if private hire did require 24 hours notice there might be more
black cabs about serving the short notice requirement.


I don't think anyone but Mr Nugent took his 24 hours suggestion seriously.
Indeed, no-one else would take a 24 minutes delay seriously, either. If
there was to be a mandatory delay, four minutes would be plenty.

On 26/04/2016 16:23, David Walters wrote:
On Tue, 26 Apr 2016 07:14:45 -0700 (PDT), Steve Lewis wrote:
You can go to the trouble of finding out the phone number of a taxi
firm in your current locality. Or you can just use the Uber app that
you have already installed on your smartphone.

But that wouldn't help in the situtation being discussed where private
hire requires 24 hours notice and I require a cab in my bit of suburban
North London right now for an emergency so need a black cab.

Although if private hire did require 24 hours notice there might be more
black cabs about serving the short notice requirement.

No London green-badged cab driver can afford to hang around in the
suburbs where there isn't enough work to keep him busy.

However, there is the London yellow-badged driver, licensed only to ply
for hire within certain London suburban areas (known as sectors). They
are available in the whole of outer London:

http://www.theknowledgetaxi.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/suburban.jpg