wrote in message
...
In article ,
(Walter Briscoe) wrote:

I much prefer a black
cab to the green and white saloons used by most Brighton taxis.

Others prefer saloons as easier to get into, my mother for example, a
typical older person who has difficulty with the high step into black
cabs.

--
What happened with the Tuk-tuks that were puttering around Brighton a couple
of years ago?

In message , John Rowland
writes
Mike Hughes wrote:

Years ago taxi drivers would usually pick up a woman on her own first
to make sue she was taken home safely. Now they would be the last to
be taken, particularly late at night when they are going a longer
distance, tired and drunk - can you imagine the uproar if they fall
asleep and you try to wake them up! At least with a man you can
usually wake them by shaking as a very last resort!

Mike, recent events have made you forget the real reason you have a fire
extinguisher under your seat!

ROTFL

Spoken as a true taxi driver :-))
--
Mike Hughes
A Taxi driver licensed for London and Brighton
at home in Tarring, West Sussex, England
Interested in American trains real and model?
Look here http://mikehughes627.fotopic.net/

In message ,
writes
"Mike Hughes" wrote in message
...

Very often *more* abusive and whereas you can give a bit of verbal back to
a group of men it's absolutely impossible with women as they will
immediately complain, even when they are at fault.

I actually heard that hte concern is that they can go ballistic, rather than
complain.

You are right but I was trying not to exaggerate!

Years ago taxi drivers would usually pick up a woman on her own first to
make sue she was taken home safely. Now they would be the last to be
taken, particularly late at night when they are going a longer distance,
tired and drunk - can you imagine the uproar if they fall asleep and you
try to wake them up! At least with a man you can usually wake them by
shaking as a very last resort!


One cabbie told me that he had to ask the police to wake up a female
passenger for him. When the male officer did that, however, she started to
swear at him.

It's lucky that's all she did :-)

--
Mike Hughes
A Taxi driver licensed for London and Brighton
at home in Tarring, West Sussex, England
Interested in American trains real and model?
Look here http://mikehughes627.fotopic.net/

In message ,
writes

wrote in message
m...
In article ,
(Walter Briscoe) wrote:

I much prefer a black
cab to the green and white saloons used by most Brighton taxis.

Others prefer saloons as easier to get into, my mother for example, a
typical older person who has difficulty with the high step into black
cabs.

--
What happened with the Tuk-tuks that were puttering around Brighton a couple
of years ago?

They went bust. The owner Dominic Ponniah went on Dragon's Den to get
money and lasted less than 10 seconds (on the televised bit). The
Dragons saw that it was not a good business model, let alone the
problems with safety issues.
--
Mike Hughes
A Taxi driver licensed for London and Brighton
at home in Tarring, West Sussex, England
Interested in American trains real and model?
Look here http://mikehughes627.fotopic.net/

In message , John Rowland
writes
Richard J. wrote:

Last night I mailed the contact address given on their site to ask
what their operator's licence number was, as I couldn't find it in
the PCO database.

Gatwick is not in London and so would not be controlled by the PCO anyway.

The original address given on their web site is Croydon which is
controlled by the PCO. The easiest airport to get to (by Road) from
Croydon is Gatwick which is possibly why they mentioned that one first.

--
Mike Hughes
A Taxi driver licensed for London and Brighton
at home in Tarring, West Sussex, England
Interested in American trains real and model?
Look here http://mikehughes627.fotopic.net/

In article ,
(Tom Anderson) wrote:

I can't argue with that. The same is true for every occupation.
Trouble is the bad ones will always get the publicity. [...] If
just one taxi driver says or does something that upsets someone
then there is often a great furore. Unfortunately life just isn't
balanced.

Based on my experience as a cyclist, it's not a minority of bad
apples. Black cab drivers are almost universally aggressive and
inconsiderate drivers.

One only tends to notice the obnoxious ones, though I agree there are too
many of them.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article ,
(John Rowland) wrote:

wrote:
In article ,
(Walter Briscoe) wrote:

I much prefer a black
cab to the green and white saloons used by most Brighton taxis.

Others prefer saloons as easier to get into, my mother for example, a
typical older person who has difficulty with the high step into black
cabs.

Black cabs have a removable step and a fold-out ramp which the
driver will use if asked.

Not offered to my mother at Earl's Court the other day. Doesn't resolve
the problem that you can't place feet onto the pavement while still
sitting on a seat.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 01:54:53PM +0000, Mike Hughes wrote:

It's always a judgement call. Sometimes I can see some 'undesirable'
nearby and wrongly assume that they are with the person flagging the
taxi. In those cases I just drive straight past and I'm sure the flagger
will think I'm just being bloody minded as s/he can't see the whole
picture.

If it's me that you drive past, I'll write down your number and be on
the phone to the PCO the next morning.

--
David Cantrell | Official London Perl Mongers Bad Influence

engineer: n. one who, regardless of how much effort he puts in
to a job, will never satisfy either the suits or the scientists

On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 08:02:51AM -0600, wrote:
In article ,
(Walter Briscoe) wrote:
I much prefer a black
cab to the green and white saloons used by most Brighton taxis.
Others prefer saloons as easier to get into, my mother for example, a
typical older person who has difficulty with the high step into black cabs.

Of course, while it might be harder to get into a black cab, it's harder
to get *out of* an ordinary car!

--
David Cantrell | Minister for Arbitrary Justice

fdisk format reinstall, doo-dah, doo-dah;
fdisk format reinstall, it's the Windows way

In message , David
Cantrell writes
On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 01:54:53PM +0000, Mike Hughes wrote:

It's always a judgement call. Sometimes I can see some 'undesirable'
nearby and wrongly assume that they are with the person flagging the
taxi. In those cases I just drive straight past and I'm sure the flagger
will think I'm just being bloody minded as s/he can't see the whole
picture.

If it's me that you drive past, I'll write down your number and be on
the phone to the PCO the next morning.

There is absolutely no offence committed by not stopping, even if you
have your for hire light on. Even then it is common practice for a night
driver to keep the doors locked until s/he has established that the
customers are 'reasonable' i.e. they are not eating and drinking, are
not likely to throw up, not just stopping the cab to put another,
comatose person in the back and then leave them, etc.

Only after that will I ask where they are going. Personally I don't care
where I go but there is a legal right to refuse any fare which is going
outside the licence area, going more than 12 miles or is likely to take
more than 1 hour. That last part could be especially important on some
occasions as there may well be serious traffic jams.

--
Mike Hughes
A Taxi driver licensed for London and Brighton
at home in Tarring, West Sussex, England
Interested in American trains real and model?
Look here http://mikehughes627.fotopic.net/