TooManyTaxis,Not enough Good Taxi Drivers!

I have been a Taxi Driver for nearly 27 years and one thing I have noticed is that with the increasing numbers of Hackney Carriages There has been a decrease in good Taxi drivers. When I started out, being a Hack was an art. We looked for work, Flimpers found it hard because there was always a Hack floating around,seeking out the next fare. What I see now is endless lines of Hacks resigned to the fact that they must sit in a long line of Taxis before they can get a job. Drivers come into Whitley Bay for example,see a long queue of Taxis and just tag on the end. When they do this they must realise that they cannot get a job until everyone in front has had one,unless they bump everyone else in the queue. Which is something else that would never have happened in the past. Hacks used to look out for each other. I have seen upto 20 Hacks block a road because one driver was getting grief, you would never see that today.
Last night I drove into Whitley Bay,7 Hacks at woolies, 6 Private Hire at the Oxford st. Rank and cars all the way up South Parade. I made my way down South Parade past all the ‘Sheep’ and pulled up at ‘Pizza Cottage’ where more Private Hire were sitting,maybe waiting for bookings, maybe not. Anyway I got a fare within minutes to seaton sluice. I came back to the same place and picked up straight away for Tynemouth, Picked up in Tynemouth for Whitley Bay. Dropped off and made my way back down South Parade where all the Sheep were still sitting. There’s no way I was going to let the minutes tick away by sitting about so off I went again,looking for work.

Why don’t Hacks actively Hack anymore? I Guarantee you,Monday morning there will be Hacks telling me they had a crap night on Saturday,moaning about flimpers and telling me the jobs Cattled.
The good side of this is that for those old schoolers,who know how to Hack the money is there for the taking whilst the Novices sit about, But whilst you sit about you let ‘Out of Town Hacks,PH and whoever’ clean up. The streets are your office and you should cover every bit of them.