Contibuted By: Hackney Carriage Driver
I took the trouble of driving around the town last night with an independent witness in my cab.
I wanted to show this person first hand how the livelihoods of all the Newcastle Hackney drivers are being stolen from under them, not just through flimpers, but by pirates who are blatantly operating unchallenged using expired plates and working for private hire offices which are licensed by Newcastle City Council and North Tyneside Council.
My witness was totally unprepared for the scale of illegal activity taking place and some of it done in full view of the police. All it took to put the fear of God into these pirates was to pull up behind them in a black cab and all of a sudden they would pull off without their ‘booking’.
Some of them would drive around in a circle and then try and park back in the same place only to be met with the same black cab still waiting for them. We just followed some of the others who would drive all over the town in a blind panic. One of them even turfed his passengers out when he realised he was being filmed and he nearly blew his engine up to get away.
We recorded this all over the town for one hour in all the usual places including Mosely Street, Clayton Street and Market Street. Grainger Street, John Dobson Street and St. Mary’s Place, etc. My witness was not at all surprised which office employed most of these Berwick plated cars.
If our enforcement officers had been out in mobile units that night they would have definitely earned their wages and halved the number of drivers of one of the biggest private hire firms in North Tyneside.
Just imagine how much they could clean up on a Friday and Saturday night if they were motivated.
Note from Admin: If you have Video evidence we would be happy to post it here.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Sounds like a really interesting video.
Why don’t you put it on here for us all to see?
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Private hire driver NCLE,I think we’re all going to see it mate in a second documentary they’re making on the taxi trade. Somebody recognised that journalist in the cab the other night.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Multicoloured Dreamcoat, The word on the rank is that somebody has tried to get a court injunction to stop it, but it is in the public interest. Besides everybody has a right to know how a driver can work with an expired plate. I think the council have had some input because it shows them in a very bad light.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
Why is everyone talking about expired plates, just because there is no expiry date on the bottom does not mean that the plate is expired, is everyone assuming that the plate is expired because it has no date? do you honestly believe any reputable company would allow drivers to use expired plates? i have a berwick badge as well as a north tyneside badge, iv just renewed by berwick plate with no expiry date on it, the reason i stick with berwick even though i know newcastle and north tyneside like the back of my hand is simple- price, well half the price to be exact, nuf said. i work most nights in newcastle and iv yet to see any kind of plate with an expired date. On the flimping side of things, yes its a problem but has it changed over the last few years? i would say its always gone on and always will for some time to come. Everyone brings keeps on mentioning blueline drivers as being flimpers, why would we need to flimp working for the busiest taxi firm in the newcastle area, its hard enough keeping on top of the booked jobs on a weekend nevermind waiting round for the odd flimp, Its not just the black cabs having there ‘livelyhood’ put at stake by flimpers, in fact it affects the private hire drivers like myself even more bacause most of the good jobs get taken by flimpers (not usually blueline) leaving us the dross in the most part whereas the black cabs are so expensive that even a job to heaton is close to a tenner so how can they say they dont make money?
The black cab drivers can blame flimpers or berwick plates or whatever else is the topic of the week on the them not making any cash but as far as im concerned people are just getting wise to the fact that black cab rates are extortion and they want value for money not to mention the safety aspect of a text back so they have a trace should any unlikely problems arise. glad i got that one off my chest
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
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