“Yous Taxi Drivers are Loaded”

There’s a perception amongst the rest of the world (Taxi users) that we Taxi Drivers are mega rich!
I believe the reason for this is that when a punter hands over their fifteen quid for what seems like a ten or fifteen minute journey, never mind the seven to ten miles they have just been conveyed, they think we just turn around and pick another one up straight away. “Not bad for 10 minutes graft!” they say. Sometimes adding “where’s yer mask?” or “yer a proper rippoff yous Taxi Drivers” Forget the fact the driver has queued for anything up to 45 minutes to get the job, forget the fact he has to drive back empty, because it ain’t like the movies where there’s a punter with his hand out on every corner, and forget the fact that when he gets back he joins that long line of taxis again for another long wait.
Minimum wage! What’s that? There’s no such thing in the Taxi world, No holiday pay either and you can’t be sick because if you are self employed, you can’t get Statutory Sick Pay although you can try to claim incapacity benefit but not for the first 3 days of your illness. Even a bad bout of flu is over after 3 days.
Have you seen how many Taxis are on the street, you probably don’t notice because most people only come out on a pay weekend, but the rest of the time whilst Joe public is sat in front of the telly there are lines and lines of Taxis parked all over The Toon,Whitley Bay and Tynemouth.
There are certain companies who own several Taxis which are parked up all week and rented out at weekends to people who already have a full time job. These Taxi licenses were granted during the implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act yet they are redundant all week until the weekend when they hit the streets when myself and others, who have struggled through the week waiting for the supposedly more lucrative weekend, have to compete with them. The drivers of these Cars have already made their living from their proper job and now they are coming out to take my money to pay for their holiday or clear the credit card bill. I know, I know, another whinging Taxi driver but think about it you might work in a factory or a shop where occasionally extra staff are brought in. Can you imagine the uproar if, in order to pay the extra staff the rest of you had to take a cut in pay. You would not be very happy would you? Well that’s what it’s like every week for a Taxi Driver.
Christmas! “The Taxis must be makin a fortune over the Christmas” think again. Around the last two weeks in November the local Council Licensing Departments receive a flood of applications for Hackney & Private Hire Badges. These Drivers all have jobs the rest of the year; some of them come on and boast about their jobs working offshore and their fantastic holidays. Cheers mate I’ve waited all year for Christmas to make a bit bonus and you come along and take it, then come the first of January they’re gone ,”Cya next year” they crow! Now we’ll just sit back and wait for Easter While they go back to their proper jobs!