Hello ! for those who travel to london airport, I have an usefull information. If any wants London Airport Taxi Cab Transfer Service than they can try http://www.247AirportTransfer.co.uk and they also provide 10% discount when you book online. I have used the company a couple of times and they seem very helpful and cooperative. Thanks

In message , Lola01
writes

Hello ! for those who travel to london airport, I have an usefull
information. If any wants London Airport Taxi Cab Transfer Service than
they can try http://www.247AirportTransfer.co.uk and they also provide
10% discount when you book online. I have used the company a couple of
times and they seem very helpful and cooperative. Thanks


This is NOT a TAXI service it is a Private Hire service. Claiming to be
a taxi service is mis-representation and, if. as you claim, you are
licensed by Transport for London, you may be reported for attempting to
mislead potential passengers with a question of being suitable people to
run such a business.

For those who don't know about such things, you will often find that
many PH companies will claim to be taxis, use drivers who have not taken
the extensive 'knowledge' test; do not have to take any additional
driving test; may in fact be driving without a UK driving licence and
frequently charge more than the metered taxi fare.

If you want to get a properly licensed taxi you can try using one of the
apps that are currently being introduced into the market. The two front
runners at the moment are HailO and Gettaxi - others are available. I
have no personal involvement with any of these companies.

Be safe, be really sure, use a driver who IS properly qualified, has
taken an additional driving test, can use bus lanes, and uses a purpose
built vehicle with a metered fare.

--
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://www.flickr.com/photos/mikehughes2011/

We were about to embark at Dover, when (Mike
Hughes) came up to me and whispered:

For those who don't know about such things, you will often find
that many PH companies

Lets test these claims...

use drivers who have not taken the extensive 'knowledge' test;

But are often training for it while earning and learning as TfL licensed
PH Drivers

do not have to take any additional driving test;

Nor do Taxi Drivers.

may in fact be driving without a UK driving licence

Unlikely, as a part of the licensing process is to check the driver is
legal to drive in the UK, and has valid licence, insurance and CRB.

frequently charge more than the metered taxi fare.

PH Vehicles are not allowed to put meters in their cabs. As a result,
they charge by mileage.

You can;t really use the old lies about Minicabs now they are all
licensed by the PCO, and lies like yours make i more likely I would use a
Minicab, not a Hackney, if I need a cab in London.


--
Paul Cummins - Always a NetHead
Wasting Bandwidth since 1981
IF you think this http://bit.ly/u5EP3p is cruel
please sign this http://bit.ly/sKkzEx

---- If it's below this line, I didn't write it ----

In message , Paul
Cummins writes
We were about to embark at Dover, when (Mike
Hughes) came up to me and whispered:

For those who don't know about such things, you will often find
that many PH companies

Lets test these claims...

use drivers who have not taken the extensive 'knowledge' test;

But are often training for it while earning and learning as TfL licensed
PH Drivers

There are *some* but they are a very small percentage

do not have to take any additional driving test;

Nor do Taxi Drivers.

Wrong. Taxi drivers are required to take an additional driving test
before they get their licence. This includes the correct procedure to
accommodate wheelchair users. PH drivers take no additional test at all.

may in fact be driving without a UK driving licence

Unlikely, as a part of the licensing process is to check the driver is
legal to drive in the UK, and has valid licence, insurance and CRB.

They do not require a UK driving licence until they have been in the UK
for 12 months - there is no additional test to get their licence.

As for CRB checks, it is not possible to check back for those who are
newly arrived in the UK, yet they are granted licences.

frequently charge more than the metered taxi fare.

PH Vehicles are not allowed to put meters in their cabs. As a result,
they charge by mileage.

Which is more likely to be higher that the meter rate. Minimum fare for
the best known minicab firm is £12.oo minimum fare for a taxi £2.40. The
majority of day time fares are less than £10 so using a minicab will
cost more - and they can't legally go into bus lanes, or through Oxford
Street.

You can;t really use the old lies about Minicabs now they are all
licensed by the PCO, and lies like yours

What lie?. If you are at a nightclub in London you'll find that the
prices they quote are higher than those for taxis. They are also
uninsured if they pick up from the street i.e. their insurance is ONLY
for pre-booked jobs.

make i more likely I would use a
Minicab, not a Hackney, if I need a cab in London.


That is your choice, but when you're sat in traffic or diverted due to
road works, or many of the various events that the roads are closed for,
especially with the Olympics coming up, don't expect the Satnav users to
know how to get around the closures.

You could ask the lady who, after 3 hours of going round the centre of
London in the minicab booked by the company she was visiting, ended up
ion tears as he just couldn't get her the hotel - a simple 10 minute
journey for me as I knew how to get around the roadworks.

As I said it's your choice.

--
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://www.flickr.com/photos/mikehughes2011/

do not have to take any additional driving test;

Nor do Taxi Drivers.

I am not now and have not ever been a cabbie but know there used to be
an additional taxi driving test (separate from the written and interview
"knowledge" tests). Has that really been dropped ?

--
Robin
reply to address is (meant to be) valid

On 2012\06\07 01:46, Paul Cummins wrote:
We were about to embark at Dover, when (Mike
Hughes) came up to me and whispered:

For those who don't know about such things, you will often find
that many PH companies

Lets test these claims...

use drivers who have not taken the extensive 'knowledge' test;

But are often training for it while earning and learning as TfL licensed
PH Drivers

do not have to take any additional driving test;

Nor do Taxi Drivers.

may in fact be driving without a UK driving licence

Unlikely, as a part of the licensing process is to check the driver is
legal to drive in the UK, and has valid licence, insurance and CRB.

CRB only really covers time spent in the UK. Since many minicab drivers
are fresh arrivals from the third world, a clean CRB tells you nothing.

As for valid licence and insurance, "Further inquiries into the rapist's
firm revealed that each of its 32 drivers was working illegally in some
way - either through their immigration status or by claiming benefit
while working." See
http://www.blackedoutwindows.com/ind...dge-speaks-out

In message , Robin writes
do not have to take any additional driving test;

Nor do Taxi Drivers.

I am not now and have not ever been a cabbie but know there used to be
an additional taxi driving test (separate from the written and interview
"knowledge" tests). Has that really been dropped ?

No. it's still a legal requirement. The person who wrote the above does
not seem to be very well informed.

The danger is that this lack of information may lead to conclusions that
are, at best, simply wrong, but at worst can seriously affect judgement
when it comes to hiring 'minicabs'.

The best know one is - or should be - that PH vehicles are only insured
for pre-booked jobs, yet people will still get into a vehicle that is
not booked. If the drivers are prepared to break the law on hiring, ask
yourself what other laws they are prepared to break.

--
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://www.flickr.com/photos/mikehughes2011/

In message , at 10:24:23 on
Thu, 7 Jun 2012, Mike Hughes remarked:
You could ask the lady who, after 3 hours of going round the centre of
London in the minicab booked by the company she was visiting, ended up
ion tears as he just couldn't get her the hotel - a simple 10 minute
journey for me as I knew how to get around the roadworks.

That happened to me in Washington DC. A taxi from the airport ended up
going round the block three times without getting any closer to our very
centrally located hotel, so we got out and walked the last hundred
yards.

And I had the same problem in Sheffield earlier this year - the road
pattern has been completely changed since my satnav's database. I went
round three times trying to find out how to get to The Crucible, before
giving up and walking the last 400 yds. (Every route I tried ended up
either at a "buses only" or a "pedestrians only" blockade).
--
Roland Perry

We were about to embark at Dover, when (Mike
Hughes) came up to me and whispered:

Wrong. Taxi drivers are required to take an additional driving
test before they get their licence. This includes the correct
procedure to accommodate wheelchair users.

Wrong. This is not a "Driving test" as the DSA do not implement it.

It is a Conduct test.

AS for the rest of your drivel, why don't you try going into somewhere
like, say, London Executive in Great Suffolk Street, tell them you are a
Licenced hackney driver wanting a job, and see how quickly they show you
the door. I doubt you'd be going slow enough to notice there's a floor...

--
Paul Cummins - Always a NetHead
Wasting Bandwidth since 1981
IF you think this http://bit.ly/u5EP3p is cruel
please sign this http://bit.ly/sKkzEx

---- If it's below this line, I didn't write it ----

Mike Hughes wrote on 07 June 2012 10:24:23 ...
In .domain, Paul
writes
[snip]

make i more likely I would use a
Minicab, not a Hackney, if I need a cab in London.

That is your choice, but when you're sat in traffic or diverted due to
road works, or many of the various events that the roads are closed for,
especially with the Olympics coming up, don't expect the Satnav users to
know how to get around the closures.

True, but don't assume that it's always the taxi driver that has the
knowledge. In my last two cab journeys, both involving heavily
congested roads, the minicab driver (Monarch Radio Cars, W4) was superb,
both in driving skills and knowledge of the street network. By
contrast, the taxi driver with an all-London badge, hailed on the street
at Edgware Road H&C station, needed advice from me on 4 separate
occasions because he evidently had very poor knowledge of West London.
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)