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Heathrow black cabs - never again!
"Martin Underwood" wrote in message ... "Kooky45" wrote in message om... What *is* the system? What is the "ticket back to the rank"? If the system penalises taxi drivers in some way for doing short journeys, why *should* he suffer in silence? For all he knew, you might have been in a position to lobby for changes to be made, so he had nothing to lose by moaning. "That's the law and it's tough" is no excuse for people to have to accept the status quo in silence. It isn't a law, it's a rule. It's a rule made by the people who represent, in some way, the drivers and is for their benefit (as a group). It's a rule that a driver will be aware of, probably before he qualifies as a driver and certainly before he asks for the special permit (or whatever) to allow him to join the queue to pick-up at the airport. If a driver doesn't like the rules at LHR he should ply his trade elsewhere. tim |
Heathrow black cabs - never again!
"John Rowland" writes:
snip abuse of Mark Brader, and Canada of all places Oh, I thought it was Toronto specifically. Who the hell are you to insult our most knowledgeable and esteemed contributor? Huh? Clive Feather hasn't posted in this thread. -- Mark Brader, Toronto | "When I wanted to be a sigquote, that wasn't | the one I was thinking of." --Clive Feather |
Heathrow black cabs - never again!
Mrs Redboots wrote: But do be careful if you try taking a mini-cab instead, next time - you could be very seriously ripped off! Try public transport instead - or using one of the long-term, off-airport car-parks with courtesy buses to and from the airport. I now have an account with a limousine service I know from a previous company, and hopefully will never have to use a black cab again. They do personal meetings at the arrival gates at Heathrow too, and they're still cheaper than the black cabs. |
Heathrow black cabs - never again!
In message , Kooky45
writes I took a black cab from Heathrow to Twickenham yesterday and suffered the entire trip listening to the driver swearing his head off about how awful it was for him having to do a short trip and the traffic holding him up for over an hour. I fully understand he'd lose his ticket back to the rank and instead have to sit in the feeder park for a few hours, but that's the law and it's just tough. Because of him I will never be taking another black cab from a Heathrow rank again, no matter where I'm going, and I'm making sure all my friends and colleagues know about this sorry tale too. This isn't the first time I've had to suffer an angry driver taking his frustration with a crap system out on me as a passenger, and I'm not going to put up with it any more. I took the cab number but haven't made up my mind whether to report him or not yet as he did take me to my destination. Sorry for the rant. I'm hopeful some cabbies will read this and realise they're causing their own problems by driving their customers away (pun intended). I'm a London licensed taxi driver so I can speak with some authority about the Heathrow system. Taxis plying for hire at Heathrow have to first queue in a taxi feeder park which can take as much as 3 hours before they get to the actual terminal. The drivers are all 'green badge' drivers which means that their knowledge is of the central London area, where the majority of taxi passengers wish to go. Taxis are legally obliged to take any fare up to 20 mile of Heathrow if it is within the Metropolitan Police district. They can refuse any fares outside the Met or over 20 miles. Fares outside the Met are by negotiation and can be any amount. In order to stop (or at least reduce) the frustration and bad feeling that getting a local fare used to generate a 'local fare' system was introduced. This means that a driver getting a fare to local areas is given a special ticket which entitles them to return to any of the ranks without going through the feeder park first PROVIDED THIS IS WITHIN ONE HOUR of leaving the airport. The problem is that some local journeys, particularly in the rush hours, is that it takes more than an hour to get back so the driver loses his place and has to go back to the feeder park. No driver enjoys this BUT THEY SHOULD NOT TAKE IT OUT ON THE CUSTOMER. I just take it as best I can and concentrate on getting back to the airport as fast as I can (less of a problem when you work nights, but a real problem when the fares have nearly all finished at about 11p.m.) I make no apology for the actions of the driver. He should not take this out on his passengers. There are good and bad in every occupation. There are also good and bad customers. For example some customers who know the situation will ask for Brentford when they go the Chiswick because you get a ticket to go back from Brentford, but not from Chiswick. Likewise from St Margarets but not from Richmond. The system is full of anomalies. The whole thing should have been sorted out with the introduction of a new computer system. Guess what? The system is not up and running despite the fact that we were given guarantees that it would be working no later than the end of September. In the meantime drivers have to pay £3.16 every time t hey go into Heathrow for the 'priviledge' of picking up and can only charge £1 to the passengers. It seems that everything anything promised with a computer system is always late and always costs more that estimated! OK. now I'm ranting about computer programmers or am I just being picking out one part of the system and ignoring the (good) rest, just like people do with the taxi trade? Mike -- Mike Hughes A Taxi driver licensed for London and Brighton at home in Tarring, West Sussex, England |
Heathrow black cabs - never again!
"Mike Hughes" wrote in message ... In message , Kooky45 writes I took a black cab from Heathrow to Twickenham yesterday and suffered the entire trip listening to the driver swearing his head off about how awful it was for him having to do a short trip and the traffic holding him up for over an hour. I fully understand he'd lose his ticket back to the rank and instead have to sit in the feeder park for a few hours, but that's the law and it's just tough. Because of him I will never be taking another black cab from a Heathrow rank again, no matter where I'm going, and I'm making sure all my friends and colleagues know about this sorry tale too. This isn't the first time I've had to suffer an angry driver taking his frustration with a crap system out on me as a passenger, and I'm not going to put up with it any more. I took the cab number but haven't made up my mind whether to report him or not yet as he did take me to my destination. Sorry for the rant. I'm hopeful some cabbies will read this and realise they're causing their own problems by driving their customers away (pun intended). I'm a London licensed taxi driver so I can speak with some authority about the Heathrow system. Taxis plying for hire at Heathrow have to first queue in a taxi feeder park which can take as much as 3 hours before they get to the actual terminal. The drivers are all 'green badge' drivers which means that their knowledge is of the central London area, where the majority of taxi passengers wish to go. Taxis are legally obliged to take any fare up to 20 mile of Heathrow if it is within the Metropolitan Police district. They can refuse any fares outside the Met or over 20 miles. Fares outside the Met are by negotiation and can be any amount. In order to stop (or at least reduce) the frustration and bad feeling that getting a local fare used to generate a 'local fare' system was introduced. This means that a driver getting a fare to local areas is given a special ticket which entitles them to return to any of the ranks without going through the feeder park first PROVIDED THIS IS WITHIN ONE HOUR of leaving the airport. The problem is that some local journeys, particularly in the rush hours, is that it takes more than an hour to get back so the driver loses his place and has to go back to the feeder park. No driver enjoys this BUT THEY SHOULD NOT TAKE IT OUT ON THE CUSTOMER. I just take it as best I can and concentrate on getting back to the airport as fast as I can (less of a problem when you work nights, but a real problem when the fares have nearly all finished at about 11p.m.) I make no apology for the actions of the driver. He should not take this out on his passengers. There are good and bad in every occupation. There are also good and bad customers. For example some customers who know the situation will ask for Brentford when they go the Chiswick because you get a ticket to go back from Brentford, but not from Chiswick. Likewise from St Margarets but not from Richmond. The system is full of anomalies. The whole thing should have been sorted out with the introduction of a new computer system. Guess what? The system is not up and running despite the fact that we were given guarantees that it would be working no later than the end of September. In the meantime drivers have to pay £3.16 every time t hey go into Heathrow for the 'priviledge' of picking up and can only charge £1 to the passengers. It seems that everything anything promised with a computer system is always late and always costs more that estimated! OK. now I'm ranting about computer programmers or am I just being picking out one part of the system and ignoring the (good) rest, just like people do with the taxi trade? Mike ---------------------------- Mike Hughes you speak with absolutely no authority at all."BUTTERBOY" Mike Hughes A Taxi driver licensed for London and Brighton at home in Tarring, West Sussex, England |
Heathrow black cabs - never again!
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Heathrow black cabs - never again!
"Mike Hughes" wrote in message
... I'm a London licensed taxi driver so I can speak with some authority about the Heathrow system. Taxis plying for hire at Heathrow have to first queue in a taxi feeder park which can take as much as 3 hours before they get to the actual terminal. The drivers are all 'green badge' drivers which means that their knowledge is of the central London area, where the majority of taxi passengers wish to go. Taxis are legally obliged to take any fare up to 20 mile of Heathrow if it is within the Metropolitan Police district. They can refuse any fares outside the Met or over 20 miles. Fares outside the Met are by negotiation and can be any amount. In order to stop (or at least reduce) the frustration and bad feeling that getting a local fare used to generate a 'local fare' system was introduced. This means that a driver getting a fare to local areas is given a special ticket which entitles them to return to any of the ranks without going through the feeder park first PROVIDED THIS IS WITHIN ONE HOUR of leaving the airport. The problem is that some local journeys, particularly in the rush hours, is that it takes more than an hour to get back so the driver loses his place and has to go back to the feeder park. No driver enjoys this BUT THEY SHOULD NOT TAKE IT OUT ON THE CUSTOMER. The whole thing should have been sorted out with the introduction of a new computer system. Guess what? The system is not up and running despite the fact that we were given guarantees that it would be working no later than the end of September. In the meantime drivers have to pay £3.16 every time t hey go into Heathrow for the 'priviledge' of picking up and can only charge £1 to the passengers. It seems that everything anything promised with a computer system is always late and always costs more that estimated! OK. now I'm ranting about computer programmers or am I just being picking out one part of the system and ignoring the (good) rest, just like people do with the taxi trade? Taxi drivers still can't be doing too badly out of the current set-up, otherwise there wouldn't be enough of them willing to wait "hours" in the feeder park, while they could be elsewhere earning their crust. -- Richard |
Heathrow black cabs - never again!
"Richard Rundle" wrote in message
... "Mike Hughes" wrote in message ... I'm a London licensed taxi driver so I can speak with some authority about the Heathrow system. Taxis plying for hire at Heathrow have to first queue in a taxi feeder park which can take as much as 3 hours before they get to the actual terminal. The drivers are all 'green badge' drivers which means that their knowledge is of the central London area, where the majority of taxi passengers wish to go. If taxis are waiting up to 3 hours between returning to Heathrow and reaching a rank where they can pick up a passenger, doen't this suggest that there are too many taxis? The ideal number would be such that there is no queue in a feeder park and as a taxi leaves the head of a queue at one terminal, another is just being marshalled to the end of that queue. Obviously you need *some* slack in the system, but three hours seems to be excessive. |
Heathrow black cabs - never again!
"Martin Underwood" wrote in message ... If taxis are waiting up to 3 hours between returning to Heathrow and reaching a rank where they can pick up a passenger, doen't this suggest that there are too many taxis? The ideal number would be such that there is no queue in a feeder park and as a taxi leaves the head of a queue at one terminal, another is just being marshalled to the end of that queue. Obviously you need *some* slack in the system, but three hours seems to be excessive. 95% of the time there are far too many taxis. Unfortunately, the decision as to the numbers appears to be based on the demand for cabs during those peak times, such as a rainy Saturday night. As a cab driver myself, I've often wondered if there'd be a benefit to permitting knowledge boys in the latter stages of the knowledge to work Friday and Saturday nights in the West End only. I've been out for 3 years now, and I know I could have done the job 6 months before I got my badge. That way, the public are happy, as there's a greater supply of cabs during peak times, cab garages are happy as they have an increased market to rent cabs out to, and cab drivers are happy as the constant pressure to increase the number of cab drivers would largely cease. |
Heathrow black cabs - never again!
"Martin Underwood" wrote in message ... "Richard Rundle" wrote in message ... "Mike Hughes" wrote in message ... I'm a London licensed taxi driver so I can speak with some authority about the Heathrow system. Taxis plying for hire at Heathrow have to first queue in a taxi feeder park which can take as much as 3 hours before they get to the actual terminal. The drivers are all 'green badge' drivers which means that their knowledge is of the central London area, where the majority of taxi passengers wish to go. If taxis are waiting up to 3 hours between returning to Heathrow and reaching a rank where they can pick up a passenger, doen't this suggest that there are too many taxis? The ideal number would be such that there is no queue in a feeder park and as a taxi leaves the head of a queue at one terminal, another is just being marshalled to the end of that queue. Obviously you need *some* slack in the system, but three hours seems to be excessive. But this is at the drivers' choice. As has been noted, the possibility of a plum pickup must make this wait worthwhile or they wouldn't do it. tim |
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