Claim's Cabbies Corner. UPDATE! Warren gets an official complaint and bollocking!

[SiC]

That list doesn't tell the whole story.

 

Vehicles previous to those rules have been grandfathered in for now. So you still see N-reg LXT cabs and pre 2000 previas kicking around.

 

However it also doesn't mention that newly plated vehicles require to be low emissions now. Also that will take effect too for existing plated vehicles too.

 

All hackney carriages need to be painted Bristol blue. Those that were registered before that came in effect had to be repainted - which often were done very badly.

 

Be prepared to see on the market a whole manor of dodgy painted knackered vehicles in and around Bristol soon.

[RobT]

When collecting chod last weekend I got a taxi from Leeds station to the sellers house. I was expecting a Skoda or Prius but a vision in white appeared and it was a Dacia Logan MCV. The driver had it owned it for 4 years and 180,000 miles or something and was very happy with it. He was an older guy who had sold Volvos in the 70s and owned Dafs at the time, sounded like one of us!

[Ghosty]

MCV is a standard taxi choice up north.

[catsinthewelder]

No age limits at all here in Shropshire,  no bloody taxis half the time either.  I'm not sure if we have any Hackneys here at all.  Private hires are mostly kept busy with school work,  there was an LDV Pilot working recently and a  Hyundai i10 plated to carry 3.

 

We have been very tempted to set up a taxi operation at work as we are regularly asked to drive people about.  Need more staff first though as we are run off our feet most of the time.

[HH-R]

Northumberland, North Tyneside and Newcastle have no age rules according to that link, but you never really see anything older than about 60 plate.

 

Mostly Toyota Hybrids of various types, VAG shite, and Logan MCVs on LPG.

[Felly Magic]

Ipswich can't have an age limit going by the J reg 940 knocking about, and many 10 plus year old hackneys, plus at one point High & Dry Matrixes as hackneys, Toyotas seem to be the choice now for hackney drivers here now, loads about, Skodas are getting a rarer sight for even minicabs, recent reliability and customer care has turned the cab trade against VW group

[Kiltox]

Dusters obviously meet the requirements in Stirling - surprised because it’s not huge in the back

 

[Jams]

There’s a fella local to me in North Wales that has bought a ruck of Dacia’s to use as taxis think it’s the sandaro flavour?

 

Well the council have put a stop to his plans as the rear seat base is 10cm to big? Restriction on rear leg room?

Bloke is gutted

[Ghosty]

I remember seeing that on Angry People In Local Newspapers. It wasn’t clear but either the regs had changed since he bought them, or he didn’t look.

The seat base thing sounds a lot like that old ruling that basically banned Ladas as taxis, wherever that was.

[Tayne]

There are internal space regulations up here in Aberdeen as well.

I remember an driver (a good few years ago) telling me that the Mercedes 190 was too small inside to pass but the replacement c-class was allowed.

Everything in town is either Mondeo-sized or larger (or a van/MPV) but I think the regs are a little more lax out in the Shire.

[bramz7]

Reading has no max age at first licence for anything, 20 year maximum age. West Berkshire doesn't care what you run apparently. Might explain why someone was running a MK1 Mondeo V6 and then a mid 90s C Class after...

[Hendry]

There are some utter mongs running things like 11 plate Fiestas round here as taxis, not being funny but if I pay for a taxi to the airport I expect a car with a large boot for my suitcases and decent legroom or I’d be as well asking a relative with a Corsa or something to take me to the airport.

 

There’s no engine size limit in our council now, where previously it was 1.6 litre, they have a rear seat minimum width and a requirement for the boot to fit 2 large suitcases and if it meets that anything goes, where personally I think it should be a set class of car, Focus/Astra estate or larger, don’t think a Focus hatch is big enough.

 

Luckily most round here, like my dad, who runs a mk4 Mondeo, run larger stuff like Superb, Octavia, Avensis, Mondeos, Hyundai i40, Mazda 6 or estate Golf/Ceed/Focus/Astra. Some have 7 seaters or even 9 seater Trafics etc

 

We didn’t used to have age limits but recently it came in that a car couldn’t be plates for PHC or hackney work if older than 5 years old at first plate, couldn’t be played beyond 10 years and after 7 years had to be tested once a year now rather than twice.

 

A lot are using Skoda Rapid/Seat Toledo which is a VW Polo platform so has similar lack of rear leg room issues.

 

Some other councils nearby have no age limit still so things like R reg mk2 Mondeos and W reg Rover 45s are still on the go, but as NorfolkNWeigh said a good few posts back, why would anyone be chuffed at paying a fortune for a taxi fare and being greeted with what most people consider as an old banger.

 

Also some oddball choices about, Kia Sportages, a nearby firm in another town under same local authority their taxi firm uses newish expensive prestige like Audi, BMW, Mercedes for plain standard fares, no idea how they afford these cars or make any money (not brand new so not leased/PCP I don’t think) and as my dad says, a top spec 4 year old Mondeo is too nice a car to waste on some of the punters he gets fares for let alone a £20-odd grand car. We have thankfully missed out on the fleets of Peugeot E7 Eurotaxi shoddy bodges from Allied Vehicles/Cab Direct (old work rented premises from them on the site they cut Partners, Experts, Vítos and Caddy’s up to make into Taxis and wheelchair access vehicles)

 

The Taxi Centre isn’t far from us but don’t see many drivers up here getting cars from there now when for a while it was all Octavias supplied by them. Maybe the fact they are owned by Vertu/Bristol Street Motors has changed how they work though.

 

Somebody in another town near us but different local authority had played a Renault Fluence, one of those electric booted Megane things. Have seen a couple of Leafs, not sure how viable they are with their poor battery range in a car that covers 30,000miles minimum per year as a taxi, must be loads of downtime charging them constantly.

[Ghosty]

I haven't seen them for a while, but at one point someone in Manchester was using a Fiesta for Uber.

 

About 3/4 years ago I saw someone doing private hire in a base spec CHEVROLET AVEO.

 

 

No idea what MCC were thinklng plating cars like that.

[sierraman]

I couldn’t care less what it is. So long as it gets me home safe when I’m pissed.

 

Went in one last week, a Jaguar X something or other, 3.0 Diesel it had in it. Must have been a £30,000 Car at least. Struck me as madness, it wasn’t like he was doing airport runs or picking business type folks up, he was taking pissheads 2-3 mile down the road for £6. I’d have bought the base spec Skoda Rapid and made as much money as possible at it.

[Jams]

They were Logans. Logans are a popular taxi choice and there were already some in service in his area, but the specs for new registrations had recently been revised. I asked the salesman about taxis when we were buying our Duster. He said he'd sold loads of Logans but only one Duster.

That’s the one!! Couldn’t remember what model they were!

 

I hope the poor chap sorts it out tbh it’s cost him a few quid

Taxi firm in Rhyl are running fabia’s! Bloody tiny

[quicksilver]

10 year age limit where I am (Aylesbury Vale) but bizarrely they'll plate a 10-year old car. I haven't noticed anything unusual round here and it's mostly Avensiseses, Mondeos and Insignias now. A few years ago there were quite a few Saab 9-3s knocking around but I guess they're all too old now. I remember when it was all Bluebirds and Carinas...

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I'm very tempted to get an Aylesbury Vale License instead of the Milton Keynes that I've had for 23 years.

There's a 15 year initial age limit which means I could pick up 14 year old S500 or Lexus LS every couple of years, the money I'd save in repairs would cancel out the fuel and initial price of newer crap. I'm sure customers wouldn't notice how old it was as long as I put my plate on it.

About half of the PHs in MK already license in Aylesbury Vale because it's cheaper , they don't have a knowledge test and you can have tinted windows- very important for abusing and grooming young girls.

[Pillock]

You could easily get two big suitcases in an Astra or Focus Hatch, I used to get two 400*600 totes in with room for them to slide around.

 

I guess the premium makes get better resale values, same as my employer dishing out BMWs as company cars to the lowest ranked plebs - monthly cost is only marginally more as the resale at 4 years old is better than a diesel Astra in resale silver. If you can only have it for a few years as a taxi then it won't be a banger when you move it on, especially if the odometer has that weird* fault* where the miles are divided by four assuming you've accidentally* pressed the sequence of controls before starting up.

[taxi paul]

In the good old days when I was moonlighting has a weekend taxi driver . I had a cortina 1.6 RAX 912Y. The outfit only had about thirty cars of which were. New company vw jetta diesels. A few ladas. Couple of sierras.few cavaliers.a solitary fso Polonez. A princess. A few sunny's.also last but not least some mentalist who plated is granada 2.9 ghia.

[Tayne]

 

Somebody in another town near us but different local authority had played a Renault Fluence, one of those electric booted Megane things. Have seen a couple of Leafs, not sure how viable they are with their poor battery range in a car that covers 30,000miles minimum per year as a taxi, must be loads of downtime charging them constantly.

 

 

 

30k miles a year is 125 a day (48weeks x 5days), you'd almost manage that on one charge in a 30kw Leaf.

Zap it on the rapid when the driver has lunch and away you go.

 

The company in Cornwall putting 50k miles a year on their Leaf taxis reckon the £8-10k saving makes up for the inconvenience of that quick zap on the charger several times a day.

 

 

http://fuelincluded.com/2015/07/nissan-leaf-taxi-passes-100000-miles-and-still-on-1st-set-of-brake-pads/

[SiC]

Given how cheap leafs are getting, you could have 2 of them. One on charge at home, another using. Swap over when flat...

 

Also in a city, you're stationary a lot of the time and so range won't be a concern for jobs either. I bet the loss of jobs due to range limits, could be more than make up by the savings from charging rather than filling.

[AnthonyG]

Towns in Devon/Cornwall had Farina Cambridge/Oxfords well into the 1980s, although looking back they were probably only 13-14 years old if the cabbies were using 1970-71 cars.

 

There was a guy in Lampeter (West Wales) who had a K or L reg Audi 80 until 2007, he lost his licence due to drink driving before the council called time on the cab. The engine and exhaust were a lot louder than the local tractors!

[Craig the Princess]

Really enjoyed being put in two almost new E-Class Mercedes taxis last week to get past rail engineering works. There were meant to be three of us in the taxis but the other two weren't so I was conveyed like a king.

 

We're on the border of very regulated Kings Lynn and West Norfolk and almost no regulation Fenland, guess where all the local taxis are plated.

[phil_lihp]

Until fairly recently there was a chap in Bideford running a spotless J-reg Peugeot 405 diesel saloon but I haven't seen it for some time now.  There's been a V-reg Saab 9-3 about as well but it's mostly 10-15 year old humdrum stuff now, plus a 13-plate Dacia Logan.  I suspect the local regs are quite relaxed.

 

Back in the early nineties I recall several Peugeot 505 estate taxis about, usually in pale blue.  It's been a long time since I've even seen a 505 now though.

[mat_the_cat]

Went in one last week, a Jaguar X something or other, 3.0 Diesel it had in it. Must have been a £30,000 Car at least. Struck me as madness, it wasn’t like he was doing airport runs or picking business type folks up, he was taking pissheads 2-3 mile down the road for £6. I’d have bought the base spec Skoda Rapid and made as much money as possible at it.

 

Surely some of it would be down to the driver's choice of what they're going to be spending their working hours in? Rather than purely what makes the most money.

 

As an aside, around 10 years ago I went on a work trip to Cologne, and at the airport I made a beeline past all the identical E-Class taxis, straight for the 1980s W123 with 700,000+ km on the clock. Aside from a few clonks it seemed to drive very well, and had that lovely worn-in feel. Although I think I'm an exception to most punters!

[bramz7]

There's a minty fresh Dedra SW being used as a taxi in Rome. Saw a Tempra SW doing the same in 2016 but think it's now dead.

There's a few new taxis there but some masochistic drivers are using Bravas and first gen Multiplas which must be on death's door now.

[Lacquer Peel]

Until fairly recently there was a chap in Bideford running a spotless J-reg Peugeot 405 diesel saloon but I haven't seen it for some time now.

 

I remember seeing a mega mileage but tidy earlyish 405 diesel saloon on eBay a while ago, that might have been it.

[bramz7]

The famous IOW Audi 100 taxi is sadly no longer plying it's trade either.

[Eddie Honda]

^^^^^^ Boooo.

 

Mind you, the driver was old enough.

[Timewaster]

Local cab firm had loads of Bluebird diesels painted in a distinctive colour scheme. A new age limit was introduced and he had to replace the lot with whatever he could find.

Next year the age limit was dropped and he was left with a load of shite cars he had bought in a hurry while all over the county people were driving about in green and white bluebirds for years.

He was savage!