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

[warren t claim]

6 minutes ago, Homersimpson said:

A bit (very) late to reply to this but in 2022 I was driving to work one Sunday morning for a power shutdown (around 7am so not that early) when I came across a dog running loose trying to get onto the dual carriage way.

I have to confess I'm not a massive dog person but I couldn't see the poor thing run over so I stopped and called it over and it came to me.  It had no tag so I had no idea where it was from but it was in a small hamlet so there weren't may houses around.

I managed to tie a rope to its collar and for the next half hour we walked to all the nearby houses to see if it recognized anywhere, I rang a few bells and was greeted with deep suspicion by a lot of people (well I was wearing a t-shirt, track suit bottoms and had a greyhound on a rope walking around peoples expensive houses!) .

Now the problem was that it was in the middle of a heat wave, I couldn't leave it run free, I couldn't tie it up as it would be scorching a few hours so I had to take it with me.  It was a nice dog but daft as a brush.

I tried to get it in the back of my car but it was having none of it so I eventually had to put it on the front seat.

Fortunately on my way to work their was a dogs trust place and they took it from me.  It was chipped but they rang the number and it was for the original breeder as the owners hadn't registered it to them.  The breeder reckoned they had a number for who they sold it to and would dig it out.

I left my details with the dogs trust and then left, I rang a couple of days later to check on it and they confirmed that its very upset owners had collected him (as it turns out he was a boy).    Apparently he was a Whippet and worth a fair amount of money, no idea why the new owners hadn't registered his chip.  If he hadn't been collected I think I might have become a dog person

 

My Laguna (yes, that's right) Whippet approves of your post.

[warren t claim]

Last night I had the pleasure of dealing with a knife-wielding homeless woman. Oddly enough, I actually got paid. 

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, warren t claim said:

Last night I had the pleasure of dealing with a knife-wielding homeless woman. Oddly enough, I actually got paid. 

Interesting. Aroused too?

[yes oui si]

On 14/12/2024 at 19:15, twosmoke300 said:

Roadkill Cafe - you kill ‘em we grill ‘em 

Efa. 

[yes oui si]

8 hours ago, Homersimpson said:

 

I have to confess I'm not a massive dog person 

Thank god, that'd be terrifying. 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

11 hours ago, Homersimpson said:

A bit (very) late to reply to this but in 2022 I was driving to work one Sunday morning for a power shutdown (around 7am so not that early) when I came across a dog running loose trying to get onto the dual carriage way.

I have to confess I'm not a massive dog person but I couldn't see the poor thing run over so I stopped and called it over and it came to me.  It had no tag so I had no idea where it was from but it was in a small hamlet so there weren't may houses around.

I managed to tie a rope to its collar and for the next half hour we walked to all the nearby houses to see if it recognized anywhere, I rang a few bells and was greeted with deep suspicion by a lot of people (well I was wearing a t-shirt, track suit bottoms and had a greyhound on a rope walking around peoples expensive houses!) .

Now the problem was that it was in the middle of a heat wave, I couldn't leave it run free, I couldn't tie it up as it would be scorching a few hours so I had to take it with me.  It was a nice dog but daft as a brush.

I tried to get it in the back of my car but it was having none of it so I eventually had to put it on the front seat.

Fortunately on my way to work their was a dogs trust place and they took it from me.  It was chipped but they rang the number and it was for the original breeder as the owners hadn't registered it to them.  The breeder reckoned they had a number for who they sold it to and would dig it out.

I left my details with the dogs trust and then left, I rang a couple of days later to check on it and they confirmed that its very upset owners had collected him (as it turns out he was a boy).    Apparently he was a Whippet and worth a fair amount of money, no idea why the new owners hadn't registered his chip.  If he hadn't been collected I think I might have become a dog person because he was lovely

 

Had a couple like this.

A few years ago, we were down in Devon.  Just before joining the A30 around Whimple, a small dog of questionable breed suddenly ran out of a lane into the main (NSL) road.  I slowed down immediately and it continued running as fast as it could until it got to one of two roundabouts that make up the main junction.  I pull over and whack my hazards on to try and block traffic, get out and my partner does the same.  I manage to get the dog to come towards me and grab it.  My partner then gets back in the car and parks somewhere slightly less obstructive.

We call the number of the tag and a grumpy sounding woman answers and says she'll send her husband down.  He arrives five minutes later and takes the dog.  No word of a thanks.  No word of anything.  I was pleased to have rescued the dog but I was seriously fucked off about the lack of thanks...

The second one is more similar to your story @Homersimpson.  About 4PM one Sunday, driving about a mile from where I used to live near Ashford on a  hot summers day, we come across a whippet-like dog by the side of the road looking a bit lost.  I get out and grab it and it's obviously quite young.  Incredibly sweet-natured and quite calm but it has got a few small scars, etc.  We ask around a few houses but nobody knows anything.  Nowhere is open, the local dog warden is off duty and we can't really take it home to our rented place.  Eventually, we get a vet in Ashford to agree to take it in.  We drive over there with the dog.  We tell the vet the full story, where we found it, etc.  She says that she's 'legally obliged to try and find the owner' but then also explains that there's a gypsy camp up the road from where we found it and that it looked like the dog had been used for illegal hare coursing.  So she wasn't going to try too hard and assuming all is well the dog will likely be rehomed.

We go home.  A few months later, we see an advert from a local pet charity called Lord Whisky and there is the dog.  They had named her Florence.  If we'd been in a position to take in a dog, we'd have been over there like a shot but unfortunately we weren't at the time.  Nevertheless, we were obviously delighted to see her and a few days later the advert had been taken down, so she must have been rehomed.  Beautiful dog.

[warren t claim]

As a dyed in the wool night driver it's rare for me to do a day shift but today was one of those days. 

As well as the expected trips over to Aintree for Slags Day I had to deal with the usual OAPs and shoppers. One two car job did get me thinking though. After chewing the fat with the other driver. Working opposite shifts meant that we didn't recognise each other so he asked me how long I'd been in the job. When I replied saying that I first got badged nearly 24 years ago he laughed saying that he's been badged 41 years. I looked at him and had to reply that he looks pretty weel preserved for his age and he must have a picture of himself in his attic as he doesn't look much older than me! His reply surprised me. He told me that he was 59 and first got his badge at the tender age of 18!

I asked him how the fuck he managed to get covered for hire and reward at such a young age. His reply taught me something about the local taxi trade that I didn't know. Up until the late 80s the larger firms had something called "Base Insurance". How it worked was the driver insured his car for SD&P via a broker or The Man From The Pru and if he went to work for most of the larger taxi firms he'd pay an extra tenner a week with his radio settle to be covered on that firms hire and reward insurance policy. This makes sense as the likes of Domino's Pizza still run a similar scheme like this even today.

All through my late teens, I honestly thought that our council would license a driver only when he/she was 21 years old. I do feel that I missed out on the chance to work the taxis as a teenager. If only I knew!

This got me thinking what if I had known that I could be badged at 18? What car would I have bought? I turned 18 in 1988 and any potential car would have had to fit into the rules and regs stipulated my my council at the time. The rules were quite relaxed at the time, meaning any four door car under eight years old as that was the council mandated retirement age for private hire cars. 

I suppose the default choice would have been a late Mk5 Cortina. Being young and vain, I think I'd have tried to find a tidy low mileage 2.0 Crusader or 2.0 GLS with the Recaro seats. I'd have deffo fitted a manual choke though. 

What car would you have bought in my situation? Late Mk1/Early Mk2 Cavalier? Ital? Granada? Renault 18?

[EyesWeldedShut]

I'd have either Cavalier - probably a Mk 2 in GLS or CD finish if the funds would stretch?
Granada in base spec could be interesting though - I'm guessing Spanish waiter would be needed?

[purplebargeken]

In 1987 I was a student nurse near St Albans. I had an S reg 2 litre auto Granada. It was Strato silver with a dark blue bonnet and centre stripe. One dark night some silly girl leapt out into the road trying to flag me down. How I managed not to mow her down. It seemed that at night my car looked exactly like the St Albans minicabs.

[warren t claim]

16 minutes ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

Granada in base spec could be interesting though - I'm guessing Spanish waiter would be needed?

All petrol Mk2 Granada's worked here as taxis were 2.0 manuals. 

[EyesWeldedShut]

1 minute ago, warren t claim said:

All petrol Mk2 Granada's worked here as taxis were 2.0 manuals. 

I'm guessing with speedy wipe vinyl seats rather than the flocked velour type?

[500tops]

My local cabby was running Toyota Cressidas and Crowns around that time 

[Popsicle]

Father Popsicle was a PH driver in the 80's, he started with a Fiat 131 Mirafiori estate, then went onto a Mk5 Cortina, a few Mk2 Cavs and finally a BX estate.

[High Jetter]

Late 70's early 80's, 144s were fav round here. A couple of R12s, but in 1987 I bought a brand new Bluebird 2.0d. Fantastic car.

[purplebargeken]

Bluebirds were bloody great, comfy, well equipped and solidly put together. Had a 1.8 auto pez model in light metallic green.

[High Jetter]

1 minute ago, purplebargeken said:

Bluebirds were bloody great, comfy, well equipped and solidly put together. Had a 1.8 auto pez model in light metallic green.

Only car I've had that told me which brake bulb had failed.

[New POD]

1 hour ago, purplebargeken said:

In 1987 I was a student nurse near St Albans. I had an S reg 2 litre auto Granada. It was Strato silver with a dark blue bonnet and centre stripe. One dark night some silly girl leapt out into the road trying to flag me down. How I managed not to mow her down. It seemed that at night my car looked exactly like the St Albans minicabs.

Waiting outside a comedy club at the Albert Dock in Liverpool in my Black Honda Accord, for my wife and her three friends. 

The number of drunken fools that tried to open the rear doors and get in..... 5... Seemed confused by them.being locked

[Shite Ron]

2 hours ago, warren t claim said:

What car would you have bought in my situation?

Absolutely no doubt my car of choice would have been a 1982 Cortina GL, as I am a little older than you I can remember that a 2.0 was very expensive to insure so from 17 to 19 (1986 to 1988) I had a 1.6 GL so this would almost certainly have been my choice of taxi, when I turned 19 and my insurance became more affordable I bought a 2.3 GL Cortina, a GLS with recaro’s would have been my dream car but were rare. The 2.0 would have been a far better choice but as a teenager the bigger the engine the better and a V6 sounded great.

[mk2_craig]

2 hours ago, warren t claim said:

What car would you have bought in my situation?

It would have to be a Peugeot 505. Failing that, Hyundai Stellar, or perhaps a Datsun 300C. 

[Lord Sterling]

1 hour ago, New POD said:

Waiting outside a comedy club at the Albert Dock in Liverpool in my Black Honda Accord, for my wife and her three friends. 

The number of drunken fools that tried to open the rear doors and get in..... 5... Seemed confused by them.being locked

Years ago when I had my Rover 827Si, I was driving through the Chinese quarter in Birmingham City centre waiting for my mates then girlfriend to finish a shift at a club. I had to do a couple of rounds as Police/parking wardens or whatever they were, were around waving people on and so on. I managed to stop at the side for a couple of minutes until mate's girlfriend turned up. Before she did, a couple of drunken slappers tried to get in the car, like you, they were confused finding the back doors locked and when I drove off. 

[trigger]

Obvious answer is this

[DeanH]

8 hours ago, trigger said:

Obvious answer is this

Although he has got with the times and now covets the Berlingo.

A true shiter!

[NorthernMonkey]

I got my first badge at 19 and happily grabbed the keys thrown at me by the company to a Mazda 626 Montrose with 250k miles and beaded seat covers, finished in JRG.

This was followed by a C reg brown Montego when the Mazda broke down again which must have impressed me enough as I then bought a D reg one of my own from hillidge rd auctions and got it plated without it ever going near the licensing office thanks to some reciprocal agreement between the company owner and one of the licensing officers. RIP D697NHL

[warren t claim]

I'm surprised that nobody has suggested me buying a brand new Lada/Skoda/FSO yet?

[garethj]

2 hours ago, warren t claim said:

I'm surprised that nobody has suggested me buying a brand new Lada/Skoda/FSO yet?

That’s because you’re well liked😀

[High Jetter]

21 minutes ago, garethj said:

That’s because you’re well liked😀

In our tests, dozens of slappers agreed 🤣

Anyway Warren, we're up to L'pool for a show in the summer, how shite are Aqua these days?

[warren t claim]

19 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

In our tests, dozens of slappers agreed 🤣

Anyway Warren, we're up to L'pool for a show in the summer, how shite are Aqua these days?

I wouldn't admit in public paying to see Aqua!

[High Jetter]

Just now, warren t claim said:

I wouldn't admit in public paying to see Aqua!

Who's she?🤣I meant Alpha cabs! Can't afford hacks, M9

[warren t claim]

2 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Who's she?🤣I meant Alpha cabs! Can't afford hacks, M9