Oldest Working Taxi

[warren t claim]

6 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

OT, but in L'pool a few years back the PH firm with an app were ace. Slippery air bnb bathroom floor not so much so, wife got a replacement hip in the end.

Delta or Uber?

[warren t claim]

1 minute ago, Spurious said:

I've seen more than a few Sefton and Rossendale cabs in Oldham/Mossley way in GM. 

Figured their councils must be a soft touch as it's effing miles away from either of them in Manchester. 

 

See also Wolverhampton. 

 

[Spurious]

Just now, warren t claim said:

See also Wolverhampton. 

 

Yes, that's the other one, even further away than the other two put together! 

[High Jetter]

3 minutes ago, warren t claim said:

Delta or Uber?

Neither from memory, will look when so er

[High Jetter]

2 minutes ago, warren t claim said:

See also Wolverhampton. 

 

Wife comes from there, ABC seem ok

[warren t claim]

With regards to carrying wheelchair users in PH cars, the best car I had for carrying a NHS wheelchair in the boot was the Pug 306 hatch. It fitted in perfectly with only half an inch either side so it didn't slide about.

An interesting council conundrum is whether disabled people's rights trump environmental issues.  This means in my area an owner of a hybrid Mondeo saloon is excused the need to carry a wheelchair as the boot in the hybrid Mondeo is too small.

[Dave_Q]

@warren t claim are there actually any rules on where you can/can't pick up passengers if you're on a Plate of Convenience? 

Or could I send my £12.50 and an SAE to Wolves or Rossendale, get my plate and use it to start Ubering in my area (Halifax/Huddersfield)?

[High Jetter]

Interesting, as when I was PH one end of a journey HAD to be in the area you were licensed for. Council recently awarded the contract for school runs to a firm from miles away, so some very unfamiliar plates around the town now - not sure how legal that is.

[Matty]

10 hours ago, Dave_Q said:

When I was at uni in Bradford there were loads of Rossendale badged hackney* Avensis' etc plying their trade of an evening.

I understand that the Rossendale badge manoeuvre is because Bradford and some other places are still limited on hacks, and because Rossendale are happy to hand out more hack plates than the total number of humans & sheep in the district as an earner.

Is there an equivalent out of area "plate of convenience" you get over your side? And if you are hackney plated, can you ply for trade anywhere or only in the district that gave you your plate?

 

10 hours ago, warren t claim said:

Here's a post where I'll have to tread carefully to avoid censorship.

Almost all of the UK hack and PH licencing 

Rossendale used to be the equivalent "flag of convenience" to Liberian registered cargo ships.

Obvs I live in rossendale and was just about to post this. Do they then have to travel to do inspections @warren t claim?

[horriblemercedes]

11 hours ago, warren t claim said:

This all changed with the arrival of the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998 which took a few years for TFL to get their head around. Until about 2001 you could turn up at the London minicab office of your choice in any Mk3 Cavalier that you'd just bought from an auction and ask for a job. No badge, police background check or vehicle licence required. Just turn up, pay your first weeks radio rental and away you go. No topographical knowledge needed. TFL first started dragging their licencing policy out of the 1970s by first requiring minicab drivers to be badged and pass a very simple topographical knowledge test proving that they could read an A To Z. A couple of years later they started to licence the minicab fleet. Rather than go along the lines of almost every other licencing authority and insist on minicabs being fitted with a rear plate and magnetic door signs, TFL bowed down to the black cab lobby and insisted that a minicab can only be distinguished by a sticker in the rear window. After TFL set this regulation the hack drivers put a banner out in the rank on Kings Cross station saying WE WIN. NO EXTERNAL SIGNAGE FOR MINICABS.

This answers a question that came up the other day. I rarely go to London and I was telling a friend from London about going to the Millennium Dome in 2000 in a Vauxhall Carlton taxi. He reckoned that wasn't possible. Looks like it was!

 

I remember it clearly so I'm glad I'm not going mental or something

[omegod]

I did my work experience at Taxifix in Prescot, I think the FX5 had just come out, I spent 2 weeks getting stoned in the spraybooth with the painter who reckoned it helped him do the coachlines better.  They offered to keep me on as an apprentice but my mam wouldn't have it .  The boot floor being in 2 sections impressed me as you could repair a back end shunt in an hour or two.   

[Ghosty]

Manchester are pretty tight with their plates - hacks HAVE to be black in colour. PH used to be limited white or silver cars only, though they've dropped it now and you can have whatever colour - though most are still black or white. Must be under five years old when plated and can only run to ten years old. They also have a fuckton of  bright yellow external stickers:

 

The 'outside of rear window' sticker goes at the top of the rear screen - on certain popular PH vehicles such as the Auris/Corolla estate and some Mercs, that's where the high level brake light is, and the fuckwits put the sticker over it. I'd love to know how they pass inspection like that, it's moronic.

IIRC there's a very limited number of plates which is why Wolvo and Sefton plates massively outnumber everything. Rossendale used to as well, but the standard of driving on those got a lot of negative attention, knocking cyclists over etc.

I'd love to know how many complaints about taxis go to the wrong council thanks to Wolvo and Sefton plates.

[warren t claim]

On 4/11/2023 at 8:47 AM, Matty said:

 

Obvs I live in rossendale and was just about to post this. Do they then have to travel to do inspections @warren t claim?

How it works is that a large PH firm like Alpha in Liverpool will apply for an operators licence in Wolves and get a serviced office there. This means that due to the grey area of cross border hiring they can "delegate" any Liverpool jobs in Liverpool to Wolverhampton badged drivers in Wolves plated cars. These Wolverhampton drivers will all live in Liverpool and will never work a day in Wolverhampton during their career. 

One little quirk of having a Wolves badge is that council only allow a PH driver to work for one firm at a time, he can't work for both Uber and Ola simultaneously. 

[warren t claim]

I know the seller of this cab. A couple of moths ago I offered to buy it from him for £3000 or rent it on a part time basis so he could still work it as well. Although I don't need it I'm tempted to buy it with another friend as a rental investment.  My friend will provide the cash and I'll find a driver, ghost the licence and admin the cab.

The current owner got pissed off with having to shell out a grand every six months in passing work and thinks it must be a bad cab. What he fails to understand is that EVERY TX1/2/4 needs this amount spending on it every six months. 

[warren t claim]

I suppose I should explain why I tend to swerve LTI products. Firstly, they rot to fuck. They can pass inspection one test and then need the floor and sills rebuilding six months later. Secondly, their build quality varies from shit to outstandingly shit. I had an 18 month old TX2 auto that had scuttle shake that'd shame a TR7 drophead. Plenty of squeaks and water ingress as well that LTI had no interest in fixing under warranty. Lastly, and this is a dealbreaker for me, they leave the factory with certain inherent issues. One of my local council enforcement officers would stop at nothing to get me taken off the road and a weeping steering box would be all he needed to ban me from working. 

[sierraman]

On 4/11/2023 at 8:20 AM, Dave_Q said:

@warren t claim are there actually any rules on where you can/can't pick up passengers if you're on a Plate of Convenience? 

Or could I send my £12.50 and an SAE to Wolves or Rossendale, get my plate and use it to start Ubering in my area (Halifax/Huddersfield)?

I think if you tape a 20p piece onto a postal order and enclose a self addressed envelope with your address written in crayon then they’ll send you back a plate. Either that or 20 milk bottle tops. 

[warren t claim]

10 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I think if you tape a 20p piece onto a postal order and enclose a self addressed envelope with your address written in crayon then they’ll send you back a plate. Either that or 20 milk bottle tops. 

Strangely, I used to have to be north of Stoke to log onto Uber back when I worked on that platform.

Even the local Liverpool/Sefton/Wirral/Knowseley plated Uber drivers hate the Wolverhampton plated lads.

[warren t claim]

Oh, and just to keep this thread on track. Wirral's last Fairway retired three years ago and our last Metrocab two years ago. Oddly enough, we still have maybe six of these still plying for hire.

When these were finally approved back in 2004 they were considered a revelation. Finally we had a hackney that was both fuel efficient and didn't rot. Plenty of lads bought them so they could start advertising for airport jobs, something that would be a job we all avoided in our Fairways and Metrocabs due to the woeful fuel economy.

[warren t claim]

Sorry to bump this thread again but I promise you that it's on topic.

Do any of you live in a local authority area that would plate a Montego, Volvo 740 or W124 estate with the flip up rear facing bench seat for six passengers? I don't man cars like the Pug 505 that had a third row of front facing seats. 

My council, along with many others, even refused to plate a Zafira to carry six punters.

 

[High Jetter]

I can't see it tbh, aren't they only child seats? 

[Dobloseven]

7 hours ago, warren t claim said:

Sorry to bump this thread again but I promise you that it's on topic.

Do any of you live in a local authority area that would plate a Montego, Volvo 740 or W124 estate with the flip up rear facing bench seat for six passengers? I don't man cars like the Pug 505 that had a third row of front facing seats. 

My council, along with many others, even refused to plate a Zafira to carry six punters.

 

If you mean the Zafira C, nee Tourer, GM put a limit on the size of passenger for the left hand third row seat, presumably due to the proximity of the seat belt for the centre seat of the second row. Will have a look, though when I'm behind one. There's still some running round in Leicester I believe. Reminds me, I've got a job to do for a driver who runs one this week. Will ask him if I remember. 

[warren t claim]

https://www.vehiclerepoweringsolutions.com/new-cabs-for-sale

[beko1987]

On 13/04/2023 at 20:59, warren t claim said:

I know the seller of this cab. A couple of moths ago I offered to buy it from him for £3000 or rent it on a part time basis so he could still work it as well. Although I don't need it I'm tempted to buy it with another friend as a rental investment.  My friend will provide the cash and I'll find a driver, ghost the licence and admin the cab.

The current owner got pissed off with having to shell out a grand every six months in passing work and thinks it must be a bad cab. What he fails to understand is that EVERY TX1/2/4 needs this amount spending on it every six months. 

Surely with your interest in your garage and some bulk buying of common parts you'd get that service cost down to a reasonable level? 

Aylesbury is all boring vag crap on 300k+, I don't see any interesting taxis bar the odd London/properly up north plated car running up the m40 at Oxford or similar, probably rubbing their hands with glee as they watches the meter

[LightBulbFun]

11 hours ago, warren t claim said:

https://www.vehiclerepoweringsolutions.com/new-cabs-for-sale

@Ghosty was posting about those in the late registration madness thread

On 29/04/2023 at 22:28, Ghosty said:

A mate and I spotted this in central Manc and had to do a double take - a 2022 TX4?!

Turns out it's a dual fuel conversion on a brand new cab from a small scale operation that's been going for a couple of years - petrol/LPG, this one uses a GM engine but they're switching to the crate 2.5 Duratec.
https://www.vehiclerepoweringsolutions.com/

£40k new.

Id love to know what their story is, as in I know the TX4 was made in multiple places across the globe since Geely own the company/rights to it all

so I have to ask where are these ones coming from are they still churning out TX4's in England? I mean Wikipidia says they are still being made in  Thailand so are they all shipped from over there?

its one of those "I have a few questions" but I do love that the TX4 is still being produced/sold somewhere in the UK! Id love to know how they are like to drive compared to a London Diesel spec one

I mean the LEVC is neat dont get me wrong, but it is clearly slowly shifting away from the original FX4 shape and a looks a bit funky because of it

but I everything is relative I guess, I found TX1's to be naff when they first came out, just modern blobby imitations of the proper FX4, in much the same way I never liked the Nissan Figaro much because it just looked like a bad attempt at making an old car LOL

but now I dont mind the TX1/2/4 at all LOL, so I guess when the LEVC replacement comes out and its even worse then ill warm up to the LEVC some more, (I mean I much rather take an LEVC then one of those Mercedes things!)

 

[Dyslexic Viking]

Earlier this week I was up at Treungen and saw a Volvo S70 that I last saw 4-5 years ago it was still working then and not just locally I met it then 2 hours away from base. It now still had the taxi lamp on the roof, so it is  still working even now. 

[warren t claim]

12 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

Earlier this week I was up at Treungen and saw a Volvo S70 that I last saw 4-5 years ago it was still working then and not just locally I met it then 2 hours away from base. It now still had the taxi lamp on the roof, so it is  still working even now. 

How old is it?

[warren t claim]

On 5/30/2023 at 11:35 PM, LightBulbFun said:

@Ghosty was posting about those in the late registration madness thread

Id love to know what their story is, as in I know the TX4 was made in multiple places across the globe since Geely own the company/rights to it all

so I have to ask where are these ones coming from are they still churning out TX4's in England? I mean Wikipidia says they are still being made in  Thailand so are they all shipped from over there?

its one of those "I have a few questions" but I do love that the TX4 is still being produced/sold somewhere in the UK! Id love to know how they are like to drive compared to a London Diesel spec one

I mean the LEVC is neat dont get me wrong, but it is clearly slowly shifting away from the original FX4 shape and a looks a bit funky because of it

but I everything is relative I guess, I found TX1's to be naff when they first came out, just modern blobby imitations of the proper FX4, in much the same way I never liked the Nissan Figaro much because it just looked like a bad attempt at making an old car LOL

but now I dont mind the TX1/2/4 at all LOL, so I guess when the LEVC replacement comes out and its even worse then ill warm up to the LEVC some more, (I mean I much rather take an LEVC then one of those Mercedes things!)

 

https://www.one2car.com/en/for-sale/lti-tx1-bangkok-metropolitan-ratchadaphisek-huai-khwang-lat-phrao-phetchaburi/7617276

 

WTF???

[Dyslexic Viking]

12 minutes ago, warren t claim said:

How old is it?

I looked it up the last time I saw it but can't remember but 1997 to 2000 area. And remember that the mileage was low so can't have worked its hole life.

[warren t claim]

11 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

I looked it up the last time I saw it but can't remember but 1997 to 2000 area. And remember that the mileage was low so can't have worked its hole life.

Or had a HMRC haircut before every inspection.

[Dyslexic Viking]

2 minutes ago, warren t claim said:

Or had a HMRC haircut before every inspection.

Not sure how things like that work here. But instruments may also have been changed etc.