Where to guv'nor? Shite Taxis.

[scaryoldcortina]

 

Nah, my old best mate from primary school smoked loads of weed in his early teens and had to be sectioned with psychosis as a direct consequence, which scared me off it. Don't even want to try.

 

Oh, I'm sorry, that's just awful. Did you talk to him a lot before he went crazy?

[Guest EccentricRichard]

 

Nah, my old best mate from primary school smoked loads of weed in his early teens and had to be sectioned with psychosis as a direct consequence, which scared me off it. Don't even want to try.

 

Oh, I'm sorry, that's just awful. Did you talk to him a lot before he went crazy?

 

Nope, we'd not spoken for a couple of years, but he went right off the rails and I was recruited by his mates to try and get him back on...

[CreepingJesus]

Most of our taxis seem to come from only a handful of companies. I'm not sure what Fife Council's rules on suitability are, but the motors seem to split into three camps: one lot run Mondeos (they have their own workshop ), another Tranny Tourneos and Eurocabs, the other Peugeots.

There used to be a family run company which only did Volvos - they'd a 960 with 350,000 miles up, which they were proud of. Then there was the odd bloke who ran an H-plate Tranny minibus. He tried to sell me it, but I declined, owing to it being a 1600/4 speed minger.

Worst/most adventurous taxis were on Lismore, off the West Coast. The fleet comprised a Lada Riva, in its original beige up top, with some green Dulux brush painted below. You could see how bent the propshaft was, thro' the hole where the handbrake clung on for dear life. And an early Reno Trafic crewbus - the one with a bench seat along each side - which doubled as the sheep transport. That was a few years ago, but I'll bet they're still hacking around. And there'll still be a Skoda Estelle in the hedge...

[Mr H Sceptre]

...back on? Back on the weed?

[Guest EccentricRichard]

Well I'm Dutch and I don't think it's very funny at all.

 

I'm very sorry if I've offended you - no offence was intended. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!

[andrew e]

From my travels earlier this year: http://stratosilver.com/Taxi!.php

[Guest EccentricRichard]

...back on? Back on the weed?

 

No! Back on the rails... he was living on the streets, begging, shoplifting, dealing, and we were trying to get him back to his poor parents, then into rehab... but all our efforts went in vain, he was doing other drugs too, but it was the weed that broke him and he had to be sectioned.

[Pete-M]

Sectioned? Over weed? Dearie me. If the poor chap couldn't handle being a bit herbal he'll be knackered if he ever goes to a pub.

 

Surely it would have been a lot easier to give him £40 a week, let him smoke a few joints of an evening and help the bloke out instead of calling him a nutter and shoving him in the loony bin.

[Guest EccentricRichard]

Sectioned? Over weed? Dearie me. If the poor chap couldn't handle being a bit herbal he'll be knackered if he ever goes to a pub.

 

Surely it would have been a lot easier to give him £40 a week, let him smoke a few joints of an evening and help the bloke out instead of calling him a nutter and shoving him in the loony bin.

 

I'm sorry, but he'd gone down with cannabis-induced psychosis and was a danger to all around him. Don't make judgments like that when you don't have all the facts.

[morris_ital_lover]

Same could be said for most of your comments on cars handling and performance*

 

m0rris

 

*runs for cover

[ChinaTom]

O, the irony...

[warren t claim]

Do we have any threads that aren't going off on an enormous Eraymanboy tangent?

[morris_ital_lover]

Going back on topic, and I apologise for helping drag this one down as blind alley...

 

Is there a differance (legally) for the councils between taxi's and minicabs that allows them to differentiate between the two when they draft rules about age of said motor vehicles? I only as I see alot more shite black cabs (metrocabs/tx1s) than 10 y-o motors doing the rounds.

 

m0rris

[Guest]

The Metrocab and TX lot count as "purpose-built" so they tend to have different age rules. I imagine those Peugeot E7 things probably slot in there too.

[eddyramrod]

Going back on topic, and I apologise for helping drag this one down as blind alley...

 

Is there a differance (legally) for the councils between taxi's and minicabs that allows them to differentiate between the two when they draft rules about age of said motor vehicles? I only as I see alot more shite black cabs (metrocabs/tx1s) than 10 y-o motors doing the rounds.

 

m0rris

 

According to memory, reinforced by hearsay, and in any case only valid (if at all) in the Sefton area of south-west Lancashire... There are different rules for "Hackney" and "Private Hire" vehicles, and drivers. Hackney can be hailed on the street; Private Hire (minicab) are supposed to have a pre-arranged booking. Private Hire licences are cheaper for both car and driver. There are also rules about what signage can/should be displayed. The fleet of Lada Rivas to which I referred earlier was used entirely on Private-Hire duty. I would guess that most other councils operate a similar two-tier system.

[Pete-M]

Most councils do operate a two tier system. The ones that use normal cars as Hackneys tend to be in a certain colour for that area. Kidderminster, for example, will be using black cars (or very dark grey) soon. Cardiff uses white, Hartlepool yellow.

 

You can use a private hire car in the same areas in any old colour.

[catsinthewelder]

I remember going to Hartlepool for the first time in the late 90s and being surprised at the site of all the yellow taxis, it was like a shite version of New York. From what I remember there were a lot of Proton Aerobacks and mk1 Mondeos.

[messerschmitt owner]

cheltenham will let you drive any age of cab but are changing the rules so that only Euro IV diesels can do it and putting an age limit of five years on - which is putting a chunk of the taxi drivers out of work!

[In The Pit]

Still plenty of 90's cabs on the ranks here in West Wales (also 80's and some 70's buses still in service too!). I tend to go out most Saturday nights and the cab I usually get home is a late Peugeot 405 on an N reg in that jade green colour, its in great condition and well looked after, also there are two L reg Rovers I think 214's? plenty of MKII Mondeos, Octavias, 406's, afew new Avensis's a Citroen C5 estate and a BMW 5 series.

[The Main]

I remember getting in a yellow and white Mark 3 Cortina taxi outside Bournemouth station in May 1998. I remember it well because I was on the way to my stag do

 

Set the weekend off a treat

[Mash]

I win

 

 

OK so it's a model, but even so...

[Vin]

I remember getting in a yellow and white Mark 3 Cortina taxi outside Bournemouth station in May 1998. I remember it well because I was on the way to my stag do

 

HEY! I remember that. Not your stag do, obviously, but the Mk3 Cortina in Bournemouth. Travelled to see relatives in Bournemouth a couple of times when I lived in Northampton in the mid 90's. That Mk3 was always queueing in the rank amongst the new Mondeos and older Sierras etc. when I got on the forecourt.

 

It was lovely condition

[Richard]

 

I was more pleased than I should have been when I applied for a badge and it came back with number 67 on it.

[ProgRocker]

 

I was more pleased than I should have been when I applied for a badge and it came back with number 67 on it.

 

I remember Dale Winton playing that one on his 'pick of the pops' show on Radio 2 a few years ago. The mental image I had of the taxi was of an Austin Cambridge...for some reason.

[warren t claim]

 

I was more pleased than I should have been when I applied for a badge and it came back with number 67 on it.

 

I remember Dale Winton playing that one on his 'pick of the pops' show on Radio 2 a few years ago. The mental image I had of the taxi was of an Austin Cambridge...for some reason.

 

Maybe because of this?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr0yJ21p ... re=related

[chaseracer]

 

[Tayne]

,

[ashmicro]

Taking photos of minicabs in Northern Ireland is not advised. However, there are 3 Mk3 Cavs in the town here, all looking good I have to say, the odd Primera and an L Reg'd Mondeo. A few oddball ones too:

 

green Hyudai Accent saloon

a Turbo petrol SAAB hatch of some sort

Turdblower diseasel Alfa 159

Quite a few neat n' tidy W124 Mercs, all of which will be at least 15 years old IIRC

At least 1 X Type Jaaaaaaaag

Part timer in my mate's firm has a 1999, S Type V6 petrol manual. Loony.

Accord diseasel

 

 

Some old ones:

Until lately a pre-frogface Scorpio 4x4, went like stink.

Sierra Cossie replica at one point

[Autoplas]

Nothing shite round here but have encountered some absolute shockers on my travels

 

About 3 years ago in Prague a taxi driver arrived at the hotel to take us into the city centre in a late 80s Granada hatch which which looked like someone had had a munch on all its wheelarches and much more worrying the rear suspension had collapsed. I dont mean it was a bit low at the back, I mean the front was so far up in the air I surprised he could see over the bonnet and you could only see half the rear wheels

 

Then 3 18 stone blokes got in it and it looked like a dog with worms dragging its arse across the carpet. We rode the trams every night after that

 

In Baltimore, left M&T bank stadium after an NFL game and got into the worlds most bolloxed Ford Crown Vic again with shagged suspension, a full metal bulkhead between the front and rear (must have been an old cop car) and a rear seat looking like someone had emptied a 9mm into it. We had been there for 4 days but I swear we had been in the US longer than the African bloke driving it - on a 5 mile trip he then proceeded to totally lose the back end under braking right no less than twice and I mean lose the back end not just a little wobble. I have never prayed in a cab before LOL

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

 

Renault Clio III spoils view of shite taxis. Weirdly the older one is a whizzbang twin turbo import judging by the bonnet vent and badging.