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The scurrilous attack on the good name of Barrow taxi drivers by local Mail scribbler Corny can't be allowed to go unchallenged. Far from waiting half an hour for a cab nowadays most computer systems dispatch a car immediately, and I myself have arrived to pick up surprised fares whilst they were still talking to the operator on their mobile phone. Yes drivers are unhappy about rising fuel prices, but who can blame them, contrary to what some may think fuel costs come directly out of the drivers pocket.
Corny goes on to complain about a chum being “driven round the houses" and then being overcharged.
This annoys the vast majority of honest cabbies and is usually caused by new drivers not knowing what they are doing. In these days of needing a training certificate to dig a hole in the road, or a licence to be a bouncer maybe it's about time the taxi trade in Barrow was brought up to date. It's one of the only trades left which anyone off the street with a driving licence can take up. Far too many fly by nights, and folk who are just in between jobs are ruining the trade’s reputation. Barrow folk deserve better, new and novice drivers should be given a comprehensive training course. This course is already available and has been introduced by Preston council since 2006. The BTEC course is valuable training, so they can develop important skills in areas such as customer safety, route planning and disability awareness. Maybe then with only drivers who are truly committed and trained coming into the trade, things would vastly improve for fares and drivers alike.
3 comments:
Do they think that you cab drivers are just going to ABSORB the rising cost of fuel and not pass it on to your lovely customers? That wouln't be very good business.
peggy:That's exactly what they do think unfortunately. Nobody wants to add to inflation but we have to live too.
You can throw whatever course you want at this, and councils should for sure. Our council has pretty high standards but "round the houses" is still very popular. I get a lot of stress beacause of it.
And mostly it has absolutely nothing to do with being new to the job. All the cases I have heard of from passengers sounded quite deliberate. In one case one of our drivers did it to one of our radio operators.
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