As in the Phil Collins song "Can you feel it coming in the air tonight".
There I was with 4 passengers on board driving into town when one of them farted and it really stunk so down come the windows and no one would admit to it so at the end of the journey the fare was £3.80p on the meter and so I asked for £4.80p.
Obviously they asked me why I wanted £4.80p to which I replied that the extra pound is for an air freshener.
I expected them to not pay it and personally I wants bothered if they didn't as I was just having a laugh with them but they took me seriously and paid me the extra pound and apologised.
This got me thinking,. Maybe if I could fine everyone who didnt behave in the cab then I could be rich within a week.
Thursday, August 27
Tuesday, August 25
RESPECT...... Wots that?
Is it just me or every cabbie that this happens to. Why does a mother get in the back of the car with a young child around 2 or 3 years old and allow the child to put their dirty shoes on the seats and allow them to put their grubby little hands everywhere making marks on the furnishings.
I will not drive off until a child has a seatbelt on as its a safety issue and its the law so the mother puts the seatbelt on the child only after I had told her too and within travelling about 500 yards the child had undone the belt and was trying to stand up on the seat putting his sticky hands all over my window whilst the mother didnt do a thing. I stopped the car and told him to get his feet off the seats and get his belt back on. He looked at me and quietly did as I told him but I shouldnt have to do this.
Its not my job to tell mothers to make sure their kids behave and then she had the cheek to ask me why I shouted at him to sit down to which I replied to her. "You weren't gonna do anything so I had to". She said that he wasn't doing any harm and was just inquisitive. She obviously didn't care what her little darling was doing in the taxi and didn't seem to mind that he was stood up on the seat with his moody shoes.
Maybe its the usual attitude of "Its not my property so I don`t care "
How would she like it if my previous passenger had done the same and then I went to pick her up. Would she sit in the same seat with dirt all over it.
Have respect for other peoples property. Its not too much to ask...
I will not drive off until a child has a seatbelt on as its a safety issue and its the law so the mother puts the seatbelt on the child only after I had told her too and within travelling about 500 yards the child had undone the belt and was trying to stand up on the seat putting his sticky hands all over my window whilst the mother didnt do a thing. I stopped the car and told him to get his feet off the seats and get his belt back on. He looked at me and quietly did as I told him but I shouldnt have to do this.
Its not my job to tell mothers to make sure their kids behave and then she had the cheek to ask me why I shouted at him to sit down to which I replied to her. "You weren't gonna do anything so I had to". She said that he wasn't doing any harm and was just inquisitive. She obviously didn't care what her little darling was doing in the taxi and didn't seem to mind that he was stood up on the seat with his moody shoes.
Maybe its the usual attitude of "Its not my property so I don`t care "
How would she like it if my previous passenger had done the same and then I went to pick her up. Would she sit in the same seat with dirt all over it.
Have respect for other peoples property. Its not too much to ask...
Sunday, August 23
Is it a bird?.. Is it a plane?...
No..... Its low flying furniture.
about a week ago I got a call to an address in the flats on Barrow Island so off I trundles over the bridge and onto the Island thinking no more about this until I had to go through the one way system which meant driving down a street where objects were being hurled everywhere. A TV set came crashing down in front of me. There was already what looked like the remains of a wardrobe or bedside cabinet on the road all smashed up along with a few electrical appliances.
As I manoeuvred round the falling TV set I heard another crash on the floor behind me and a look through my mirror noticed that I had narrowly missed being hit by a low flying guitar, a lamp and a microwave oven.
Being a warm day I had the window down and could hear shouting and screaming between a male and female. It was a domestic and hard to say who was throwing the property but it was a stupid thing to do as its the school summer holidays, kids are normally playing there, traffic has to pass through the one way system and someone could have seriously got hurt.
It was pointless me getting out the car to try and calm the situation as I just needed to get the car out the way of any other low flying debris. At this point it was a quick phone call to the local police and I left it at that as it wasnt my problem, I didnt want to get involved and I had a fare to pick up and I`d rather be making money than trying to sort someone else's mess and lose money.
It got me thinking though.. Maybe time to change the highway code...
If you want to cross the road, look right.... look left..... and look up...
about a week ago I got a call to an address in the flats on Barrow Island so off I trundles over the bridge and onto the Island thinking no more about this until I had to go through the one way system which meant driving down a street where objects were being hurled everywhere. A TV set came crashing down in front of me. There was already what looked like the remains of a wardrobe or bedside cabinet on the road all smashed up along with a few electrical appliances.
As I manoeuvred round the falling TV set I heard another crash on the floor behind me and a look through my mirror noticed that I had narrowly missed being hit by a low flying guitar, a lamp and a microwave oven.
Being a warm day I had the window down and could hear shouting and screaming between a male and female. It was a domestic and hard to say who was throwing the property but it was a stupid thing to do as its the school summer holidays, kids are normally playing there, traffic has to pass through the one way system and someone could have seriously got hurt.
It was pointless me getting out the car to try and calm the situation as I just needed to get the car out the way of any other low flying debris. At this point it was a quick phone call to the local police and I left it at that as it wasnt my problem, I didnt want to get involved and I had a fare to pick up and I`d rather be making money than trying to sort someone else's mess and lose money.
It got me thinking though.. Maybe time to change the highway code...
If you want to cross the road, look right.... look left..... and look up...
Saturday, August 15
Incapable
I got a call to pick up a fare from a flat in Ormsgill only to find when I got there that the woman was so drunk that she could hardly stand up. I dont think there was a risk of her being sick but I did think that I would struggle to get her out the car at the other end and get the fare.
Her mate that was with her was more sober and so I explained to her that I could not take her friend as a matter of health and safety as we do have a policy of reserving the right to refuse to take any passenger who is at risk of causing a hazard to the vehicle whilst being driven. Her mate explained that she had to get her home and so I got to thinking....
Hmmm..... If I take her and I cant get her out at the other end then I will need help. This takes time. I may not get the fare and so the police maybe involved so I said to the more sober one that I would take her if she travelled in the back with her and I would bring her back home.
She said she couldn't afford the fare back so thinking that more time would be wasted getting the police or any other help I decided to take the two women, bring one back and only charge the fare that it would have been to her house.
In a way I lost out by about £1.20 but at the same time it saved the hassle and saved more time if I did have problems at the other end.
I do recall reading somewhere and it may not be Barrow Councils rules. It may have been in a taxi magazine but there is a law somewhere to protect drivers along the lines of
Not sure of the exact wording but its a catch 22. If we refused to take any drunken person then we wouldn't make any money but you have to draw the line somewhere.
Her mate that was with her was more sober and so I explained to her that I could not take her friend as a matter of health and safety as we do have a policy of reserving the right to refuse to take any passenger who is at risk of causing a hazard to the vehicle whilst being driven. Her mate explained that she had to get her home and so I got to thinking....
Hmmm..... If I take her and I cant get her out at the other end then I will need help. This takes time. I may not get the fare and so the police maybe involved so I said to the more sober one that I would take her if she travelled in the back with her and I would bring her back home.
She said she couldn't afford the fare back so thinking that more time would be wasted getting the police or any other help I decided to take the two women, bring one back and only charge the fare that it would have been to her house.
In a way I lost out by about £1.20 but at the same time it saved the hassle and saved more time if I did have problems at the other end.
I do recall reading somewhere and it may not be Barrow Councils rules. It may have been in a taxi magazine but there is a law somewhere to protect drivers along the lines of
- "The driver reserves the right to refuse to take any passenger who in his or her opinion may cause a danger to the vehicle, the motion of the vehicle or other passengers".
Not sure of the exact wording but its a catch 22. If we refused to take any drunken person then we wouldn't make any money but you have to draw the line somewhere.
Wednesday, August 12
Calm Down
Last weekend Bob (The owner of this blog) was parked up on Holker Street in Barrow when he witnessed an altercation between a man and his wife. I`m not sure of the circumstances but Bob was telling me over the radio what was going on and I could hear it in the background and mid sentence Bob went quiet and I couldn't raise him on the radio.
This got alarm bells going in my head and so I raced off to Bobs location to check he was OK. Bob was fine. I got there after it had all calmed down. it turned out that there was a bit of trouble and Bob had politely told the guy to calm down a bit but then the guy got aggressive with Bob.
It wasn't even Bobs problem. he was an innocent by-stander who just tried to calm the situation.
Whats the world coming to when aggressive cretins like this have a go at innocent people for no reason at all.
This got alarm bells going in my head and so I raced off to Bobs location to check he was OK. Bob was fine. I got there after it had all calmed down. it turned out that there was a bit of trouble and Bob had politely told the guy to calm down a bit but then the guy got aggressive with Bob.
It wasn't even Bobs problem. he was an innocent by-stander who just tried to calm the situation.
Whats the world coming to when aggressive cretins like this have a go at innocent people for no reason at all.
Saturday, August 8
Red Lights mean I`m home
This weekend I picked up a rather drunken young man who fell into the taxi and told me that he wanted to go to Hawcoat Village. He even paid me £10 up front and we agreed he can have the change from what's on the meter when we get there so off we go. Nice easy fare me thinks as I`ve been paid up front.
Alls well til we get to the first set of traffic lights which were on red. As soon as the car stopped he opened the door and tried to get out. Realising he wasn't at home he apologised and shut the door.
The next two sets of lights were on green but the next set was red and the exact same thing happened again. Unfortunately there were 3 more sets of lights to go through and they were all on red.
You guessed it, at each one when the car stopped, he opened the door, tried to get out and got back in. When I did get him to his destination and I stopped the car, he got out, told me to keep the change and staggered into his house.
No explanation for why he kept trying to get out when I stopped at red lights and yet although drunk, he was sober enough to apologise and made his way into his house ok.
Alls well til we get to the first set of traffic lights which were on red. As soon as the car stopped he opened the door and tried to get out. Realising he wasn't at home he apologised and shut the door.
The next two sets of lights were on green but the next set was red and the exact same thing happened again. Unfortunately there were 3 more sets of lights to go through and they were all on red.
You guessed it, at each one when the car stopped, he opened the door, tried to get out and got back in. When I did get him to his destination and I stopped the car, he got out, told me to keep the change and staggered into his house.
No explanation for why he kept trying to get out when I stopped at red lights and yet although drunk, he was sober enough to apologise and made his way into his house ok.
Monday, August 3
Drunk and in love
Picked a fare up from the rank this weekend and took her and a mate of hers to two seperate addresses in the same area. The first person (30ish years old) who wanted dropping off was reasonably sober but the second one (about 18 years old) was well drunk.She was talking gibberish and saying that she didn't weant to go home as her boyfriend would beat her up.
I asked her Why this is likely to happen and she said that he doesnt like her going out and always beats her up everytime so I said to her "Why dont you leave him if he beats you up? and her reply.......
The classic..... "Cos I Love Him"..
For gods sake why stay in a violent relationship just because you love someone. She asked my advice and I gave it to her but she was having none of it and just wanted to go home to her man even of it meant getting a beating.
I will never understand women that stay with a violent man just because they love him or sometimes theres the other excuse, "I only stay with him cos of the kids" Anyway, she was very drunk and didnt look capable of anything and I didnt fancy dropping her off last so I told the other passenger that I would do her a deal on the fare and drop the drunk woman off first and only charge the fare to that address. It didnt bother me as I had to go past the other womans house to get back to town.
At the first woman's address it seemed to take forever whilst she got out of the car and fell into a bush in her garden. She managed to rummage up 45p for the fare.
After she got out the car I took the other woman home and asked for £7.20p which was on the meter. After rummaging through her purse she managed to come up with £6.21p and said I would have to go back for the rest tomorrow.
Not worth it for 99p so I just wrote it off and took the £6.21p ... I was just glad to have them both out the cab.
Sometimes you have to right things off otherwise you lose out more trying to fioght for your money. Its not worth the hassle... I just had horrible thoughts of dropping the drunken one off last and not getting paid at all dso £6.21p is better than nothing.
I asked her Why this is likely to happen and she said that he doesnt like her going out and always beats her up everytime so I said to her "Why dont you leave him if he beats you up? and her reply.......
The classic..... "Cos I Love Him"..
For gods sake why stay in a violent relationship just because you love someone. She asked my advice and I gave it to her but she was having none of it and just wanted to go home to her man even of it meant getting a beating.
I will never understand women that stay with a violent man just because they love him or sometimes theres the other excuse, "I only stay with him cos of the kids" Anyway, she was very drunk and didnt look capable of anything and I didnt fancy dropping her off last so I told the other passenger that I would do her a deal on the fare and drop the drunk woman off first and only charge the fare to that address. It didnt bother me as I had to go past the other womans house to get back to town.
At the first woman's address it seemed to take forever whilst she got out of the car and fell into a bush in her garden. She managed to rummage up 45p for the fare.
After she got out the car I took the other woman home and asked for £7.20p which was on the meter. After rummaging through her purse she managed to come up with £6.21p and said I would have to go back for the rest tomorrow.
Not worth it for 99p so I just wrote it off and took the £6.21p ... I was just glad to have them both out the cab.
Sometimes you have to right things off otherwise you lose out more trying to fioght for your money. Its not worth the hassle... I just had horrible thoughts of dropping the drunken one off last and not getting paid at all dso £6.21p is better than nothing.
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