tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-177344632024-03-10T02:46:01.051+00:00Taxi TalesTales of the Life and Times of a Northern UK Taxi Driver.bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.comBlogger1295125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-79289639308331546122022-06-09T13:33:00.001+00:002022-06-09T13:34:51.320+00:00<p><a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/300584112/robberies-naked-passengers-and-backseat-antics-the-tales-of-timaru-taxis-drivers" target="_blank">https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/300584112/robberies-naked-passengers-and-backseat-antics-the-tales-of-timaru-taxis-drivers</a><br /></p>bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-92082734400784111862021-11-23T17:17:00.002+00:002021-11-23T17:17:41.344+00:00<p><a href="https://www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/lancaster-taxi-shortage-putting-passengers-22207340">https://www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/lancaster-taxi-shortage-putting-passengers-22207340</a><br /></p><div class="postbody" style="background-color: #e1ebf2; clear: both; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 1.48em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 641.866px;"><div class="content" style="font-family: "Lucida Grande", "Trebuchet MS", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 1.3em; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px; min-height: 3em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px 0px 1px;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />A shortage of taxi drivers across the Lancaster and Morecambe district is being tackled with a recruitment campaign and other action by Lancaster City Council including an appeal to former drivers with expired licenses to return and cut-price training courses.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />The shortage of hackney and private hire taxis is creating risks to public safety, people getting home safely, and disorder and crime, according to a licensing team work plan and report being reviewed by councillors on the district’s Licensing Committee.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Other issues such as the impact of Covid-19 on taxi drivers, rising fuel costs hitting drivers’ earnings and firms’ profits, the level of passenger fares, vehicle tests and driver training courses are among factors being looked at.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Councillors on the Licensing Committee are being asked to approve a licensing team work plan for 2022. It highlights various issues relevant to taxi passengers and drivers, gives updates on recent work and suggests priority tasks for next year.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Local authorities regulate the taxi trade which includes fares and checking the that drivers are ‘fit and proper’ persons. Checks include drivers’ character and history, their right to work in the UK and criminal convictions, cautions or reprimands.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />The transport and driving sectors are undergoing various changes, with shortages seen locally and nationally with long distance HGV drivers and bin lorry drivers hitting the headlines.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Regarding taxi drivers in Lancaster and Morecambe, the city council’s Licensing Committee report states: “There is a reduced number of drivers, locally and nationally. One project has been to increase the number of licensed drivers operating in the district, both hackney carriage and private hire. The scope of this work has been to promote the role of becoming a taxi or private hire driver and to work alongside partners to assist applicants.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />“A college course is full in November, due to reduced cost of £100 instead of £220. The council wrote to all expired drivers, 97 of them, and asked them to use a fast-track application procedure. A social media and Job Centre campaign is highlighting the work.”<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />A shortage of staff in the city council’s own licensing team is another priority issue, the report states. The team aims to fill the post by February 2022.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Taxi vehicle tests represent another factor which might be putting off drivers. The current system is described as labour intensive with excessive steps in the process. Changes are needed to the city council’s on-line vehicle test booking system to make it easier for drivers to book tests. The council will also reintroduce a paid service called Licensing Direct and personal licensing courses. with the aim of re-launching in April 2022.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Taxi ranks on streets are also being looked at too.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />The workplan report states: “The reason is to improve availability of hackney carriages to the public. Lancashire County Council intends to conduct a review of hackney carriage ranks across the county. The city council welcomes this and would seek to work with the county council and Lancaster’s hackney carriage trade. The trade should be invited to provide written proposals regarding taxi rank provision at the earliest opportunity .”<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />It adds that road works on central Lancaster’s ‘gyratory’ road system could lead to significant changes which would cause disruptions. So consultation about taxi ranks with the trade should be done as-and-when needed. A number of taxi ranks have already been updated, the report adds.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />The city council’s website shows there are currently 373 registered dual-license drivers. The hackney carriage register has 108 license-holders and the private hire register has 38.<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />The city council has registered with the National Anti-Fraud Network. Its services include providing information on taxi and private hire license refusals and revocations, DVLA driver and vehicle information, number plate recognition, fraud and crime prevention, investigations, credit and bank account checks, and trading standards work.</div></div><dl class="postprofile" id="profile414215" style="background-color: #e1ebf2; border-left: 1px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #666666; display: inline; float: right; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; margin: 5px 0px 10px; min-height: 80px; padding: 0px; width: 185.804px;"><dt style="line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px;"><br /></dt></dl><div class="back2top" style="background-color: #e1ebf2; clear: both; color: #536482; font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; height: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right;"></div>bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-2016188489588956642020-11-27T16:59:00.000+00:002020-11-27T16:59:53.381+00:00Taxi to Church<p> An interesting piece here from the Church Times, believe it or not. Colin Dobson is interviewed on his life of taxi driving.</p><p> https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2020/27-november/features/interviews/interview-colin-dobson-taxi-driver</p><p>I fell into taxi driving following six years of looking after my father when he became ill. By the time he’d passed to glory, I’d run out of money. It was the greatest privilege of my life to care for him, as he slowly lost his powers. In many ways, the dad became the son and the son became the dad, but I gained so much.</p><p>I already had my licence from part-time work as a chauffeur, driving the great and the good. I thought it would only be a temporary thing for a few months. Eleven years later, I’m still at it. I might have found my vocation.</p><p>The best thing about it is the people. Every week, in ordinary times, anywhere between 100 and 200 souls are moving in and out of my taxi. Each one has a story to tell, and they often share them with me. There are some extraordinary human beings living among us in Oxfordshire, and my passengers are a great blessing to me. Many have become friends.</p><p>The worst thing is the people. I’ve seen some dreadful things — especially between the hours of one and five in the morning: drunkenness, violence, and abuse of all kinds. A very wise fellow, working in a senior role for one of the many Christian organisations based in Oxford, once said to me, as I collected him at 4 a.m. for an airport run after working all night, that I have to guard my soul. He’s right.</p><p>In the main, I take people safely to airports, cruise terminals, festivals, pubs, restaurants, and schools — but they’re all closed during coronatide. A customer insisted on paying me more than five times the cost of his fare, to help see me through until September. It’s one of many extraordinary acts of generosity of the time, some of which I’m sworn never to disclose. But God knows.</p><p>It’s been economically devastating — the worst stress of my life. A thriving business disintegrated overnight with £35,000-worth of work cancelled before the lockdown began. Bookings are slowly returning to about one third of their usual level. Many customers have decided not to book holiday airport travel; and there’s no business travel.</p><p>I’ve only survived financially because of the generosity of my customers, friends, and church family. I was able to operate a shopping service free to the vulnerable, thanks to other people’s donations.</p><p>As my living depends on it, it’s necessary to be pedantically practical about my car and not overly concerned with aesthetics. I run a Hyundai I40 estate, diesel, which has loads of boot space: enough for four check-in suitcases and carry-on baggage. The fuel economy’s great, but I’m not wedded to the brand. My next taxi may be something completely different — even electric, if only it were affordable.</p><p>A coffee break can be a brief stop at a drive-through on the motorway, or something more life-enhancing, like a four-hour walk around Guildford Cathedral on the way back from Gatwick.</p><p>My last holiday was for the canonisation of St John Henry Newman, a former assistant curate of my church — St Clement’s, Oxford — in Rome, last October. The cost of holidays isn’t just the travel, but also the lost income. There’s no holiday pay for the self-employed. None of my holidays since I became a taxi driver would have been possible without the kindness of others.</p><p>Writing is cathartic. In the past four years, I’ve written over 30,000 words in the local paper as “The Rank Insider” — published every Wednesday in actual newsprint in what used to be the North Berks Herald. I’m not afraid to write about my faith and my work.</p><p>I still live in Oxford, where I was born and went to Church of England schools till I was 13. As children, we played in the ruins of Holy Trinity Church. Almost the entire parish was razed in the ’60s and early ’70s, but I still see the old street pattern. These days, I live in a village on the outskirts, with my two beautiful, spirited cats. They saved my mental health.</p><p>I’ve never been unaware of the existence of God. I didn’t become a believer until August 1988, but, at primary school in the 1970s, there were traditions such as an annual nativity play, and daily assemblies with songs like “Lord of the Dance”. This contains the entire message of the gospel, and I’ve known my entire life that it’s the greatest story ever told.</p><p>The most significant thing to happen to me in recent years was rolling up to one Ash Wednesday evening service at St Clement’s, where they’ve shown me over years the actual meaning of “by this everyone will know that you are my disciples”. They’re extraordinary people.</p><p>God’s been nagging me for years, but discernment is the hardest thing about attempting to live the Christian life. It’s my intention to work as hard as I can for the next three years, to raise enough to retire to a slightly down-at-heel seaside community, to pursue photography and writing and whatever else comes along. I will still probably be driving for people, too. God has a habit of upsetting the best-laid plans, though.</p><p>There’s such a thing as righteous anger, though I spend my life trying not to get angry, as there’s far too much to get angry about. Eleven years of taxi-driving tells me that it’s best to remain calm, wherever possible, even in the face of the most dreadful provocation. But I can’t abide the greed and injustice which appears to be endemic in the provincial taxi industry. That’s why I now work for myself.</p><p>I’m happiest when I am at the all-night petrol station buying the bread for holy communion, or at the holy table setting up for it. There’s an extraordinary sense of the Lord’s presence there, though we’re not at all High, and the surroundings are quite different from Newman’s day.</p><p>One of my achievements during the first lockdown was digitising my 14 boxes of comedy and music records, cassette tapes and CDs, many of which belonged to my mother and grandmother. Spotify is marvellous, because you can carry your entire music collection around with you. And, yes, I do listen to music while I’m driving. I only listen when I have no customers. I listen to poetry and podcasts, too.</p><p>My hope is in God who provides in wholly unexpected ways. I’ve seen “the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” in this desperately stressful year.</p><p>I do pray, but not nearly often nor systematically enough, nor even, probably, for the right things. I do suffer from a dreadful level of shyness when praying with others; but my church home group have been extraordinarily gracious and kind.</p><p>I carry a battered old Bible in my taxi, and sometimes a rosary hangs from the rear-view mirror; so I’m often asked to pray for others who don’t feel that they can offer prayer themselves, because “I don’t quite believe enough.” I tell them that they’re good enough for God. I pray most often for peace.</p><p>I couldn’t be locked inside my own place of worship: I’m a keyholder. But I wouldn’t mind being there with Newman, who raised much of the money to build it. Inside, it’s quite different from his day, and I wonder what he’d make of it, and of Oxford in 2020. I also have quite a few questions for him about his prodigious writings.</p><p><br /></p><p>Colin Dobson was talking to Terence Handley MacMath.</p><p><br /></p><div><br /></div>bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-31744571962986647382020-09-02T11:45:00.001+00:002020-09-02T11:45:48.601+00:00<p> <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8666571/NYC-taxi-driver-shares-story-city-bounce-response-Jerry-Seinfeld-op-ed.html?fbclid=IwAR1T6VkR1uBwtt_G5gRMxIE-XqG1wbw1D0hsAGAy5mqnjfgiDLHptte8LxA">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8666571/NYC-taxi-driver-shares-story-city-bounce-response-Jerry-Seinfeld-op-ed.html?fbclid=IwAR1T6VkR1uBwtt_G5gRMxIE-XqG1wbw1D0hsAGAy5mqnjfgiDLHptte8LxA</a></p>bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-567853086283443612020-06-10T17:10:00.001+00:002020-06-10T17:10:48.719+00:00Cabs Are For Kissing: The Rhinoceros Story<a href="https://cabsareforkissing.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-rhinoceros-story.html?spref=bl">Cabs Are For Kissing: The Rhinoceros Story</a>: Here's a story from the vault. I've told it many times to passengers in my cab over the years, but I've actually never written...bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-87771333576237351922020-04-12T10:53:00.001+00:002020-04-12T10:53:23.362+00:00Real Seattle Taxi: The Supreme Irony Of Taxi Designed As An Essential...<a href="https://realseattletaxi.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-supreme-irony-of-taxi-designed-as.html?spref=bl">Real Seattle Taxi: The Supreme Irony Of Taxi Designed As An Essential...</a>: Yes, if you can believe it, because I still can't, that it is indeed true in the State of Washington, taxis are now considered essential...bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-39947514954771328292020-01-22T16:58:00.001+00:002020-01-22T16:58:53.846+00:00Cabs Are For Kissing: Why The Medallion Tanked<a href="https://cabsareforkissing.blogspot.com/2020/01/why-medallion-tanked.html?spref=bl">Cabs Are For Kissing: Why The Medallion Tanked</a>: For several years now the most talked-about topics of conversation with passengers have been Uber and the fate of the once coveted taxi med...bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-87094780311432752262020-01-15T16:00:00.001+00:002020-01-15T16:00:28.331+00:00Cabs Are For Kissing: How Do I Get To Carnegie Hall?<a href="https://cabsareforkissing.blogspot.com/2019/12/how-do-i-get-to-carnegie-hall.html?spref=bl">Cabs Are For Kissing: How Do I Get To Carnegie Hall?</a>: I stopped for a couple of passengers the other day on the Upper West Side who announced with some enthusiasm that their destination was Car...bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-50268902340099155462019-12-19T15:44:00.000+00:002019-12-19T15:44:16.021+00:00Dublin Taxi Driver<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-5427558737091702622019-12-18T19:37:00.001+00:002019-12-19T09:58:59.293+00:00Taxi rock<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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https://youtu.be/a-eV9FfmAmo bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-9964404788336519212019-08-15T11:34:00.001+00:002019-08-15T11:34:57.156+00:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: 20pt; line-height: 30.6667px;">Many of Barrows taxi drivers gathered on Thursday morning at the Town Hall in protest at another proposed hike in taxi fares.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt; line-height: 30.6667px;">Drivers are disappointed and upset with the licensing department at Barrow Town Hall constantly going against the wishes of the trade, even after agreements have been reached at so-called trade liaison meetings. The taxi trade recently reached an agreement with local taxi operators to increase fares to a more reasonable level. The trade then asked the Town Hall to postpone any further increases to the rank rate until at least a year had passed. This has been ignored by the licensing department and a further hike in fares has been proposed. Our aim has been over the last few months is to create a level playing field, so that the public can be assured that if they phone hail or hire a taxi from a rank they will be paying about the same rate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 20pt; line-height: 30.6667px;">If the council implement this unwanted rise then this becomes impossible. </span></div>
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bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-44714711136351098752016-09-03T18:57:00.001+00:002016-09-03T18:58:10.940+00:00Itsy Bitsy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">I don't mind spiders at all, they just don't bother me, but going by the reactions I have had in the back of the cab lately, they sure do bother some people. Apparently, I have had a spider as a non-paying passenger for the last week or so. I've never seen it but going by the screams and quick exits that some fares make it must be a scary one. Every time someone mentions it I check the car out and despite searching high and low all I have found are a few silky threads. They tell me it's small and red and very quick, it must be to survive my weekly assault with the hoover. But one thing its good for is keeping kids quiet in the back after the first scream most get to the furthest corner and just watch in silent horror. Think I might get some more and keep them in a matchbox just to threaten the kids with.<br />
<br />Oh, the photo is one the daughter nearly scared to death by screaming when she found it innocently sharing the bath.</span></div>
bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com86tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-60702022188256186772016-09-01T19:14:00.000+00:002016-09-01T19:14:52.434+00:00Sign of The Times<img height="480" src="https://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/6975/2164/400/DSCF1058.jpg" width="640" /><br />
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I picked lots of noisy kids up this week, it's the week before the schools go back and so it's the last minute rush for school uniforms. One woman was totally oblivious<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;">to her three unruly brats in the back, she just seemed to go into a trance looking at her phone as her kids fought screamed, and then rolled both back windows down and started to throw things out including the taxi firms business cards.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Still,<span class="apple-converted-space"></span> </span>she just stared at the darn phone deaf and blind to the chaos in the rear. That was when I braked and pulled over and without saying a word got out rolled up the back windows and placed my new sign that I bought a while back from Lancaster Castle, onto the dash, then I just looked at them for a minute without saying a word. They looked at me and then at the sign and that was it not a peep out of them for the rest of the journey. Funny thing was the mother never said a word, but she gave me a good tip with the fare.</span></div>
bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com71tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-41409059895759012562016-08-06T19:09:00.001+00:002016-08-06T19:09:17.066+00:00Pub or Home<span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">It was a slow Sunday with few rural runs but two jobs stand out from today.</span><br style="color: #999999; font-size: x-large;" /><span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">The first was from Walney Island, I got to the address and was waiting for a minute or two when a guy walked down the garden path towards the car, then he stopped and went back inside presumably to answer his phone which had started to ring. I seemed to be then for waiting</span><span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;"> ages after that and so I blew the horn, just then another car pulled up behind me and also sounded his horn. Then I spied the guy sneaking out of the house and who</span><span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;"> then actually climbed over the hedge and into next doors garden to use their gate to make his getaway. What I think happened was that his mates had rung him and offered him a lift instead of paying for a taxi and he was too spineless to tell me and then maybe have to pay the no pick up fee. All to save a couple pounds, I hope he ripped his pants and gets a dodgy kebab for supper. </span><br style="color: #999999; font-size: x-large;" /><span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">The last job of the day was from a pub in Dalton and when the couple finally come out and get in the cab they both say different destinations,” Which one first” I asked no he said” just the one we’re going home” “oh no we are not she says we’re going to the Railway pub”. This went on back and forth between them and got increasingly heated, now then which one do you listen to? After a minute or two I worked out that the guy was the soberer </span><span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">of the two and took them home, with the women getting more and more abusive to him I was glad when they got out, but as I drove away I could still hear her shouting that she wanted to go to the pub from a few hundred yards down the street.</span>bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-83018044129725651732016-07-28T14:53:00.000+00:002016-07-28T14:53:58.093+00:00Muck Magnet<span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">As I pulled up outside an address to pick up a fare today I noticed a big black dirty oil patch outside and so I parked just past it to save my fare walking through it and messing the car up. The fare turns out to be a harassed mum and her three young kids, the two older boys got in the car and told me that they were going to a party meanwhile the girl of about two ran around and danced in excitement outside. Then, of course, the muck magnet which is built into every kid kicks in and she goes head over heels into the oil, she is covered from head to toe and all over her party clothes. And so the harassed mum finds a clean bit, picks her up and takes her in to wash and change.</span><br />
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">Ten minutes later she runs out dancing and giggling and whilst harassed mum is locking her door she tumbles straight into the oil patch again if it wasn’t for the little girls tears and cries of” mum, mum” I would have laughed. Harassed mum decided enough was enough and just wiped her down and said she’d have to go as she was.</span><br />
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">I guess that she never did a good job of the clean up judging by the perfect black child’s footprint on the less than perfect butt of my next lady passengers white jeans, I almost felt guilty but it was the last job and so I went home laughing.</span>bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-51643485544661641762016-07-28T14:22:00.000+00:002016-07-28T14:22:16.431+00:00Lament<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-size: large;">Overseas readers might know an operator as a dispatcher.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;"><b>OPERATORS LAMENT</b><br /><i><br />We sit behind glass windows like being in a goldfish bowl<br />Sat glued to our seats looking at our console<br />Taking calls galore from our work stations<br /><br />Sometimes it feels like the United Nations<br />Chinese and Italians not to mention Irish and Scots!<br />We’ve got to decipher these bloody clots.<br />Then we have our drunken friends<br />Most named “harpic” because they’re right round the bend<br /><br />You know when they’ve had too much beer<br />When asking for a taxi from “Here,”<br />Some can’t even get the words out<br />Whilst women just continually shout<br /><br />And we have to listen to complaints and abuse<br />At times you feel like putting your head in a noose<br />It’s worse when your drivers go without saying<br />And the angry hordes for your blood are baying<br /><br />We’ve got to sit and pacify screaming people<br />I think I’ll jump off the highest steeple<br />But no we can’t let down the others who matter<br />The lonely old folk who just want to natter,<br /><br />Then of course there’s the drivers our bread and butter,<br />They’re not bad apart from the odd nutter,<br />So please spare a thought for your operators,<br />And keep us free from these masturbators.</i><br /><br /><b>Anon</b></span></div>
bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-16026113953014096602016-06-24T19:48:00.000+00:002016-06-24T19:48:49.131+00:00Brown Eyes<span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">I had picked my very first job of the day up this morning at about 7.30 am and it was to be just a short ride into town, I was talking away with the fare when I saw a guy with a loose dog on the pavement up ahead, luckily I braked and slowed just in case.But yes you’ve guessed it </span><span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">the dog runs straight into the front of the taxi, I could see it coming but couldn’t stop in time, then comes the sickening bang and the dog disappears. Luckily for the dog, I was driving a modern car with a plastic bumper which is shaped to help save pedestrians by hitting low and scooping them up onto the bonnet and saving them from going under the car.</span><br style="color: #999999; font-size: x-large;" /><span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">And so in what seemed like slow motion to me a large brown</span><span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;"> dog appeared on the front of my bonnet looking straight at me with surprised big brown eyes. Apart from a few brown hairs,</span><span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;"> there was not a mark on the car, oh and the dog was okay too. The guy with the dog was as drunk as a skunk and didn’t say a word he just stood in the road swaying gently back and forth until his wife led him away. All was well and so we set off again and only got a few hundred yards when the local postman who was walking along sorting his letters sauntered out straight in front of us, after another narrow miss I considered making the first job of the day my last.</span>bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-29578649205744871472016-06-19T18:39:00.000+00:002016-06-19T18:39:33.186+00:00Dresssenseless<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2810/1716/1600/away.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2810/1716/400/away.jpg" height="640" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" width="392" /></a><br />
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">Now you may not believe this but the taxi drivers here in Barrow aren’t really well known for their sense of style. But what with the heat wave which we have been experiencing for the last week or two, some of them have really surpassed themselves some of the tee shirts and shorts look like they were bought on some long ago foreign holiday at a time when the driver had had a good sample of the local tipple. Maybe at some time, they may have fitted as well, who knows but sadly with the ravages of too many pies and fries that’s not the case now. One driver I saw today broke all the rules cargo style three-quarter length pants (guys when you reach a certain age and size just don’t do it) and a black and white vest top way too small, looking down past the glimpse of white calves revealed black socks (pulled well up) and open toed sandals. But all was explained when I saw that he was proudly sporting in his left ear the biggest shiniest bluetooth I had ever seen, the radio waves from this must have caused temporary insanity.</span>bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-5981111782578561692016-06-11T20:19:00.002+00:002016-06-11T20:20:18.564+00:00Testing Time<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">I went out on a job to a country lane near the small town of
Dalton-in-Furness when I got there it was a driving school car which had broken
down miles from anywhere. The two passengers wanted to go to the Driving Test
Centre and they explained that one was a driving test examiner and the other
was actually taking his test when they had broken down. Well this was a first
for me but I guess it does happen now and then, funny thing was that I felt a
bit nervous with a driving examiner in the back of the cab and found myself
driving as if I was on some sort of test myself. When we got back to the test
centre the driving school instructor, who owned the car was waiting
outside and you should have seen his face when his pupil and the examiner got
out of the cab, he must have been thinking that his car had been wrecked. I
ended up driving the instructor and the pupil home after that and the
instructor was telling me that it was going to work out rather expensive for
him as they are self-employed like us and like us no car no work, which means
no income.</span></div>
bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-47268967189779094882016-05-24T19:31:00.001+00:002016-05-24T19:31:55.395+00:00Judderbutts<span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">I picked up an old German lady today and a good old stick she is too we were cracking away as we drove along. I was about to turn off down a street when she said “</span><span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">no de judderbutts</span><span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">” this had me baffled for a minute or two and then I remembered that this street had lots of large speed humps on it. I laughed when I realised that this is what she meant. Judderbutts what a great word it describes speed bumps perfectly, go on just say it a few times, isn’t it a great word. Watch out for those judderbutts!</span>bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-91929223657498625932016-05-18T18:18:00.001+00:002016-05-18T18:18:22.113+00:00On The Meter<span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">A 15-minute drama, written by Nicholas Hargreaves and Tabitha Konstantine. - We follow the journey of a black cab and it's driver, through three different jobs which are all inspired by true events. Everything that happens, all happens inside of the four doors of the taxi.</span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://soundcloud.com/nick-nock-hargreaves/on-the-meter-radio-drama">https://soundcloud.com/nick-nock-hargreaves/on-the-meter-radio-drama</a>bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-33365470349560437402016-05-10T17:59:00.002+00:002016-05-14T19:25:16.130+00:00Gone Fishing<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">My first job this morning at 7; 30am was to take a guy up to High pond Roanhead he was going fishing. I knew where he was going straightaway I had picked him up many times before the amount of stuff he had with him seems to multiply, enough this time to fill the boot (trunk) and a good bit of the car as well. It has always bemused me the dedication of this guy he’s out fishing in all seasons breaking the ice if need be. Knowing nothing about fishing myself I’ve asked him about it on the many trips to Roanhead and was amazed when he told me that he doesn’t even get supper out of it the fish are put back in the water. The biggest fish caught there was a carp weighing 35lb 9oz “that would feed me for a day or two” and the pond isn’t natural it's flooded iron ore workings last worked in the 1920s. I was still not sold on the idea of sitting there all day and kept asking him what he gets out of it “relaxation” he says. So today when I dropped him off I got out and had a walk round the pond and took a few photos, then I sat down for a while and you know what it really is relaxing. Still couldn’t be bothered </span></b><br />
<a href="https://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2810/1716/1600/DSCF0558.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2810/1716/1600/DSCF0558.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a><b><span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">carting all</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">that gear about, though.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAPDHtJMDx9NyhhgWtvl7uKxOublbByU8x1ROWoGerzuK3SgFLPpEJyVzy-JhcA1WghqSuQfL5_AsFPlig_ZLY-cLRVCAY7bTCI_xtj_H9n4WatXUkhEtfdpfduAvu19A8W86H/s1600/coins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAPDHtJMDx9NyhhgWtvl7uKxOublbByU8x1ROWoGerzuK3SgFLPpEJyVzy-JhcA1WghqSuQfL5_AsFPlig_ZLY-cLRVCAY7bTCI_xtj_H9n4WatXUkhEtfdpfduAvu19A8W86H/s640/coins.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-size: large;">A customer I picked up today never ever tips, so I was very surprised when the fare was £3.40p and he said here's £4.00 keep the change. But when I looked at the four "pound coins" I was not shocked to find that one of them was a worthless lead forgery, Ah well nothing changes eh!</span>bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-88670501777491117752016-04-25T19:36:00.000+00:002016-04-25T19:37:44.546+00:00Road Kill<span style="color: #cccccc; font-size: large;">I took a fare out to the village of Baycliff today and on the way out down the coast road, we came across a beat up looking car parked haphazardly on the road with the hazard warning lights on. As we got closer and slowed to go around it the driver got out and went to the rear of his car and stood looking down at a dead seagull on the roadside. So after that, the fare and I laughed and tried to figure out what on earth he was doing. "Giving it the last rites, " said the fare “no he wants to make quills with its feathers "I replied" or an Indian headdress" he answered. Or maybe he's one of these guys that likes to eat road kill I said "not much of a meal there" he said, " unless he puts it in a stew." On the way back into town I checked, and sure enough, the seagull had gone.</span>bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17734463.post-12647787289334523582016-04-25T19:17:00.003+00:002016-04-25T19:17:42.713+00:00Goosed<span style="color: #cccccc; font-size: large;">Awww how sweet you may say, yes but after the fifth or sixth time of being held up within a few hours that's not exactly what I say.</span><br />
<span style="color: #cccccc; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<img height="459" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2810/1716/400/DSCF0454.jpg" width="640" />bob mullenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00767269179565380286noreply@blogger.com7