Taxi Drivers

[ronnietoon]

how much do taxi drivers earn? my brother is thinking about it at the moment.He lives in the north west and has the money for his own car, an acquaintance of his is a taxi driver who has told him a bit i;e rents of the radio etc but says it is not worth it unless you do nights which is alot of grief .He would be looking at days due to family commitments and also less aggro.

anythought experience?

[SirOracle]

Very difficult to give an answer.It is dependent on a great many factors eg the
area and whether that area is a properly licensed one so far as taxis are concerned.
I would suggest that he speaks to drivers in the area he is thinking of ,to get more than one person's opinion.
In properly licensed areas the type of vehicle is stipulated and this can cost well over £30,000. He may also have to purchase a hackney license for the taxi,but he should be very careful here as many local authorities are contemplating deregulating,and the amount he paid for the hackney license would then be worth nothing if he tried to sell it on, at some time in the future.
My advice would be to be very circumspect at the present time,particularly whilst the depression is with us.
Anyway good luck to him whatever he decides.

[Buenchico]

Some of the casual work I do involves monitoring taxi movements on behalf of local councils. That can mean standing by taxi ranks for up to 12 hours at time, so I inevitably end up talking to many of the drivers who are waiting for fares. Most of them say that they struggle to pay their bills by working 12 hours per day, 6 or 7 days per week. Having seen how few fares they seem to get in a day, I'm confident that they're not exaggerating. (Further, most of them say that business has really dropped off since the current recession started).

The worst case I saw was a guy in a small Essex town, whose taxi licence only permitted him to use only one specified rank. (He could also be contacted by phone but nobody seemed to call him). I watched that guy from 7am to 7pm on 3 consecutive days, during which time he had just ONE job (which was just a £5 fare up the road). He told me hat he used to run a firm with 16 drivers but he was now the only one left.

[boxtops]

The taxi drivers I talk to (as I used taxis from time to time in my work) all say times are very hard at the moment. People can't afford taxis as much as they used to. Competition is high. I wouldn't do it.

[Smowball]

We got talking to our taxi driver last night actually, and he said times were very hard at the moment. By the time he paid for his fuel, plus his weekly fee to the taxi firm, somedays he barely makes any money.

[rockyracoon]

My dad has just jacked it in, he was barely covering his ex's.

[craft1948]

I used to be a regular taxi user and got to know quite a few drivers. My usual one only worked days, and he owned his house in York and one in Spain. York however, is a tourist hop spot............

[bednobs]

my husband was a taxi driver when he was in uni - he used to work on a "split bag" basis (ie the person who owned and insured the car used to take half of his fares (he used to keep all his tips)) he picked up the car full of petrol and put it back full. He used to work nights though - if your brother had his own car he could get someone to drive it nights and get half the money.
Even working six nights a week in a busy uni/clubbing/naval town, he didn't earn all that much (especially not after tax/ni). he akso used to keep a crowbar under the seat and had to use it once

[cazzz1975]

my mate used to be a taxi driver, there was a lot of money in it years ago, not so much now, he gave it up because he was hardly making enough to cover bills

[Snafu03]

I did it part time weekends for about 3 years. Was a bit hit and miss, wouldnt rely on it for a full time occupation.

I worked for someone who ran 2 cars and a mini-bus. It was a 60/40 split (40% of the takings for me) but was his car and fuel etc.

Trouble is you only get paid when you are physically moving so some nights you'd start at 6pm and finish at 2pm but only earnt £40. On an average it was about £60 for an 8 hour shift. Even quieter during the week.

Oddly enough all you ever heard was the Peter Kay sketch about taxi drivers from 'hilarious' passengers, people moaning about how expensive taxis are, idiotic drunks and puking teenagers.

I can see why a taxi driver goes off at the deep end every so often!