I guess at least some of you will have been on the cabs. I am toying with the idea of private hire (Manchester area) and looking for any words of wisdom - good or bad.
Getting itchy feet.
I’ve had a couple of goes at it, firstly before I had an HGV licence and secondly when my children were born, so I could be at home a lot more to help out with them. This was in a provincial town rather than a city. The only time you ever make money is on a Friday and Saturday night after 11 pm, but you do get a lot of grief from the punters.
Typically, on a Monday or Tuesday evening in January or February, I would be waiting around for an hour, then doing a £4 fare, then waiting around for another hour for the next one. Do the maths. The most I would hope to do then would be to cover my costs- Hire and Reward insurance is very expensive, there is a circuit fee to pay, standing costs for your car etc.
The only real positive thing I could think about it is that it is a very good job to have if you are ■■■■■■■■ promiscuous- all girls on the way home from a nightclub at three in the morning having failed to pull know that when they are in your cab, they are drinking in the Last Chance Saloon. 
Thanks Harry, I would prefer to do the minibus/8 seater route and being close to the airport means I could be busy?
On your last point, this worries me the most. Even the hags at booking in desks fall head over heels in love with me so a drunken ■■■■ will be spouting like a fountain 
Thats a great idea that you have there.Snag is how many others have had the same idea.The costs are quite high and the money coming in is quite low.When I had a private hire car I was being under cut by people who had no insurance.I wont be doing it again.
too many tadpoles in the pond nowadays…ideal as previously mentioned if your a whoremonger.wall to wall ■■■■■ 24/7 .either single parents heading to asda or to get their giro,or on the way home withouht a man…you dont have to sit and look interested and be listening to their pish all night…you dont have to feed them drink all night…you just need to give them the subtle 20 questions about who is waiting for them at home,and without fail,its coffee time. any night of the week,id always have been happy earning 50 quid for a nghts work,disappearing at some point,and waking up n a strange wifeys bed…id say you would need to be of a certain persuasion nowadays though living in manchester or any of the big cities to blend in…i came out of birmingham airport last month and all the taxi drivers bolted and ran away from be because they thought i was a ghost… 
airport courier work would be a better earner unless you want to scrabble for scrapings in private hire.
I went the opposite route. Taxi - HGV
Taxi and Private hire are absolutely flooded buddy especially in large areas. I actually get days off now, not something you get often in taxi.
I’m planning to get a decent car to do Uber in when work is a bit slack or want a spot of extra money. The joy of that is that how much, how often & how long you work is entirely up to you
switchlogic:
I’m planning to get a decent car to do Uber in when work is a bit slack or want a spot of extra money. The joy of that is that how much, how often & how long you work is entirely up to you
The only problem I could see with that is that you would need hire and reward insurance, and I would be surprised if you could buy that on an ad hoc basis.
Harry Monk:
switchlogic:
I’m planning to get a decent car to do Uber in when work is a bit slack or want a spot of extra money. The joy of that is that how much, how often & how long you work is entirely up to youThe only problem I could see with that is that you would need hire and reward insurance, and I would be surprised if you could buy that on an ad hoc basis.
Yes Uber insist on it obviously and buying it for a year is the main outgoing after the car & fuel. Still plenty of money to be made
switchlogic:
Harry Monk:
switchlogic:
I’m planning to get a decent car to do Uber in when work is a bit slack or want a spot of extra money. The joy of that is that how much, how often & how long you work is entirely up to youThe only problem I could see with that is that you would need hire and reward insurance, and I would be surprised if you could buy that on an ad hoc basis.
Yes Uber insist on it obviously and buying it for a year is the main outgoing after the car & fuel. Still plenty of money to be made
But you would have to drive a cab fairly regularly for the economics to stack up, the last time I had hire and reward insurance it was £1,250 a year and that was 18 years ago. As for there being lots of money to be made, I suppose that depends on where you are. I saw Uber state recently that their drivers take an average of £16 an hour, I used to reckon that one-third of what I took ended up as my wage so on that basis it’s less than minimum wage.
Harry Monk:
I’ve had a couple of goes at it, firstly before I had an HGV licence and secondly when my children were born, so I could be at home a lot more to help out with them. This was in a provincial town rather than a city. The only time you ever make money is on a Friday and Saturday night after 11 pm, but you do get a lot of grief from the punters.Typically, on a Monday or Tuesday evening in January or February, I would be waiting around for an hour, then doing a £4 fare, then waiting around for another hour for the next one. Do the maths. The most I would hope to do then would be to cover my costs- Hire and Reward insurance is very expensive, there is a circuit fee to pay, standing costs for your car etc.
Pretty much the same story for me, only I already had my Class 2, I only did the one stint taxi’ing but that was for three years (and I would never ever do it again either!)
Harry Monk:
The only real positive thing I could think about it is that it is a very good job to have if you are ■■■■■■■■ promiscuous- all girls on the way home from a nightclub at three in the morning having failed to pull know that when they are in your cab, they are drinking in the Last Chance Saloon.
Only ever had one “offer” of a bj, and that was in complete jest as it was early afternoon and her boyfriend and mother had literally just got out of the car and she was left sorting the fare, and she said “is this when I’m meant to offer a bj as opposed to the fare?”) I just said deadpan, “nah, I’d sooner have the fare luv”.
Taxi driver. Another form of professional driver. 
I wouldn’t mind being a night time and weekend cabbie who only does trips to the airports for £100 a throw. “Daytime passengers won’t be paying that, so I won’t be bothered all those daytime hours I don’t want to work anyways, and anyone desperate at short notice will find they can’t get a cabbie for love nor money - and will give me a shot” - I’m thinking.
Speciality - getting around the deserted back roads at night.
Reasonable thought, or am I living in cloud cuckoo land? 
A BJ isn’t worth £100 in my mind, so I wouldn’t be accepting any BJs in replacement of a £100 fare. 
I cant understand some of the posts on here. Lorry drivers who as we all know earn upwards of £40,000 want to drive taxisW.T.F. 
I mainly drove school contracts about 100 miles per school day.This was about 20 years ago I tendered for the work at £45.00 per day.Things were ok at that until a hero undercut me and did the job for £9.00 per school day.
There is another way of doing this, and thats by driving for one of the upmarket private hire operators, most fair sized towns have one.
PH only, better cars kept absolutely spotless and driven professionally, none of this blow the hooter ■■■■■■■■ jammed up the arse of other traffic racing around, no trackie bottoms or manky T shirts, they carry bags for the ladies and open the door for them and see them in, its personal chauffering really.
You have to be well presented, suit polished shoes white ■■■■, tie, be amenable, punctual to the minute and most especially give the customer a smooth carefree ride in quiet refinement.
I used to do a bit of this many years ago, repeat clients mainly, no trouble at all nice customers too in the main, someone i know still uses the same company for their early morning long distance flight connections, nothing’s changed its still a professional family concern doing things just as they did 40 years ago.
There will always be customers for this type of service too, suppose its the equivalent of specialising in transport.
Harry Monk:
switchlogic:
Harry Monk:
switchlogic:
I’m planning to get a decent car to do Uber in when work is a bit slack or want a spot of extra money. The joy of that is that how much, how often & how long you work is entirely up to youThe only problem I could see with that is that you would need hire and reward insurance, and I would be surprised if you could buy that on an ad hoc basis.
Yes Uber insist on it obviously and buying it for a year is the main outgoing after the car & fuel. Still plenty of money to be made
But you would have to drive a cab fairly regularly for the economics to stack up, the last time I had hire and reward insurance it was £1,250 a year and that was 18 years ago. As for there being lots of money to be made, I suppose that depends on where you are. I saw Uber state recently that their drivers take an average of £16 an hour, I used to reckon that one-third of what I took ended up as my wage so on that basis it’s less than minimum wage.
+1…i was in the taxi trade for years,both public and private hire…according to myhermes etc then great theoretical earnings are to be made…same pish as uber.
Harry Monk:
switchlogic:
Harry Monk:
switchlogic:
I’m planning to get a decent car to do Uber in when work is a bit slack or want a spot of extra money. The joy of that is that how much, how often & how long you work is entirely up to youThe only problem I could see with that is that you would need hire and reward insurance, and I would be surprised if you could buy that on an ad hoc basis.
Yes Uber insist on it obviously and buying it for a year is the main outgoing after the car & fuel. Still plenty of money to be made
But you would have to drive a cab fairly regularly for the economics to stack up, the last time I had hire and reward insurance it was £1,250 a year and that was 18 years ago. As for there being lots of money to be made, I suppose that depends on where you are. I saw Uber state recently that their drivers take an average of £16 an hour, I used to reckon that one-third of what I took ended up as my wage so on that basis it’s less than minimum wage.
Ive liked into it, the economics do stack up
if you want to earn anything other than a pittance after the year is up then buy the car and insurance etc,and rent it out to someone fulltime until you want to shift it yourself then put them onto day/night half shift till you work on the trucks again…otherwise the outlay will be more than the income…keep the car for 1 year.clock it to death,and turn it over again.
dieseldog999:
+1…i was in the taxi trade for years,both public and private hire…according to myhermes etc then great theoretical earnings are to be made…same pish as uber.
The trouble is, that people will get a cab home in the small hours of Saturday or Sunday, there’s no traffic on the roads so you can whizz round, and 20 minutes later you drop them of and relieve them of £20, so they think there must be a small fortune in it. They don’t visualise sitting around for two hours in the week and then doing a £4 fare.
I just checked and according to this, hire and reward insurance is currently £2,000-£2,500 a year.
pco-license.com/private-hire-insurance/
There’s also the private hire licence, the vehicle licence, two MOT’s a year, and the car gets absolutely trashed. I’ve met some lovely people while driving a cab but you do also encounter a lot of people who could politely be described as “the dregs of society”.
Driver reviews of Uber here- indeed.co.uk/cmp/Uber-Partne … rs/reviews
Juddian:
There is another way of doing this, and thats by driving for one of the upmarket private hire operators, most fair sized towns have one.PH only, better cars kept absolutely spotless and driven professionally, none of this blow the hooter ■■■■■■■■ jammed up the arse of other traffic racing around, no trackie bottoms or manky T shirts, they carry bags for the ladies and open the door for them and see them in, its personal chauffering really.
You have to be well presented, suit polished shoes white [zb], tie, be amenable, punctual to the minute and most especially give the customer a smooth carefree ride in quiet refinement.
I used to do a bit of this many years ago, repeat clients mainly, no trouble at all nice customers too in the main, someone i know still uses the same company for their early morning long distance flight connections, nothing’s changed its still a professional family concern doing things just as they did 40 years ago.There will always be customers for this type of service too, suppose its the equivalent of specialising in transport.
Yeh, I’ve seen some Limo Operators offering £25k jobs out working 5x10 hours Wednesday-Sunday PM if memory serves… (last year) Everything from ferrying high school kids about on their last day to Weddings.
For someone like me though, that’s a lot of bulling up each day to earn a lower wage than I’m already on alas. Some interesting stories ferrying the half-cut ladies home from Royal Ascot though!
If you’re the sort of person who doesn’t want to work through the whole night, and £25k will do you - look 'em up these Stretch Limo operators in particular… You could even argue at interview that “Hey, with a HGV licence, I’m not going to struggle getting one of THESE around a tight bend!”
