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Black taxi drivers

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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 2,164 ✭✭✭Neamhshuntasach


    A majority of the taxi's i seem to end up in tend to be driven by African drivers. I'll never check to see what color a person is as i don't care because i've never had any bad experiences with them. I'd generally only use a taxi when heading home and i know which way to go. It's the way i'd drive. I'm not gonna let anybody try bring me another way and i know how much it should roughly cost. I'm no taxi driver but i can read a meter.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,605 ✭✭✭Lord Nikon


    For the record I am not a racist, and work with many people from different nationalities. I have no problem at all.

    Maybe my problem I see it, is with black taxi drivers, not black people in general. Actually now that I think of it I'm also annoyed with the government too with how accomodating they are with asylum seekers in general.

    Ireland is hardly a huge country with great magnitude, and allowing asylum seekers from a country 10x the size of Ireland flood the gates is hardly wise. Ireland has it's own problems with looking after it's people.

    Most of these asylum seekers are indeed black, yes, but they join our welfare system quite easily, and the taxi industry welcoming them with open arms only makes it harder for other taxi drivers to make a living.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,164 ✭✭✭Neamhshuntasach


    Zadkiel wrote: »
    But why would it be a Healthboard cheque to start him on a career path?
    I find it hard to believe tbh.

    Not sure but i've a mate who had a fine to pay back for damaging a pub and he went to the HSE and said he couldn't afford it etc etc and he got a cheque from them. So they do seem to issue money for none health reasons. If the fella had of been saying it in a malicious complaining type of way i'd have been suspicious of it straight away. But he was joking about it saying he might give it a go himself. He quickly dropped the topic and talked about cars again.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 16,584 CMod ✭✭✭✭faceman


    javaboy wrote: »
    There's a million miles of difference between magicianz's post and minidazzler's. One is the usual bull. The other actually does make sense if you stop to think about it and don't just see the words "I'm not a racist but...." as a red flag.

    Some facts:
    Most people who have lived in Ireland for a long time are white skinned.
    Most black people in Ireland have not lived here a long time.
    People who have lived here a long time are more likely to know where they're going than people who haven't.

    So it's reasonable and NOT RACIST to conclude that on balance, a white taxi driver is more likely to know their way around than a black taxi driver. It may be an uncomfortable fact for some people to deal with because there's colour involved but if you put those things aside you'll see it does make sense.

    With all that said, I've never had to direct a taxi driver of any colour so the difference it makes is probably marginal. And with more regulation and testing and so many drivers now using sat navs, it will probably become a completely negligible difference before long.


    tl;dr Not all generalisations even those based on skin colour are actually racist.

    It can be fluffed up anyway that suits, but it is still a massive generalisation about people based on skin colour (both white and black people). It makes the assumption that all white irish taxi drivers know where they are going. If that were the case, why do so many Irish taxis use GPS devices?

    If a taxi driver doesnt know the best route to a location and doesnt have a GPS, is the reason for his incompetence down to his skin colour, his lack of training or his lack of experience driving the route?

    Has a study been done into quality of taxi driving based on skin colour? Id imagine not. everything else is just anecdotal and unfortunately anecdotal stories tend to give a false perception of reality.

    Not having a pop at you javaboy, i understand your point and your comment about not everying being racist. Unfortunately these threads just seem to bring out the worst in people.

    Just dont get me started on culchie taxi drivers....


  • Registered Users Posts: 687 ✭✭✭Zadkiel


    s14 silvia wrote: »
    Dont be so nieave, its comon knowledge and fact..

    Can you give some non anecdotal evidence?


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 22,559 ✭✭✭✭AnonoBoy


    s14 silvia wrote: »
    Well been a taxi driver i find that impossable to beleave for a start.

    Well it's true. Sorry to not be able to jump on your lovely xenophobic band wagon but as you have admitted you don't get taxis home with anyone other than your mates so how would you know how black taxi drivers behave? You only have it second hand.

    Actually I did have a taxi driver not know where an estate was once. But I didn't know either so he looked up a map and we found it no hassle. Alas the taxi driver was a Dub so I'm sure you won't want to believe that either.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,452 ✭✭✭thehomeofDob


    I got in a taxi saturday night - black driver. He knew where he was going and kept his mouth shut so the g/f and I could chat. Up comes a garda alco check - the guys pretends he doesn't know what to do. He keeps up this story so much that the guard was about to arrest him for feck sake. Then he does it properly and we get on our way. I thought he was probably new to it and let it slide till I looked at his license, he's been a taxi man since 2004. I hardly believe he's never been breathalysed ffs. He only played the "i'm foreign and don't understand" because he'd get an extra couple of quid - no tip for him.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 24,878 ✭✭✭✭ Analia Rich Bandage


    I'm no taxi driver but i can read a meter.


    I wish I could read your bloody username!.

    .


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    I got in a taxi saturday night - black driver. He knew where he was going and kept his mouth shut so the g/f and I could chat. Up comes a garda alco check - the guys pretends he doesn't know what to do. He keeps up this story so much that the guard was about to arrest him for feck sake. Then he does it properly and we get on our way. I thought he was probably new to it and let it slide till I looked at his license, he's been a taxi man since 2004. I hardly believe he's never been breathalysed ffs. He only played the "i'm foreign and don't understand" because he'd get an extra couple of quid - no tip for him.

    Would I be right in thinking you could have asked him to stop the meter?

    Even if it's not a right or anything I'm sure 99.9% of drivers would comply


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 46,938 ✭✭✭✭Nodin


    I was out looking at cars recently and in one of the yards i was talking to the owner. One of the cars was an ex taxi and lead onto talking about taxis. He said he had a Ghanian chap in looking to buy both a car and plate off him the week previous. He said the fella came back a few days later with a cheque from the Eastern Health Board for 10k. He told the owner he got it to help him get on his feet and into work. How true this is i don't know. The owner wasn't saying it in any malicious way though so can't see why he'd be making it up.

    The last time this was posted, it was a Nigerian. And funny enough, they swore blind it was true too. Tis crap, pure and simple.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 2,164 ✭✭✭Neamhshuntasach


    Nodin wrote: »
    The last time this was posted, it was a Nigerian. And funny enough, they swore blind it was true too. Tis crap, pure and simple.

    Well it could be false. It's just the way the fella said it and that he said he received the cheque himself. If he made it up i don't know why because we weren't talking about race issues or immigrants and he didn't seem to care about them issues either. I've heard a lot of other stories about them getting free houses, cars, etc and they always seem like the usual crap. Something just came across as truthful from your man.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 22,559 ✭✭✭✭AnonoBoy


    Well it could be false. It's just the way the fella said it and that he said he received the cheque himself. If he made it up i don't know why because we weren't talking about race issues or immigrants and he didn't seem to care about them issues either. I've heard a lot of other stories about them getting free houses, cars, etc and they always seem like the usual crap. Something just came across as truthful from your man.

    Under what scheme did the Ghanian/Nigerian/Whatever You're Having Yourself get the 10,000 euro?

    It's funny that none of these people who met a lad who got all this money from the government ever think to ask how they applied for and received this windfall.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 27 s14 silvia


    I got in a taxi saturday night - black driver. He knew where he was going and kept his mouth shut so the g/f and I could chat. Up comes a garda alco check - the guys pretends he doesn't know what to do. He keeps up this story so much that the guard was about to arrest him for feck sake. Then he does it properly and we get on our way. I thought he was probably new to it and let it slide till I looked at his license, he's been a taxi man since 2004. I hardly believe he's never been breathalysed ffs. He only played the "i'm foreign and don't understand" because he'd get an extra couple of quid - no tip for him.

    By law at a checkpoint the meter has to be stopped..


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 27 s14 silvia


    Zadkiel wrote: »
    Can you give some non anecdotal evidence?

    yup, its very simple but i aint posting it on a public forum there's enough without me telling the rest how to get it:mad:


  • Registered Users Posts: 687 ✭✭✭Zadkiel


    s14 silvia wrote: »
    yup, its very simple but i aint posting it on a public forum there's enough without me telling the rest how to get it:mad:

    That's convenient.....PM me?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 642 ✭✭✭Kalashnikov_Kid


    I say Ireland should introduce legislation that requires all new taxi drivers to provide at least 3 authentic character references before obtaining a licence. Would seperate the wheat from the chaff on all sides, so to speak.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 22,559 ✭✭✭✭AnonoBoy


    Zadkiel wrote: »
    That's convenient.....PM me?

    Somehow I think you'll be waiting for that.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 22,559 ✭✭✭✭AnonoBoy


    s14 silvia wrote: »
    yup, its very simple but i aint posting it on a public forum there's enough without me telling the rest how to get it:mad:

    I actually don't understand this post at all.

    You have evidence that supports your claims but don't want to post it for what reason?


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Politics Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 81,310 CMod ✭✭✭✭coffee_cake


    s14 silvia wrote: »
    Well been a taxi driver i find that impossable to beleave for a start lad:rolleyes:
    Been a taxi driver? You're not one anymore so?
    The buisness has been flooded in the last 2 years with immagrants, from my personal experiance a very high percentage are rude constantly on the phone aggresive and dont or pretend not to know where there going.. This is truth and nothing to do with there colour!!!!
    Also anyone like to tell me why they only appear at nite?
    Never had a problem with any of them, even the ones with near-incomprehensible accents.


  • Registered Users Posts: 842 ✭✭✭starflake


    I was out looking at cars recently and in one of the yards i was talking to the owner. One of the cars was an ex taxi and lead onto talking about taxis. He said he had a Ghanian chap in looking to buy both a car and plate off him the week previous. He said the fella came back a few days later with a cheque from the Eastern Health Board for 10k. He told the owner he got it to help him get on his feet and into work. How true this is i don't know. The owner wasn't saying it in any malicious way though so can't see why he'd be making it up.

    The Eastern Healthboard was replaced by the HSE a good few years back and they have nothing to do with Social welfare. So i think you're right in saying this stories made up


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  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 16,584 CMod ✭✭✭✭faceman


    I say Ireland should introduce legislation that requires all new taxi drivers to provide at least 3 authentic character references before obtaining a licence. Would seperate the wheat from the chaff on all sides, so to speak.

    Character references from who? :confused:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 642 ✭✭✭Kalashnikov_Kid


    From professional people or people of high standing in the community outside of your family who have known you personally for a certain amount of time. Many UK councils have this as a requirement.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 37 REAL LIFE HOOD


    couldnt give a crap. in usa the taxi industry seems more happy, i was in san francisco and the guy driving was from peru who was 65 but looked half that, and surfed and played football everyday.

    in ireland its full of depressing charachters who 15 minutes would be too much in their company, i say this an my dads a taxi driver(one of the good ones) and i wish he had a bit more cop on when he was younger and actually persued a fufilling job as taxi industry seems like the jungle.

    such a bigoted country though, i wonder will the black people be crying in 50 years time about this abuse like the oirish do about their treatment in england when they went there.


  • Registered Users Posts: 91 ✭✭JennyAnt


    F4Fake wrote: »
    I love black taxi drivers. They talk so much less than regular taxi drivers.

    They're generally not as racist as regular ones too!

    Seriously, is it inbred in some Irish taxi drivers to to be racist? I'm sick of them talking about "them blacks".....


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 37 REAL LIFE HOOD


    i'd say they were talking about dem blacks before there was any even here. i got out of a car one night because some toe rag decided to go on a racist tirade. shut the hell up you boring ****, if you're gonna talk to me have something positive to say, who do u think i am? dr.phil?


  • Registered Users Posts: 401 ✭✭Julesie


    Since most of the issues seem to based on taxi drivers (of any nationality) knowing their way around surely the most logical solution would be to bring in a test such as "The Knowledge" relevant to whatever area the Taxi is allowed to operate in.

    Regulation in terms of rationing licences is a completely different issue but the ability to pass the test would at least restrict the numbers to those with the necessary skills.

    I live in London and I literally never would never even consider the colour of the driver's skin to be a deciding factor as to whether I would get in the cab or not. In part this is probably helped by the fact London is a very multicultural city so being non-white does not imply you are fresh off the boat with no clue about the city. Also the fact the driver must have passed the knowledge implies a minimum standard.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,438 ✭✭✭TwoShedsJackson


    as a taxi driver while not working, i notice alot of black taxi drivers crawling along hoping to get someone into there car, and turning in the street to drive past people. Sad tbh.

    The fu<kin cheek of him. Driving a taxi around, trying to get fares who'll get in, get him to drive them somewhere, then give him money in exhange for the service. Probably had a taxi plate on the car and all.

    String 'em up, it's the only language they understand etc. etc.


  • Registered Users Posts: 15,094 ✭✭✭✭javaboy


    faceman wrote: »
    It can be fluffed up anyway that suits, but it is still a massive generalisation about people based on skin colour (both white and black people).

    I don't much care for the implication behind the words "fluffed up". I'm just trying to be as rational about it as possible. If you look at it from a logical and emotionally detached point of view, it does make sense.
    It makes the assumption that all white irish taxi drivers know where they are going. If that were the case, why do so many Irish taxis use GPS devices?

    No it doesn't make that assumption. You've taken a probability and turned it into an absolute. The point is that on balance of probability a white taxi driver is more likely to know where they're going than a black taxi driver. That doesn't mean every white taxi driver will know where he's going or that every black taxi driver won't.
    If a taxi driver doesnt know the best route to a location and doesnt have a GPS, is the reason for his incompetence down to his skin colour, his lack of training or his lack of experience driving the route?

    Em the last two obviously. Who ever said otherwise? :confused:
    Not having a pop at you javaboy, i understand your point and your comment about not everying being racist. Unfortunately these threads just seem to bring out the worst in people.

    That's fair enough. It's just that on potentially controversial topics like this, all too often people are afraid to voice certain opinions/facts because of the threat of being labelled racist. I just didn't think minidazzler deserved to be lumped in the "Adreeen I'n not racist but...." crowd even if he did say it.

    Sure these threads bring out the worst in people. But it doesn't benefit us to simply make the topic taboo either.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 50 ✭✭the_cat_is_back


    Just because they're black it doesn't mean they're not Irish.

    Dammit can't find a clip on youtube...a pic will have to do..

    (Father Ted)
    "Sure what would I know? I'm from Donegal!" :D:D


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 37 REAL LIFE HOOD


    Julesie wrote: »
    Since most of the issues seem to based on taxi drivers (of any nationality) knowing their way around surely the most logical solution would be to bring in a test such as "The Knowledge" relevant to whatever area the Taxi is allowed to operate in.

    Regulation in terms of rationing licences is a completely different issue but the ability to pass the test would at least restrict the numbers to those with the necessary skills.

    I live in London and I literally never would never even consider the colour of the driver's skin to be a deciding factor as to whether I would get in the cab or not. In part this is probably helped by the fact London is a very multicultural city so being non-white does not imply you are fresh off the boat with no clue about the city. Also the fact the driver must have passed the knowledge implies a minimum standard.

    I hate to stand out be that skin colour or anything else in this backwards exuse for a 'city'.


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