Slan Abhaile

tc20

Ring a bell with anyone here? Did anyone use this service, or indeed work for them? Slan Abhaile was a type of chaffeur service offered in/around dublin in the 90s/early 00s. The bonus (for the client) was the car used was their own.
It operated on a pre-booked service, so lets say you were going out for meal/nite out etc, were going to have a few scoops, but needed to get home and have your car in the morning. Hey Presto! a guy would arrive on a monkey-bike, fold it up, put it in the boot of your car, drive you home and then tootle off to his next job, leaving the client safely at home, without running the risk of d/d, and having your wheels in your drive.
I believe the business was sold around the early 00s, i think it was a very small slice in the pie of the Sierra group (construction/telecomms)

tc20

Ok so, i'll fill you in a bit more...
I worked for them for a while, it was a nixer for all the drivers as the firm only took on people already in employment. If you had even a molecule of petrol runnin thru your veins it wasn't a bad little number. Practically all the client base were execs, and as clients had to be members to book (not like a taxi service were you could just ring up 10mins before collection), they were generally nice people to deal with. So for the most part you could be driving some pretty neat metal, anything with a boot big enuf for the bike. Regular rides included MB E and S class, 5 & 7 series bimmers, A6 & occasionally an A8 your usual mid to top management luxobarges. Did have a few special ones tho - an early 90s Bentley saloon, M5, Daimler Double Six among others. Sometimes the client would say "just take the car home and drop the keys in the letterbox", others would urge you to open the car up a little, then a little bit more. The service was a/c only, so you werent carrying cash either, and generally they'd give you a nice tip. By Jebus, i'd have given them money to drive some of their motors..

Alun

Didn't Top Gear do a piece on a similar system running in London a year or so ago? Not sure it was a 'members only' setup, and they certainly weren't high class motors they ended up driving though.

ninty9er

I'd love if theer was somethin like this in Limerick. I remember seeing it on "Drive!" a few years back, but a call up service would be a bit better. It'd make a fortune too

unkel

I remember it being announced with a lot of poohah media attention and it seemed like a good idea at the time. Serious flaw in the business case was that it was a lot more expensive than a taxi home

Nice nixer driving all those nice cars though

Robbo

unkel wrote:

I remember it being announced with a lot of poohah media attention and it seemed like a good idea at the time. Serious flaw in the business case was that it was a lot more expensive than a taxi home

Nice nixer driving all those nice cars though

Surely you have to think about the expense and inconvienience of having to go in to pick up your car the next day, having taken a taxi home the previous night?

That said, I can't see there being much profit in it.

tc20

Alun, i did see the TG episode with the 2lads in London, and yeah i think you're right about it being more of a call-up service.

unkel i first saw it on The LateLate, i'd say in the mid 90s. I think the guy behind it had been in Oz and come across a similar set-up. i think it appealed to the clients it was aimed at over a taxi for several reasons, and bearing in mind it was marketed at those with higher disposable income, merciful hour sure some of them were entreprenooors an' dat, captains of industry so they were.. seriously tho' it worked on a flat rate for x amount of miles, beyond that the client was charged y per mile. The client could drive to their venue, enjoy their evening, be driven home, and have their car in the drive for the next days business of buying small african nations

Yea, it was a blast driving those cars. Got behind the wheel of pretty much every luxo car of the time, the only one that escaped me was the big merc S class (W140) that ran from about 91-98.

unkel

tc20 wrote:

unkel i first saw it on The LateLate, i'd say in the mid 90s.

Yeah I remember seeing it on the LateLate too now you mention it. It was already in the media a few days / weeks before the LateLate iirc

Robbo wrote:

Surely you have to think about the expense and inconvienience of having to go in to pick up your car the next day, having taken a taxi home the previous night?

Absolutely and as an alternative to having to pick up the car the next day it works well. However, I guess most people that go out would not drive their car in themselves. Take bus / lift / taxi in and taxi home, which works out cheaper (even two taxis) then that service and it is more convenient

Having said that, it is much easier these days to get a taxi home than it was back then...