galway taxi driver,s

blond45

hi guy,s. ive look,d to see if anyone else has a tread on taxi,s. you all must love them or we are not allowed to chat 'GIVE' bout them. well im going to tel you bout what happend today as in 3.45am .was on my way home after leaving hubby to work. two car,s passed me at warp speed ,well it was over the limit, light,s at carnmore were red so we all stoped. one of the car,s in front of me was a taxi ,of we went when green ,going great left plenty of space between us .when at top of the hill at the community centre he breaked all of a sudden. stoped dead in the middle of the road. he then went to his right as to pull in on the side of road .was so bloody mad . why the BLEEP did he do that. [wont curse]. was going to stop but i just wanted to go home cos i was shacken so much, i have seen so many near misses but this was to close. sorry for going on but im mad now that i didnt get his reg number. has anyone else have a story.

Robbo

From experience, I've found the best way to deal with a taxi if they're from a particular firm is to ring the number and tell them that their taxi, number XYZ, was driving like a twat. Given them your number and say if your don't get an apology within 20 minutes, you'll be off to the cop shop to make a complaint.

Mike...

I hate them, the way the block up the town and think they own the place, I always let out buses but Taxi's are a different story, I will try my best to obstruct them as much as legally possible, I do believe in common courtesy and am a very courteous road user, however taxi's are where all manners end.

And to make matters worse we now have our Non National taxi drivers nearly filling the letters to editor page in the advertiser each week, groaning about how they feel unfairly treated.

Anyone who thinks the taxi drivers in galway are ok, try driving around town from 10.00pm onwards, Cross street is at snails pace, Taxi indicators don't seem to work down there, Mill street footpath becomes an extension of the road...etc etc

/Rant

skelliser

in before the racism starts!


i stick with the hackneys, iv noticed the blatant racism you get with the local taxi drivers
is alot less with the hackneys.
Call a spade a spade, the recent taxi strikes etc. were all racially motivated, "they stole or jobs, yada yada"
lads you drive a car, they days of taxi drivers making a mint is thankfully over and like the above poster i too go out
of my way the disrupt them if i can

tonyhiggins

Robbo wrote: »

From experience, I've found the best way to deal with a taxi if they're from a particular firm is to ring the number and tell them that their taxi, number XYZ, was driving like a twat. Given them your number and say if your don't get an apology within 20 minutes, you'll be off to the cop shop to make a complaint.

Damn, wish I did that last night. Will be doing so in future for definite.

Talon.ie

he breaked all of a sudden. stoped dead in the middle of the road. he then went to his right as to pull in on the side of road .was so bloody mad . why the BLEEP did he do that. [wont curse]. was going to stop but i just wanted to go home cos i was shacken so much,

If you'd left enough space between yourself and the taxi then why were you shaken?

Why does it matter WHY the taxi stopped? Either you left enough space between the 2 cars to stop safely or you didn't.

blond45

Talon.ie wrote: »

If you'd left enough space between yourself and the taxi then why were you shaken?

Why does it matter WHY the taxi stopped? Either you left enough space between the 2 cars to stop safely or you didn't.

eh i left about 3 car,s space.. so you think its ok to stop dead in the road. it was around a corner where done it.

Mike...

Talon.ie wrote: »

If you'd left enough space between yourself and the taxi then why were you shaken?

Why does it matter WHY the taxi stopped? Either you left enough space between the 2 cars to stop safely or you didn't.

Do you actually know the road? There have been a fair few incidents there over the years, A Taxi driver killed someone there 2/3 years ago.

Das Kitty

skelliser wrote: »

Call a spade a spade, the recent taxi strikes etc. were all racially motivated, "they stole or jobs, yada yada"

Unfortunate metaphor award goes to...

Yep, certain locally reared drivers have a major attitude problem with regard to foreign drivers, won't say their term of choice but it's also Czech for presents... Has anyone else seen the bumper stickers some have with "Guaranteed Irish Taxi Drivers" written on them?

Talon.ie

so you think its ok to stop dead in the road

How about if he'd stopped because a little kid had run out in front of him?

Of course there's always going to be situations where the car in front will stop suddenly. It's up to you to leave enough space to stop.

It may not have been the smartest driving on the taxi's part, but hey, the road's are full of idiots who do dumb things.

I don't know if 3 car lengths is enough, depends totally on how fast you both were going.

If you had hit the taxi, then legally YOU would have been at fault.

Mike...

Das Kitty wrote: »

Has anyone else seen the bumper stickers some have with "Guaranteed Irish Taxi Drivers" written on them?

Ya, thats asking for trouble,

Though the funniest was when one lad put "The Driver of this Taxi is Local" on the side of his car. Not to be outdone the Non National drivers changed the name of Abbey Cabs to Local Taxi's.. I reckon there were some strange looks when your 'Local Taxi' driver arrived

Robbo

Das Kitty wrote: »

Has anyone else seen the bumper stickers some have with "Guaranteed Irish Taxi Drivers" written on them?

Moreover, does anyone else just read them as "GIT on board"?

blond45

Mike... wrote: »

Do you actually know the road? There have been a fair few incidents there over the years, A Taxi driver killed someone there 2/3 years ago.

thank you mike for back,n me up. that poor girl was walking home from the pub.where,s that taxi driver now.

Mike...

Talon.ie wrote: »

How about if he'd stopped because a little kid had run out in front of him?

At 3.45am....This is Galway not Ballymun...
And as I asked you earlier do you know the road?
You would realize that it was one seriously moronic thing to do...
But Taxi drivers do that everyday.

Talon.ie

And as I asked you earlier do you know the road?
You would realize that it was one seriously moronic thing to do...
But Taxi drivers do that everyday.

Every driver out there does stupid things, the fact that it was a taxi this time makes no difference. (I'm not a taxi driver BTW)

If the OP knows the road, and by her posts it's clear that she does, then why didn't she leave adequate room to stop without scaring herself? If it really is that dangerous a road, then she should have been taking even more care and anticipating these things

And seeing as it was 3:45am, then substitute "drunken muppet" for "little kid" in my scenario, taxi would still have to stop.

Mike...

You fighting a losing battle, why can't you just accept it was a dumb thing to do?

Talon.ie

I never said it wasn't a dumb thing to do. See my last post where I said

Every driver out there does stupid things, the fact that it was a taxi this time makes no difference

I'm just making the point that the OP also did something not so clever and that it's not all the taxi's fault that SHE nearly hit HIM because she didn't leave enough space on a road she KNOWS to be dangerous

pablodunlop

Robbo wrote: »

Moreover, does anyone else just read them as "GIT on board"?

GITs indeed, right up there with this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeaVGLcQ-fE

Mike...

Talon.ie wrote: »

I'm just making the point that the OP also did something not so clever and that it's not all the taxi's fault that SHE nearly hit HIM because she didn't leave enough space on a road she KNOWS to be dangerous

Clearly the OP did leave enough room as she didn't hit him,
Also the reason that the Taxi driver is getting the slating is due to his job, professional driver, one would expect a person termed a professional driver would have a higher road sense and skill than performing such a dangerous manoeuvre.

Tomebagel

Mike... wrote: »

At 3.45am....This is Galway not Ballymun...
And as I asked you earlier do you know the road?
You would realize that it was one seriously moronic thing to do...
But Taxi drivers do that everyday.

Youve no proof to say that,

its like me saying, Women drivers do that everyday.

tonyhiggins

Tomebagel wrote: »

Youve no proof to say that,

its like me saying, Women drivers do that everyday.

If everyone here posted, in their driving experience, the moronic things in that taxi drivers do, you'd have a pretty long list very fast.

Mike...

Tomebagel wrote: »

Youve no proof to say that,

Nearly every time I have been in town or on the Dublin Rd, Taxi's are speeding or pulling out in front of me without signalling.

Tomebagel wrote: »

its like me saying, Women drivers do that everyday.

Don't they :rolleyes:

blond45

Talon.ie wrote: »

I never said it wasn't a dumb thing to do. See my last post where I said



I'm just making the point that the OP also did something not so clever and that it's not all the taxi's fault that SHE nearly hit HIM because she didn't leave enough space on a road she KNOWS to be dangerous

what is wrong with you. did i say i hit him? did you read any of what i posted? you have to go to specksaver,s.. hope i dont meet you on the road. you must be a taxi driver or winding us up.

Tomebagel

Mike... wrote: »

Nearly every time I have been in town or on the Dublin Rd, Taxi's are speeding or pulling out in front of me without signalling.

Don't they :rolleyes:

Name and shame them so,ive seen quite a few incidents too and without being racist,the majority of them involved non national drivers.

Talon.ie

I never said you hit him. You said you NEARLY hit him

was going to stop but i just wanted to go home cos i was shacken so much, i have seen so many near misses but this was to close.

This implies that you were either,

1. driving too close to the taxi
2. driving too fast for the road

If you weren't doing either then you had no reason to be shaken by the experience.

Mike...

Tomebagel wrote: »

Name and shame them so,ive seen quite a few incidents too and without being racist,the majority of them involved non national drivers.

Yeah I have the same experience but don't want to come across as rascist..
The Dublin Road is like Mondello park some nights.

However I must say the one Irish Taxi company that act like twats is Big O..
They Block Dominick Street with a clockwork Regularity and often for no reason only to shout into the office.

?Cee?view

The taxi stopping in the middle of the road is stupid.

However, regardless of how or why the taxi stopped, or how stupid its driver was, if you ran into it, it would be your fault.

How you could believe that three car lengths is a sufficient distance from a car in front, unless going at a snails pace boggles the mind!

The Rules of the Road suggest a stopping distance of 10.8 metres (35 feet) at 30kmh and 24metres (78 feet) at 50kmh. Those distances are estimates based on dry conditions.

It's frightening how many drivers tailgate. Maybe take this incident as a way of learning to avoid an accident rather than an opportunity to rant.

By the way, can discussion of the girl who died when hit by a taxi on that road be left out? It's irrelevant, off topic and tasteless.

tonyhiggins

Tomebagel wrote: »

Name and shame them so,ive seen quite a few incidents too and without being racist,the majority of them involved non national drivers.

I'll be taking Rob's suggestion on that in future and contacting the companies with the driver number.

I second Mike's post above, along with overtaking at high speed all around the city when I'm travelling at a very reasonable speed, crazy parking and driving around the junction at Monroes, crazy parking in general around the city centre.

For a specific example, on Saturday at around 3.45am a taxi followed me totally stuck to my bumper down Fr. Griffin Rd though I was travelling at a very reasonable speed right up to the lights just past the supervalu. Folks can help me here as I'm never certain which lane should I be in for going straight on (as there's two lanes with a left turn and a right turn available). I took the right lane, there was a taxi in front of me in that lane going straight on plus a taxi in the left lane. Lights changed, I pulled off with the taxi in front of me and the guy in the left lane tore off undertaking me to go straight on, which I'd totally expected from general taxi behaviour. As soon as we headed out Whitestrand Rd, the taxi behind me (still stuck to my bumper from earlier on) overtook me at well over the speed limit.

?Cee?view

tonyhiggins wrote: »

I'll be taking Rob's suggestion on that in future and contacting the companies with the driver number.

I second Mike's post above, along with overtaking at high speed all around the city when I'm travelling at a very reasonable speed, crazy parking and driving around the junction at Monroes, crazy parking in general around the city centre.

For a specific example, on Saturday at around 3.45am a taxi followed me totally stuck to my bumper down Fr. Griffin Rd though I was travelling at a very reasonable speed right up to the lights just past the supervalu. Folks can help me here as I'm never certain which lane should I be in for going straight on (as there's two lanes with a left turn and a right turn available). I took the right lane, there was a taxi in front of me in that lane going straight on plus a taxi in the left lane. Lights changed, I pulled off with the taxi in front of me and the guy in the left lane tore off undertaking me to go straight on, which I'd totally expected from general taxi behaviour. As soon as we headed out Whitestrand Rd, the taxi behind me (still stuck to my bumper from earlier on) overtook me at well over the speed limit.

You were in the wrong lane.

You always stay in the left lane, unless turning right, or unless the road markings indicate otherwise (e.g. a junction with only left or straight turn options might have the left lane marked for left turns only and the right lane for straight).

Doesn't excuse the muppet tailgating you in any way.

tonyhiggins

Great stuff, thanks very much. It's the same from the other side of that junction too..

Zzippy

Yeah wrong lane Tony, but he should have been aware that you could have been going straight on, it happens there v frequently. Undertaking someone at speed at that junction is an idiotic thing to do. Ditto for the tailgating.

tonyhiggins

Heh, to add another thing then, the taxi in front of me at the lights was in the wrong lane too

Mrs OBumble

Das Kitty wrote: »

Has anyone else seen the bumper stickers some have with "Guaranteed Irish Taxi Drivers" written on them?

I think there's now a taxi "firm" called that.

I don't plan on catching 'em in a hurry.

There's at least one African driver who's been in Ireland for 10 years: he knew my accent wasn't Irish (most foreign-nationals can't tell!), and knows his way around the city very well. He's "local" enough for me!

?Cee?view

JustMary wrote: »

I think there's now a taxi "firm" called that.

I don't plan on catching 'em in a hurry.

There's at least one African driver who's been in Ireland for 10 years: he knew my accent wasn't Irish (most foreign-nationals can't tell!), and knows his way around the city very well. He's "local" enough for me!

Agree completey. I've limited experience of taxi drivers in Galway, but the only non-Irish black drivers that I've had have without exception been very courteous and efficient.

JONJO THE MISER

O.P to me its quiet obviously that he stoped all of a sudden around a corner on purpose so that you would run into the back of him, its a common scam, if you run into the back of him, its your fault and he will sue and propbaly get thousands. What you should of done was called the Guards and took down his License number.

blond45

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

O.P to me its quiet obviously that he stoped all of a sudden around a corner on purpose so that you would run into the back of him, its a common scam, if you run into the back of him, its your fault and he will sue and propbaly get thousands. What you should of done was called the Guards and took down his License number.

i was going to stop but i thought i better keep going ,stupid i know shud ave took his number.i was on my own.

_ZeeK_

churchview wrote: »

Agree completey. I've limited experience of taxi drivers in Galway, but the only non-Irish black drivers that I've had have without exception been very courteous and efficient.

plus some african drivers play choons, and at party level volumes too! they're so laid back and cool.

after a night out, i much rather being in their company than sitting in a car with some auld irish fart that has no radio on (or worse, RTE Radio 1!) and has no chit chat to offer other than the occasional racist rant.

dilallio

blond45 wrote: »

i was going to stop but i thought i better keep going ,stupid i know shud ave took his number.i was on my own.

What he did was stupid - I had a similar thing happen to me last year. The taxi braked suddenly and pulled to the right. Luckily, I still had my window up, as a stream of projectile puke, flew out of his rear window like a flock of swallows, and pebble-dashed the side of my car.

I wasn't so lucky another night - driving out the Monivea Rd past Carnmore Cross on a freezing night, window down as I was smoking a cigarette. Unfortunately for me, a County council road gritter was coming in the opposite direction, and I got an eyeful of grit that came in the window. Time to give up the fags.

bigeasyeah

Be vigilant!

howyanow

i try to get in african taxis when i can,try give impression we not all racist.never heard such bile from any1 in my life,every time im in a white taxi its a rant about the blacks.hate it

bigeasyeah

DEY TUK AR JOOBS!

Secoundrow

This is why we dont have Taxi driver threads in the galway forum

They alway melt down into a steaming pile of racism

and also has anyone seen that git who plastered big irish flag decals down the side of his car, I avoided his cab just because of that


Ive noting against foreign national cab drivers , but if your a cab driver you should know the city like the back of your hand,
One guy didnt know where headford was.... or the headford rd:(

jenno86

Did a taxi crash down the Lough Atalia Road into the water recently?

jenno86

Heres one to lighten the mood!


A guy in a taxi wanted to speak to the driver so he leaned forward and tapped him on the shoulder.

The driver screamed, jumped up in the air and yanked the wheel over. The car mounted the curb, demolished a lamppost and came to a stop inches from a shop window.

The startled passenger said "I didn't mean to frighten you, just wanted to ask you something."

Taxi driver says "Not your fault Sir. It's my first day as a cab driver, I've been driving a hearse for the past 25 years".

dmcg90

Have to say I always go with procabs, never once had a problem with the taxi drivers, one even gave me about 20 euro in vouchers for some italian place near me. Talk about service these days eh? :rolleyes:

JOM34

How do they get away with parking up on the footpath along O'Briens bridge? It's a feckin disgrace! Many times I've elderly people and people with buggies strugglin to squeeze down that path with all the cabs queued up.

JohnCleary

JOM34 wrote: »

How do they get away with parking up on the footpath along O'Briens bridge? It's a feckin disgrace! Many times I've elderly people and people with buggies strugglin to squeeze down that path with all the cabs queued up.

If they're genuinly blocking you from using the path, get into 'ram raid' mode and push your way through with your wheelchair/buggy, leaving a nice scratch on their car - they won't be so quick to park like idiots in future. If they come after you, tell them you'll forward your wheelchair insurance details :pac: While i'm a big believer of "Don't fcuk with another persons property" some of the muppet taxi-drivers that block that road are beyond belief.

I drive aswell as walk, and parking on the path is just a big no-no for me. It's not because i'm such a nice guy (I am though ) - it's because i've seen people ticketed for it before so don't run the risk. Why Taxi's aren't getting ticketed is beyone me

Starie1975

Hopped into a Taxi last night in the taxi rank on Bridge Street. Girlfriend and I were to cold to walk home. We live on St Mary’s Road, but we can enter our flat from Raleigh Row. The taxi stuck on his indicator to turn right and was about to pull out with a Garda van pulled up beside him. Told him we wasn’t aloud to turn right (U-Turn) on Bridge Street. Never seen a “No U-Turn” sign there. The fare is usually 5 yoyos but because of the extra journey home last night cost us 8.50. (Recession and all)

What I found funny was, when the Taxi man pulled off and heading down Market Street and Abbeygate Street while the Garda van that was behind us heading down Bowling Green and cut us off at Mary’s Street (Sally’s). :rolleyes:

Let just say that the Taxi man wasn’t Irish.

JohnCleary

Starie1975 wrote: »

Hopped into a Taxi last night in the taxi rank on Bridge Street. Girlfriend and I were to cold to walk home. We live on St Mary’s Road, but we can enter our flat from Raleigh Row. The taxi stuck on his indicator to turn right and was about to pull out with a Garda van pulled up beside him. Told him we wasn’t aloud to turn right (U-Turn) on Bridge Street. Never seen a “No U-Turn” sign there. The fare is usually 5 yoyos but because of the extra journey home last night cost us 8.50. (Recession and all)

What I found funny was, when the Taxi man pulled off and heading down Market Street and Abbeygate Street while the Garda van that was behind us heading down Bowling Green and cut us off at Mary’s Street (Sally’s). :rolleyes:

Let just say that the Taxi man wasn’t Irish.

I think the Gardai may have been (legally) right. Think about it, to perform that U-Turn, you'd have to go the wrong way on a one-way street for a few seconds (as you're turning) - It's one way from Quay St-Buskers-Supermacs-Straight on towards St. Pats, and the Taxi (Or any veichle) that performs a U-Turn there would be going the wrong way on that one way stretch.

TBH, the walk from Cross St. to Raleigh Row is 5 mins and the weather isin't exactly Baltic - If you get a Taxi for that short distance is pure laziness. The only exception that I wouldn't walk that short distance is if the OH was heavily pregnant or injured or something similar

galah

Starie1975 wrote: »

Hopped into a Taxi last night in the taxi rank on Bridge Street. Girlfriend and I were to cold to walk home. We live on St Mary’s Road, but we can enter our flat from Raleigh Row. The taxi stuck on his indicator to turn right and was about to pull out with a Garda van pulled up beside him. Told him we wasn’t aloud to turn right (U-Turn) on Bridge Street. Never seen a “No U-Turn” sign there. The fare is usually 5 yoyos but because of the extra journey home last night cost us 8.50. (Recession and all)

What I found funny was, when the Taxi man pulled off and heading down Market Street and Abbeygate Street while the Garda van that was behind us heading down Bowling Green and cut us off at Mary’s Street (Sally’s). :rolleyes:

Let just say that the Taxi man wasn’t Irish.

hey, at least you got a ride for that distance - last time I tried to get from Kelly's Bar to St. Mary's Road, the taxi driver refused to take me that 'short distance'. Ended up walking home, on my own, in the middle of the night, on high heels. There's a rant about that somewhere on boards...

(incidentally - do you guys have water or are your pipes frozen, too?)

HardyEustace

JOM34 wrote: »

How do they get away with parking up on the footpath along O'Briens bridge? It's a feckin disgrace! Many times I've elderly people and people with buggies strugglin to squeeze down that path with all the cabs queued up.

Or what about Forster Street and O'Connells side of the Square? They regularly create absolute traffic chaos there between clogging up Forster Street and driving straight onto a crowded road from the bus station.