Seriously Agressive Taxi Driver

foggy_lad

Spook_ie wrote: »

That's not going to ensure clarity to the issue but also people saying that €100 fares are the norm isn't either

Actually if €100 fares were the norm then logically people wouldn't be complaining about getting short fares, go figure

All us passengers have to go on are reports of drivers Queing for several hours in very poor conditions to get a single fare+tip from the airport so it goes without saying that those airport fares must be pretty lucrative for drivers to turn down potential steady work in the City centre in favour of the Airport!

repsol

oisindoyle wrote: »

Absolutely NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS

Brilliant comeback Oisin.I am not asking you for any personal info. An average figure is not letting the cat out of the bag unless we also know how many fares you are doing(which I didn't ask).

oisindoyle

repsol wrote: »

Well the guy on the TV said he ONLY worked the Airport to save juice and avoid dangerous punters(fair enough).If you do 15 Airport jobs a week and make 300 quid ,the average is 20 quid etc.The reason I asked was we had Oisin say Foggy was completely wrong with his figures,yet he failed to offer his opinion of the average fare.

What Oisin said was "How do you work out that "most of the fares will be very high " then ??.
Your comments regarding taxis and the taxi business are always complete nonsense.
You think you know it all about the taxi business but alas you havent a clue . "
Yet again you are exaggerating /falsifying what people say ,just like all your previous posts .
What a driver a painter a busman a carpenter makes is their business not yours .

Spook_ie

repsol wrote: »

What is the average fare Oisin? Not fair to slag off Foggy unless you are going to correct what he says.O, and before you say there is no such thing as an average,divide your total takings for a week by the number of fares and hey presto!

foggy_lad wrote: »

Count the fares from all your airport runs than divide by the number of airport runs will give an average.

Wasn't what was said though. Similarly I couldn't give you an average of all my Swords fares because I don't record them separately, however, I would say that the average fare in Swords is lower than the average fare in Malahide

doubletrouble?

repsol i have to agree with what some of the taxi drivers are saying here about trying to make a living. things are really bad.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056073488.
@ spookie. i've enjoyed reading your replies over the many years here. please dont bring yourself down to the same level as some of your colleagues that post here. your a better man than that, pity there aint many around like you.
as for oisin ,for once grow a pair of balls. when posters make threads you always complain about the passenger and not your colleagues. for once listen to what people have to say, it's them that pay your wages. if someone posted pics or videos to back up their claims you'd still make some bull **** excuse to say it's all lies. people come on here looking for advice and the best people to give advice are the people in the business like you, but all you seem to do is put them down and say it's lies, another taxi bashing thread the list is endless with you. as i said have the balls to help these people who are looking for advice and if you've nothing constructive to make maybe the mods should be looking more at that. your comments backing up your colleagues are giving people fuel and ammunition. every comment you make, makes their cases stronger regarding the complaints on here.
here we have a handful of taxi drivers posting in this thread, yet with the attitudes of them all given a choice theres only one i'd take.

oisindoyle

foggy_lad wrote: »

All us passengers have to go on are reports of drivers Queing for several hours in very poor conditions to get a single fare+tip from the airport so it goes without saying that those airport fares must be pretty lucrative for drivers to turn down potential steady work in the City centre in favour of the Airport!

Course they are Foggy course they are ,Sure dont you know everything about the business anyway

Spook_ie

repsol wrote: »

Spook_ie wrote: »

You wouldn't actually be able to do that unless you worked solely up the airport.



Well the guy on the TV said he ONLY worked the Airport to save juice and avoid dangerous punters(fair enough).If you do 15 Airport jobs a week and make 300 quid ,the average is 20 quid etc.The reason I asked was we had Oisin say Foggy was completely wrong with his figures,yet he failed to offer his opinion of the average fare.

foggy_lad wrote: »

All us passengers have to go on are reports of drivers Queing for several hours in very poor conditions to get a single fare+tip from the airport so it goes without saying that those airport fares must be pretty lucrative for drivers to turn down potential steady work in the City centre in favour of the Airport!

People do it, I wouldn't but then that's just me. Given that (logically, I know logic is in short supply here at the moment ) the majority of fares would be to the city centre hotels/business's etc.at about €25 per trip then Repsols average fits nicely

dorkacle

Seems clear to me that things aren't particularly as bad for taxi men as they'd like to make out. Specially if they don't want to take a fare, what ever the distance. I know where I'd tell a driver to go if he carried on like that with me...!

I've heard plenty of stories about this kind of behaviour at Dublin Airport. I live quite close to the airport, funny its never happened to me as the majority of the times I would have got a taxi home from there, there would normally be a couple of lads hopping in the car at the same time, probably afraid to say something then. (Not that we'd be an intimidating bunch...)

Being honest I find the majority of taxi men in Dublin provide a great service. Its well known the carry on that happens at Dublin Airport though, amazing how nothing has been done about it...

oisindoyle

doubletrouble? wrote: »

as for oisin ,for once grow a pair of balls. when posters make threads you always complain about the passenger and not your colleagues. for once listen to what people have to say, it's them that pay your wages. if someone posted pics or videos to back up their claims you'd still make some bull **** excuse to say it's all lies. people come on here looking for advice and the best people to give advice are the people in the business like you, but all you seem to do is put them down and say it's lies, another taxi bashing thread the list is endless with you. as i said have the balls to help these people who are looking for advice and if you've nothing constructive to make maybe the mods should be looking more at that.

Well I am honoured that you gave me a full paragraph .
Perhaps If you READ my comments on here ,you will see where I asked and advised people to complain to the relevant bodies if they had a complaint .

I will though speak up and defend something when people on here come out with false comments about drivers and cant back things up ,,

I have said all along if a driver behaves badly he should be reported and then we would all be happy.
and yes I do stand over the taxi bashing element that goes on regardless of the topic,just look how this topic has gone

sparklicious

The aggressiveness from the driver was unacceptable and should be reported. It is a very living for taxi drivers these days I agree. We are swamped with them. That being said I have hailed cabs, mainly city centre to Walkinstown on a saturday night, and they roll down the window, ask where i am going and bloody drive off!! Isn't that a decent enough distance? Its e20 easily and I always give a tip.

I know they sit on endless ranks mid week and I do feel it for them. The situation in reversed now from when there were shag all taxis, pompous little gits sitting behind the wheel of their *pension fund* and refusing to take the fare for whatever reason.

Spook_ie

dorkacle wrote: »

Seems clear to me that things aren't particularly as bad for taxi men as they'd like to make out. Specially if they don't want to take a fare, what ever the distance. I know where I'd tell a driver to go if he carried on like that with me...!

I've heard plenty of stories about this kind of behaviour at Dublin Airport. I live quite close to the airport, funny its never happened to me as the majority of the times I would have got a taxi home from there, there would normally be a couple of lads hopping in the car at the same time, probably afraid to say something then. (Not that we'd be an intimidating bunch...)

Being honest I find the majority of taxi men in Dublin provide a great service. Its well known the carry on that happens at Dublin Airport though, amazing how nothing has been done about it...

Y'see though no one is really saying that it doesn't happen. It is reliant on people complaining to the proper people that will sort it rather than getting worked up about it and tarring all the drivers with the same brush

Spook_ie

repsol wrote: »

Nonsense if you don't mind my saying so.I run an equipment hire business(Revenue registered by the way) alongside my full time job and I know to the nearest cent what my average transaction amount is.All this" its nobodys business what anyone earns" is very suspicious.My wife and I are both public servants and anyone can find out what we and every other public servant earns ,to the penny on a google search.Are you guys afraid the tax man might be reading this or something?

Sorry I didn't say I couldn't give you a complete breakdown of my earnings as regards how much I earned against my expenses etc. I said I couldn't break down the figures between what I earned in Swords against what I earned in Malahide, similarly unless someone kept a record of fares from the airport separately from all other fares then they wouldn't be in a position to give an average airport fare.

If this is some allusion to find out my particular business take and expenses then sorry but it's commercially sensitive information between me.my accountant and the tax man ALL OF WHOM ARE SATISFIED WITH THE FIGURES PROVIDED

repsol

Spook_ie wrote: »

Sorry I didn't say I couldn't give you a complete breakdown of my earnings as regards how much I earned against my expenses etc. I said I couldn't break down the figures between what I earned in Swords against what I earned in Malahide, similarly unless someone kept a record of fares from the airport separately from all other fares then they wouldn't be in a position to give an average airport fare.

If this is some allusion to find out my particular business take and expenses then sorry but it's commercially sensitive information between me.my accountant and the tax man ALL OF WHOM ARE SATISFIED WITH THE FIGURES PROVIDED

No.You are reading too much into it.I couldn't care less if you are on more cash than Wayne Rooney.I was just figuring the guy saying he is working 12 hours a day, 5 days a week for 200 euro. Bull****

doubletrouble?

oisindoyle wrote: »

Perhaps If you READ my comments on here ,you will see where I asked and advised people to complain to the relevant bodies if they had a complaint .

now now oisin dont play those silly games with me , i did read your comments and there i was thinking to myself in the first couple of pages " at last oisin's turned over a new leaf" then as the thread goes on we get the old oisin back and you let us down. ahhh well nothing lasts forever .

oisindoyle wrote: »

I will though speak up and defend something when people on here come out with false comments about drivers and cant back things up ,,

see here is where the problem lies. how in gods name can a poster back up what they're saying on here. people cant back up what they're saying because we're all typing on computers and have no knowledge of who each person is ( maybe your colleagues know who you are and thats why you dont/are afraid to back up your customers.) but you insist on calling people liars. now dont get into silly games again as i'll quote you.

I will though speak up and defend something when people on here come out with false comments about drivers and cant back things up ,,

you are coming on here and making the posters out the be liars. tut tut tut, shame on you ,shame on you.

oisindoyle wrote: »

and yes I do stand over the taxi bashing element that goes on regardless of the topic,just look how this topic has gone

the reason the threads go that way is because you come on here defending the in-defensible and you wonder why people get pissed off and annoyed.

CRM Ireland

We have probably all had bad experiences with taxi drivers. When I first moved here from the UK in 2010 I didnt have a car for over a year. I lived in Swords and was getting fares from the airport fairly regularly.

There was obvious disappointment when the journey was so short, but some of the drivers were far too rude. It wasnt just drivers from the airport though. Every Sunday I would get a taxi to and from Tesco in Clarehall to Swords. The vast majority of the time the drivers were fine, even one who was listening to the football on his radio when I got in the car, asked me if it was OK to keep the volume loud enough for him to hear it. There have been other times when Ive had a driver late at night, coming from the city centre who has loud music on and is a bit mad, but is enjoying himself and is trying to entertain me and my friends.

There is a much better chance of getting a tip if the driver seems interested in making the journey as pleasant as possible for his client.

Ive also had quite a lot of journeys where the driver had the radio on so loud, that I wouldve had to shut to my girlfriend who was sitting beside me in the back seats. When I asked if he could turn it down a bit, the remainder of the journey was met with moaning about how the job was not as it used to be etc etc. Ive also had some drivers who just couldnt stop swearing, not at me, but just in general conversation. Dont get me wrong, I swear all the time when Im with my friends, but I just dont think its good manners to do it with a stranger. That said, Ive found its quite common amongst the Irish to swear a lot even in professional situations. Certainly a lot more swearing than I saw in Scotland where Im from.

Fortunately I can handle myself well enough and Im certainly not shy in speaking up for myself, but after a few taxi rides that were not so pleasant, I decided that I was going to get a car so that I could pick my girlfriend up from work as she started feeling a bit uncomfortable after getting a taxi on her own and the driver was sleazy towards her. When I got back from work that night, I was furious when she told me. I was wanting to go out and smash his teeth in, as one might, but she didnt have enough info and there is always a slight fear that if you make a complaint in your local area, that there might be retaliation.

Her experience had made me quite angry towards taxi drivers and as I said, I bought myself a car soon after. Id had this horrible taste in my mouth for a while regarding them and it was hard to shake. Since then, Ive had 3 taxi journeys and they were all really really nice and it was hard to continue to have my attitude towards taxi drivers in general.

The worst of it is that my big brother is a taxi driver in Glasgow. He has worked for private hire companies for about 10 years now and its changed him. He was always a bit of a miserable git, but now he just moans all the time and constantly complains about people he had in the car etc and he said he is losing all respect for humanity! I told him he better change to daytime and stop working the twilight hours when most of the freaks come out!

One thing I will say having lived in several countries around the world, Ive never seen so many old cars being used as Taxis as I have here. Its really bizarre to be picked up in what you would expect to have been traded in as part of the scrappage scheme and pay a premium fare. I have no doubt they are roadworthy as Im sure they have to undergo quite stringent tests, but its sort of feels like the third world. Do the taxis at the airport have to be a certain age, or can anyone pick up there? Im trying to imagine the impression a business person visiting Ireland for the first time might get being taken to their hotel in a car from 2000!

Spook_ie

repsol wrote: »

No.You are reading too much into it.I couldn't care less if you are on more cash than Wayne Rooney.I was just figuring the guy saying he is working 12 hours a day, 5 days a week for 200 euro. Bull****

Knowing how much I earn against the expenses I put in, If a guy worked solely up at the airport and took one job every 3 hours to the exclusion of any other jobs then yeah I could see his taking being as low as that.

12 hours shift/3 hour wait 4 jobs per day x 5 days 20 jobs per week x what ever figure you decide. I'd say average would be max €25 given the fare to the city, gives €500 before deductions for fuel/repairs/insurance etc. My own deductions run currently at approx 40% of turnover and would give him €300 before deductions such as PRSI and USC, of curse depending on individual circumstance he may not be eligible to pay USC, that's between himself, welfare and the revenue

dorkacle

CRM Ireland wrote: »

There have been other times when Ive had a driver late at night, coming from the city centre who has loud music on and is a bit mad, but is enjoying himself and is trying to entertain me and my friends.

Keeping drunk people awake tactics! :pac:

Spook_ie

dorkacle wrote: »

Keeping drunk people awake tactics! :pac:

Only thing worse is a sleeping drunk that you can't wake at the end of the journey to get paid

dorkacle

Spook_ie wrote: »

Only thing worse is a sleeping drunk that you can't wake at the end of the journey to get paid

Gonna be honest, happened to me on saturday night! :rolleyes: Was working all day and had to leg it straight to a birthday party after. Safe to say the couple of drinks took their toll !

Taxi man was dead nice about it though, woke me up near in my area and chatted with me the rest of the way (clearly t keep me awake, but aleast he was sound about it haha!) Earned himself an extra fiver on his fair

Spook_ie

dorkacle wrote: »

Gonna be honest, happened to me on saturday night! :rolleyes: Was working all day and had to leg it straight to a birthday party after. Safe to say the couple of drinks took their toll !

Taxi man was dead nice about it though, woke me up near in my area and chatted with me the rest of the way (clearly t keep me awake, but aleast he was sound about it haha!) Earned himself an extra fiver on his fair

y'dont live out Rush way...surely

dorkacle

Spook_ie wrote: »

y'dont live out Rush way...surely

Ah rush is a bit far out for me similar situation?

mikemac1

So many personal stories on this thread

So very few actually got reported

You have to help yourselves, great to share stories on boards.ie but if you'd don't report well you'll probably get the same driver in your local area some day and it'll be the same carry on

foggy_lad wrote: »

there is lots to be made but like with the poor auld farmers the general public will never be told how much a taxi driver makes!

It was possible to go online and view how much a farmer gets on one grant
We had a thread on it in 2008
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055390350

Anyway, what a self employed person makes is between them and Revenue, not the general public

oisindoyle

doubletrouble? wrote: »

now now oisin dont play those silly games with me , i did read your comments and there i was thinking to myself in the first couple of pages " at last oisin's turned over a new leaf" then as the thread goes on we get the old oisin back and you let us down. ahhh well nothing lasts forever ..

Maybe take off your blinkers and read all posts .

doubletrouble? wrote: »

see here is where the problem lies. how in gods name can a poster back up what they're saying on here. people cant back up what they're saying because we're all typing on computers and have no knowledge of who each person is ( maybe your colleagues know who you are and thats why you dont/are afraid to back up your customers.) but you insist on calling people liars. now dont get into silly games again as i'll quote you. you are coming on here and making the posters out the be liars. tut tut tut, shame on you ,shame on you..

The "problem" as you call it ,IS the fact that SOME people come on here make wild OTT exaggerated comments about taxi drivers .They tar ALL drivers with the same brush ,moan about drivers but do nothing about it .

Now in this thread alone one particular poster made comments (which i am not going to go back over ) which were simply not true .

Another poster gave a scenario about drivers at a rank and airport ,but when he re posted what actually happened it was different to his original story .

Another poster just comes on to any thread about taxis and his comments are pure nonsense and only said to inflame things

Again a poster said they know about such and such happened on this rank or another ("its widley known" or "i heard" ect ),It is all hear say .Many of these "stories" are myths that spead like wild fire and they go on and on ,,,,,,,,,,


I;m the first to say that there are bad apples in all walks of life ,taxi business is no different ,But tarring ALL with the same brush ,calling them all robbers, racist ,scumbags , only out to rip people off ect etc is unfair and it doesnt reflect the majority of those who work in the taxi business.

doubletrouble? wrote: »

the reason the threads go that way is because you come on here defending the in-defensible and you wonder why people get pissed off and annoyed.

The reason the threads "go that way" is because no matter what the topic is (just look at the title of this thread and see how far off track its gone )EVERYTHING is thrown into the mix .

Pawwed Rig

oisindoyle wrote: »

So the driver in question got a talking to ,what more do you want ?

Which is why there is no point reporting them. You take time out of your working day 1) Figure out what the taxi rules are, 2) Find out where to report, 3) Write a letter to the relevant authority. Eventually after a number of weeks and numerous phone calls you get informed; ’We had a word with him about it’. I would have though some kind of fixed penalty would have been more appropriate, say fines starting at €200 increasing based on how serious the incident is.

oisindoyle wrote: »

Whilst his attitude to you did leave a lot to be desired ,you putting your hand on his car also left a lot to be desired.it could be argued.

Could be argued by who? Seriously?

oisindoyle wrote: »

I presumed you reported him and the driver who did 360 spin
Well it is actually ,as I said it is totally pointless ranting and raving about this taxi driver and that taxi driver if you are not willing to report him/her to the relevant body

Sigh

Spook_ie wrote: »

if you were to treat the Africans in Ireland with the same disdain you show towards ALL taxi drivers you would be classed as a racist.

but taxi drivers are not a race????

Spook_ie wrote: »

Good for you, at least you were man enough that time to report it

So reporting taxi drivers maketh the man LOL

Spook_ie wrote: »

So flesh then out a bit, considering you say that you don't give your custom anymore, how long ago are we talking, somewhere around pre deregulation I'd say if Leixlip/Mynooth was a negotiated fare.

What does it matter when it was? We are talking about experiences with taxi drivers here. By the sounds of this and other threads I have read it has gotten worse over the years.

Spook_ie wrote: »

you do seen to have had more than your fair share of numbskulls, wonder why that is? it's certainly not because ALL 12000+ taxi drivers are picking on you

I'd say I'm about average.

Pawwed Rig

oisindoyle wrote: »

make wild OTT exaggerated comments about taxi drivers .They tar ALL drivers with the same brush ,moan about drivers but do nothing about it .

Point at one?

oisindoyle

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

Which is why there is no point reporting them. You take time out of your working day 1) Figure out what the taxi rules are, 2) Find out where to report, 3) Write a letter to the relevant authority. Eventually after a number of weeks and numerous phone calls you get informed; ’We had a word with him about it’. I would have though some kind of fixed penalty would have been more appropriate, say fines starting at €200 increasing based on how serious the incident is..

There is EVERY point in reporting .If everyone takes the attitude you seem to have then "dodgy drivers" will continue to do "dodgy things ".

Well if they had a word with him ,so be it,what more do you want .

It obviously wasn't a life or death situation ,yes things between you and driver were not good but get a sense of perspective.
His behaviour was bad ,your reaction wasnt exactly apropriate ,you should have gone to the greencap there and then and make a complaint,Then go home make a complaint to the NTA .
Getting into an argument with a driver who was rude gets you more frustrated and no where ,
And for your information there is a fixed fine process in operation .

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

but taxi drivers are not a race????.

Well given how you tar them all with the same brush,it is clear that you do treat them as a "race"

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

So reporting taxi drivers maketh the man LOL .

If you dont report incidences ,then the powers that be will think that all is well within the taxi business,It is common sense .

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

What does it matter when it was? We are talking about experiences with SOME taxi drivers here. .

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

I'd say I'm about average.

Begs to differ

Pawwed Rig

oisindoyle wrote: »

His behaviour was bad ,your reaction wasnt exactly apropriate ,you should have gone to the greencap there and then and make a complaint,Then go home make a complaint to the NTA .
Getting into an argument with a driver who was rude gets you more frustrated and no where r

I am puzzled as to why my actions weren't appropriate? What could I have done differently?
Why do you always assume the customer is to blame or lying?

oisindoyle

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

I am puzzled as to why my actions weren't appropriate? What could I have done differently?
Why do you always assume the customer is to blame or lying?

Well putting your hands on his car was to him provocative (and would be to most ) You should have go to the greencap made your complaint ,walked away then made a complaint to the NTA when you got home and it would be less frustrating on you .

I dont assume the custiomer is to blame or is lying ,I never said you were lyning .I accept what you said happened,but given how you initially posted your "experience" (both on a rank and at airport) and then told the FULL story your "experience" was more acceptable .

I'm done now ,had enough of all this 13 pages of entertainment ,byeeeee and dont forget to make your offical complaint kids!!

(awaits the next taxi thread in forthcoming weeks with baited breath )

Spook_ie

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

Which is why there is no point reporting them. You take time out of your working day 1) Figure out what the taxi rules are, 2) Find out where to report, 3) Write a letter to the relevant authority. Eventually after a number of weeks and numerous phone calls you get informed; ’We had a word with him about it’. I would have though some kind of fixed penalty would have been more appropriate, say fines starting at €200 increasing based on how serious the incident is.

<snipped>

What does it matter when it was? We are talking about experiences with taxi drivers here. By the sounds of this and other threads I have read it has gotten worse over the years.

I'd say I'm about average.

Because if you someone gets a slapped wrist often enough then maybe they'll have the evidence to pull his license and deny him the right to be able to earn a living driving a taxi, it's a very serious punishment to be denied a right to earn a living from a particular employment and isn't something to be taken lightly.

Of course it matters when it was, we still get people on here moaning about queuing for taxis 12 years later, half the ones complaining weren't even allowed to drink that long ago.

The bit about racism is an analogy, I think it's just wasted on you.

Spook_ie

Just for reference

http://www.nationaltransport.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/SPSV-Industry-Update-Issue-19.pdf

Is a link to the industry newsletter for June 2012, notice the prosecution breakdown on page 4. Well the regulator reads the figures and decides that 181 complaints out of 23207 SPSV's isn't so bad, and out of those 29 had sufficient evidence to allow prosecution. So the answer is, always was and always will be in your hands