Racism Taxi Drivers or Public?

Spook_ie · 28-09-2007 05:43PM #1

Please feel free to move this thread to where ever

Interesting article in the Irish Times today on page 13. Where it appears people are by passing the 1st taxi on a rank ( if its driven by people of an African heritage ) and taking the next cab.

Two main questions cross my mind ( as a Taxi Driver )

1 Is there a LEGAL requirement to take the 1st taxi at a rank?

2 If I refuse to take the fare who has moved down the rank to my car, am I in breach of regulations that LEGALY require me to take that fare ( suppose it sort of X.references to Q1 in that Does the customer have the right to select their taxi at a rank )

28-09-2007 05:51PM

Hey, good spycraft tells you never to take the first taxi in the rank!:cool:

Dave! · 28-09-2007 05:52PM

Spook_ie wrote:

Please feel free to move this thread to where ever

Interesting article in the Irish Times today on page 13. Where it appears people are by passing the 1st taxi on a rank ( if its driven by people of an African heritage ) and taking the next cab.

Two main questions cross my mind ( as a Taxi Driver )

1 Is there a LEGAL requirement to take the 1st taxi at a rank?

2 If I refuse to take the fare who has moved down the rank to my car, am I in breach of regulations that LEGALY require me to take that fare ( suppose it sort of X.references to Q1 in that Does the customer have the right to select their taxi at a rank )

1. No it's not a legal requirement. It's against the regulations for a taxi not to take your fare unless they think you (i) might assault them, (ii) might damage their car, or (iii) say you're going beyond a certain distance (I don't remember what distance it is) -- but there's no requirement for you to give your fare to any taxi. You can pick and choose. I was listening to a taxi representative guy on the radio this morning, that's how I know this...

2. I believe it is against regulations to not take the fare, yes.

Savman · 28-09-2007 05:53PM

Spook_ie wrote:

Please feel free to move this thread to where ever

Interesting article in the Irish Times today on page 13. Where it appears people are by passing the 1st taxi on a rank ( if its driven by people of an African heritage ) and taking the next cab.

Two main questions cross my mind ( as a Taxi Driver )

1 Is there a LEGAL requirement to take the 1st taxi at a rank?

2 If I refuse to take the fare who has moved down the rank to my car, am I in breach of regulations that LEGALY require me to take that fare ( suppose it sort of X.references to Q1 in that Does the customer have the right to select their taxi at a rank )

IIRC the customer who is at the top of the Q has the choice of any taxi on the rank. Now, taxi drivers will argue that "they have to take the first car" but that's not the case as far as I am aware.
If a customer skips 3 cars and approaches you, I do believe you cannot refuse once you are at a designated Taxi Rank.

I worked with you lot in the airport for 5 years so was forced to learn some of the rules that yiz break constantly regardless.

Spook_ie · 28-09-2007 05:58PM

DaveMcG wrote:

1. No it's not a legal requirement. It's against the regulations for a taxi not to take your fare unless they think you (i) might assault them, (ii) might damage their car, or (iii) say you're going beyond a certain distance (I don't remember what distance it is) -- but there's no requirement for you to give your fare to any taxi. You can pick and choose. I was listening to a taxi representative guy on the radio this morning, that's how I know this...

2. I believe it is against regulations to not take the fare, yes.

I've trawled the TaxiRegulators site ( taxiregulator.ie ) for a reference to taking the 1st taxi at a rank and so far I have not managed to find any, If you have a link let me know

Ekancone · 28-09-2007 06:14PM

Why not ring the Taxi Regulator?

Spook_ie · 28-09-2007 06:16PM

daithifleming wrote:

Why not ring the Taxi Regulator?

Have you ever rang them? Its like ringing most regulatory offices Piller to post to piller

I have emailed them but so far nada

arybvtcw0eolkf · 28-09-2007 06:24PM

Forgive me if I have this one wrong.

But your thread is titled 'Racism Taxi drivers or Public' and you don't show how taxi drivers might be racist?.

There's racists in all walks of life, in all colours, race and creed.

Btw, I'm getting off work now. Bet this one turns nasty as hell when I'm back tomorrow

gurramok · 28-09-2007 06:38PM

This is more about lack of English language understanding by foreign registered taxi drivers rather than any racist attitude by joe public or the taxi drivers themselves.
Some members of the public have a fear of a very long journey with the consequence huge fare price due to lack of understanding of routes by certain non-english speaking drivers.
I had this happen to me before, took about 2 hrs to get home when normally it would have taken 30mins, taxi driver did apologise is sketchy English and did not charge me the 2 hr fare.
Of course, if all taxi drivers had proper grasp of English(maybe a cert or something?), it wouldn't be an issue.

What do taxi drivers here themselves reckon is the root cause of the problem?

Spook_ie · 28-09-2007 06:39PM

Mairt wrote:

Forgive me if I have this one wrong.

But your thread is titled 'Racism Taxi drivers or Public' and you don't show how taxi drivers might be racist?.

There's racists in all walks of life, in all colours, race and creed.

Btw, I'm getting off work now. Bet this one turns nasty as hell when I'm back tomorrow

Its more to do with the gist of the Times article, One of the points made is that passengers refuse to get into the 1st car if its being driven by a "black person"

from the Times

"It happens a lot.You're waiting in the queue, you're number one, then they look in the window, see that you'r a black person" he said "Then they walk off to the next car, who is a white driver, and they take that one"

To me ( rightly or wrongly ) this implies that the customer and the driver behind are complicit in racism, unless there is a LEGAL basis for customers not to have to take the 1st taxi.

I ( as a taxi driver ) often send people to the front of the queue but that particular situation luckily hasn't ( yet ) arisen

MooseJam · 28-09-2007 06:47PM

if you go to the third car in the rank are the second or fourth car obliged to move to let the cab out of the rank ? he could be stuck

biko · 28-09-2007 06:47PM

Don't you need English to get you PSV licence in the first place?

Spook_ie · 28-09-2007 06:49PM

MooseJam wrote:

if you go to the third car in the rank are the second or fourth car obliged to move to let the cab out of the rank ? he could be stuck

Being on a radio as well, if I'm on a rank I make sure I can get out if I need to

Spook_ie · 28-09-2007 06:51PM

biko wrote:

Don't you need English to get you PSV licence in the first place?

There have been many ( non substantiated ) rumours that if English is not your 1st language ( not sure what happens if its Irish

) that you require a lower percentage to pass!

biko · 28-09-2007 06:54PM

As long as they take me home I don't care if they're black, brown, white or even from Mayo

arybvtcw0eolkf · 28-09-2007 11:48PM

biko wrote:

Don't you need English to get you PSV licence in the first place?

You also need a working knowledge of the area your plying for hire

How so many Non-Irish born nationals are passing the S.P.V.S. test is beyond me.

Seriously, having taken and passed the test it beats the bollox out of me. But I guess mine is not to reason why!!.

arybvtcw0eolkf · 28-09-2007 11:54PM

biko wrote:

As long as they take me home I don't care if they're black, brown, white or even from Mayo

Neither do I.

But when I get a taxi I'm usually with my better half and might want to chat, or I could have something to discuss on the phone during the journey. So my having to give directions to each and every turn is a royal pain in the arse and something I can do without.

I posted this one recently. I jumped into a taxi on Dame St a while back. It was about 01:30am and told the guy 'Portmarnock'. I might as well have said "surface of mars please'. So I told him to go over O'Connell Bridge onto Eden Quay ... no joy ... "Ok, take me to the bottom of the Malahide Rd please" ... Blank look in the mirror!... "Ok pal, I'll get out here and get another cab" (patience is not my strong point) "Ok brother, that'll be €4:10" ... "That'll be asked the butt end of my bollox pal"..

There wasn't a snowballs chance in hell I was going to give directions every step of the way then be charged €20 ++ for it!.

But this type of bad service is accross the board in this country now and not confined to foreign taxi drivers.

Terry · 29-09-2007 12:08AM

Three times a cab driver has dropped me to a specific location in Dublin and each time the driver was foreign,
Same guy on the last two journeys, but they both knew exactly where they were going.

Tha Gopher · 29-09-2007 02:15AM

Mairt wrote:

How so many Non-Irish born nationals are passing the S.P.V.S. test is beyond me.

Seriously, having taken and passed the test it beats the bollox out of me. But I guess mine is not to reason why!!.

Indeed. Most foreign drivers know the direction to general areas, but ive hailed one or two off the street in D15 who havent a clue where anywhere local is, and, as said, you wonder how they passed the test. Two different (Irish taxi men) told me foreigners have a lower req pass rate but another driver (Irish, who incdentally was complaining about foreign drivers) told me that was bollix, so dunno who to believe.

Personally the biggest con job was off an irish female taxi driver (twice, the same oul one few months apart, owes me at least 6 quid in overcharging between the two fares regarding her bizarre routes)

meglome · 29-09-2007 02:38AM

Well I can tell you as fact is the girlfriend has had two recent occasions where taxi drivers took her the long way round. Both times these drivers were African. Maybe they didn't know where they were going or maybe they were jacking up the fare... no way to know which.

It does beg the question... I have found the African drivers to be very poor with where they are going in Dublin. So how did they get their taxi licence? Something doesn't add up about this. My only suggestions are: They might be getting others to sit the test for them or having other people drive the cab. Failing that it only leaves that the test itself is rubbish which I'm hoping is not the case.

keefg · 29-09-2007 08:52AM

biko wrote:

As long as they take me home I don't care if they're black, brown, white or even from Mayo

Good comment my friend, my sentiments exactly.

Anyway, the baby Jesus gave us satnav so non-national drivers could take us drunk people home. There endeth the need for endless turn by turn directions.

arybvtcw0eolkf · 29-09-2007 08:56AM

meglome wrote:

It does beg the question... I have found the African drivers to be very poor with where they are going in Dublin. So how did they get their taxi licence? Something doesn't add up about this. My only suggestions are: They might be getting others to sit the test for them or having other people drive the cab. Failing that it only leaves that the test itself is rubbish which I'm hoping is not the case.

I've done the test, its not rocket science. However you DO need to know (Dublin in my case) very well. Not only main roads etc, but hospitals (private included), theaters, sports venues, hotels, nightclubs and major pubs, parks and tourist attractions.

You need to know the train stations and what trains run to where from them.

Your also asked routes from those theaters, clubs etc back to hotels. Airport & train stations, I got a detour along the way thrown in.

There's also rules of the road, S.P.S.V. rules & regs etc.

Now I don't really believe the rumour about the lower passrate, but I do wonder just how many are passing the test for other's.

Wishbone Ash · 29-09-2007 09:30AM

Many potential passengers will refuse to use the first taxi or any subsequent taxi if the vehicle or the driver is dirty. They are perfectly entitled to do so.

MooseJam wrote:

if you go to the third car in the rank are the second or fourth car obliged to move to let the cab out of the rank ? he could be stuck

All good drivers, in any type of queue, will always leave enough room in front to enable an exit to be made without requiring the vehicle in front to move.

EDIT: Lately, I see a lot of taxis with tow-bars fitted. That used to be illegal IIRC. Has the regulation changed?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 29-09-2007 09:35AM

i've never been allowed take anything but the first taxi on the rank

arybvtcw0eolkf · 29-09-2007 09:38AM

Wishbone Ash wrote:

EDIT: Lately, I see a lot of taxis with tow-bars fitted. That used to be illegal IIRC. Has the regulation changed?

I don't remember anything like that in the rules & regs.

The required vehicle standards in this country are actually very low. However every taxi has to pass the NCT test once a year, including brand new cars. So I'd imagine if a tow bar was illegal those taxi's would fail the test.

Wishbone Ash · 29-09-2007 09:48AM

Mairt wrote:

I don't remember anything like that in the rules & regs.

The required vehicle standards in this country are actually very low. However every taxi has to pass the NCT test once a year, including brand new cars. So I'd imagine if a tow bar was illegal those taxi's would fail the test.

It used to be a common sight to see the flat plate with the ball removed. I was told that it was because having a tow bar on a taxi was illegal but it was OK once the ball hitch was unbolted. Lately though, every second taxi seems to have the full tow bar fitted. I must do a bit of searching on that.

(The annual NCT is irrevelant really as it could be removed for the duration of the test).

arybvtcw0eolkf · 29-09-2007 10:06AM

Wishbone Ash wrote:

It used to be a common sight to see the flat plate with the ball removed. I was told that it was because having a tow bar on a taxi was illegal but it was OK once the ball hitch was unbolted. Lately though, every second taxi seems to have the full tow bar fitted. I must do a bit of searching on that.

(The annual NCT is irrevelant really as it could be removed for the duration of the test).

Yea, I'm not saying your wrong. I just don't remember this being an issue.

SluggerO'Toole · 29-09-2007 03:05PM

DaveMcG wrote:

1. No it's not a legal requirement. It's against the regulations for a taxi not to take your fare unless they think you (i) might assault them, (ii) might damage their car, or (iii) say you're going beyond a certain distance (I don't remember what distance it is) -- but there's no requirement for you to give your fare to any taxi. You can pick and choose. I was listening to a taxi representative guy on the radio this morning, that's how I know this...

2. I believe it is against regulations to not take the fare, yes.

Whenever I want to get a taxi at st stephens green I'm always walking from east of st stephens green which means I have to walk past about 30 taxis to get to the 1st taxi at the rank, which is really annoying since I'm almost always in a rush. But I'm sure if I tried to get the last taxi at the rank I would just be told to go to the first taxi. There really should be more taxis at the taxi rank near burger king on baggot street

Sir Oxman · 29-09-2007 03:15PM

biko wrote:

As long as they take me home I don't care if they're black, brown, white or even from Mayo

Exactly.
IMO, the custom has always been to take the first taxi in the rank - it's merely good manners (on the customers behalf for a start)
Now, the amount of times I've heard a taximan first in the rank refuse a fare as it's too short or out of his way is very high - they do not get my custom.

As far as foreign taximen are concerned, I gave leeway the first four or five times when I was driven all over the place despite my telling them they were well offtrack and giving directions every inch of the way.

No more does the 'I'm only new here' wash with me (and that applies to some of the homebred chancers too)
I've never had one Irish or foreign taximan who didn't know what he was doing say, go ahead I'll charge you waht you normally pay for the journey.

They got what I normally pay for the journey. End of. (And no bloody tip either)

Victor · 29-09-2007 03:23PM

keefg wrote:

Anyway, the baby Jesus gave us satnav so non-national drivers could take us drunk people home. There endeth the need for endless turn by turn directions.

Walking home one night, I was stopped by a (I think Nigerian) taxi driver with an inebriated Irish passenger. The pasenger was claiming the driver was going the wrong way, but the driver was convinced he was going the correct way. It turns out the pasenger lived around the corner from me and the way the passenger wanted to go is marginally longer, although many people use it because it bypasses a slow traffic light.

Stories of going the wrong way aren't always to the passenger's detriment.

Dave! · 29-09-2007 04:00PM

SluggerO'Toole wrote:

Whenever I want to get a taxi at st stephens green I'm always walking from east of st stephens green which means I have to walk past about 30 taxis to get to the 1st taxi at the rank, which is really annoying since I'm almost always in a rush. But I'm sure if I tried to get the last taxi at the rank I would just be told to go to the first taxi. There really should be more taxis at the taxi rank near burger king on baggot street

Yeah I'm sure if someone from the end of the queue got the fare, the other lads would see him as skipping. But yer man on the radio said there was no rule, so I guess it's just manners!

Racism Taxi Drivers or Public?

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