Taxi with sticker saying 'Irish Taxi Driver'

Bill2673 · 26-07-2010 09:45AM #1

Seen a taxi driving past last week, it had a sticker on the outside of the passenger door saying 'Irish Taxi Driver'. The sticker was I would guess 12 inches long, four inches high, so clearly visible to me.

What ye make of it?

Anyone else seen this?

foggy_lad · 26-07-2010 09:48AM

Bill2673 wrote: »

Seen a taxi driving past last week, it had a sticker on the outside of the passenger door saying 'Irish Taxi Driver'. The sticker was I would guess 12 inches long, four inches high, so clearly visible to me.

What ye make of it?

Anyone else seen this?

at least you know he will understand you and is more likely to know the area you want to go!

neil_hosey · 26-07-2010 09:50AM

yes - there loads of lads that have them. Id rather support the irish lads if i am to be honest. They know the roads and short cuts around town MUCH better. I cant count the number of times ive gotten into a taxi with a foreign driver and he didnt know where lucan was. like ffs who lets these eejits get plates. If you seen how some of the foreign drivers drive in dublin also... another thing that puts me off.

biko · 26-07-2010 09:51AM

Yeah, it's been done since a couple of years or so.

starfish12 · 26-07-2010 09:52AM

There are also stickers that say 'full time taxi driver', alot of the cars with the 'irish' sticker seem to have gotten these too in the last few weeks

eightyfish · 26-07-2010 09:54AM

neil_hosey wrote: »

yes - there loads of lads that have them. Id rather support the irish lads if i am to be honest.

Here comes this thread again. I didn't know they had stickers like that. It's a f*cking disgrace. I'd refuse to get into a taxi with a sticker like that.

Cookie_Monster · 26-07-2010 09:57AM

eightyfish wrote: »

Here comes this thread again. I didn't know they had stickers like that. It's a f*cking disgrace. I'd refuse to get into a taxi with a sticker like that.

out of interest, why?

heavyballs · 26-07-2010 09:57AM

foggy_lad wrote: »

at least you know he will understand you and is more likely to know the area you want to go!

at least with the foreign guys you don't get the whole were broke/recession /too many taxi's waffle,why do taxi drivers assume we give a sheite

spurious · 26-07-2010 09:57AM

eightyfish wrote: »

Here comes this thread again. I didn't know they had stickers like that. It's a f*cking disgrace. I'd refuse to get into a taxi with a sticker like that.

Me too. It screams racist stereotype taxi man to me.

eightyfish · 26-07-2010 10:01AM

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

out of interest, why?

Because it's implied racism. You may as well have a sticker saying "I'm not black".

sesna · 26-07-2010 10:02AM

spurious wrote: »

Me too. It screams racist stereotype taxi man to me.

Would you call a shopkeeper racist if he had guaranteed Irish logo on some of his foods, or Dunnes Stores approach racist because of their slogan "The difference is we're Irish".

LilMsss · 26-07-2010 10:04AM

I view this as a good thing, and it would give people a choice of who they would like to get a taxi with. I've been in taxis with foreign drivers coming home from nights out and they have been tense journeys, they have taken routes I didn't recognise and some have made me generally uncomfortable, so much so that I would almost ask them to pull over and let me out.

As a woman travelling alone, getting a taxi where you feel safe can be a lottery. That's not to say I haven't had foreign and Irish drivers who have been courteous and professional, but there is always that niggling worry when you flag down a taxi that it's going to be a foreign driver who may or may not get you to your destination safely. There just isn't the same sense of worry when it's an Irish driver.

Regardless of whether or not it is politically correct to say so, most women do not feel safe getting in a taxi with a foreign driver. If my friends are putting me in a taxi after a night out, they will wave it on if the driver is not Irish.

eightyfish · 26-07-2010 10:05AM

sesna wrote: »

Would you call a shopkeeper racist if he had guaranteed Irish logo on some of his foods, or Dunnes Stores approach racist because of their slogan "The difference is we're Irish".

Not the same thing. Those are Irish products supporting the Irish economy and Irish jobs. I'm sure there's many people of many nationalities working in those companies. It's nothing to do with Irish, the race. This sticker, however, is.

Mimikyu · 26-07-2010 10:05AM

This post has been deleted.

seawolf145 · 26-07-2010 10:07AM

Bill2673 wrote: »

Seen a taxi driving past last week, it had a sticker on the outside of the passenger door saying 'Irish Taxi Driver'. The sticker was I would guess 12 inches long, four inches high, so clearly visible to me.

What ye make of it?

Anyone else seen this?

My kind of Taxi

spurious · 26-07-2010 10:08AM

sesna wrote: »

Would you call a shopkeeper racist if he had guaranteed Irish logo on some of his foods, or Dunnes Stores approach racist because of their slogan "The difference is we're Irish".

Perhaps xenophobic was the word I wanted.

I have had to ask to be let out of taxis driven by s**m who thought I wanted to hear their drivel about foreigners. I have never had any such incident with a driver from another country. If the sticker bearers are proclaiming their 'Irishness' it's obviously an issue with them, let them drive fellow thinkers around, not me.

Cookie_Monster · 26-07-2010 10:15AM

eightyfish wrote: »

Because it's implied racism. You may as well have a sticker saying "I'm not black".

but all Irish food products proudly display the fact that they are Irish and we are always being told to shop local and support Irish jobs, services and products. It is just an extension of that IMO

sesna · 26-07-2010 10:17AM

All the foreign drivers are a godsend given the competition they have introduced to the market. I still remember vividly pre-2003 hoards of people trying to get a taxi home every Saturday night. Often saw the "Irish" lads driving past several people with the light on, only to stop for the first bunch of good-looking girls they could find.

At least the foreign drivers are working, providing a service and not sponging off the state. The two minor bad experiences I have had were with foreign drivers - both refusing a fare at it was only 2km. I have since found out they are not allowed to do that, and I should have reported them to the regulator.

eightyfish · 26-07-2010 10:22AM

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

but all Irish food products proudly display the fact that they are Irish

See post 13.

robinph · 26-07-2010 10:23AM

LilMsss wrote: »

There just isn't the same sense of worry when it's an Irish driver.

What makes you feel safer with an Irish driver? Are al furrners out to kill us or something?

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

but all Irish food products proudly display the fact that they are Irish and we are always being told to shop local and support Irish jobs, services and products. It is just an extension of that IMO

That is supporting Irish products rather than ones shipped in from the other side of the world, so supporting the Irish economy.

The only way your not supporting the local economy when getting in a taxi is if you were to get one in Belfast and get them to drive you down to Dublin, then your money will probably end up being spent elsewhere. A taxi driver in Dublin, whatever their nationality, is contributing to Irish jobs/ services/ products exactly the same as any other taxi driver in Dublin.

DePurpereWolf · 26-07-2010 10:24AM

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

but all Irish food products proudly display the fact that they are Irish and we are always being told to shop local and support Irish jobs, services and products. It is just an extension of that IMO

Yes, support local jobs. Just because the dude in the car isn't 'Irish' he probably still lives here, good chance he has an Irish passport. You can't work here without paying tax.

Most Irish drivers I use are well in their sixties. I'm happy for the foreigners that can lift my bags.

JHMEG · 26-07-2010 10:25AM

sesna wrote: »

All the foreign drivers are a godsend given the competition they have introduced to the market.

Taxi fares are regulated, so we didn't need 'competition'.

We didn't need more taxis than New York to solve a what is a lack of public transport after 11:30pm, but we got them as an Irish solution to an Irish problem.

mike65 · 26-07-2010 10:26AM

Clearly a xenophophic campiagn afoot to seperate "us" from "them" I imagine its really code for "white"/"black" though.

Bill2673 · 26-07-2010 10:26AM

As an aisde....didn't Lidl have stickers saying 'Buy me, I'm Irish' on lamb that came from somewhere in Easter Europe, or something to that effect....It was seasoned in Ireland, probably.

Anyway, on that debate, there's no doubt that Irish taxi drivers have a history for gripining about foreign drivers, rightly or wrongly. It can be xenophobic and in that context I think it reads different to the 'Buy me I'm Irish' stickers in a Tesco.

Surprised to hear a lady say she feels nervous with foreign drivers. If you do, you do.....

foggy_lad · 26-07-2010 10:26AM

most foreign drivers dont know the route and will usually cost more because of this, they also have a licence but there are also a lot of drivers out there with dodgey licences bought from criminals for a few hundred euro and insurance certificates that can be forged.

sesna · 26-07-2010 10:29AM

LilMsss wrote: »

As a woman travelling alone, getting a taxi where you feel safe can be a lottery. That's not to say I haven't had foreign and Irish drivers who have been courteous and professional, but there is always that niggling worry when you flag down a taxi that it's going to be a foreign driver who may or may not get you to your destination safely. There just isn't the same sense of worry when it's an Irish driver.

Seems nationality is not a good indicator of how safe the taxi will be.

I largely except the point that foreign drivers contribute to the economy as much as Irish due to tax paid etc. But I did live with 3 Polish guys once who saved every single penny they could, with a view to returning home and buying property there. That does not contribute much to the Irish economy.

Mimikyu · 26-07-2010 10:36AM

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robinph · 26-07-2010 10:38AM

sesna wrote: »

Seems nationality is not a good indicator of how safe the taxi will be.

I largely except the point that foreign drivers contribute to the economy as much as Irish due to tax paid etc. But I did live with 3 Polish guys once who saved every single penny they could, with a view to returning home and buying property there. That does not contribute much to the Irish economy.

Unlike Irish people who might save up every penny they earn and then go and spend it all on a holiday in the Costa-del-somewhere.

I assume that the Polish lads did buy food/ clothes/ stuff/ etc during their time in Ireland?

iMax · 26-07-2010 10:38AM

I think it's a great opportunity to be able to speak in fluent irish to the Irish taxi drivers. You should whenever you get the opportunity, refuse to engage in any language apart from gaeilge with them.

Mimikyu · 26-07-2010 10:38AM

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Cookie_Monster · 26-07-2010 10:40AM

eightyfish wrote: »

See post 13.

and a taxi is a service business so they are advertising that they are an Irish owned and run company.

similar situation to Patton vs Aircoach in many respects. The "local" Irish company vs the foreign-owned one. (leaving out the legal / non legal aspect for the moment)

I don't see the big deal.

Taxi with sticker saying 'Irish Taxi Driver'

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