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Taxi with sticker saying 'Irish Taxi Driver'

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Comments

  • #32
    monkeypants
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,385 ✭✭✭monkeypants


    sesna wrote: »
    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.
    Other than their PAYE, PRSI, income and health levies, rent, transport costs, clothing, utilities, food, etc.


  • #33
    Miguel_Sanchez
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,417 ✭✭✭Miguel_Sanchez


    Any taxi with that sticker won't be getting my business.

    They might as well throw up a sticker that says 'Stereotypical Taxi Driver Conversation Guaranteed'


  • #34
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 3,226 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    I take the point that some of the foreign lads might not know the routes, but something about those stickers makes me feel uncomfortable.

    Tbh, I'm not mad about taking taxis anyway. In my experience, a lot of the drivers seem to never leave their car, and because they are the boss of that little world, think they can impose their worldview on everyone else, or that we are even interested


  • #35
    Bill2673
    Closed Accounts Posts: 749 ✭✭✭Bill2673


    foggy_lad wrote: »
    most foreign drivers dont know the route and will usually cost more because of this


    How can you back that up?

    From personal experience I;ve only ever once had a problem with a foreign taxi driver going the wrong way. And I've had the same problem twice with Irish drivers.

    I'm often surprised with foreign drivers at how long they've been in the taxi game in Dublin, often telling me they are doing it for 7 or 8 years.

    Besides, I usually tell the taxi driver which way to go, regardless of who they are where they are from. Whats to stop any passenger doing that. It removes all confusion.


  • #36
    LilMsss
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 153 ✭✭LilMsss


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

    Not at all, and while I am always cautious getting into a taxi with any driver, I tend to have less caution with most Irish drivers. It's about comfort levels and safety. If a foreign driver has been living here for a few years and has excellent english and seems to know their way around, then I tend to feel a lot safer.

    I don't get taxis very often, and if I know I'm going on a night out and will need a taxi, I will call one to collect me in town. Regardless of nationality or ethnicity, I always feel safe in taxis that are attached to a company because there seems to be accountability so there are generally no problems.

    There have been quite a few cases in recent years of women being assaulted by taxi drivers, of all nationalities, so don't presume that there isn't an element of risk out there. Not to mention 'fake' taxis'!

    Getting into a car with a stranger, whether or not you are paying them, puts you in a vulnerable position. You are trusting them to get you to your destination safely. I am responsible for my own personal safety and I won't apologise for being careful by choosing not to take unnecessary risks. Likewise, if an Irish driver was rough looking and/or I got a bad vibe, I'd also feel uncomfortable taking a journey with him.


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  • #37
    sitstill
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,380 ✭✭✭sitstill


    LilMsss wrote: »
    Not at all, and while I am always cautious getting into a taxi with any driver, I tend to have less caution with most Irish drivers. It's about comfort levels and safety. If a foreign driver has been living here for a few years and has excellent english and seems to know their way around, then I tend to feel a lot safer.


    I agree with this. Most of the foreign driver don't have great English and it's harder to give them directions. Also, I live in Bray and on numerous times have been told by foreign taxi drivers that they don't want to go there from town or else they have "a booking" in ten minutes so can't. I have often felt that when I've had a foreign driver, I've ended up paying more and one time, it ended up costing me one and a half times the normal price to get home because he wouldn't follow my directions and insisted on using the satnav even though it was giving him a longer route.

    Now I will only take a taxi with an Irish diver and I'm not afraid to admit that. I don't care if people see that as being racist because I know that I don't have racist motivations for it.


  • #38
    robbie_998
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,222 ✭✭✭robbie_998


    i saw something similar there a week ago.

    it wasn't anything taxi related or anything but it was on the window of a ford transit and there was a sticker saying "I'm buying Irish and creating jobs for 80,000 people" (or something to that extent)

    Are we starting to isolate the foreigners now ?


  • #39
    cloda
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9 ✭cloda


    i think i would rather be with an irish taxi driver although im sick of been brought around in circles and ripped off by them !!


  • #40
    DWCommuter
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,032 ✭✭✭DWCommuter


    NO DOGS
    NO BLACKS
    NO IRISH

    We didn't like those signs in the UK did we?


  • #41
    JHMEG
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,684 ✭✭✭JHMEG


    The last Nigerian taxi I got ran out of petrol, fortunately across the road from a petrol station. Other than that I've had no real negative experiences of foreign taxi drivers except that there's no chat or banter out of them and discussing GAA obviously doesn't work. For those slight reasons alone I'd opt for an Irish driver.


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  • #42
    Andrew33
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,853 ✭✭✭Andrew33


    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.

    Why is it a disgrace? the driver has the right to proclaim his nationality anywhere on the car except the roofsign. I personally don't agree with the drivers decision to show the sign (he might as well show a sign reading "I am a bigotted racist") but the fact remains, a lot of people in Dublin would prefer to get into a car driven by someone who knows where they're going.


  • #43
    Empire o de Sun
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 369 ✭✭Empire o de Sun


    JHMEG wrote: »
    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.


    Obviously you never had to try to get a taxi in the 90's


  • #44
    foggy_lad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,373 ✭✭✭✭foggy_lad


    Captain Morgan wrote: »
    This post has been deleted.
    Bill2673 wrote: »
    foggy_lad wrote: »
    most foreign drivers dont know the route and will usually cost more because of this


    How can you back that up?

    From personal experience I;ve only ever once had a problem with a foreign taxi driver going the wrong way. And I've had the same problem twice with Irish drivers.

    I'm often surprised with foreign drivers at how long they've been in the taxi game in Dublin, often telling me they are doing it for 7 or 8 years.

    Besides, I usually tell the taxi driver which way to go, regardless of who they are where they are from. Whats to stop any passenger doing that. It removes all confusion.
    the last taxi i got from carlow railway station to Rivercourt i told the nigerian? driver where i wanted to go and he kept repeating riverside to which i answered rivercourt about 4 times, then he said he knows it and headed out the dublin road towards castledermot! i eventually got him to bring me back to the railway station and got out refusing to pay anything and got in another taxi who brought me to my destination without incident!

    there should be Fluent english required for all taxi drivers with a stringent test and proper checks to stop some other person from taking the test for you.

    and on a safety issue if these drivers cant understand basic place names how the hell did they get irish licences? they cant possibly understand road signs or markings properly with no english?


  • #45
    Andrew33
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,853 ✭✭✭Andrew33


    Bill2673 wrote: »
    foggy_lad wrote: »
    most foreign drivers dont know the route and will usually cost more because of this




    I'm often surprised with foreign drivers at how long they've been in the taxi game in Dublin, often telling me they are doing it for 7 or 8 years.

    They're hardly going to tell you they arrived in the country 3 months ago.


  • #46
    Live4Ever
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 539 ✭✭✭Live4Ever


    I completely agree with the sticker.


  • #47
    JHMEG
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,684 ✭✭✭JHMEG


    Empire o de Sun wrote: »
    Obviously you never had to try to get a taxi in the 90's

    I did, and back then there was no public transport after 11.30pm either.


  • #48
    userod
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 327 ✭✭userod


    I generally look out for Irish lads in the queue anyway and get in with them, wouldn't get in with the dubhs atall...


  • #49
    eightyfish
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,100 ✭✭✭eightyfish


    Andrew33 wrote: »
    Why is it a disgrace? the driver has the right to proclaim his nationality anywhere on the car except the roofsign. I personally don't agree with the drivers decision to show the sign (he might as well show a sign reading "I am a bigotted racist") but the fact remains, a lot of people in Dublin would prefer to get into a car driven by someone who knows where they're going.

    Answered your own question there.


  • #50
    Bill2673
    Closed Accounts Posts: 749 ✭✭✭Bill2673


    foggy_lad wrote: »
    foggy_lad wrote: »
    most foreign drivers dont know the route and will usually cost more because of this
    the last taxi i got from carlow railway station to Rivercourt i told the nigerian? driver where i wanted to go and he kept repeating riverside to which i answered rivercourt about 4 times, then he said he knows it and headed out the dublin road towards castledermot! i eventually got him to bring me back to the railway station and got out refusing to pay anything and got in another taxi who brought me to my destination without incident!

    there should be Fluent english required for all taxi drivers with a stringent test and proper checks to stop some other person from taking the test for you.

    and on a safety issue if these drivers cant understand basic place names how the hell did they get irish licences? they cant possibly understand road signs or markings properly with no english?

    The issue I had was where you said most foreign drivers don't know the route.

    There's a long way from, here's one example of a foreign driver who didn't know the route, to, most foreign drivers don't know the route.


  • #51
    L1011
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 75,476 ✭✭✭✭L1011


    Deleted User wrote: »
    I take the point that some of the foreign lads might not know the routes, but something about those stickers makes me feel uncomfortable.

    If I was concerned about them knowing the routes, I'd look for "Irish, non Dubliner driver" on the side. Most Dub drivers know their side of the river vaguely, the other side even more vaguely and nothing beyond the M50!


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  • #52
    JHMEG
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,684 ✭✭✭JHMEG


    If Nigerian taxi drivers put up "Nigerian taxi driver" signs in a effort to attract more Nigerian custom, would they be seen as bigoted racists by some?


  • #53
    eightyfish
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,100 ✭✭✭eightyfish


    JHMEG wrote: »
    If Nigerian taxi drivers put up "Nigerian taxi driver" signs in a effort to attract more Nigerian custom, would they be seen as bigoted racists by some?

    Oh for God's sake, it's more than just a sign. You can tell if your taxi driver is black or not immediately. The sign is not there to inform customers that the driver is Irish. The sign is there as a form of silent protest against the black taxi drivers "coming over here and taking good Irish taxi driver's jobs." If you think otherwise I'd say that's naive.


  • #54
    Andrew33
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,853 ✭✭✭Andrew33


    eightyfish wrote: »
    Answered your own question there.

    Still doesn't make it a disgrace, we live with the right to free speech and the right to express ourselves. You're being just as narrow minded as the driver with the sticker.


  • #55
    userod
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 327 ✭✭userod


    eightyfish wrote: »
    Oh for God's sake, it's more than just a sign. You can tell if your taxi driver is black or not immediately. The sign is not there to inform customers that the driver is Irish. The sign is there as a form of silent protest against the black taxi drivers "coming over here and taking good Irish taxi driver's jobs." If you think otherwise I'd say that's naive.

    You're dead right, it's just such a pity the protest has to be silent.


  • #56
    userod
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 327 ✭✭userod


    Andrew33 wrote: »
    Still doesn't make it a disgrace, we live with the right to free speech and the right to express ourselves. You're being just as narrow minded as the driver with the sticker.

    Don't think that driver is narrow minded, indeed the opposite. He has executed a business strategy that may give him an advantage, for all you know he may be married to a black person.


  • #57
    eightyfish
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,100 ✭✭✭eightyfish


    Andrew33 wrote: »
    Still doesn't make it a disgrace, we live with the right to free speech and the right to express ourselves. You're being just as narrow minded as the driver with the sticker.

    The right to free speech, yes, including the right to criticise racist signs. I'm not saying they shouldn't be allowed to have the signs as you seem to be implying, I said I wouldn't give racist taxi drivers my business. I'm being narrow minded by expressing my opinion? Stop taking rubbish.


  • #58
    Andrew33
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,853 ✭✭✭Andrew33


    MYOB wrote: »
    If I was concerned about them knowing the routes, I'd look for "Irish, non Dubliner driver" on the side. Most Dub drivers know their side of the river vaguely, the other side even more vaguely and nothing beyond the M50!

    I'm very proud of the fact that I don't possess a Sat-Nav and don't need one either. FFS, Dublin is small, a half decent taxi driver should not need one.


  • #59
    Cookie_Monster
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 24,740 ✭✭✭✭Cookie_Monster


    eightyfish wrote: »
    Oh for God's sake, it's more than just a sign. You can tell if your taxi driver is black or not immediately. The sign is not there to inform customers that the driver is Irish. The sign is there as a form of silent protest against the black taxi drivers "coming over here and taking good Irish taxi driver's jobs." If you think otherwise I'd say that's naive.

    he asked about Nigerian, not black. don't go making assumptions like Nigerian = black, kinda shoots your own points in the foot


  • #60
    eightyfish
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,100 ✭✭✭eightyfish


    Cookie_Monster wrote: »
    he asked about Nigerian, not black. don't go making assumptions like Nigerian = black, kinda shoots your own points in the foot

    Nigerian, then. Argument still holds no matter what word you use.


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  • #61
    citizenerased1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 203 ✭✭citizenerased1


    Andrew33 wrote: »
    Why is it a disgrace? the driver has the right to proclaim his nationality anywhere on the car except the roofsign. I personally don't agree with the drivers decision to show the sign (he might as well show a sign reading "I am a bigotted racist") but the fact remains, a lot of people in Dublin would prefer to get into a car driven by someone who knows where they're going.

    I'm Irish through and through but i don't have a notion of my way round most of Dublin...


This discussion has been closed.
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