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Waterford Taxi drivers experiencing racism

samsham

My mate is a Taxi Driver from Africa, he is always telling me of the abuse he has to take from racists on the taxi rank. Recently at the rank a driver from Nigeria was asked at the rank how much is it to Carrick-on-suir, he replied about 30 euro. the young lad then replied "your a thieving n*gger" spat in his face and looked around at his mates watching from across the street and ran off. The driver found two Garda near by, told them the story, The sought and found the lad. Came back to the driver and said he says he is from Lisduggan and why would he want to go to Carrick-on-suir. The city has 30 cctv cameras, The Garda rather than look at the footage chose to side with a racist rather than take an impartial look at the situation. Drivers say there fusterated as the Garda dont take racism claims seriously.

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wiger toods

I would have Slashed his tyres instead!:pac:

wiger toods

I kid, I kid. That's not acceptable behaviour at all tbh!

giles lynchwood

On the other side of the coin a lot of them play the race card,which the gardai are familar with and are cautious when dealing with this situtation.Did they ask your mate to go to the station to make a statment.I arrived back in waterford 2 years ago by train i had two big bag´s which i had to load myself while Mr T looked on,then i asked him to bring me to the fitzwillton hotel bridge st to which he replied¨fcuk sake can`t you walk¨,i said¨ ok bring me to the garda station then¨that shut him up.To this day i alway´s buy Irish in my taxi´s.

Kanoe

Pains me to write it and I hate having to, this is a rant but when it comes down to it after the most recent excursions I will go out of my way to avoid a non national taxi driver. I would rather walk home pi$$ed and in the rain and brave the chance of getting raped or assualted than get in another taxi with one of them. The crap they deal ranges from never having the right change (last guy asked if I had anything smaller when I gave him 6 euro the fare was 4.90) and getting shouted at when I say which way to go (because they obviously know better) to not moving off the rank when the light goes green, the look of disgust they give you if you are female and you've been *gasp, drinking.. to talking loudly in native language on the fone for the entire journey.

Friday was the last straw, 3 of us heading to our respective places, mine being a 2 minute journey to the townside of the park, literally around the corner and the others being to kilcohan and then to the far side of that. The driver decided he was going to the furthest destination first. I asked him where he was going and he bellowed at me that he was going to such and such. I explained I was only around the corner and could he change lanes and he practically spat at me for suggesting it, I mean he was really angry and shouted through clenched teeth. There was no shít from any of us when we got in, none of us were leery or drunk, we asked him specifically to just drop me off first but he chose to ignore it. So the guy in the back got angry and yelled at him and then he shut the fup up and did as he was asked but it was only when a bloke entered the arena did he pay any attention. These guys are fúcking sexist pricks, will not listen to or heed a request from a female in this country. They shout at us, tut and moan like its our fault when they don't have the right change and they try take advantage at every opportunity and I'm sick of giving my money over to them for a service they don't even pretend to provide properly. If an Irish driver did any of this they wouldn't be driving a taxi for long and would probably have been reported earlier.

(I generally use hackneys and only ever use the rank if I'm in town at the weekends but I swear I will never again get into another taxi with a non national at the wheel. If they want to keep treating us like dirt then they deserve every bit of shít they get. )

Kepti

giles lynchwood wrote: »

On the other side of the coin a lot of them play the race card,which the gardai are familar with and are cautious when dealing with this situtation.Did they ask your mate to go to the station to make a statment.I arrived back in waterford 2 years ago by train i had two big bag´s which i had to load myself while Mr T looked on,then i asked him to bring me to the fitzwillton hotel bridge st to which he replied¨fcuk sake can`t you walk¨,i said¨ ok bring me to the garda station then¨that shut him up.To this day i alway´s buy Irish in my taxi´s.

You had one bad experience and decided to never get in a taxi driven by a foreigner again? Why was his behaviour so linked to his ethnicity in your mind?

You were a bigot before you stepped into that taxi, and you're just using the incident to justify your behaviour.

giles lynchwood

Kepti wrote: »

You had one bad experience and decided to never get in a taxi driven by a foreigner again? Why was his behaviour so linked to his ethnicity in your mind?

You were a bigot before you stepped into that taxi, and you're just using the incident to justify your behaviour.

My behaviour, what did i do only get in a taxi request a drop that did not suit the driver(not long enough) and was subjected to foul lanuage,when i got in the taxi i was not a bigot when i got out i made a decision based on my experience,which is my right.I have nothing to justify because i did nothing wrong,he did.

Kepti

giles lynchwood wrote: »

My behaviour, what did i do only get in a taxi request a drop that did not suit the driver(not long enough) and was subjected to foul lanuage,when i got in the taxi i was not a bigot when i got out i made a decision based on my experience,which is my right.I have nothing to justify because i did nothing wrong,he did.

He was in the wrong no doubt, but that wasn't what I was getting at. By your behaviour, I meant your decision to never again take a foreign taxi, based on a single incident.

If the taxi driver were Irish, would you now forever avoid Irish taxis?

ex_infantry man

we were drunk one night and got taxi home by a black fella to kill st lawrence he literally robbed us 24euro from johns street to kill st lawrence never again will i get in a car with any of em, i,m an honest person and usually don,t question what i,m being charged but will from now on

deisedave

I would get an Irish driver as well, They are more than likely local and know the place better and are more honest normally. People can say what they want but people have a right to choose who they want to get into a car with.

giles lynchwood

Kepti wrote: »

He was in the wrong no doubt, but that wasn't what I was getting at. By your behaviour, I meant your decision to never again take a foreign taxi, based on a single incident.

If the taxi driver were Irish, would you now forever avoid Irish taxis?

In 30 years the only problem´s I have had with taxis in Ireland is being late for a booking or not turning up for a booking,only last month I removed a local taxi number from my phone for failing to show for a booking,Never before was i subjected to obscene verbal abuse.

ROCKMAN

samsham wrote: »

My mate is a Taxi Driver from Africa, he is always telling me of the abuse he has to take from racists on the taxi rank. Recently at the rank a driver from Nigeria was asked at the rank how much is it to Carrick-on-suir, he replied about 30 euro. the young lad then replied "your a thieving n*gger" spat in his face and looked around at his mates watching from across the street and ran off. The driver found two Garda near by, told them the story, The sought and found the lad. Came back to the driver and said he says he is from Lisduggan and why would he want to go to Carrick-on-suir. The city has 30 cctv cameras, The Garda rather than look at the footage chose to side with a racist rather than take an impartial look at the situation. Drivers say there fusterated as the Garda dont take racism claims seriously.

Will never know how insulting or hurtful the N word would/could be... but if some toerag Spat in my face I'll be doing time .Not trying to be a keyboard warrior or anything but spitting in my face would make me see red big time...

As for other posters choice of drivers... it's their choice and their money

dayshah

If I've had a night out I always have pocketfuls of loose change.

The only difference I've experienced between white and black drivers is the black drivers are less likely to talk. A minority of white drivers are really annoying with their ranting (hey, I hate Mary Harney too, but get over it), but I don't skip white drivers on account of this.

Anyway, if anyone has a serious problem with a driver they can report it to the regulator.

deise blue

I will always take the first taxi on the rank , it doesn't matter to me whether the driver is White , black or purple.

I would never enter a cab & presume that because of a person's colour they are more likely to provide a lesser service than an Irish driver.

If the service is less than adequate then I would simply complain & if necessary report the driver - irrespective of nationality .

Tarring all people with the same brush is simply wrong.

Kanoe

deise blue wrote: »

I will always take the first taxi on the rank , it doesn't matter to me whether the driver is White , black or purple.

I would never enter a cab & presume that because of a person's colour they are more likely to provide a lesser service than an Irish driver.

If the service is less than adequate then I would simply complain & if necessary report the driver - irrespective of nationality .

Tarring all people with the same brush is simply wrong.

I've always up until now done this. It didn't matter as long as I got to where I was going and even after one or two dodgy driver experiences continued to give the benefit of the doubt but it's gone beyond that now and this is not a case of one or two drivers being disputable, this is a significant number of events and drivers and none of which I can know their whereabouts on the rank, so in order to avoid them I won't be getting any at all and lessen the chances of having repeat encounters with any of the "bad eggs".
As an aside, I often pop my daughter in a taxi and send her home from town, there's no way I want her to have to experience that kind of thing, getting a taxi should be a simple straight forward uneventful journey so I'll be sticking with what I know works and avoiding what I know doesn't.

longshanks

I must be the only fella alive to ever get sound taxi drivers, but in keeping with the spirit of the thread I hate them all. One time I got in a taxi after it started raining , the stupid nigerian polish irish bastard said that there was nothing he could do about it. From then on I've hated taxi drivers and clouds.

Also, kanoe; is it pronounced kane-o, or canoe?

abouttobebanned

deise blue wrote: »

I will always take the first taxi on the rank , it doesn't matter to me whether the driver is White , black or purple.

I would never enter a cab & presume that because of a person's colour they are more likely to provide a lesser service than an Irish driver.

If the service is less than adequate then I would simply complain & if necessary report the driver - irrespective of nationality .

Tarring all people with the same brush is simply wrong.

Ok...and, just out of curiosity, if the first taxi on the rank is a black lad and spends the journey on the phone and then when he gets to your house and the fare is 10.20 and you only have a tenner cause it's never cause more than 9 to get to your house before this...and he makes you go into your house at 3am and come back out with 20 cent...and acts like the worse kind of ignorant prick...

Do you then give the next black lad a chance in case he's sound?

I'm just wondering...

Personally...I'll go for the local lad cause I like to have an auld chat on the way home. I wouldn't refuse to get in a cab with a black driver but I'll know what to expect once I'm in (although I was once brought home by a black lad who was full of chat and gave out about local stuff as much as a local lad. That was fun).

I think it's about time that Irish people admitted that they were a bit racist. This whole crap "I'm not racist...but..." really annoys me. Irish people are generally wary of people that are on the fringes of society. Polish...russian...latvian...we can never be sure which one is going to come at us with an axe. Black lads...we can never be sure which one is a doctor and which one is a rapist. It's, of course, ignorance of the highest order, but it's to be expected when we went so long with the only people we were wary of being travellers.

Kanoe

kano ..now you know..and I only tell people who ask.

I know it's harsh but this is what it comes down to at the end of the day. It's not about discriminating against someone because of the colour of their skin, it is discriminating between what has proven to work and what evidentially doesn't. (Irish drivers vs non Irish drivers)
Of the hackneys I use I know pretty much all the names of the drivers, they never have to ask me where I'm going they know where I live. They ask about y family, or how work is or just how things are in general. One night when I was walking home alone, (sober) I started jogging across to my street when one of them passed, he stopped to make sure I was ok and offered me a lift to the door. That's the service I'm used to..and it's the kind I'm going to continue to choose to use. If they want to be respected and accepted then it's up to them to up their game, and they have a lot of catching up to do.

longshanks

Maybe it's the hangover speaking kanoe, but I think I'm falling for you. I wanna kiss all over, till the night closes in (till the night closes in).
Aaaanywho, I'm not going to admit to being racist, because I'm not. I hate all people equally, call me old fashioned but thats just how this badboy rolls.

Well obviously I hate knackers most of all, but sure they're barely even human, blah blah blah blah blah

Kanoe

it was only a matter of time before you fell for my charm..
Hope you had a good night though ha. (you'll feel better when you wake up

)

[edit: I feel weird now]

longshanks

You and me baby, we aint nothing but mammals
Lets do it like they do on the discovery channel

Wide awake now kanoe, with a big morning horn on me. Decisions, decisions...

Edit, you feel weird? I'm hallucinating

Kanoe

ah..noice.

longshanks

Soooo, how about it then? I make good ommelettes and prefer loaves to sliced pans

Kanoe

*pats you on teh head

longshanks

Dum
Dum
Dum

Another one bites the dust...

Yeahhhhhh, another one bites
And another one bites
Another one bites the dust

biko

See if you can find a similar to http://www.grsg.ie/ there.
Under section "Racism & Anti-Racism" there is a complaints form (Racist Incident Form).
GRSG is for Galway but I'm sure a similar exists for Waterford.

Kanoe

handy enough to have this link here too http://taxiregulation.nationaltransport.ie/for-users/taxi-compliments-and-complaints/

tmc86

I will get into a taxi no matter what the driver's ethnicity is but what I won't do is hop into a taxi that has clearly no respect for other taxi drivers and the taxi rank.

What infuriates me is that you see a long line of taxis waiting at a rank (of all ethnic backgrounds) and then there will be one or two taxis trying to push in down the line or wait alongside the rank to pick up people without having queued.

There are too many taxis on the roads these days thanks to poor regulation and it is the orginal drivers who are suffering loss of fares and longer wait times particulary when they sit and queue in an honest fashion and you have disrespectful taxi drivers who aren't following ettiquete.

I was out on harcourt street, Dublin last week (midweek) and there was a rank of taxis the whole way down waiting for fares. Two or three taxis hovered alongside the rank and one fella with his window down was leaning across the passegnger seat shouting "taxi" at me trying to get me to get in. Well I promptly told him to F right off and queue like the rest of them. Walked down to the very first taxi and a sound Polish fella was happy to drop me home after waiting his turn.

decies

On liveline now

Nypd

I have had two bad expierences with coloured drivers trying to over charge me when I have had a few scoops on board.
And my partner has had one also.

When I mean over charge I don't mean by a few cent,
A couple of weeks ago from the quay to the dunmore road he looked for €14 (at 5am)

My partner from Dunmore road to the tower €19.

I also witnessed a driver returning a phone to a girl who had left it in the car and demanded €20 for its return.

For these reasons I will choose what car I get into on the rank.

comeraghs

seems I've been very lucky with Taxi drivers ... no major problems with drivers Irish or foreign ..... don't think it is fair to write off all foreign drivers because of a bad experience with one other. Best thing to do is make a complaint to the Taxi regulater & enough complaints & they'll soon mend their way ....