Legalled Off

even more ramblings

Hi there everbody, hope you are well and earning enough.

The week has started quite well with the work seeming to have picked up a little, who knows maybe there are some green shoots after all. On tuesday about 6.30 I dropped off at St Pancras and as I got to the lights at Goods Way I noticed a Smart Car,fitted with a CCTV camera , parked on the red lines in Camley St. It seemed to be watching cars turning left into pancras way to drop off at the station so no doubt there will be some PCNs dropping on the door step of some poor unsuspecting motorists in the next few days.

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Marshall’s Ranks & The OXO tower demo

Hi everyone,

As you already know, we now have a taxi rank in Cornhill. This rank is now being used as a feeder rank for Abacus. The only problem is that the head of the rank is facing east and for the life of me I can’t work out how you’re supposed to see it, let alone hear the marshalls calling you.

I guess the rank won’t get used a lot, especially at the time the marshalls arrive, which is at 10pm and they will be there till 2am Thursday’s and Friday’s only.

Since TFL put the marshalls there on the 12 of June, the minicabs have disappeared but you still see them hanging around on other days of the week.

When you arrive outside Abacus you’ll be met by two burly looking guys, they’re the marshalls and really quite friendly.

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more ramblings

Hi there hope you are all well and earning enough.
I have been quite busy over the last couple of weeks, what with going over to the Isle of Wight to sort out Lyns mums house and doing a few more jobs on the boat, I have even managed to get some days done in the cab!

The windscreen wipers packed up last tuesday and as it was just as I finished work I thought about leaving them until the next day to get them sorted out but decided against and a good job I did as the next morning it was raining cats and dogs.

I have had a few strange and colourful characters in the cab over the last couple of weeks including the fella who was coming back from his girlfriends and was on the phone trying to convince his wife that he had been working late in the office, but he didn’t seem to be having any luck as I could hear her screaming down the phone at him calling him a lying,cheating ba***rd and telling him that when he got home the door would be locked and he would have to sleep in the garage. I don’t know the outcome of this conversation as he got me to drop him around the corner from his house, probably so that I didn’t see his missus beat him up on the doorstep!

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What a week

Hi everyone,

When the Chelsea Flower Show is on, we have a couple of ranks,  one on the Chelsea Embankment which feeds into the main entrance which we call the Bull Ring, the other one at the opposite side to the show on Royal Hospital Road. While waiting on the rank on Royal Hospital Rd, I was watching  the  ‘Community police officer’ who was at the time trying to direct the traffic.  She was just making sure that the cabbies didn’t drop their punters outside the entrance to the flower show, in fear of blocking the road. Now, wouldn’t that be silly to actually drop someone off right outside the place where they wanted to be.

But she wasn’t fast enough to catch everyone, when I eventually got a job my
passenger wanted to go back into town,  so I did a u-turn and all I could hear was ‘what are you doing?’ and then she was pretending to write down my reg number, I thought to myself what is this woman on?

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The Hurlingham Club Fiasco

They’re all at it – I reckon back handers must be flying left right and centre, why else would the Hurlingham Club turn their backs on us? I’ve been servicing this club on and of for the past 17 years and never had a problem.

So why is it happening now? Tuesday night 2nd June, I  start getting messages popping up on my terminal that drivers are being turned away from the Hurlingham Club – one driver approached security at the main entrance with his  hire sign lit and security told him he wasn’t needed and that only pre-booked taxis are welcome.

So the message goes out to all Dial a Cab drivers to turn their hire signs off and tell them you’ve come for a pre-booked job, once inside you can put your hire sign back on.

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More bits & bobs

Hi there everyone hope you are well.

I have had a busy few weeks doing things on the boat and just general catching up with jobs around the house so I have neglected the blog a little bit, so here I am to bring you all up to date with Del Boys world.

I have had my share of funny customers recently and have decided to share a few of them with you, the first one was a girl I picked up in Oxford street who wanted to go to N17, as we went on our way she told me that she had no money on her and would have to get it from her house when we arrived. I said that this wouldn’t be a problem as long as she left her phone with me while she went inside. She was happy with this arrangement and we carried on our way. A couple of minutes later she asked if it would cost more than £20 as that was all she had, so when I told her I thought that it would probably be nearer to £30 she got a bit hysterical,saying that she would have to get out and walk home but she was scared to do this as she had been attacked in the past and then she started to cry!

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Reclaim The Streets

Hi everyone It’s been a while since I last updated you on my crazy life so here goes.

My cab

First of all I clocked up five hundred thousand miles in my Fairway Taxi, a month short of it’s 13th year and the old girl is still going strong, just like it’s owner.

Believe it or not,  I’m still waiting for my insurance claim to be settled, I’ve just sent a letter return post to my broker to pass on to Head Office, they’re asking for the details of the accident and if I’ll accept a 50/50 claim.  All this for a simple shunt up the rear, sometimes I wish I had a witness and photographic evidence, it might have made it easier to claim.

Last Friday I had my overhaul, I picked the old girl up from Hexagon motors, you’ve heard the saying mutton dressed as lamb, well that’s what it looks like, they did a fantastic job on the bodywork, they even replaced my old Recaro driver’s seat, with a less worn out version of the same make, visually thats all you see apart from a new petrol cap and rear reg plate.  Apart from that there was the usual mechanical side of things that had to be replaced they even managed to knock off a further 200 quid, my cheapest overhaul to date.

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We’re taking it back

Another successful week completed, while driving around as many clubs and restaurants as possible. I’ve noticed more and more non radio drivers joining in - well done guys!

Other clubs and bars joining the queue are Tiger Tiger, The Sportsman , Crystal and Prohibition – I’m sure as time goes on more will join the list.

For you non radio drivers here are a few of the clubs and restaurants we are serving at the moment, in no particular order.

Smiths Bar 67/77, Charterhouse St EC1, Zuma Raphael St SW7, Cipriani 23/25  Davies SW1

Prohibition 1 Bishopsgate EC2, Tiger Tiger 28/29 Haymarket, Oxo Tower Barge House St SE1

Nobu Berkeley St  W1Funky Buddha, 5 Berkeley St W1, Buddha Bar 8 Victoria Embankment WC2

Raduno 85 Charthouse St  EC1, Abacus 24 Cornhill EC3, Babble57 Berkeley Square W1

Crystal 78 Wells St W1, 5 Cavindish Square Cavindish Sq W1, Movida 7/8 Argyll St W1

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Chicken ‘n’ Chips ?

Hi there everybody hope you are well.

I have had another lazy weekend, only went back to work last night and had a fairly good night. The first thing I had to do was to repatriate a lost mobile phone with its owner. On Friday morning I picked up a young lady who was quite drunk and took her home to her place in Queenstown Rd. After I had dropped her off I went to Smithfield Mkt to get a cuppa and while I was there I had a quick look around the back of the cab and found a phone on the floor.

At the time I wasn’t sure whose phone it was as I had been quite busy and I had a very drunk fella, who abandoned ship after he couldn’t tell me where he wanted to go, before we even went anywhere. So I put it in the glove compartment to deal with later. As the night went on the phone slipped my mind and it wasn’t until I was on my way home that I remembered it. I got it out of the cab and while I was deciding whether to try and track down the owner or just drop it off at a police station it started to ring.

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Taxi Wars

Friday night, 1st May, while working at the rank outside the Oxo Tower, I was lucky to find a space among the dozen or so minicabs that were parked up outside. Every time the punters got into one the marshals would call for more to fill the gaps, while I was at the head of our rank which happened to be in the middle of the road, you would see the clipboard johnny walk out with the customers  they had just touted from outside the restaurant main entrance. Then they would point them to the waiting car. At one point I was speaking to a driver on Dial- a- Cab and he told me that the manager of the Oxo Restaurant came outside to see what all the fuss was about, he said he overheard the manager asking what these cars are doing here? then he mentioned taxis – the managers said they (black cabs) abandoned us for years so what are they doing here now? As he was talking, a group of passing Americans overheard his conversion and said that they don’t want to get involved in any disputes between us black cabs  and them and therefore they would hail a taxi from the street.

Over the past couple of weeks my earnings have gone up, this is following a steep fall in the recession and it has gone up mainly through ranking up outside these restaurants and clubs, it goes to show the vast amount of work the minicabs have been taking away from us over the years. I can’t afford not to defend my right as a black cab and do work that is available and rightfully ours!

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