Hello everybody. It’s me again!

I thought I’d ask your opinion on a few things, firstly “Job Protocol” otherwise known as p**s off leather arse, I saw him first.

The day after I got my badge I went to work for a few hours and then met up with Steve and a couple of his mates down on Chelsea Embankment.We got talking about what I had done that day and, if I thought doing the knowledge was worth it – after all the usual mickey taking and exchange of insults the old fellas got round to cab lore or protocol and asked what I knew about it.

I said I knew about letting cabs out in traffic and that was about it.

One of Steve’s mates, an old fella named Errol who has been driving cabs since they were horse draw has an unusual habit of picking up old fish and chip wrappers and storing them in the luggage compartment of his Metrocab, then told me about not nicking another cabbie’s job after overtaking. Errol explained that if you pass a cab, always look to see if he has his light on and if he has drive past the next job so that the other driver can pick it up.

I have been doing this ever since. Sometimes I make a mistake and don’t notice another cab, and  if the driver pulls alongside and says I’ve just nicked his ride I always apologise and tell the punter to get in the other cab. There have been times when other drivers do it to me and I politely point out their mistake and generally they say sorry and send the punter my way.

But over the last few weeks this has been happening quite a lot and when I have pointed this to the other drivers I have been met with expressions ranging from blank stares to an old boy telling me to go f**k myself . Now, I don’t know if the rules have changed and it is now everyman for themselves or if the Christmas pressure is getting to some of us but give it some thought and remember we all want to earn a living but its a lot easier if we are all on the same side.

While I have your attention, I’d like to ask your opinion on tyres. Do you buy known makes or cheaper budget ones. The reason I ask is that I have always used Michelin in the past and found them to be very good. However, this year for the overhaul there were quite a few jobs that needed doing plus 4 new tyres so I had some cheap ones fitted in an effort to save money, otherwise known as being tight fisted, and have had a year of punctures – 8 in all 2 of these punctures have resulted in the tyres having to be replaced so, its back to Michelin for me. Please let me know it this is usual or if I have just been unlucky.

How many of you have had a PCN in the post recently? If you look back at earlier posts, you will see that I had one in Sept, for stopping on a red route at 2.30 ish am to let a punter out.

The trade papers are full of stories of drivers getting done by post after being caught on CCTV for parking, for having a wee in the kerb and various other misdermenours, so why is it that they never seem to catch the minicab touts? As I said previously in another post, I have recently changed my hours and now start at midnight and I can’t believe the amount of touts there are in the west end and city now. Whatever happened to the police squad that was set up to deal with this menace, when I first started driving a cab nearly 6 years ago they used to set up operations where the police stopped suspected touts and if they were found to be breaking the law the cars were towed away. I seem to remember that they even found a few wanted people this way.

So do the police and PCO think that the problem has gone away or have they just given up or could there be a third reason? That reason being that the police think that so long as the public are off the street, they are no longer their problem. Just my opinion. Let me know what you think.

Cheers Del Boy