Post by The Dark Knight on Oct 16, 2011 19:29:39 GMT
An article caught my attention last month in a local newspaper – a paper which I only glance at when someone happens to leaves it on the back seat of my cab – and it confused me somewhat. I assumed at fi rst that the piece was firmly directed at the dress and etiquette of some Liverpool licensed taxi drivers who operate from John Lennon airport as the header read: ‘First impressions count - whether you’re a tourist or a taxi driver’. However, when I read further, the author ‘Susan’ actually stated that: “It had gone midnight when my mate, her husband and little boy landed at Liverpool Airport and made their way outside to wait for a cab. Although dark it was still busy as they peered into the gloom searching for the taxi they had ordered. It was then that they saw him emerging from behind the wheel of another private hire vehicle. Heavily tattooed and with a shaven head he looked, she later recalled, like something from a Crimewatch e-fit. I’m sure he’s a perfectly decent bloke and appearances can be deceptive. But fi rst impressions are critical. That driver may be a tourist’s fi rst introduction to the city. At best his appearance is alarming and at worst it’s downright aggressive. That’s why I have no problem with the new dress code for cabbies being introduced by bosses at John Lennon airport” Very dramatic indeed, I thought for one minute that I was reading a thriller! Is she talking about taxi or private hire drivers here?
This particular tabloid and the so-called journalists who write for it does, as everyone in the Liverpool Taxi and Private Hire trade will be aware, has a very bad habit of confusing its readership with Private Hire and Public Hire when using the term ‘TAXI’ to describe both modes of transport? Moreover, these ‘journalists’ need to approach the right people and ask questions’ whilst undertaking proper research in order to get their facts right before eagerly punching the keyboard of their laptops and ultimately making downright fools of, not only themselves, but the paper they write for.
If the ‘bosses’ at John Lennon Airport, as she states are introducing a ‘dress code’ for the Liverpool licensed drivers who pay and hold a permit to work JLA I might add, this would not apply to a Private Hire driver (sitting on Dunlop road until the flight has landed, rather than paying the inflated pick up point fee to park by the short stay car park) that may have been pre booked by any would-be passenger, especially those private hire vehicles licensed by Sefton Borough Council with a blue plate attached to the rear of the vehicle.
Susan then suddenly draws her attention to the Hackney driver, she goes on to say: “In future Hackney drivers can’t wear flip-flops, shorts, vests or football shirts. Quite right too (sic). They’re ambassadors for our city and while no-one should expect them to sport smoking jackets and cravats I don’t think it’s too much of an ask (sic) to demand a certain level of smartness. It’s a move made all the more appropriate with the news that Liverpool is launching a major rebranding campaign. It’s Liverpool, I’m Liverpool aims to promote our reputation and destroy once and for all the curly-perm, moustachioed, nick-your-hubcaps stereotype that has dogged us for years”. Mmmm... interesting. So you can see why I initially became a little confused, Susan was talking about the private hire TAXI driver(s) when her mate first stepped out from the airport concourse peering into the Liverpool Estuary’s gloomy darkness looking out for the private hire car that they’d booked while waiting by the carousel for their luggage to arrive, but she is talking about the TAXI drivers in her last paragraph! These TAXI drivers may be a tourist’s fi rst introduction (and saviour) to the city of Liverpool and its surrounding areas, but I think it’s unfair to categorize and tar them all with the same brush as tattooed headshaven thug lookalikes, and that includes private hire drivers as well! After all, they are providing an invaluable service to the public, where at times the vulnerability of these drivers now warrants CCTV to afford them some form of protection from thugs or passengers that might attack or make a false claim against them. I’m not disputing the fact that a small minority of the people who work from ‘Fantasy Island’ let the majority of drivers and the side down (they know who they are and so do I) when adopting shabby or unsuitable attire and a rude aggressive attitude to punters who are only going rtfc shall we say, and quoting over inflated prices for out-of-town rides. Of course, this behaviour has and will continue to turn any future would-be taxi passenger, like Susan’s mate towards a blue plated private hire car, who would in all probability, normally jump in a cab on the airport rank...
Cee Camerase
Liverpool
Source: Taxi Talk Magazine
This particular tabloid and the so-called journalists who write for it does, as everyone in the Liverpool Taxi and Private Hire trade will be aware, has a very bad habit of confusing its readership with Private Hire and Public Hire when using the term ‘TAXI’ to describe both modes of transport? Moreover, these ‘journalists’ need to approach the right people and ask questions’ whilst undertaking proper research in order to get their facts right before eagerly punching the keyboard of their laptops and ultimately making downright fools of, not only themselves, but the paper they write for.
If the ‘bosses’ at John Lennon Airport, as she states are introducing a ‘dress code’ for the Liverpool licensed drivers who pay and hold a permit to work JLA I might add, this would not apply to a Private Hire driver (sitting on Dunlop road until the flight has landed, rather than paying the inflated pick up point fee to park by the short stay car park) that may have been pre booked by any would-be passenger, especially those private hire vehicles licensed by Sefton Borough Council with a blue plate attached to the rear of the vehicle.
Susan then suddenly draws her attention to the Hackney driver, she goes on to say: “In future Hackney drivers can’t wear flip-flops, shorts, vests or football shirts. Quite right too (sic). They’re ambassadors for our city and while no-one should expect them to sport smoking jackets and cravats I don’t think it’s too much of an ask (sic) to demand a certain level of smartness. It’s a move made all the more appropriate with the news that Liverpool is launching a major rebranding campaign. It’s Liverpool, I’m Liverpool aims to promote our reputation and destroy once and for all the curly-perm, moustachioed, nick-your-hubcaps stereotype that has dogged us for years”. Mmmm... interesting. So you can see why I initially became a little confused, Susan was talking about the private hire TAXI driver(s) when her mate first stepped out from the airport concourse peering into the Liverpool Estuary’s gloomy darkness looking out for the private hire car that they’d booked while waiting by the carousel for their luggage to arrive, but she is talking about the TAXI drivers in her last paragraph! These TAXI drivers may be a tourist’s fi rst introduction (and saviour) to the city of Liverpool and its surrounding areas, but I think it’s unfair to categorize and tar them all with the same brush as tattooed headshaven thug lookalikes, and that includes private hire drivers as well! After all, they are providing an invaluable service to the public, where at times the vulnerability of these drivers now warrants CCTV to afford them some form of protection from thugs or passengers that might attack or make a false claim against them. I’m not disputing the fact that a small minority of the people who work from ‘Fantasy Island’ let the majority of drivers and the side down (they know who they are and so do I) when adopting shabby or unsuitable attire and a rude aggressive attitude to punters who are only going rtfc shall we say, and quoting over inflated prices for out-of-town rides. Of course, this behaviour has and will continue to turn any future would-be taxi passenger, like Susan’s mate towards a blue plated private hire car, who would in all probability, normally jump in a cab on the airport rank...
Cee Camerase
Liverpool
Source: Taxi Talk Magazine