ScienceBoy
Money List Winner
Everyone I meet seems to play golf...
Private Hire Taxi Drivers
- Thread starter Owen_Thomas_14
- Start date
moogie
Tour Winner
I had previously worked all my life in the print trade, factory work, for 28 years, clock in, clock out, knew how many hours you were working, and how much you were getting paid per hour.
April 2013 , recieved redundancy package after 21 years at same job/place.
Started private hire taxi in Newcastle city council may 2013
Self employed
At one of the biggest companies in the city
Approx 450 cars spread throughout the north east, far and wide.
Big accounts, with many companies, including nhs work, most of the hotels and restaurants in city centre area sewn up.
1st year in, plenty work , easy to make what was needed, and I mean with ease.
Though it was a shock to go from paying £300 per annum car insurance, to more than 10 times that for 1st year taxi insurance
2nd year similar , as far as work, ability to make money
Now Newcastle city council decided the other year to drop, the locality test, or as others may know as "knowledge" test, funnily enough, just as über want to enter Newcastle.....
........now Newcastle too is saturated with drivers.
The Xmas period just gone was the worst I've had in the short time I've done this, but echoed by friends with 20 plus years in the game.
This is the period where I normally go at it really hard to make the most of the festive time and get head start for the quiet periods ahead after the new year.
As has been said before, you either try this and love it, or quickly decide it's not for you.
I work in an open office set up
Work when you want, work as little or as much as you want
The flexibility is biggest positive in the job
When it's busy, you actually get a bit of a buzz
When it's quiet, don't try and work out what you've made per hour, ha, never do that anymore, just know I always get to where I want to be every month
It's atleast 60 hr per week job, if you want to make any sort of money , such are the outgoing of being an owner driver
You certainly can't walk into it expecting to make a wage working 9-5
It just won't work
You can meet some nice interesting people
But also some total trash
You need to know how to deal with both types
You will be tested
But if you're not a people person with decent tolerance levels
Just forget it
April 2013 , recieved redundancy package after 21 years at same job/place.
Started private hire taxi in Newcastle city council may 2013
Self employed
At one of the biggest companies in the city
Approx 450 cars spread throughout the north east, far and wide.
Big accounts, with many companies, including nhs work, most of the hotels and restaurants in city centre area sewn up.
1st year in, plenty work , easy to make what was needed, and I mean with ease.
Though it was a shock to go from paying £300 per annum car insurance, to more than 10 times that for 1st year taxi insurance
2nd year similar , as far as work, ability to make money
Now Newcastle city council decided the other year to drop, the locality test, or as others may know as "knowledge" test, funnily enough, just as über want to enter Newcastle.....
........now Newcastle too is saturated with drivers.The Xmas period just gone was the worst I've had in the short time I've done this, but echoed by friends with 20 plus years in the game.
This is the period where I normally go at it really hard to make the most of the festive time and get head start for the quiet periods ahead after the new year.
As has been said before, you either try this and love it, or quickly decide it's not for you.
I work in an open office set up
Work when you want, work as little or as much as you want
The flexibility is biggest positive in the job
When it's busy, you actually get a bit of a buzz
When it's quiet, don't try and work out what you've made per hour, ha, never do that anymore, just know I always get to where I want to be every month
It's atleast 60 hr per week job, if you want to make any sort of money , such are the outgoing of being an owner driver
You certainly can't walk into it expecting to make a wage working 9-5
It just won't work
You can meet some nice interesting people
But also some total trash
You need to know how to deal with both types
You will be tested
But if you're not a people person with decent tolerance levels
Just forget it
Last edited:
Owen_Thomas_14
Journeyman Pro
Thanks everyone for the input ☺. Looks like it will be a no from me for this then haha. The guy always gave me an option to work weekends which might be better off for me if I'm needing the extra cash. The hunt goes on for a new job 🤔
snell
Journeyman Pro
Just do what most self employed taxi drivers do....fiddle the books 
ManinBlack
Tour Winner
Just do what most self employed taxi drivers do....fiddle the books
When I was a bank manager I had some taxi drivers as customers. None of them declared the correct income to the tax man. Best quote was "I pay my tax at the petrol pumps"
snell
Journeyman Pro
Aye some of them milk the system for all its worth unfortunately.
It's anyone dealing with cash. We had some building work done a couple of years ago by a builder on our estate. We received a proper quote, paid by cheque, all legit. We had a quick look at the guys accounts online before we went ahead to make sure he was financially sound. His accounts made him look on the edge of poverty. Small turnover, £300 in the bank. Passing his house I saw two new Audi's, a huge extension in the process of being built and regular golf trips abroad. It was a nonsense.
HMRC should be going around all tradesmen, Taxi drivers, pubs etc and look hard at their homelife compared to their accounts. Anywhere where cash is standard. Make a law, all bills over £20 to be paid by either debit or credit card. Put some traceability into the system and then they wont be able to avoid paying tax. With the easy advent of accepting payment via phone apps there is no excuse for it now.
HMRC should be going around all tradesmen, Taxi drivers, pubs etc and look hard at their homelife compared to their accounts. Anywhere where cash is standard. Make a law, all bills over £20 to be paid by either debit or credit card. Put some traceability into the system and then they wont be able to avoid paying tax. With the easy advent of accepting payment via phone apps there is no excuse for it now.
snell
Journeyman Pro
Couldn't have put it better myself
Unfortunately they don't have the staff to do that.
moogie
Tour Winner
Seriously mate
Hope you're just having a laugh
The outgoings in this job are crazy high, before you make a penny....and before you ask why do it....??........it's simple, I've known 1 job all my working life, redundancy, gotta still pay bills/mortgage etc somehow
Happy to enlighten you next time we play together
snell
Journeyman Pro
I'm not saying all do mate
But I've known of a lot who do so and don't hide it neither.
moogie
Tour Winner
Could well believe there could be, in all trades
But there's also plenty that talk utter BS in this game too, bragging, bravado, call it what you will, quoting earnings figures that you know, after doing same job a few years, are just not possible
On the flip side
We have accounts to take staff home for most big bars, hotels, restaurants, in city centre/jesmond
I've picked up waiting staff making more in tips (in a week) than my mate that rents a company car and works 65hrs per week driving a taxi
Norrin Radd
Tour Winner
so as i have already posted that i am in the proccess of gaining a hackney cab licence that i will now become a tax fiddling a/hole who is going to live it up in a fancy house and have a brand new motor on the drive .
give me strength,talk about tarring everyone with the same brush.
do you know for a fact that everyone fiddles the system tax wise ,just because they work in a cash business ?
i think assumptions have been made as you obviously think its an easy fiddle to do .
im not saying that all cabbies dont fiddle the books but i know a GOOD FEW THAT DONT .
not everyone is looking to fiddle the books so lets not make accusations that they are.
give me strength,talk about tarring everyone with the same brush.
do you know for a fact that everyone fiddles the system tax wise ,just because they work in a cash business ?
i think assumptions have been made as you obviously think its an easy fiddle to do .
im not saying that all cabbies dont fiddle the books but i know a GOOD FEW THAT DONT .
not everyone is looking to fiddle the books so lets not make accusations that they are.
No accusation tarring everyone from me, apologies if it was read that way. No question that some do though and being a cash business opens the door for that to happen. Reduce the amount of cash being handled and put traceability into the system.
snell
Journeyman Pro
As I said earlier I'm not saying they all do.
But I know of a good few that do....and yes I've seen a lot of facts to prove it unfortunately.
But I know of a good few that do....and yes I've seen a lot of facts to prove it unfortunately.
moogie
Tour Winner
Yes totally crazy generalisations and accusations.
I think all people see with taxis is busy Friday nights and Saturday nights
If everyday was a Saturday I could work 4 days on and 3 off
But unfortunately they're not
People don't see the weekdays where lots aren't making anywhere near minimum wage, per hour, there's some real BS on here
I can only talk of my own licensing area, but this games going downhill by the year, saturated with drivers after dropping the locality test, knowledge test.
I know 5 lads local to me that have thrown in the towel
1 was at school with me, about 16 years in job, now delivers prescriptions for local chemists, minimum wage, 5 days week, weekends off, luxury when have kids, about £40 week worse off, no car, no car worries, servicing, repairs.....no headaches
So I'd love to know which books he could fiddle prior to leaving
It's a falicy
snell
Journeyman Pro
So just because a few of your mates haven't fiddled the books that means no one else could?
moogie
Tour Winner
Just do what most self employed taxi drivers do....fiddle the books
Not saying that nobody could
But you're quite clearly insinuating that "most" do and is commonplace
That's completely different
I don't know anybody that fudges the books
That's gospel, you know me, I don't BS
But as said above, I know a lad delivering prescriptions now on minimum wage, also another delivering for Iceland, such is the state of private hire taxi driving in Newcastle
If you own a car and have a bad year with it, you've made nowt
I will happily chat about this with you next time on golf course, as don't really want to add much more on here
Or next time you wanna buy a cap......
snell
Journeyman Pro
Not saying that nobody could
But you're quite clearly insinuating that "most" do and is commonplace
That's completely different
I don't know anybody that fudges the books
That's gospel, you know me, I don't BS
But as said above, I know a lad delivering prescriptions now on minimum wage, also another delivering for Iceland, such is the state of private hire taxi driving in Newcastle
If you own a car and have a bad year with it, you've made nowt
I will happily chat about this with you next time on golf course, as don't really want to add much more on here
Or next time you wanna buy a cap......
Haha its a date
Nar mate I'm not aiming this at you or anyone else on this forum at all.
But it's always been a massive gripe of mine the way I hear people brag about tax evasion.
maliee424
Newbie
i would definitely check the company and it's review before start working for it also why not start your own taxi solution just a thought since this seems very easy these days due to already available solution of white label taxi softwares you can get a ready made system with modifications ofcourse which is also very easy to brand one of my friends has done it and was very successful at it as well you can check this resource for help taxi management systems they also offer life time support and upgrades
