Stuck on the Strand at 11.30 last night, knackered, freezing cold, desperate to get home. I ping for

[Monty91]

an Uber and am in a warm car within two minutes and home within 30, all for the ridiculously cheap price of 13 quid!!111111!!

Granted, my driver did insist on speaking to me for the entire journey home and at one point became so animated he forgot to make a turning, but my word what a superb service. God bless the sharing economy imo.

[Pat Vegas]

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

It's not exactly glamorous, but they always have a room available.

[redgunamo]

[Berni]

I got a flat pint of lager in a beer mug. It was like I'd gone back to 1978. :-(

[Berni]

Fnaaar.

[Classic Jorge]

Anyway, 13 quid is hardly cheap, is it?

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

But the rooms are comfortable and warm, and for a walk-in they do a double for 180 quid, which is hard to argue with.

I did it once at the Savoy, too pissed to care, and they did me for 450 spondoolicks :-(

[Pat Vegas]

must be 5 quid as soon as you open the door.

[redgunamo]

[Pat Vegas]

this is more of an organised version of it.

[Monty91]

Blackcab more like 30?

[Berni]

that time? :hehe:

Oh, yes. You probably do.

[redgunamo]

Did *they* touch your *****?

[Monty91]

Every driver I've asked - and that's more than a dozen - has seemed entirely happy with the status quo :shrug:

[Luis Anaconda]

[Berni]

At least that was the propaganda the black cab drivers used to put out.

[Monty91]

stuff.

East Finchley is in Barnet.

[Classic Jorge]

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

About 1998, going by your figures.

[Billy Goat Sverige]

[Berni]

[Classic Jorge]

I'm sure they are happy with the status quo, it's just it wont be the status quo for long.

[Monty91]

But Jorge isn't supposed to know about that

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

Surely these chaps deserve the chance to earn a living?

[Classic Jorge]

I've a lot of respect for the cab trade in general though. I've known a lot of cab drivers and taken a lot of cabs in my time.

I try and jump into one whenever I'm in London

[Mc Gooner]

[redgunamo]

[Classic Jorge]

[Classic Jorge]

I have the receipt here, it went 23 quid and I tipped him a tenner

[Monty91]

have got a limited lifespan.

The low fares for starters are unsustainable and is only down to the lack of competition. He took a customer to Reading and back from central London recently and the fare was 30 quid - 25 per cent of which goes to Uber and a tenner to the pumps.

Anyway, why would any of this make you refuse to use them?

[IUFG]

[Pat Vegas]

[Pat Vegas]

against them.

[Berni]

[Classic Jorge]

Call me old fashioned but I like to hail a cab

[Classic Jorge]

The fact they've decimated the black cab trade by riding roughshod over laws, which they've then successfully lobbied to be exempted from poshumously.

The fact they're basically a zero hours employer/agency.

The fact they're essentially going to make all of their staff obsolete anyway.

The fact the service is worse.

The fact they have a pisspoor safety record.

Anything else?

[IUFG]

[Jake]

[Jake]

It is f**king cheap. The driver's are terrible though. I have to direct them half the time, definitely something you never have to do with a proper cabbie.

[Berni]

They are suffering a long-overdue correction.

Ultimately, as you say, the cab industry is doomed, so why shouldn't it be open to anyone who can offer the service?

[Classic Jorge]

My boss is very free and easy with signing off my expenses.

On the downside, he's knobbing my wife

[Classic Jorge]

Funny how conservatives stop wanting to conserve stuff as soon as working class people are involved.

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

and offer easily the best taxi experience of any city I have ever been to, anywhere in the world, and I expect to pay for that.

For them to have no competition is, however, a farce.

[Classic Jorge]

[Berni]

markets, though - that's the point.

And if people don't want the higher level of service at the price point at which it's offered, that's up to them. The people who offer that service need to go back to the drawing board. It is not a matter for government to protect them.

[Monty91]

As a customer I'm more than happy to trade the superior route knowledge of black cabbies for the indisputable benefits offered by Uber that can't be matched by black cabs (orderable from your phone, contactless payments, dirt cheap fares),

As for effectively being a zero hours employer, that is laughable. They can work as much or as little as they like. That is the perfect scenario for anyone who is self-employed and is in no way comparable with the kind of zero hours contract that has received a bad rap and leaves employees at risk of not getting enough work.

[Berni]

blatantly an attempt to defend their habitual tax evasion. :hehe:

[Jake]

Especially if using Hailo:

"I use Hailo ars it hars thar simplicity and functionality of Ubar but I'm like into keeping thar black carbie in bizness yah"

[Monty91]

suggested by their sat nav?

[Classic Jorge]

And they're surge priced so if there are more of them they will earn less.

[Jake]

[Classic Jorge]

The fact these lot are not subject to competition is quite frankly mind boggling.

[Berni]

If there's a lot of you around who can offer a given service, the average price for that service will go down.

[Classic Jorge]

[Monty91]

to earn money? You think they should be on a basic with each fre being a commission?

The harder they work, the more they earn :shrug:

[Pat Vegas]

I don't know if it's still the case but there is one set of lights there that was the shortest green light time in London. 6 seconds.

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

I'd have thought you'd have known about that, being from oop north and everything.

[Classic Jorge]

Neither of us are freelancers though

God rest his soul

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

[Pat Vegas]

He woke up confused in Billingsgate Fish market :hehe:

[Berni]

Only you seem to be complaining about the immutable laws of supply and demand, which is the dictionary definition of a waste of time.

[Classic Jorge]

[Jake]

[Classic Jorge]

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

They are, in this respect, the boss of you. And that's not going to change in the immediate future, indeed, almost certainly not in our lifetimes.

How does that feel, j? :hehe:

[Berni]

and demand, innit?

Also, please tell me why black cab drivers shouldn't be made to accept card payments?

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

He hasn't really explained why.

[Berni]

[Classic Jorge]

You literally will not let any ideology stand in your way of making sure the working class dont get above their station.

They can accept card payments if they want to, if they dont want to they dont have to.

[Classic Jorge]

[Berni]

wonder why it wouldn't just be seen by them as a no-brainer for tfl to make it mandatory?

Oh, hang on. IT'S BECAUSE THEY'RE TAX-DODGING *******S WHO DON'T WANT THEIR TRANSACTIONS GOING THROUGH THE BOOKS, ISN'T IT?

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

and therefore evade paying tax? But these people are working class, b, and therefore perfect in all regards.

[Classic Jorge]

Should they? Yes

Should they be made to? No

[Classic Jorge]

Yet think it's OK for the right sort of people to do it, though

[Classic Jorge]

[Berni]

competition who offer more customer-friendly payment methods. They want it both ways - to be protected from competition while not having to do anything to be more competitive.

And ultimately, of course, the whole thing will be academic, since their actual incomes will start to match what they're declaring to the taxman anyway. :hehe:

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

It's odd how you have a go at those who legally pay the minimum tax as set down by law, yet are happy for others to illegally evade paying the correct amount of tax.

[Berni]

It's quite simple: one's illegal and one's legal. What the cab drivers do is illegal.

It's quite a crucial difference, really.

[Berni]

Careful, j. You'll be railing against 'the coloureds' whilst talking over your left shoulder next. :hehe:

[Classic Jorge]

It's just some how the massive tech company waved some cash at lovely boris and he let it slide, almost as if it wasnt the metropolitain police that regulated metered transport anymore or something.

And if you want to talk tax dodging on a proper, meaningful and damaging scale we should really look into people like google and facebook. One rule for the rich and another for the poor imo.

Oh, right? They're cool with that then?

http://img01.thedrum.com/s3fs-public/styles/news_article_lightbox/public/drum_basic_article/97284/main_images/facebook%20george%20osborne.jpg?itok=YZchYz4y

http://cache4.asset-cache.net/gc/142057475-george-osborne-u-k-chancellor-of-the-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=Z0zsWpN2ukUDXYqF4boPJfHj0ygz5dMKkXdb0wlO50YTLBpl Uw56kGbTNi4ks1w44u7oYwrL0SLM8T2QNDCwWg%3D%3D

[Classic Jorge]

[Classic Jorge]

[Berni]

they aren't. Having good accountants and the ability to avoid taxation isn't a crime, j.

[Classic Jorge]

And deciding to not pursue cases against massive companies avoiding tax on a massive scale definitely should be.

[Luis Anaconda]

[Classic Jorge]

[Berni]

[Classic Jorge]

Or possibly not allow them to completely disregard longstanding laws, let alone be completely cuckolded by them and allow them to break them whilst they're conducting a judicial review only slightly less of a whitewash than the Hutton Report.