Private Hire

A kind-hearted taxi driver rescued a lost dog during its morning walk – taking the cold cavapoo on a 100-mile adventure before managing to reunite the petrified pooch with its worried owner.

The drama happened when Georgia Crewe and three-year-old Ralph enjoyed their daily early-morning walk near woodland at Gresford Quarry in Wrexham.

London’s famous public hire taxis have been getting greener – and now the capital’s private hire fleet is following the same route.

Since January 1, all new private hire taxis licensed for the first time must be able to operate in zero-emission mode. Vehicles that fail to meet the greener criteria will not be granted licenses.

When passengers get into a cab, they expect it to be safe, comfortable and clean – and taxi drivers have a long-standing reputation for keeping their cars spotless.

This isn’t easy, especially with the British weather and having dozens of people in and out of their cabs each day.

According to the office of national statistics, there are approximately 330,000 taxi drivers in the UK – so it is no surprise they are all flocking to price comparison websites to save money on their taxi insurance!

Just like most things in the UK, the taxi insurance market is changing.

As ambulance workers prepare for their latest industrial action, taxi drivers are once again getting ready to help the sick and injured.

Just before Christmas, the NHS was crippled by industrial action by nurses and ambulance workers which led to government warnings for people not to get drunk during the festive celebrations, and to use taxis instead of ambulances to get to hospital.

Taxi drivers never know who’s getting into the back of their cab. It could be sports stars, actors, rock stars, politicians . . . the possibilities are endless as this Uber driver found out.

But even with the use of booking apps, drivers don’t really know who they are picking up – or what their passengers are doing.

Cancellations are hurting taxi drivers, passengers and venues – and are making people lose faith in public hire app bookings.

It is easy to understand why a black cab taxi driver on route to a booking might stop to pick up a fare in the street and cancel the booking – or why passengers who book a public hire cab jump in the nearest available taxi instead.

Taxi drivers are calling for tariffs to be increased as the cost-of-living crisis continues to put the squeeze on people’s finances.

For the past year, we have all battled with rising fuel and energy costs, which have helped push up inflation. For public hire, private hire drivers and others who earn their living on the road, there has been little choice but to take a hit at the pumps.

Passengers are being warned about the dangers of travelling in illegal taxis which is making the most of the surging demand in towns and cities at weekends.

The warning comes after a council in Wales saw a rise in the number of unlicensed public hire and private hire taxis descending on Merthyr Tydfil at the weekends.

A private hire taxi driver has sparked debate after she claims to have exposed an affair by taking a cheating man and his mistress back to his home – just moments after his wife and children had waved him off.

The incident happened in Dallas after an Uber driver who gave her name as Roni shared a video on TikTok.

The pandemic put the brakes on the taxi industry and many others as lockdown and social-distancing measures continued for almost two years.

We recently shared that more people are now getting back behind the wheel of a taxi or are starting out their career as taxi drivers. And, as numbers continue to climb, interesting trends and changes have occurred which could shape the future the taxi trade.

Some people see driverless taxis as the future, while to others, they are nothing more than a hi-tech gimmick. But ultimately, it is the passengers who will decide their fate as they have to feel safe and comfortable using the hi-tech taxi.

Whether or not the novelty wears off, there has been plenty of investment into autonomous vehicles and driverless taxis are currently being trialled in America.