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[05omegav6]

Anything over 3.5t and registered after Jan 2005 must be fitted with a limiter. Anything with a limiter fitted may not use the outside lane

[the alarming man]

Anything over 3.5t and registered after Jan 2005 must be fitted with a limiter. Anything with a limiter fitted may not use the outside lane

yep been like that since i think 1st of jan 2012

[martin42]

thats been like that for about 5yrs,even tho i still see some 7.5t doing well over 70 in the middle lane on some motorways and dual carriage ways

[geoffr70]

Electronic limiting of speed of car ??

Electronic limit of time of driving ??

Electronic monitoring of position/speed/Time etc (already available to Insurance Companies) ??


Lots of electronic possibilities ... but I can see the "I have the right to freedom not government control" screamers lining up already.

With freedom comes responsibility, if you can't be responsible you lose the right to freedom IMHO (and that applies to a lot more than just driving ...but thats another argument ..   ) ...

Exactly, and what's wrong with that? Small state, less control. There's too many laws and too many people in society who call for more laws and more control instead of common sense. We're people not sheep. I'm sick of ill thought through legislation and rules dreamt up by office wallowing pen pushers that impede the majority.

Behaviour is a symptom of attitude. Attitude is a symptom of our collapsing society. It'll never change. Most people's attitude is to sod everyone else, whether that's driving too fast and ignoring the consequences or anything else.

[geoffr70]

Yeah but staying on topic though, the standards and attitudes of so call driving instructors I see here are atrocious. If you're driving a sign written car like that surely you'd want to be the best because you put yourself on a pedestal. They don't seem to be bothered though. While I'm on it as well, bloody taxi drivers, absolutely bloody disgraceful, every aspect of their driving. The irony I'd they think they're professional drivers. They should be made to sit extended tests every year.

[martin42]

umm taxi drivers,do you mean the 1's that can speak english and understand it or the others who cant??

[05omegav6]

Most LAs require taxi drivers to take a commercial driving test with the DSA, along with medicals to commercial licence standards every 5 years regardless of age not to mention an enhanced CRB check every 3 years.

I would politely suggest that most of the worst cab drivers are not local. Also we had to undertake Btec and NVQ certificates, which included several in car assessments.

Electronic limiting of speed of car ??

Electronic limit of time of driving ??

Electronic monitoring of position/speed/Time etc (already available to Insurance Companies) ??


Lots of electronic possibilities ... but I can see the "I have the right to freedom not government control" screamers lining up already.

With freedom comes responsibility, if you can't be responsible you lose the right to freedom IMHO (and that applies to a lot more than just driving ...but thats another argument ..   ) ...

Exactly, and what's wrong with that? Small state, less control. There's too many laws and too many people in society who call for more laws and more control instead of common sense. We're people not sheep. I'm sick of ill thought through legislation and rules dreamt up by office wallowing pen pushers that impede the majority.

Behaviour is a symptom of attitude. Attitude is a symptom of our collapsing society. It'll never change. Most people's attitude is to sod everyone else, whether that's driving too fast and ignoring the consequences or anything else.

If you really believe your last paragraph Geoff, then why do you do what you do?
If that is how you truly feel about the people around you, then why not go and buy a hut in Bali and spend the days fishing and sunbathing.

If, however you do it for your own ends, well that's up to you, but you can't have it both ways...

[geoffr70]

You've completely lost me there

[Andy B]

Most LAs require taxi drivers to take a commercial driving test with the DSA, along with medicals to commercial licence standards every 5 years regardless of age not to mention an enhanced CRB check every 3 years.

I would politely suggest that most of the worst cab drivers are not local. Also we had to undertake Btec and NVQ certificates, which included several in car assessments.

 .......

I wish there was a local BTec test for taxi drivers in Bolton regarding not waiting for/collecting/dropping off fares at the train station while parked in the nearside of the dual carriage way so that it doesn't obstruct the rest of the traffic flow! They'd all pass the thing due to the amount of practice they get! 

.... and to prove my point, there's one here! I wouldn't mind, but there's a blody great big parking/lay by feet from where they pull up!
https://maps.google.com/?ll=53.574168,-2.427093&spn=0.000006,0.00427&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=53.57419,-2.426928&panoid=68OKXrkCbFn3myr5kQBzvg&cbp=12,44.42,,0,8.59

[geoffr70]

BTECs, NVQs, CRBs, in car assessments blah blah blah every 1/3/5 years or however often doesn't make the blindest bit of difference to most of them once it's done and they're on their way to the next fare, treating the road like their own private race track, speeding, cutting people up, not indicating, undertaking, going through red lights, amber gambling, parking on zig zags/yellow lines, lazily double parking, needlessly using fog lights blinding people, tailgating, ignoring stop signs and other road signs, incorrect lane usage, parking on junctions, sounding their horn (especially at night) because thry cant be bothered to get out the car, destroying grass verges, the list goes on. Every time I drive I see examples of bad driving and general slovenliness in taxis. I would've thought anyone who charges members of the public to transport them somewhere would want to display the highest standards possible. One would think I've got a particular gripe with taxi drivers, not at all, it's just observations.

[05omegav6]

The first legally parked car in that pic is the grey Yaris. Loading doesn't include picking up or setting down passengers.

Sounds like you joined the wrong service Most of the shockingly rubbish taxi drivers that I have encountered are the London Private Hire drivers, sitting at 50 in the middle lane of a near empty motorway, using sidelights and front fogs because they can't be bothered to turn the headlight switch another notch, always in the wrong lane etc etc.
And of course you never see fire engines illegally parked outside KFC, or the chinese.

All these faults you have issue with are constantly displayed by a wide cross section of people. Some  of whom genuinely couldn't give a rats nostril about what they do, how they do it or the implications of their actions. But alot by decent individuals going about their lives, unaware that they have transgressed. Some people, and I consider myself in this group, take a genuine pride in most of what they do, and strive to do it well, but no one is perfect.

Not every cab driver is a ignorant-rta-in-waiting, not every lorry driver is a prostitute-murdering-watching-telly-whilst-driving-psychopath, not all firemen work second jobs on their rest days, not all coppers are arrogant power crazed bullies, not all MPs are bad people.

If you have a genuine greivance with the behaviour of your local cab drivers, then collect the evidence and present it to the licencing officer and the local plod, but please don't just sit and judge.

At risk of misquoting, " Don't judge another man without first walking a mile in his shoes..." this is good for two reasons. Firstly, you will be a mile away, but, secondly and more importantly, you will have a real understanding of their perspective.

[Andy B]

The first legally parked car in that pic is the grey Yaris. Loading doesn't include picking up or setting down passengers.......

But the taxi is the only one pulled up  in the nearside lane causing an obstruction. It's only by chance that the loading bay isn't full of taxis.

[05omegav6]

The first legally parked car in that pic is the grey Yaris. Loading doesn't include picking up or setting down passengers.......

But the taxi is the only one pulled up  in the nearside lane causing an obstruction. It's only by chance that the loading bay isn't full of taxis.

Personally, I would not have waited there, but I do understand why someone a little less thoughtful might...

A viscious circle containing the following ingredients:

1. Pre booked cab passengers expect to see the car outside the door. If they can't see the car, they assume it hasn't turned up so they then go to the taxi rank, or they go to the taxi rank first and wonder why the prebooked car isn't waiting there.
2. Pre booked drivers try to park as prominently as they can because of 1.
3. The railway feel that they have provided adequate pick up facilities by allowing space for a taxi rank and bus stops, with little or no thought to other station users. Chances are that the bus stops and taxi rank around the corner are on railway property, and the taxi drivers are charged good money for a permit to use that rank.

From my own experience, half of my prebooked journeys from Horsham station were lost because people, usually visitors, assumed we would be waiting at the taxi rank, and so headed straight there. Of them, only 1 in 5 would bother to ring in,  so you end up calling them to find out if they are off the train only to discover that they are well on their way to their destination. You have then wasted 15-20 minutes, potentially the firm also loses customers that they might otherwise have been able to service. A frustrating situation all round.

When Horsham Station forecourt was redeveloped, the original plans allowed for a mere six spaces on the taxi rank. This was based on the fact that the previous year, only five people had bought permits, and completely overlooked the fact that there were actually twenty or so taxis using the station rank. The layout was eventually changed on completion, but only after all the drivers bought permits.

[geoffr70]

Ex taxi al

You explain to me why you think you have the knowledge to come to the conclusion that I joined the wrong service.

I can tell from your responses you've taken the huff because you don't like what I have to say, which is very childish. Seeing fire engines parked outside KFC is absolutely irrelevant to me and the discussion, so I don't know why you mentioned it. The only reason I can see for it is child like tit for tat, which I'm not playing.

Thanks for that lesson in anti stereo typing as well. You mention firefighters' working on their days off, like it's some sort of negative stereotype. That's completely irrelevant to the discussion as well, but now you mentioned it, what's wrong with that? If people want to work in their free time to earn money where's the problem? We all sell our time for money. It's a capitalist society we live in, there's no stupid rule (and never will or should be) saying you can't have 2, 3, 4, or 10 jobs. The biggest problem I can see with this is ignorant, jealous, socialist minded people don't like it.

Yes you're right about all sorts of drivers and people also driving badly. My point is that a disproportionately high percentage of taxi drivers are bad, which is compounded by the fact that they carry fare paying members of the public. Taxi drivers as a whole, from my observations are a dangerous element of road users, which is why I never use them.

[ted_one]

Hit the nail fare and square,I can only speak from the Heathrow perspective and one of the worst so called licensed private hire companies is Addison Lee,the standards of drivers that they employ really are the pits,the green TFL sticker that they display on the rear screen has been renamed by the guys that drive within the airport as the 'can't drive sticker' always gave them a wide berth as they were and still are useless,weird thing is, a lot of large companies use them