I know this is slightly off the subject, but just wanted to tell you something...my Paul is a Licenced London taxi driver and a minicab scraped all the side of his Taxi while he was working...the minicab driver rtied to drive away but Paul caught up with him and called the police. the bloke couldn't even speak english but managed to phone his boss. he had only come into the country the day before, and this day was his first day ever driving in this country. In a nutshell there was nothing the police could do about it, even though they strongly suspected he had no driver's licence, and was probaly not even entiltled to be working in the first place as they told Paul that by the time he would have to produce documentation, he would probably be able to obtain something, they said there was really nothing they could do about it. Paul was able however to get the manager to pay him cash for the damage, which paul had to take time out the next day to go and obtain. But at the end of the day, all he wanted was the money to pay for the damage, although he was outraged! I don't know if this was just the police being lazy? I'm sure they could have done something, but it makes you wonder how many minicab drivers are like this. And why do the police have to wait until someone gets raped or killed before they do anything? It's ridiculous. I've always known NEVER to take a minicab if it's picked up on the street, but this man was actually driving for a firm. Half of minicabs don't even have an MOT or insurance....for all we know they might never have taken a driving test. And sure as hell the majority of them have no idea where they are going! I know people think that Black Taxi's cost too much, but did you know that on Xmas and New Years, while some minicabs will charge double, sometimes even treble, that a Black Taxi will only have about and extra £2 added to the clock when you get in it? And they have a vast knowledge of where they are going, have taken advanced driving tests (I know they drive aggressively though) and are registered with the police and fully insured. Worth the money in my opinion.
Women should NEVER take a minicab alone.....NO ONE should EVER pick one up from the street, and make sure you wear your seatbelts even in the back! Try to use a firm you know and trust.
Sorry, I know I am biased!
