When you are out and about partying this coming Christmas season it's a great idea to use a taxi to get home. This way you can have a drink with your friends without the worry of the dangers of Drink Driving. A taxi shared amongst friends is a really cost effective way of getting about, indeed even if you were to foot the entire bill yourself it is a bargain when you consider the possible repercussions of Drink Driving!
Don't forget you can hail a white taxi at the kerbside in Southampton, no need to pre-book! There are taxi ranks dotted all over the city from the railway station to Town Quay and everyhere between, here is a useful list:
Both sides of the Southampton train station - in Commercial Road side and on theToys R Us side
West Quay - Portland Terrace opposite main entrance to West Quay shopping centre
Portland Terrace, near bus stops by Asda
At the Bargate in High Street by A Plan Insurance
Town Quay outside Red Jet Terminal (IOW)
Terminus Terrace, near to Oxford Street
Above Bar Street, opposite Yates pub
Church Street in Shirley
Portswood High Street
Bitterne - Angel Crescent
Opposite Debenhams in Queensway
Leisureworld cinema entrance
Hannover Buildings outside Santander bank
Bannister Street outside Night Club (night time only)
St. Mary's Road outside British Gas offices (night time only)
London Road (night time only)
Here at the Southampton Hackney Association (SHA) we are dismayed to read on the Mail Online website about the end of a training school for taxi drivers ‘The Knowledge’ in London.
After over 25 years, 'The Knowledge' training school for licenced taxi drivers is closing it’s doors. Partly, it is believed because of the influence of Uber.
Uber is a phone app which allows people to book and pay for a private hire vehicle to get around the city, rather than hailing a traditional Black Taxi Cab at the kerbside.
The Knowledge is a world famous test, and professional taxi drivers needed to pass this in order to gain their Green Taxi Driver Badge. It taught them the quickest routes across the capital and extensive knowledge of London's 25,000 streets, allowing drivers to avoid traffic and give an efficient service to clients.
Minicab, Private Hire and Uber drivers instead use a sat nav or mobile phone to navigate, rather than using personal knowledge of the city.
Traditional Black Cab drivers have been protesting about Uber since it came to the capital three years ago. At one point they brought central London to a standstill, when Transport for London decided to licence many, many new minicabs each week due to the influx of mobile phone apps such as Uber.
Taxi drivers complained that nearly 88,150 new minicab drivers had been licenced in a year, and the Uber app effectively meant people could hail a taxi via the 'e-hailing' feature, which enables people to see the nearest minicab on their phone. They felt this contravened the traditional understanding that Private Hire vehicles are pre-booked, and only Taxis can be hailed at the roadside.
If Uber decide to come to Southampton, the Southampton Hackney Association (who represent the Taxi drivers in the city), feel that any driver who enrols as a Uber driver, should have proper and correct insurance on their vehicle, a DVLA licence, and a Southampton Hackney Carriage Licence and that the old style Topography Test, which was a verbal one, should be re-introduced.
The Southampton Hackney Association (SHA) was set up for Hackney Carriage Taxi Drivers working in the city of Southampton. Our mission is to support the taxi driver trade in our city and regularly liaise with Southampton City Council and local trade bodies. We actively help to develop policies which benefit, support and promote the Hackney Carriage trade.
All of our members are taxi drivers, so we understand the time, commitment and financial investment other drivers put into their vehicle. Why not come and join the Southampton Hackney Association yourself?
You can download an application form here.
Trade representatives from the Southampton Hackney Association (SHA) have met with Southampton Bargate Councillors and also local business property owners to discuss how to improve the area from The Bargate to Lower Town regarding cleaning of seats and bins. This would create a much better impression to visitors to Southampton, especially cruise terminal tourists. We have already had a reply from the Parks & Street Cleansing department who will be looking into this concern.
In 2003, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) made a legal ruling that an 'Unmet Demand Survey' be carried out by councils such as Southampton that have a fixed limit on the amount of Hackney taxis in their area. The survey determines whether there are enough taxis working the streets.
The survey takes place every three years, and has recently determined that there is no need for anymore Hackney Licenses to be made available. This is good news for the trade, as the 283 Hackney Carriages number will remain the same.
What is a concern however, is that from October 1st 2015, the Deregulation Bill becomes Law. Two of the changes directly affect licensing administration issues but the most contentious change is the sub-contracting of Private Hire bookings between Operators nationally, currently that can only occur between Operators in the same licensing district.
Recently one of the SHA's trade representatives tried to obtain a medical certificate from a GP other than his own in order to save on the costs. However, when going through an alternative GP, there is probably not enough data available to enable accurate completion of the taxi medical for licensing purposes.
Other GP practices can access some of your personal data from other practice records via HHR or the National Summary Care Record, but it is limited in detail in both cases. In particular locally, it is limited by many practices who use the SystmOne clinical system which doesn't upload anything to HHR at the moment.
If a GP knew in advance they were completing a medical for a patient not registered with them, they could in theory request medical history directly from the patient's own GP practice. However, it has been pointed out that the administrative burden of obtaining these records would have to be borne by the applicant.
The advice to taxi drivers is therefore to obtain medical certificates from their own GP. In light of this Southampton City Council Licensing Office does not propose any change to the present policy, and are adamant that your own GP is the person to approach for a medical certificate.
There seems to be some confusion with the general public that the Southampton Hackney Association (SHA) owns all 283 white taxis in Southampton.
The Southampton Hackney Association own no taxi's at all. The Southampton Hackney Association (SHA) is a relatively small group of taxi drivers who support one another and liaise with the Southampton City Council.
All white taxi cabs in Southampton are driven either by journeymen who rent taxis from the owner for a weekly/monthly contribution or the taxi could be driven solely by the owner driver. The approximate figure of 400 licensed taxi drivers in the city are NOT all members of the Southampton Hackney Association, in fact we have only about 150 taxi driver members.
The SHA are against drivers that over-charge, are rude to customers and sometimes take the incorrect route. We do care enormously about the adverse comments that seem to be too often placed by the media and harm our reputation.
If you have a complaint about a driver, please note the identification number from the back of the taxi or from the inside of the front windscreen or better still take the drivers Hackney Badge Number and report to the Taxi Licensing Department at Southamption City Council via enquiries@southampton.gov.uk
At a recent Taxi Trade Consultation Meeting, representatives from the Southampton Hackney Association (SHA) informed the Licensing Department at Southampton City Council that the computer generated system of allowing prospective new taxi drivers to tick which box is the right or wrong route to take a customer, has not proved to be adequate.
The old system of a candidate describing to the Licensing Officer the name of roads in Southampton on a set route, how to get from A to B also naming street locations and places of interest was a far better system, and if possible should be put into operation immediately.
The SHA pointed out that too many customers are dissatified with needing to give a postcode to the taxi driver, so that he or she can enter it on a SAT NAV as soon as they get into a taxi; hence the need for the old ways to be re-introduced.
Ideas might include a trip to the Bovington Tank Museum in Dorset. The museum recently loaned an American Sherman Tank and German Tiger to the makers of Brad Pitt's movie Fury, which is about a five man tank crew in the Second World War.
Rather than a taxi company, the Southampton Hackney Association (SHA) is a group of taxi drivers who have got together to support one another and liaise with the licensing body at Southampton City Council.
We receive many emails and telephone calls from people who have left their property in taxis in Southampton. However, we at the SHA are unfortunately unable to help to track down lost property, as each taxi driver in the city works for himself - Remember, we are not a taxi company and sadly have no way of liaising with each and every taxi driver in the city (many of whom are not members of the SHA).
The surest way to protect your belongings when travelling in a taxi is to make sure you have everything with you as you leave the cab. For instance, check your pockets and bag for your phone, purse or wallet, to ensure they haven't fallen out during the journey. Check you have your cardigan, coat and umbrella, your laptop and bags.
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