CAB, sir? Mind your step…
Blackpool’s cabbies today insisted they are already resort ambassadors – and don’t need to go back to school to prove it. http://www.blackpooltoday.co.uk/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleID=2088122&SectionID=62

The Gazette revealed in later editions yesterday how town hall chiefs want cabbies to do a 12-week course to “drive up standards” – being more polite, helpful and safety aware.

Brigade

The course at Blackpool and The Fylde College is voluntary. But transport bosses want every cabbie to swap the roads for the classroom.

The charm offensive, however, has angered some members of the black cab brigade.

Driver Pete Burke said: “The majority of cabbies are public friendly, polite and helpful.

“They get out of the cab to open doors, help elderly people with their shopping bags and young mums to unfold prams and put them in the boot.

“I don’t think there is a problem at all. It will cost us business and waste time.”

The modules on the course include customer relations, passenger safety and transport, disability awareness, rules and regulations, as well as geographical awareness.

A separate 90-page council document also proposes that drivers should get new cabs once the vehicles reach 10 years of service.

But Pete, who has driven the resort’s streets for 12 years, said it was just yet another hardship.

He added: “We buy vehicles that are about seven years old and they cost around £20,000.

“That’s expensive enough and under these proposals drivers would, theoretically, have to put away £6,000 each year to save for a new cab.

“Some of these drivers don’t even earn minimum wage for around three months of the year because the place is out of season and a lot of them would probably have to quit if that was the case.

“The council are being very naive to think that would be possible.”

Another driver, who wanted to remain nameless, felt insulted and said the scheme called into question his working standards.

“These council officials don’t understand what we put up with,” he said.

“We try our best to be helpful and polite and adapt our behaviour to our passengers.

“I help old ladies and also put up with louts flashing their backsides out of the window on Saturday nights when it’s like the Wild West out here.

“I don’t earn a fortune as it is and if the course would cost me fares it would make it even worse.

“I agree there is a place for that in the driver training stage but not for those of us who have been driving for 20 years.”

Coun Eddie Collett, Cabinet Member for Tourism and Regeneration said: “This is all part of a quality initiative across the tourism board.

“The 90-page scrutiny report suggests that there should be a 10-year limit on cabs.

“There is room for consultancy on this but the council is convinced that there needs to be a cut off point, a shelf life if you will, on the use of these vehicles.”