The chauffeur industry has a proud heritage, and nowhere more so than on the roads of London Town. But what’s gone wrong and why are so many operators completely disillusioned with the current state of our profession in the capital?
Andy Dubberley investigates just what’s going on…
There are a lot of very unhappy chauffeurs in the smoke, operators who think the chauffeur industry has lost both its high standing and its high standards. Although I’m someone who is licensed outside of town I spend much of my time in it, so looking inwards I’ve seen the industry have a tough time in the capital over the last few years and it really is a tough place to be earning a living right now.
Licensing woes
Many operators well and truly lay the blame for the state of play in the capital at the door of the Public Carriage Office and as it is they who have responsibility for licensing the taxi and private hire trade in London, disillusioned chauffeurs are now questioning whether the organisation is actually fit for purpose. There’s no doubt that the PCO certainly does have a strong case to answer and the general feeling is that they’re quite simply a law unto themselves at times and out of their depth.
Okay, it’s accepted the PCO is a large organisation with considerable responsibility, so the process isn’t going to run perfectly all of the time, but it’s clear the chaotic approach to licensing displayed over recent years has been to the detriment of good, hard working chauffeurs who certainly don’t feel that they’ve received value for money considering the high fees they’re expected to fork out.
Another complaint frequently heard from the decent chauffeurs in the capital is the licensing process simply isn’t strict enough and this fact alone has led to London becoming flooded with poor quality taxi, minicab drivers and so-called ‘chauffeurs’, (the term being used very loosely in far too many cases). This is a fair point and hard evidence strongly supports this view.
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