There’s a lot of talk about the advantages of proper training and advanced qualifications but the response from the old guard would be to accuse the PCO of introducing more excuses to extract money and I fear the doubters would win such an argument. Further, the sheer amount of bureaucracy required to change the legalities of licensing to accommodate professional qualifications would make your head spin. We do, however, live in continual hope.
The future
Despite me painting a rather depressing picture, I really do think there’s a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. They may not be going about it the right way, but it appears the PCO are about to make significant changes, so I hope for the sake of my London colleagues, they turn out to be radical enough to shake the PH industry up and right a few wrongs, although I’m sure many operators won’t be holding their breath.
The tide is turning, albeit slowly, because clients are getting fed up of the poor standards displayed by far too many drivers and are beginning to hunt out ‘proper’ chauffeurs once again. I’ve always said that the relationship between driver and passenger is a very close one within the confines of a car and the customer in the back has every right to feel relaxed, safe and secure.
The likes of Uber have become a strange anomaly because in a relatively short time they’ve gone from representing a cost effective and convenient way to travel to becoming synonymous with a dramatic drop in standards. Perhaps this is not particularly fair as there are of course a large amount of very competent operators working for Uber but there are also plenty of atrocious ones who are forcing customers to look at better quality alternatives and that can only be good for the chauffeur industry.
It’s a very tough market out there but there’s a lot of chauffeurs who have yet to realise having the right car alone doesn’t make you a special case. What do you offer and what credentials do you have that puts you above the rest? There’s no automatic right of passage because you own an £80k car anymore, there’s way too much competition in London and elsewhere for that alone to attract potential clients.
Nothing lasts for ever and the good times chauffeurs have had in the capital are seemingly a thing of the past. Of course there’s still opportunities for the right people but starting out must be very hard work at the moment. A lot rests on what direction the PCO takes with regards to licensing and if they genuinely recognise standards have to rise dramatically to save the industry and protect the public.
One thing’s for sure, the good guys deserve a much better deal from the powers that be in their ivory towers.
Andy Dubberley.
