Black cab driver? good/bad job?

Want to get a second opinion on this from anyone who knows someone whose a black cab driver or is one themselves.

My older brother is a black cab driver and recently started hating his job. He pretty much only goes out on weekends to make easy cash on Friday and Saturday and rest of the week stays home.

He says he's grown tired of drunk people, hellish traffic, competition and lack of fares around. Also says he's tired of fare evaders who get into a cab and refuse to pony up the full cash.

I can imagine it must be bad having to drive totally random people around London. But I do know that some people seem to like their job and work 6-7 days a week sometimes and earn upwards of 70K doing it.

Despite this, my younger brother wants to become a black cab driver and has recenty started doing the knowledge. Was wondering whether he's going to go down the same route and end up hating his job and wasting away 3 yeasrs of his life studying it.
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Comments

  • Who knows. He's seen first hand someone that cant hack it but still chooses to try it so leave him to it.
  • SailorSam
    SailorSam Posts: 22,754
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    I drove a cab mostly on nights for about 25yrs, we use to say it would be a great job except for having to pick up all the people that climbed in the back.
    The drivers who earn a lot of money also have to work a lot of hours. Work out what it costing you to go out to work, you've got your Cab; you have to buy a plate; insurance is silly numbers; we had 6mth Mot tests and the Cabs needed to be in showroom condition, nothing like a car test; the cost of fuel. And then people who say you must be earning a fortune 'cos we've been waiting an hour forget everyone wanted the Cab in that same hour. They forget that the rest of the time it's the Cabs that wait for up to an hour on a rank, then you could get £1 fare going around the corner and have to go to the back of the rank again.
    Saying all that i made a good living for 25yrs, much better than the office i had been working. But i never had a social life. When other people are going out that's when you have to work.
    Liverpool is one of the wonders of Britain,
    What it may grow to in time, I know not what.

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  • forgotmyname
    forgotmyname Posts: 32,506
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    Earn £70k but how much of that do they clear and how many hours do they work?

    How much is the insurance? fuel costs, vehicle costs and maintenance?
    Censorship Reigns Supreme in Troll City...

  • w211
    w211 Posts: 700
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    In my opinion, instead of spending 3 years doing the Knowledge, and the associated costs of doing it i.e. loss of income where you could be working instead, the appearance fees, cost of moped etc., I would try and go for private hire work, get an operator's licence so you can take bookings, and get yourself a Mercedes E-Class (you could lease a new one).

    To get started, you need to work for someone else, look on Gumtree for driver jobs, and begin to build up your own clientele through advertising etc.

    You'll be driving a much better vehicle than the traditional black taxi which will be more fuel efficient and comfortable, and when you start off with a firm, you'll tend to do account work, and quite often their clients are known to the firm, and won't really be totally random, so you won't really be collecting drunks and runners.

    Like there are black taxi phone apps to gain work while quiet, there are also apps for private hire (Drivr, Uber, Wheely), which you can also join to keep earning, while you work around your existing clients.
  • photome
    photome Posts: 16,342
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    Want to get a second opinion on this from anyone who knows someone whose a black cab driver or is one themselves.

    My older brother is a black cab driver and recently started hating his job. He pretty much only goes out on weekends to make easy cash on Friday and Saturday and rest of the week stays home.

    He says he's grown tired of drunk people, hellish traffic, competition and lack of fares around. Also says he's tired of fare evaders who get into a cab and refuse to pony up the full cash.

    I can imagine it must be bad having to drive totally random people around London. But I do know that some people seem to like their job and work 6-7 days a week sometimes and earn upwards of 70K doing it.

    Despite this, my younger brother wants to become a black cab driver and has recenty started doing the knowledge. Was wondering whether he's going to go down the same route and end up hating his job and wasting away 3 yeasrs of his life studying it.

    Nothing like an impossible question to answer.

    He wont know till he has been doing it and he has someone much closer to advise him than an internet forum
  • worried_jim
    worried_jim Posts: 11,631
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    w211 wrote: »
    In my opinion, instead of spending 3 years doing the Knowledge, and the associated costs of doing it i.e. loss of income where you could be working instead, the appearance fees, cost of moped etc., I would try and go for private hire work, get an operator's licence so you can take bookings, and get yourself a Mercedes E-Class (you could lease a new one).

    To get started, you need to work for someone else, look on Gumtree for driver jobs, and begin to build up your own clientele through advertising etc.

    You'll be driving a much better vehicle than the traditional black taxi which will be more fuel efficient and comfortable, and when you start off with a firm, you'll tend to do account work, and quite often their clients are known to the firm, and won't really be totally random, so you won't really be collecting drunks and runners.

    Like there are black taxi phone apps to gain work while quiet, there are also apps for private hire (Drivr, Uber, Wheely), which you can also join to keep earning, while you work around your existing clients.

    One of my senior managers took redundancy a few years a go and did this. He just runs people to Gatwick/Heathrow and Southampton port and seems very content doing so. I also read recently that this type of service has rocketed in London with the launch of some mobile apps.
  • londonTiger
    londonTiger Posts: 4,903 Forumite
    w211 wrote: »
    In my opinion, instead of spending 3 years doing the Knowledge, and the associated costs of doing it i.e. loss of income where you could be working instead, the appearance fees, cost of moped etc., I would try and go for private hire work, get an operator's licence so you can take bookings, and get yourself a Mercedes E-Class (you could lease a new one).

    To get started, you need to work for someone else, look on Gumtree for driver jobs, and begin to build up your own clientele through advertising etc.

    You'll be driving a much better vehicle than the traditional black taxi which will be more fuel efficient and comfortable, and when you start off with a firm, you'll tend to do account work, and quite often their clients are known to the firm, and won't really be totally random, so you won't really be collecting drunks and runners.

    Like there are black taxi phone apps to gain work while quiet, there are also apps for private hire (Drivr, Uber, Wheely), which you can also join to keep earning, while you work around your existing clients.

    I completely agree with you, he should do private hire work first to see if he likes this job. Much easier to learn the roads with first hand experience driving around in them. Plus you earn while you learn too.

    He's doing it back to front but just spending all his days studying maps and spending 3-4 ours on the moped.

    He was made redundant recently and is now focusing all his time on the knowledge rather than job search.
  • colino
    colino Posts: 5,059
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    My mate was a proper cabbie for about twenty years before the costs and the drunks got to him. He didn't give up completely though, he kept his full taxi plate, got an ordinary new car (his first was a Renault 21, show's how long ago he changed) and got a badge for the airport too (they really know how to charge). However while still making a decent living, he wouldn't contemplate picking up in the street anymore in an ordinary car. Far too risky.
  • My older brother is a black cab driver and recently started hating his job. He pretty much only goes out on weekends to make easy cash on Friday and Saturday and rest of the week stays home.

    He says he's grown tired of drunk people, hellish traffic, competition and lack of fares around. Also says he's tired of fare evaders who get into a cab and refuse to pony up the full cash.



    Despite this, my younger brother wants to become a black cab driver and has recenty started doing the knowledge. Was wondering whether he's going to go down the same route and end up hating his job and wasting away 3 yeasrs of his life studying it.

    If he's sick of drunks then I'm guessing he's just cashing in on weekend nights. He decides to do those shifts and hates them; it doesn't mean your younger brother is going to decide to only do weekends or that he'll hate it as well.
  • kfw_2
    kfw_2 Posts: 54 Forumite
    Our firm use to use blackcabs and comcab alot but now use addison lee and city exec and carrot because they are just outright cheaper. My old neighbour was a blk cab driver and said he is having to almost work double the hours to get the same money as a few years ago. Plus when you are ill or on holiday you earn zero so with some greed takes over meaning little or no worklife balance
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