You don't have to live in the deepest countryside to need a car!

GobbledyGook

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Sometimes you have to think laterally though.

I used to work on a split site college and could be on different sites morning and afternoon. If time was short I'd get a mini cab across town which colleagues thought was really extravagant. The cabs actually cost far less than running a car, which didn't strike people as extravagant at all!

Some people have a very blinkered viewpoint.

Some people do have a very blinkered viewpoint.

When I broke my arm and couldn't drive I had to get cabs. I was around £20 a day getting cabs which I can assure you is nowhere near what my car costs me.

Even if I got the bus to and from work (which I couldn't actually do as working in schools and having school age children doesn't make public transport easy to use) I was still going to be between £10 and £15 per day depending on which sites I'm on.

I couldn't use the bus between sites because I literally finish in one school as the lunch bell goes and I start in the next school just after the children return. I already cut my lunch short on some days because the time allowed for travelling is tight to say the least. If a teacher or HT or parent wants to speak to me then that takes more time out of the time to get to the next school.

I also wouldn't be allowed to do my job without a car, except for on short term occasions like when I broke my arm, as it's in my contract that I must have use of a car.

nickyhutch wrote: »

If GobbledyGook's job is anything like mine (sounds the same), then it wouldn't be practical, or even allowed. My contract says I have to have the use of a car because I'm out and about a fair bit. Using your taxi scenario, I'd still have the bus/train problem getting to and from work, and I wouldn't have a car to use for the other stuff I use it for - visiting isolated relatives/stepkids, going to the gym, going out for the day, going away for the weekend, going on hoilday.........

I think nicky some people just don't accept that some people do actually need a car and that there is always a way around it.

I hardly use my car at the weekend, I don't have many relatives to visit and the last time we went out for the day I took it as far as the train station (no buses direct and they stop earlier than we would be back) and left it there whilst we got the train.

Gillyx

I live in an area that's extremely well served by public transport, I don't live in the back end of nowhere but neither do I live in a cosmopolitan city, infact I honestly don't really know anyone who doesn't have access to decent public transport. Although I am led to believe that public transport in Scotland is more frequent, less crowded and cheaper than that of England and Wales, obviously excluding big cities.

Mrs_Ryan

I live in a rural area and dont have a car, but OH does. He drops me off at work before he goes to work and then picks me up when hes finished. He works on an industrial estate with extremely limited public transport. He could not move near work as where he works is very much out of town and not near any housing. Neither could he move any closer to home as he has a very specialised role which he has been specifically medically assessed for and the office nearer us (which is still at least 7 miles away) does not offer that job. He could get to work but not home, its at least 15 miles to his work and the only way of accessing it is up the M1!!
I do have to get the bus to work sometimes, especially when Im on nights, but there have been several occasions when I have had to call a taxi (complete with hefty call out fee as the nearest taxi company is 7 miles away) and on one occasion my deputy ward manager had to drive down and collect me as I was stuck cos the bus hadnt turned up and I had no funds for a taxi! I quite often work an early shift on a Sunday and I start at 7 - first bus isnt until 9.30! We really couldnt be without a car here - we get our shopping delivered as do a lot of people here, but the nearest supermarket is not (can you believe) accessible by bus, its quite a long walk from the bus stop as the bus company removed the stop outside!!!
OH now has to travel to Hinckley to see his CPN. To get there by public transport would necessitate leaving at about 7am to get to town, then a train ride from town taking about an hour and a half - which would cause OH no end of anxiety, 20 mins in the car.
I understand that for some people a car is a luxury but not for everyone.

GlasweJen

How would it work for someone like me?

I can't drive for medical reasons, if driving isn't an essential part of the job and I was refused a promotion because I couldn't drive I'd be filing a grievance and suing the aris off of the employer. They should be looking at my ability to do my job (I work in optics) not my access to cars.

Oldernotwiser

nickyhutch wrote: »

If GobbledyGook's job is anything like mine (sounds the same), then it wouldn't be practical, or even allowed. My contract says I have to have the use of a car because I'm out and about a fair bit. Using your taxi scenario, I'd still have the bus/train problem getting to and from work, and I wouldn't have a car to use for the other stuff I use it for - visiting isolated relatives/stepkids, going to the gym, going out for the day, going away for the weekend, going on hoilday.........

You're still thinking from the point of view of a driver imagining managing without a car as opposed to someone who doesn't have one in the first place. There are obviously some jobs where transport is an absolute necessity but there are many more where people just think it's so.

Many jobs for careers advisers (one of my careers) state that a car is a requirement but I managed perfectly well without one, just as did another CA in one of my offices.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

There are a lot of employers in danger of contravening the DDA then.

Not everyone can drive, not because they were getting drunk, but because they were paying rent, feeding their children or have medical conditions which make it impossible to drive.

Driving lessons are around £45 a lesson now (most insist on 2 hour lessons, which actually reduces the number required as less time is spent recovering what was one in the previous lesson). So the average person spends about £2000 learning to drive if they pass first time, with licence application, theory test, lessons, test fees and the like - around £200 a month at one lesson a week. Not many people can afford that if they don't have their parents to pay for it.


It is unreasonable to assume that anyone without a car is a failure or not subject to the same pressures as a car driver. However, I still maintain that it is a convenience, as if it were as essential as electricity, everyone would have access to driving lessons and cars by law.

This isn't the USA, where the vast distances involved in everyday life make car ownership so important that it is provided in high school. It isn't a country where people died in New Orleans because it wasn't realised that some were too poor to afford transport to evacuate when the levees broke.

Even in the States, there is public transport. And people use it for work. So it isn't even out of the question there.

GobbledyGook

Jojo - do you really think there is no-one in this country for whom a car is essential?

As an aside do people have a right by law to electricity? Surely if that was the case the electric people wouldn't be allowed to cut folks off?


GlasweJen - I don't know about the law, but I know my contract states that I must have access to transport between sites. I suppose if I couldn't drive I'd have to do the taxi thing, but it wouldn't leave much money to live on!

I don't think getting to your place of work is covered by the DDA is it? I think it's your own responsibility and my place of work is stated as being variable so I think it'd be down to anyone applying for a job like mine to get themselves places even though driving itself is not actually physically part of the job.

GlasweJen

Well if my employer were to refuse to promote me for being unable to drive i'll go through every court in the land to get it written into law that you can't ask for a driving licence for a non-driving job. I don't see why any of the positions above me would need a car so it would just be ignorance on the part of my employer which is potentially discriminatory (in my case).

ETA access to transport and access to a car are very different things.

GobbledyGook

GlasweJen wrote: »

Well if my employer were to refuse to promote me for being unable to drive i'll go through every court in the land to get it written into law that you can't ask for a driving licence for a non-driving job. I don't see why any of the positions above me would need a car so it would just be ignorance on the part of my employer which is potentially discriminatory (in my case).

ETA access to transport and access to a car are very different things.

I daresay if you could prove you could fulfill the role they'd likely have to change their contract wording from access to a car and access to transport.

It's obviously one of those things that would entirely depend on the job. Someone based in one place doing a job all day would be entirely right to complain about not getting a job due to not being able to drive whereas someone whose job actually involves going from place to place on a daily basis would probably have to provide a bit more proof that not being able to drive wouldn't adversely impact on their ability to do the job.

Edited to add - had a quick look and my contract says I have to be able to drive and have access to vehicle to allow me to move from site to site at short notice when required

System

I'm lucky i have good public transport links. Walking into town would probably be an hour or more. But like someone else said the rent here is cheaper than the city center and the money i save i use on public transport.