Driving to work this morning, I was let out of a side road by a glorious 05-reg Rolls Royce Phantom. He was then behind me in the traffic. On closer inspection I noticed he had the lime green discs in the front (and later rear) windows that indicate he is a Private Hire licensed by TFL in London.
As cabbies are now driving Phantoms, I think I'll give up the day job and do likewise!
On a serious note, I wonder how many purchasers of used Phantoms think to ask if it's been used as a cab?? And what must the insurance be like !?!?
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And how much do they charge per mile?
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I usually walk it, its not that far, but recently having a large bag to carry I took a cab from the Brompton Road to Tate Britain and it cost £12.50.
Since they hiked the prices I do not see how anyone other than Arab Sheiks or those on expenses (such as Red Ken) can afford cabs in London and I suspect black cab drivers are minting it and planning the purchase of their third holiday home in the Algarve.
Rollers are probably bought out of their loose change.
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Hello.
My Idea of these price increases is to cover the following.
Fuel
Servicing
Some money left over for the driver to buy a sandwich for lunch.
--
(iam not a mechanic)
Martin Winters
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I'm going to become a busdriver. I paid £2 to go two stops down Forest Road, E17 yesterday. I was knackered and loaded down like a camel, but even so, when he said £2 I nearly choked. I was embarrassed into paying it though cos everyone was staring.
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Probably not a real taxi??
I remember hearing Stephen Fry drives (or used to drive) a black cab in London. Means he can use bus lanes etc. Michael O'Leary apparently has his car registered as a taxi in Ireland for the same reason and if you flag him down he ought to stop for you.
More likely reason for a Phantom taxi is that taxis are exempt from the congestion charge.... And if he's private hire you cannot flag him down only pre-book on the non-existent number.
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Hi -
It may be cheaper to buy a private license than to pay the CC every day, although I don't know what the discount is if you pay a year in advance.
Regards DougB.
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Duke of Edinburgh has his own taxi too. Taxis are anonymous, very spacious inside and manoeuvrable, qualities that make them attractive to the prominent and eminent.
Recent examples seem to go much better but they used to be appalling things to drive, even early FX4 automatics: sluggish, rough and noisy. When you drive one, even without the light above the windscreen, people keep hailing you and even jump in at the lights if you don't keep the doors locked. They get very indignant when evicted too.
Used to fantasise about getting one with a Rover V8 conversion (plenty of space under the bonnet).
They aren't as strong as people think though. Had a head-on with one in my Skoda Estelle once - largely my fault - and the taxi definitely came off worse. I had to help the driver bend his wing back off the front wheel before he could continue. Skoda was a bit bruised but otherwise fine.
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Rolls Royce Phantom - glorious?
Have they re-designed it already then?
Saw one advertised in what used to be called a 'classic car magazine' - new 299k, now 175k at 18 months old.
Still not dropping fast enough in my opinion.
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On the subject of RR Phantom, how can anyone call the current one 'glorious'? No doubt OK to travel in one, if you don't have to pay for the fuel or drive it in narrow back streets, but it looks like a giant clinker breeze block on wheels. Hideous.
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Ha, hannon, great minds eh?
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On the subject of RR Phantom, how can anyone call the current one 'glorious'?
Shorter Oxford Dictionary. Glorious: 'Boastful; ostentatious; haughty; vainglorious' Seems pretty accurate
The car is completely irelevant to the likes of you and I, but the world would be a duller place without them.
I always think they look like Thunderbirds cars.
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>>Shorter Oxford Dictionary. Glorious: 'Boastful; ostentatious; haughty; vainglorious' Seems pretty accurate>>
Point taken!
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Shorter Oxford Dictionary. Glorious: 'Boastful; ostentatious; haughty; vainglorious' Seems pretty accurate
and
'Possessing glory... (now somewhat rare)'.
Nine times out of ten that is what it is used to mean. And I bet you used it to mean that at first, boxsterboy!
Damn, how annoying.
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>> More likely reason for a Phantom taxi is that taxis are exempt from the congestion charge....
Yes, this thought did cross my mind ...
But then I guess if you can afford the massive depreciation on a Phantom, then the £8 per day Congestion Charge really is loose change!
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"ut then I guess if you can afford the massive depreciation on a Phantom, then the £8 per day Congestion Charge really is loose change!"
The wealthy can be some of the least generous people about. I bet the driver's doing this even if saving a penny a day! There are exceptions, e.g. Bill Gates has given more money to help the third world than the UK apparently. I still don't like Microsoft mind ;-)
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No doubt Gates is genuine in his concern for third world children (though giving free computers running Windows to schools is dope-peddlar cynical in my view) but extravagant philanthropy has long been a mark of status among the super rich. Victorian England was awash with it. And to be fair Gates has fewer places to spend his money than the UK government. I didn't think it was possible but in fact BG's choice of car is actually more ostentatious than a RR Phantom, though less because of what it is than what he's believed to have done to get it:
From Forbes:
"Now, after waiting some 10 years, Gates can finally enjoy his other favorite Porsche: a rare (1 of 230) 1988 Porsche 959 Coupe. In fact, due to the 959?s questionable emissions and unknown crash ratings, it took a federal law signed by President Clinton for Bill Gates to legally drive his 959 on American roads. Rumor has it that Bill Gates and Paul Allen employed Microsoft engineers to write a computer program that could simulate the 959?s crashworthiness, which helped in the bill?s passage."
www.forbesautos.com/advice/toptens/billionaire/02-...l
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I wonder if that was the first Windows program to crash on purpose !
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"Michael O'Leary apparently has his car registered as a taxi in Ireland for the same reason and if you flag him down he ought to stop for you."
Not quite - the Mercedes in question was registered as a hackney. Which was perfectly legitimate, as the situation went something like this: O'Leary Hackney Cabs buy a car and licence it. Ryanair PLC hire O'Leary Cabs to carry employees and parcels for them, and as a hackney the car is allowed use the bus lanes on the infamously congested M50 between Dublin Airport and Dublin city centre.
When the carriage office looked into it, there were umpteen other plumbers, painters, florists etc had done the same thing! And either Mr O'Leary or Pat the Plumber would be in breach of their hackney licence were they to stop for you if you flag them down...
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