With private hire taxi drivers, the jobs are given to the car via an official booking office. This would provide details of the arranged booking, such as pick-up and drop-off places, etc.
There was a sad period of time when a purge against picking people up at certain areas around the city became evident.
For most customers, the sudden change wouldn’t matter that much, as to be told over the phone to get to another pickup area would just be a minor inconvenience. The sad bit is that it created an atmosphere of inconsideration towards people, such as the elderly and those with mobility limitations.
A number of these people come to the city to shop, meet the gang for tea and cake, or just perhaps have a yearning for company of sorts. For them to have a trusted exit strategy from their adventures in town, had a high value. People don’t go anywhere unless they have a comfortable and safe exit (return home) strategy.
An example of a safe pickup format that got stopped was to be able to wait inside certain city food shops, where warmth and safety and perhaps some seats were available… then the booked taxi would arrive outside and the pickup could occur.
It was actually the taxi’s arrival and stopping outside, that was the bit that was being clamped down on because technically, the areas were “no waiting”, “no loading” areas…
.
An example of a sad consequence of this clampdown is this:
I drove slowly past the shop entrance (usual pickup place), down the road to the gap that allowed access into the dank, somewhat isolated, loading bay area, behind the buildings.
Ahead, standing against the yard wall was an elderly lady in a heavy overcoat. She and it were blazoned in entirety with minute water droplets, gained from the relentless morning drizzle.
Her words were polite and her tone was courteous, but her whole verbal mechanism faltered from the stress of being cold.
As we interacted with shopping bags and her seat belt, I could feel the chill of her face and fingers, even from a distance. She was the inverse to the old Ready-Brek adverts… and such was the temperature difference, that there was a gentle breeze created in the car.
A law of thermodynamics says hot temperatures move towards cold temperatures… and in the car… all the warm interior heat was being moved towards her… because, relative to the car, she was so, soo, sooooooo, chilled.
Before I put her in the car, I gave her a shake, to get the droplets off (not really)… In the car I turned the heater up a bit, just to slowly compensate for the chill and then, whilst on route, we nattered away about general daily things. At the drop-off, the usual help-where-needed and wait until safe indoors.
… There was no real drama to this, but:
… She simply could have been safe and sheltered, waiting in a warm, dry, shop.
… But no. Never mind consideration to some human needs of city visitors… The signs clearly state “No Waiting”, “No Loading”, sooooo… “Go wait in the loading bay.”
In later times, the flexibility to these pick-up places seems to be back as was… Allowed… Nothing official… It’s a tricky one.
.
Enjoyed the Story… This is a CaveWallMedia Project… Buy Left-Ear-Driver a coffee with an opportunity to place a comment if you would like.
.