Im quite confused as to why you can never get a private hire taxi on a Saturday night, the busiest night of the week. We tried ringing for one last night from 11.30 and where told fully booked, or sorry got nothing. Each time we rang we were told to ring back in 15 mins to be told again "sorry fully booked " What happened to the old system when they would say "about half hour" so at least you could accept that and wait. We were calling from a private house to go to another. We resorted to stand outside in the rain and flag a black cab down. Are there less taxis on the road now?? It appears to have gone worse since they all merged. Never had an issue when we had the likes of Cavalier Cabs. Looks like in future i will have to book one before i go out to bring me home and guess what time im ready. Or just not drink ever again!!!! Moan over.!!!!!

I've had exactly the same problem over the last few months and like you have ended up having to walk and flag down a black cab.

Can anyone tell me why cabs on the Wirral are so expensive? A friend of mine got a cab from Central Station Liverpool to their home in Liscard and was only charged £12.50 including tunnel fees yet the other night I got a taxi from Stanleys Cask Rake Lane, one drop in Breck Road then down to Seacombe and he charged me £8 Why such a big difference??

was it a foreign driver? we have had a lot of complaints lately about them over charging its not good as we lose customers that way,anyway for anyone thinking of being a taxi driver on the wirral this will shock you
1 radio hire £100 a week
2 insurance £100 a week unless you can aford a policy
3 settle car £90 a week
4 petrol/diesel £150 at the very least to make there money than yours
5 and any repairs tyres brakes ect ££££

so £440 before you make a penny,and before you say it yes thats every week,if you have your own car its a little better,as for no taxis on friday and saturday its always been like that.i wont work after 10pm on those nights as ive had that much bother its just not worth it and when you have worked 15 hours a day all week your just to tired to work all night,why do i still do it well been doing it for 15 years.was making more money back then than now but hey its a job

Thanks for the info joe. It was a regular driver (English) who works for a Wallasey firm. The other month I was talking to a driver who works in Wallasey but lives in Liverpool, when I asked him why he doesn't taxi in Liverpool he admitted that the fares are higher over here. So even taking into account his tunnel fares and extra petrol to get here, it was still worth his while.

I appreciate what you say about the costs involved just to do the job, but surely these must be comparable 'over the water'?

As for not working after 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays I can't say I blame you! The grief you must all get from drunks is probably off the scale.

zubee ihope you put your hand in bulging purse pulled out a nice crispy tenner and said thanks very much have a nice night

No, I gave him £8. But I didn't slam his door

thats why taxi drivers dont like working wallasey you get very little gratitude (its always bare iron)

Oh no, up until then I've always tipped. But you must agree (I suspect you're a taxi driver) that £8 was steep?

if there was five of you in the cab its only 1.60 each cheaper than the bus

at least the bus would turn up on time.

Exactly Dilly!

When I was a taxi driver in 2000 I had to do £270 before I earned a penny and that was doing 6 nights a week basically the arse has fell outa the job and the only ones making any money are the owners of the taxi firm work it out radio settle £100;00 20 drivers £2000;00 operators wages £500:00 overheads £500:00 and im being generous with the costings nice £1900:00 in sky rocket

Apart from the overheads for drivers going through the roof as already pointed out, most of them work days nowadays.

Think about it, would *you* let four aggressive coked up bellends into your car at 3am for £3.30 minimum fare?

Going back 2 years ago, I worked in a taxi office!.. Friday and saturday nights were mayhem.

There were six of us on the phones and one despatching the jobs.
On the phones there were 24 lines, all lit up constantly from 11:30 till at least 2. Finish one call, pick up next, constantly for over 2 hours, putting up with all the drunken crap attitudes that came with the job.

At any one time there were well over 50 jobs on the screen waiting to be despatched and around 120 busy drivers.

We always turned away pub's and clubs but residential addresses shouldn't of been a problem.

Next time, just tell them you don't mind waiting and you shouldn't have a problem..

As for booking your job early in advance, this could also fail, your prebooked job is not prioritised and will just be lingering around on the screen with the other 50+ jobs.

Thanks Shaun. I can't believe that. I just dont understand why its changed for the worst. So what your saying is i should be ok before 11.30 pm. Reading some other comments it sounds like the companies are charging more and more for the settle so there are less and less drivers as its not financially worth it for them. Its a vicious circle. I dont and wouldn't drink and drive but you wonder why people jump in their cars when they can't get home. Im going to check out the bus times and see if thats an option.