Taxi drivers - credentials.

derekgas

derekgas

Nori Brick
Tackler
Just seen on the news that the government want taxi drivers to take examinations to b-pec standards to prove they can drive a taxi!
The taxi drivers are up in arms about it, say it wont prove a thing, and costs £200 - £300 a time.
I am a qualified plumber, heating engineer and gas installer, I had to take b pec exams even though I was already qualified, and have to take them again every 5 years, plus any extra ones like Lpg, unvented, solar, gas analisis, etc etc, they all average £200 - £500 every 5 years, and I cant get my certificates (corgi etc) without them, electricians have similar to put up with, and there are plans to make all trades the same, so, is it a good thing or a bad one? To show how these bpec tests (in my opinion) dont make good or bad installers, the thread started by accylass about her boiler has photos that show that many 'qualified' people are not what they should be after 'qualifying' for thier certificates.
 
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It is a difficult one. How do you know the tradesmen you use do a good job to the required standards?

I don't think part P has done anything to make sure electricians are any better than they were. All it has done is push their prices up to pay for all the exams and courses to pass them. I doubt any of them will be doing anything different now than they were.

The most stupid thing IEE did was to change the damn wiring colours. What sort of a tosspot decides to swap a phase and neutral colour around. We had the best and easiest 3 phase colour code in europe, if not the world and now they have harmonised then with Europe. Harmonised my backside, Europe is still a mess of different colour codes. We should have stuck 2 fingers up at Europe in the 70's and stuck with red, yellow, blue and black neutral for 3 phase and red, black for single phase. Every phase was instantly identifiable.

Ok rant over....for now :mad:
 
Neil said:
It is a difficult one. How do you know the tradesmen you use do a good job to the required standards?

I don't think part P has done anything to make sure electricians are any better than they were. All it has done is push their prices up to pay for all the exams and courses to pass them. I doubt any of them will be doing anything different now than they were.

One of my mates is an electrician, not only has he to take part in the exam, but one of the examiners picks one of his last jobs and inspects it and asks questions about the job, before he gets a new cartificate. If that doesn't weed the good from the bad, what will.

Retlaw
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Must be me but I thought the thread was about taxi drivers and the way that they can, with the aid of a spanner change the taxi plates from one car to another.Mind you they all look the same to me.:hidewall:
 
Benipete said:
Must be me but I thought the thread was about taxi drivers and the way that they can, with the aid of a spanner change the taxi plates from one car to another.Mind you they all look the same to me.:hidewall:
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Spanners or the drivers???
 
Neil said:
It is a difficult one. How do you know the tradesmen you use do a good job to the required standards?

I don't think part P has done anything to make sure electricians are any better than they were. All it has done is push their prices up to pay for all the exams and courses to pass them. I doubt any of them will be doing anything different now than they were.

The most stupid thing IEE did was to change the damn wiring colours. What sort of a tosspot decides to swap a phase and neutral colour around. We had the best and easiest 3 phase colour code in europe, if not the world and now they have harmonised then with Europe. Harmonised my backside, Europe is still a mess of different colour codes. We should have stuck 2 fingers up at Europe in the 70's and stuck with red, yellow, blue and black neutral for 3 phase and red, black for single phase. Every phase was instantly identifiable.

Ok rant over....for now :mad:
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Rant away I agree with you.
 
One of my mates is an electrician, not only has he to take part in the exam, but one of the examiners picks one of his last jobs and inspects it and asks questions about the job, before he gets a new cartificate. If that doesn't weed the good from the bad, what will.

Retlaw[/quote]

Corgi do inspections retlaw, they can be bi annual, annual or just whenever they decide, but they dont check on you doing a repair, they check that you know how not to leave a gas leak, or a dangerous appliance, how to test gas metres and flues, rubbish pipework and sub standard stuff isnt picked up, if they see bad ones, they inspect them more often than the prescribed 12 months.. But Corgi will be no more after 2009 anyway, they lost the franchise to Capita.
 
Sorry but my par boiled cauli between mi lugs cant hack all this officialism and changes. Anyone got a headache cure????
 
know quite a few taxi drivers, also am aware they are making next door to bugger all these days, all that should be required fer me is a full driving licence, n a criminal background check, i know Hackney used to be, council contacted scotland yard back in the day, not sure if private hire was the same? but should be.
 
But Corgi will be no more after 2009 anyway, they lost the franchise to Capita.[/quote]


So will you be Corgi registered or Capita registered? At the rate Capita are going, they will have their sticky little fingers in every pie soon. After the mess they made of Housing/Council Tax claims for Blackburn, methinks there will be some very unhappy folks out there.
 
If the Test the Taxi Driver has to take includes knowing the area they work in i think its a good idea.
i got the same taxi firm to and from the last accyweb meet and the driver going had no problem finding my address and the oaklea pub but the driver that picked me up ended up Manchester road, after me telling him 4 times how to get to my home he finally found it.
so i think it would help
 
So will you be Corgi registered or Capita registered? At the rate Capita are going, they will have their sticky little fingers in every pie soon. After the mess they made of Housing/Council Tax claims for Blackburn, methinks there will be some very unhappy folks out there.[/quote]

Originally, we were told that the corgi logo etc would be the same (as what I dont know cos it has changed a few times, and we now have blue, green and orange badges anyway), now we are told that it will all be replaced, and Capita have 2 years to saturate public awareness, for those who dont know, corgi act under and are controlled by the health and safety executive, which of course is government run! :rolleyes:
 
It probably would Neil, British Gas used to own Corgi, and was privatised in 1980 probably because they obviously couldnt be self regulating, but in my opinion, they still pull the strings, hopefully Capita will stop that, they also say thier first port of call will be to the rogues and illegal gas workers! Time will tell! Napit made a bid too apparently, at the end of the day, of it wasnt a money spinner, none would be interested.
 
All this cost to get accreditation could make it hard for the small indie operater to be in business. The down side could be an increase in the rouges and the mess, dangerous repairs they have done and the extra costs fixing it. I am in favour of certification to prove they are compitent on the job but could they not bring in one that covers all the requirements without the large costs involed to get them.
 
SPUGGIE J said:
All this cost to get accreditation could make it hard for the small indie operater to be in business. The down side could be an increase in the rouges and the mess, dangerous repairs they have done and the extra costs fixing it. I am in favour of certification to prove they are compitent on the job but could they not bring in one that covers all the requirements without the large costs involed to get them.
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The cost is the whole idea Spuggie, the governmnt ha to get all this money back, that they have paid out proping up Northern Rock and B & B, or am I just being cynical:rolleyes:
 
I'm not sure what these taxi driver tests entail but I agree with Mick that it would help a bit if they knew the area. It used to be that if you didn't know where somewhere was you could ask a taxi driver and they would know. Now they always seem to ask where the location is (not much good if you are a visitor and have never been here before) and they ask "How much do you usually pay?" instead of telling you how much it is. Again useless if you do not 'usually' do that journey.

A couple of years ago we took a taxi to a friend's house in Ossy, gave the driver the address and in spite of us telling him he was going the wrong way he insisted he wasn't and took us on a scenic tour of most of Ossy before finally admitting he couldn't find it!
 
We got in a taxi last weekend and the driver who is based in Accrington didn't know where the Bee's Knee's Pub was!!!!!!

My ex hubby is a driver for a local firm (when he is awake). They might be a bit more expensive but at least they know where to take you. And the cars are in good condition!!!!
 
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