HI GUYS AND GALS.
Just had a busy couple of weeks and now sod all this week…this time last year I was fighting em off I am based in West Yorkshire whats it like up and down the country… 
Am seriously thinking about packing up and taking up Taxi driving anyone know if there is any cash in it …self employed I mean not for employer.
Every cloud has a silver lining the Golf is getting better Only took me 64 shots nine holes…look out tiger I might say zb the driving and take up GOLF.
i was promised loads of work but it hasnt really materialised. i did 4 days last week. worked yesterday and tomorrow. i have joined a new agency now and they seem a bit more positive
thecoder0; The unemployment figures for last month show an increase of 30,000 . The figures are not available for the influx of EU workers in the same period.
If you are going taxi driving on a meter you will make a reasonable living. If its chauffer work or private hire @ set rates you will lose a fortune as an owner driver. Try mini cabs as company driver. You will soon lose enough money to get you back on the trucks. When I tried it the night shift used to go to bingo before the shift started & if they won they would go home again.That might give you an idea of what you might earn on a 12 hr shift. If you have some kind of pension & your wife has an income , buy a nice car & do it as a hobby .Otherwise you will make more watching tv every night. Nice cars are very cheap so lots of people have a go. But you are better off going to auction & buying ( No older than 3 yrs ) a high milage diesel Mondeo & mini cabbing. If you can stand the general public in all its glory.
Hope this helps,best of luck.
Thanks for the advice Harry just found you have have a medical as well…do you have to have a driving test too ■■
IMO there is deffinately less agy work atm
though I worked monday, but coz I finished at 19:00 mon i couldnt take the 03:00 start tues, but i have a 05:00 start weds. But future prospects arnt good
I have however been offered a position with a local haulier working ad-hock for holiday cover for their staff, and since the holiday season is approaching, the prospects could be good.
but the pay rates with this local haulier are much less than agy rates, but to offset this I will only be travelling 5 mins up the road, instead of 40mins+ so I`ll save on petrol etc
swings and roundabouts 
Didn’t stop last year,had as much work as I wanted. 
This year it is definitely much harder to get a weeks work 
Still it is only just getting up to the holiday period so hope it is going to pick up soon. May definitely have to think about getting a real job sometime though.
thecoder0; I have to take a medical every year now I`m an old geezer. & I never took a test for a truck. I drove my dads 3 tonner when I was sixteen ,I think .( I actualy took it on the road & around the town when I was 14. Onthe way back home I spotted a police car in the mirror .Pulled to the side by the footballpitch & watched them disappear down the road. Great!!)Took my test in a 3 t Bedford. Scared the life out of the examiner. Came down the busy High St. @ a dead 30mph & failed.( I was showing him how good I was. I think I was 17 ) Took it later in a BSM baby Austin & passed.
I think when I was 21 I was automatically entitled to drive a Mighty Antar if I wanted to. Never looked back----or in the mirrors. ( Never drove the Antar either. )
thecoder0:
HI GUYS AND GALS.Just had a busy couple of weeks and now sod all this week…this time last year I was fighting em off I am based in West Yorkshire whats it like up and down the country…
Am seriously thinking about packing up and taking up Taxi driving anyone know if there is any cash in it …self employed I mean not for employer.
Every cloud has a silver lining the Golf is getting better Only took me 64 shots nine holes…look out tiger I might say zb the driving and take up GOLF.
Hi Coder, i too ,like you ,work agency and have done for about 8 years. And it has gone quiet for me too. Infact i’ve never known it so quiet. I’ve always (previously) been able to change jobs at the drop of a hat and exactly when i fancied and never spent a day out of work. However this year is very different. I believe (rightly or wrongly) that an influx of Eastern European drivers and a slight downturn of the economy is responsibile for this. You also said this;
Thanks for the advice Harry just found you have have a medical as well…do you have to have a driving test too ■■
Now i might be biased as i drove and owned my own hackney cab for about 8 years or more and i think after this post you might be better employed in a manual labour trade where you don’t have to get to involved if you know what i mean? (no medicals or tests).
Mike-C; How do mean biased…? ( In a good way or a bad way…? )Hackney cab is the only one where you might make some money as O/D because you are on a meter. The rest are on rates ( Trip money ) that make the worst trucking companies from the old days look blue chip. The game is very competitive.Everybody has a go because from the outside it looks easy. Agency work is streets ahead. The money you get is yours. You have no expensive equipment to pay for or maintain . No drunks giving you ag. & then calling the next day to make a complaint or saying that left valuable jewellry in the cab…As you can see I am also biased. 
Quite alot of work around Hull area but it depends on what agency you are with.
harry:
Mike-C; How do mean biased…? ( In a good way or a bad way…? )Hackney cab is the only one where you might make some money as O/D because you are on a meter. The rest are on rates ( Trip money ) that make the worst trucking companies from the old days look blue chip. The game is very competitive.Everybody has a go because from the outside it looks easy. Agency work is streets ahead. The money you get is yours. You have no expensive equipment to pay for or maintain . No drunks giving you ag. & then calling the next day to make a complaint or saying that left valuable jewellry in the cab…As you can see I am also biased.
I meant anyone who thinks you can drive the public around wthout taking a test may not have the apptitude for it?
Mike-C. I see.
thecoder0. I have only just understood the question. ----Its all about cab driving!! Yes you DO have to take a medical & its about the same as HGV. & about the same price. The car you buy must not be more than 3 yrs old.The next thing you have to pay for is the council plate for mini cab.Thats around £350. If you are thinking of buying a Hackney cab then you will have to buy the plate second hand from another cab driver. The starting price for one of these is bottom price £8000 + upwards. Thats why I said try it as an employee to see if you like it. Its hard to make money at because its a trade with lots of tricks that you find out much later you need to.The other thing is that as self employed you will need an accountant. If you have a bad year the tax man will access you and assume that you have made the same as all the other guys. & you will have to prove that you didn`t. The burden of proof is on you not the tax man. For instance I was on account work in London. The Inland Revenue taxed me on tips based on what cab drivers were submitting. We NEVER got tips but I still paid tax on them…Lovely times…
Like the rest of you, agency work has seriously dried up, to the point where my agency has asked all drivers to register with at least three other agencies! Apparently there has been a large uptake of E.U drivers directly employed so we’ve been told, at least that appears to be the case in the Midlands.
Once the EU boys get in they hang on to their jobs for life.( At the moment its just a trickle but soon it will be a flood ) The next thing is to get their families here ,as they are entited to. But the problem is that when they have taken up the slack there will be quite a few British boys on the dole. That goes from trucking to supermarkets & Mc Donalds. Its simple maths 70 million into 2 small countries ( UK & Ireland ) doesn`t go.It looks like the Golden Age for the UK driver is gradually coming to an end. None the other EU countries will give work permits for 7 years. In the short term these workers help the bosses fill jobs, keep wages static & so help the economy. If it were possible the bosses would ship these jobs to Poland ect. like they do the car factories & garment factories & they would save even more on wages. .In the long term the immigrants will need NHS care for themselves & their families & of course pensions ect. But at the end of the day the bosses are only interested in this years profit margin. Its not their business to think about the welfare of the country. Its not their fault or the fault of the guys that are coming from the EU. The fault lies with this goverment that opened the door with no consultation with the British people. French people have the right idea. Theirs is a true democracy. when they disagree they take to the street & the goverment has to listen.
yes i think the agency bubble has burst. just look at west yorkshire. sissons laying off and how many from kwik save all looking for jobs.
its picking up here. i had 2 agencies offer me work for the same client today. unfortunately, i have yet to master doing 2 separate driving jobs at once 
Well in my area there quite a few rubbish jobs, for the newbies But no, it is getting worse fast and I detect a drop in rates soon, certainly no increases.
BTW to add, there’s still an ever increasing amount of new agencies starting up and you know what that means - them fighting amongst thereselves and the rates will go down. 
Ban the lot of them.