MOTORISTS have been hit by a double tax whammy, it emerged today.
A Budget increase of 4.8p a litre on petrol actually becomes more than 6p – because drivers now have to pay for buses.
An extra 1.2p duty has been added to fuel because the States failed to bring in paid parking.
This became clear yesterday as motorists queued to beat the Budget price hike, which took effect from one minute after midnight.
Braye Road Garage director Mark Finn (pictured) said it had to increase its prices.
‘When the fuel was delivered this morning [Friday], it was at the new price,’ he said. ‘I am really sorry that we have to pass this on.’
Pumps had been very busy as the last of the lower-priced fuel was bought. Drivers filling up today were in for a shock, he said.
‘We are having to explain to people about why their fuel bills have risen.
‘People are happily filling up now, but tomorrow when it sells out and the new fuel comes in, it will be 6p dearer. People are in for a shock.’
Funding for the road transport strategy includes trying to increase bus use.
Trev’s Motorcycles co-owner Trevor Hockey was outraged by the rise.
‘I don’t think the motorist should have to pay to subsidise the buses,’ he said. ‘Some people can’t use a bus to get to work, but they will end up paying extra to get to work and back.’
He sells about a million litres of fuel a year. He said nobody would be happy with the increase.
‘What will be particularly annoying to taxi drivers is that they will be paying an extra 1.2p to subsidise their competition.’
He said the increase was inflationary.
A Treasury and Resources spokesman said the 1.2p had been agreed in the February States meeting and it was a coincidence that two rises had come in at the same time.
Budget reaction Page 3
Comment Page 16
Article posted on 21st November, 2009 - 2.30pm
67 Article Comments
This fuel rise ain’t gonna help anybody! Any services which require an engineer to come around to your property will have to up it’s prices, as will food prices, it doesn’t just hurt us motorists!
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A small price to pay for free parking well done common sense wins in Gurnsey unlike here in the UK where we are taxed to the hilt but get nothing in return but why is the bus service not self funding ?
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6p per litre more?, could always cut that third holiday a year instead! I guess its worth it if there is slightly more chance that our grandkids and great grandkids might just have a very very very slightly better chance of dealing with the mess we have already created!
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I was right! when the states started taxing fuel they would keep taking more to pay for there mess ups, they might as well take all my wages by direct debit, there is not a day that goes by when i think about leaving this messed up island, well done states of guernsey and you clever deputies.
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My local Tesco on the mainland is now selling unleaded at £1.09 a litre.
Most of that figure is tax and VAT.
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The bus service should be self funding – so maybe we need to know a little more about Island Coachways. After all, big buses = big cost.
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Food for thought: don’t buses also use fuel?
Here’s a quandry: won’t this fuel tax effectively mean that the bus company will have larger fuel costs to cover a tax to help subsidise their costs?
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why we have to pay for the states of guernsey mistakes.
Do they ever thing about guernsey people?
them just thing for them selfs and for how long them will keeping going
is so much guernsey people can take
instead tax all of us ,the deputies should have they meeting for free,and give the money away
(to help the black hole)
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Paul le page ,good thinking but although not much is said ,i suspect that the bus fuel bill is paid wholly by the states ,(by us) through thier subsidies, thats why nothing was said by coachways about raising fares when lyndon came up with the non revenue making 29 ppl on fuel to replace road fund licence, but the buses were all registered school buses anyway and paid minimum road tax ,while on that subject, could we see some figures on a year of road fund licence revenue(2008), and a comparison of the duty made by having the non revenue making tax on fuel(2009) (no!! sorry no figures available ) too embarrased i should think!! and more up to date, i thought that asking one business (that being an alternative public transport provider ie taxis)to be FORCED to pay money to its competition to keep it going was illegal they used to call it extortion ,obviously the O,U,R wont be interesed (too busy looking for two too many phone providers )so maybe the police could have a look at this (no !! all employed by the same bunch of crooks ) ah well back to the grindstone ,oh and just in case it all gets too complicated .simply put, if a business cant pay its own way ,it goes down, like a lot of them are ,with more on the way and no hope of a states bail out for them !!
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Fantastic news. Another small step towards making people think about each car journey they make and ensuring that the polluter pays. Of course people aren’t going to like it, but if it discourages car use and encourages a bus service with cheap fares, good frequency and island wide coverage then it’s good for the island as a whole. Guernsey is far too car-centric at the moment.
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its about time trott stopped spending all our money on his jollies away and save our cash .
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Eddy,whacking tax on already overburdened taxpayers does not suddenly and magically make an efficient bus service appear ,thats been proved over countless years ,and throwing millions of pounds at one hasnt worked recently either ,since biblical times taxation always leads to resentment ,and until recently the average taxpayer understood and complied with the need to pay up for services to function, but in the current local climate, which is not good (regardless of what the politicians tell us )there is a danger of having a bunch of revolting peasants on your hands,and with all my utility bills rocketing and no hope of improving my income i know i,ve had enough !!!
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Its a bit of mystery; this is a tax on fuel to subsibise the bus service, ok fine up to now, the other side of it is that the States hope that higher fuel costs will make more people use the bus to ease the so called traffic problem and help save the world too.
But here’s the mystery, if masses of people do decide to use the bus then the tax take is down…then where does the money to fund the buses come from?
Don’t worry, they’ll stick an extra tenner on our property taxes….
Has anyone thought that before the advent of Island Fm in Guernsey there was no traffic problem, now we have the morning DJ declaring gridlock and mayhem on our roads every morning everybody is consumed with anxiety over how to get to work in the morning.
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Well done States for yet again driving up the costs of running a small business.
In my opinion this has more to do with raising funds to prop up overspending and nothing to do with forcing people onto public transport.
Wasn’t there a reduction in revenue when they scrapped road tax in favour of higher fuel costs. Looks like they are trying to rectify their previous miscalculation.
Returning to my opening statement isn’t about time the States starting cutting their costs, and wasting money. All other businesses are having to tighten their belts, and once again another cost has been added onto the bottom line.
A plea to our elected officials:
‘Look at saving costs rather than taxing us.’ It is now so expensive to live on this beautiful island that it will not be long before I will be selling up and leaving.
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Well said David. I’d also agree with the editorial in the GP – in that there is no clear transport strategy. Appaling.
Adding tax to fuel will not stop people driving – as there is no viable alternative. What the States have done is akin to taxing FlyBe to prop up Aurigny!
The next time I mow my lawn it will gall me to think that the empty bus going by is being paid for by me cutting the grass.
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eddy. Best you can do is the old chestnut..polluter pays?
This price rise will not stop anyone using their vehicle. A month from now the new price will be the norm.
The question you should be asking is if you believe the polluter should pay….is why for instance 1)is marine fuel not pollution taxed.2)is heating fuel not pollution taxed.3)is aviation fuel not pollution taxed…and so on.
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I seem to remeber last year I was paying nearly £1.00 a litre for petrol.
Now, even with the new tax, it’s about 90p.
My maths may be a bit shaky, but it seems to me that I’m paying 10% less than I was last year …..
If the States would have the balls to remove the subsidy on public parking, to put up the bus fares to reduce or perhaps abolish the subsidy there, then maybe we could have our 6% back ….
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Tony – You were paying £1 becuase oil was £150 a barrel, if oil goes back to that you will be paying £1.25ish a litre. The bus subsidy is 1.2p, 4.8p being staight Tax, so you out of pocket both ways.
Personally I think the states are working their way towards 100% tax. Their in for a shock when we the public finaly run out of money. There is only so long you can flog the dead horse (donkey)
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well done the states yet again we pay for your mistakes and trotts jollies away all these tax hikes what about our wage hikes then wages never go up for the working man it seems to me it all take take take and no give give give .
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Fred, I thought fuel duty was a fixed amount per litre, not a percentage, so how do you get to £1.25 a litre ? Or am I completely wrong on that ?
My point is, as regards fuel costs, even with the new tax, fuel is actually cheaper now than at its peak last year, although I am well aware that that is due to the sharp drop in oil prices. If businesses can’t cope now with fuel at 90p a litre how the hell did they cope when it was £1 ?
Although I would still rather this fuel duty hike ( which I can minimise by not using the car as much ) than having any sort of sales tax ( GST, VAT etc. ) which is going to hit everybody regardless of what they do.
Or perhaps the States could take the radical step of ACTUALLY SPENDING LESS MONEY like the rest of us in the real world have to…..
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Let’s not get too excited about this – 6p a litre for the average motorist is going to be what, £1 a week?
As for taxi drivers whinging yet again, bearing in mind the average car must do about 6 miles per litre, I assume they’ll want a rise in fares of 1p per mile. Hardly material when they currently charge about £3 to £4 a mile is it?
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Tony ,you didnt go back quite far enough with your figures heres roughly what happened (June/July 2008)the valleys are green and the skies are blue we live in the happiest place in the world ,i’ll come back to this !!towards the end of the year it was announced that road fund licences would be scrapped in favour of a 29 ppl rise in fuel (it was to be non revenue making) so ok the user pays, except that if you have a tiny car at home and use it sparingly then you may benefit, but if by the nature of your work, you are a heavy fuel user (and there are a lot of those)then the saving on road tax paled into insignificance and it cost a lot to run a business ,what happened then was that the pump prices started to creep up all on thier own (environment said they didnt but rest assured they did)then the tax hike appeared around october, and then as fred points out things around the world went a little bit mad and a litre of diesel went up to around £1.15 to £1.20 depending on where you went for fuel the point is that if you had wandered around st andrews garage just after it closed in mid 2008 you would have seen diesel prices on the pumps set at .49 ppl its like passing an old friends grave !!oh and Phil its not about the rise its about paying for the buses and the taxi drivers have to apply to the states for a rise all documented in the gazette thats when it becomes public. you didnt complain when it became more expensive to deliver goods to you ,or to your local shop because you didnt know that charges went up ,as for the whinging taxi drivers they didnt apply for a fuel rise they were given a small cost of living increase(the first for afew years) i bet you get an automatic rise every year ,and unlike the states ,taxi drivers are mindful of not pricing business away ,and have very reluctantly restrained themselves from making too much fuss as there is not the volume of work, ie locals not going out or business people moving around as they were, because if you hadnt noticed times are hard !!and it would be nice to earn around £3 to £4 a mile but you somehow managed to miss out the fact that they are not constantly driving around for the ten to seventeen hours a days that some of them work in an effort to pay for the reasonably well kept car that you travel in, which has to be insured at twice the rate of your family saloon ,it has to be police checked and faults rectified(this costs money)as does their operators licence,as does thier medical ,as does a full set of tyres every year, not to mention unexpected massive bills due to wear and tear (gearboxes,clutches new engines etc)and also not to mention the body damage caused by those who think its funny to throw rocks at passing taxis in the early hours ,or boot the door in as they drive through the pollett trying to get the respectable people home, and god forbid the fuel bills, and thank you to the sensible people who consider that to save their driving licence ,job,family and house not to mention thier self esteem that they consider it a small price to pay
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Davee
Good luck on finding people who think taxi prices are a “small price to pay”. People are forced to pay the rates that are charged, they have no option apart from walking or cycling, hardly viable alternatives in winter, particularly if you’ve been out in town and need to get home to the west coast, or even Torteval.
Incidentally, how much would it be from town to the Imperial after 11pm (or whatever time it is when the fares increase)? About £25 or £30 I imagine, not bad for a 15 minute drive is it?
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The finance which is our biggest employer needs taxis, buses do not get them to work places in time.
Taxis also have no £2.2 million subsidy and contribute also to the buses.
Phil you must also remember that if you go out somewhere, you also come back all the way to the rank empty.
Also there are a lot of times that you sit around, twiddling your thumbs which you receive no pay for and the tarifs are set by the States.
It is like most businesses, things are expensive in Guernsey.
If you call out a man to fix your computer, the call out charge is £70, plumber £50 and so on.
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Phil,
Before I respond to your post can I just say I’m not a taxi driver nor do I know any personally.
Now thats out the way, I would agree with you that taxi fares are not cheap (particularly late at night) however the same argument could be applied to every public service in Guernsey, as an example try calling a doctor or a vet out after hours and see what that costs you, take your car to the garage for a service, visit the dentist or even go for a haircut, none of these services provided are cheap, basically unless you earn an awful lot of money this island is becoming a very difficult and expensive place to live nowadays.
I might add that if you can afford to go ‘out on the lash’ around town the taxi fare home is just a drop in the ocean!!
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Edquet / Kevin
I accept your points re the cost of various services over here, it’s a consequence of living in a prosperous island.
My point is that you don’t hear many professions moaning to the extent that taxi drivers do. I haven’t been to many places where cab drivers use the standard of cars that are used over here, in fact the three digit number plates which some of them display would be more valuable than most of the cars in other jurisdictions.
The point about them coming back to the rank empty isn’t entirely valid I don’t think. For instance, whilst en route from town to Torteval a call comes through asking for a cab from say Pleinmont/L’eree back into town. Hey presto, the best part of £50 for half an hour’s work! I know this doesn’t happen all the time but by no means are drivers having to return to the rank each time a fare gets dropped off, often there will be another fare fairly close to where the previous one ended.
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Phil ,you,re not forced to do anything!! (unlike the public who are now forced ,through taxes to pay for the buses whether they want to or not)and you are certainly not invited or press ganged into using a taxi ,as you say you have options which some people choose to take ,it’s £21.80 on rate 2 after 10 on weekdays and after 7 on saturdays, as you say not bad for 15 minutes work but thats all the work the driver may get for the next two hours , i suggest you read my letter again and pay particular attention to the associated costs involved in running public transport and incorporate it with comments made by edquet and kevin especially kevins last line!!
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7 pints around town = £21.00
15 minute taxi home = £21.80
Puts it into perspective!!
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Phil
Do you know how much taxi drivers earn per week or an average per working hour? surely that will determine if they are too expensive or not. They have to get a decent wage to live on or there wont be any taxi service?.
2 people taking the same taxi would be £10.90. 4 would be £5.45. theres another perspective, so dont go home alone :)
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bcb’s comment reminds me of my old drinking days.
In those days, whenever I’d get a taxi home, I’d always shout out along the queue to see if anyone was going in roughly the same direction. It just seemed common sense to me (even in an inebriated state!) to share a taxi home and halve the cost.
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Phil,
Instead of getting a taxi home after a night in Town try spending the £21 you save from the fare on an extra seven pints…. you wouldn’t notice how far your walk home is, and if you’re really lucky you might even get a free lift in a nice silver Skoda with a blue light on top, mind you I wouldn’t be too sure that you’d end up at home!!
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Phil your maths are incorrect
7 pints cost 23.80
20 to 25 minutes x 2 40 to 50 minutes 21.80
As for somebody calling you when on your way back, once in a blue moon.
You have not a clue what you are talking about, so just give up and ask your mum to pick you up.
P.S. At your age you should not be drinking 7 pints, and in that state a taxi could refuse to take you.
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7 pints around town £21.00
drive home and lose your licence 3years and £1000
lose your job £????
sell your car £????
insurance when back on road £2000?
no job ,no mortgage payments ,house lost £????
mrs gets stressed and leaves takes kids with her£?
OR
Taxi fare home 15 mins £21.80 ,
puts THAT into perpective dosent it
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I’d also like to add, why the heck new buses were bought, when they weren’t making huge profits! The old ones coped fine, and you could actually get passed them in the roads!
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Like to see Phil run a Taxi for a year. Servicing, tyres, Pollet damage,Insurance, long hours, pukers, soilers, etc. Oh, and not to forget the not many but odd whinger.
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Well goodness me, it’s amazing how many taxi drivers post on here isn’t it??!!??
Edquet – I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but a pint doesn’t cost the same in each pub, and the average cost certainly doesn’t come to £3.40 as you seem to think it does. Also, who are you to tell me I should not be drinking 7 pints? That’s just a warm up on a Saturday session…….
If taxis are such good value how come they’re not busier then? Perhaps if the fares weren’t so high then more people would use them, meaning that they wouldn’t have to drive around empty half the time, or spend ages queueing on the rank.
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It’s high time to open the cushy local taxi market to mini cab drivers who would charge half the price. I’ve used taxis/cabs in many European and UK cities and I can honestly say the cost of taking a taxi in this island (and in Jersey) is nothing short of extortionate by comparison. After missing the bus through my own fault I was forced to take a taxi the other day to get to the airport from the rank at the bottom of St Julian’s Av. I was charged £12 for this journey of no more than 4 miles and then I flew to Jersey for £25. Recently I booked an advance train fare in the UK for a 100 mile journey for £6 and on one occasion I managed to get an international flight with Ryanair for marginally over £12 including all the taxes. For me Guernsey taxis are a luxury option when there is no other alternative and I hope I am not put in the position of needing to use one again for a very, very long time indeed.
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Davee
A fascinating hypothesis – is that the thinking that goes into setting the levels of taxi fares ?
Here’s an interesting set of figures.
St Peter Port to St Helier via the airport…
1) Taxi from town to airport – £15
2) One-way return air fare from Guernsey to Jersey £30, of which around £15 is a landing tax. The airline keeps only £15 of that.
3) Taxi from Jersey airport to St Helier – £15
Out of the airline’s £15 fare it has to pay for the operational cost of an airline, pilot’s salaries, baggage handlers’ fees, fuel etc., yet its the same cost to go 25 miles by air as it is to go 4-5 miles by road in a taxi.
Are the airlines too cheap or are the taxis too expensive ?
I travel extensively all over the world and apart from London (but only since Livingstone’s congestion charges came in), I have not yet come across taxi fares anywhere else per mile which are remotely the level that are currently experienced in Guernsey (or Jersey).
But when I speak to taxi drivers who meet me at the airport they all (no, that’s unfair to generalise, let’s say many of them) seem to be either just back from somewhere on holiday or about to go away again, and seem to have multiple holidays a year. Several seem to be driving taxis as a second job to pay for all their holidays. Others (several) tell me that they have holiday homes in France, Spain, the Canaries, Bulgaria, Croatia etc). So are taxi fares based (a) on an average living wage, (b) on the level required by taxi drivers to pay for multiple holidays and holiday homes (which I would respectfully suggest is well above the working wage), or (c) on some other level which results in such high rates ?
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David your maths are wrong, i suspect you work in finance, counting like that.
If you do take taxis? and speak to millionaire drivers, who have just come back from another holiday.
It is from the Weighbridge to Airport, about £10.40 not £15.00, during the day.
Hope you are not doing my bank charges or account.
Read the other blogs which if you do not already know, how expensive it is to live in Guernsey.
I wonder if you lead the simple life and stay at home, or perhaps you go on the occasional holidays.
I have not time to say anymore, as i have to fly to Florida, to spent a couple of months their in my luck luxury water front home.
Wish that was true, before you wish me “Bon Voyage”.
A la prochione m’petit brache.
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Just a small observation …. If one driver maintaining one car can barely make a living as a taxi is it any wonder a fleet of 30 buses lose £2million a year charging only 60p( at most ) a journey ……
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Someone earlier sought information about the comparison of Fuel tax and Motor Tax against just fuel tax alone. This is the best I can do:
2006 – Motor Spirit £2.0m, Road Tax £6.3m, Total: £8.3m.
2007 – Motor Spirit £3.3m, Road Tax £4.3m, Total: £7.6m.
2008 – Motor Spirit £10.0m, Road Tax £0, Total: £10m.
2009 – Motor Spirit £11.1m, Road Tax £0, Total: £11.1m.
proposed for 2010 – Motor Spirit £13m
Make what you will of these figures, but it looks to me, even with allowances for inflation that there was a 30% lift between ‘07 and ‘08, 10% between ‘08 and ‘09 and a forecast of 18% in ‘10.
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Very intersting Roy.
Another fact for the pot.
Average cost of unleaded in the UK is 108ppl of which 65 pence is tax (duty and VAT). The cheapest unleaded in Guernsey is 87ppl of which 35 pence is duty.
This makes a difference of 12ppl – UK / Guernsey.
Ripped off again I fear.
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Roy:
I’m sure that must be wrong, why our goverment told us several times before and after that it was revenue neutral :@}
Must be the inflation factor!
Why I even remember them stating it had fallen short of its target!
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Edquet
I missed your comment about it taking 20 to 25 minutes to get to Pleinmont (after 10pm when the roads are dead). If it’s taking you that long I assume you’re going the “scenic” route, which is not uncommon amongst taxi drivers over here.
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I think this is a funny discussion between the taxi drivers and non taxi drivers but perhaps I could tell you a little story in equal sized nutshell?
The story relates to me sending some shopping to my elderly grandmother. I had done some shopping at one of the local supermarkets and bought a little more than I had expected.
I was walking you see. I stopped at a local taxi rank and as I only lived up the road I popped my grandmothers shopping in a cab, along with £10 for the fare and gave the more than obliging taxi driver directions and walked to my own home.
Later that day I received a phone call from granny expressing her gratitude. It was when she said that the taxi had cost 11.40 that I was bemused. I told her that I would pay the extra 1.40 to make up the difference (poor old dear survives on a pension of about 8p a week).
Puzzled she asked did I mean 11.40 which she had paid. I explained that I had paid 10 already to which she chuckled to her self. My polite lovely little granny proclaimed “my lad, that little buggers had us”
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Gilthead – don’t forget the extra money it costs to get the fuel here. Surely that must swallow some of the 12p difference.
Mind you that cost would go to the tanker operator… namely the States ……
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Edquet
I accept that my maths may be partially wrong. It did cost me nearly £15 to go home near to the airport from Town at 11pm last Friday night, but it did cost me nearer £11 when I caught one from the office a week earlier during the daytime to catch a flight. I certainly wouldn’t be going to the airport to catch a flight at 11pm on a Friday, so I fully accept that I’m wrong on that example.
Yes, of course I go on holiday, but only for 4 or 5 weeks a year. I can categorically assure you that several taxi drivers who have taken me over the past few months are away on holiday far more than that, or at least that’s what they told me. Maybe they were lying ? But would they do that ? Or maybe the cost of living is now so high over here that they are actually saving money by being away on holiday !
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Martino ,guernsey is 65th cheapest place for taxis in the uk ,and mini cabs have been tried before ,probably long before you came to guernsey because it was cheap ,David WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU ON ABOUT??? have you both dreamt up figures which are totally incorrect just so you got something to say, i can only assume that you work for the states and have gone off on a homeresque tangent (did you know that its cheaper to traverse canada by dog sled than by fighter jet!!!)it wasnt hypothesis it was fact ,and no it wasnt an interesting set of figures ,it seems that you both travel a lot ,dont you like it here ??…..oh and thanks roy
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Phil time yourself, it is about 20 to 25 minutes, if you keep to the speed limit and l do.
You can not even get that right.
Most people know the way home, perhaps cut out the drink and you may know where you are going.
Taxi drivers take people home the quickest way, but in Guernsey there are there are sometimes 3 different ways home.
The last comment is what properly, sums up your attitude and you may be a lost non local bus drivers. It appears the amount you drink it would be a waste of our time to take you on a “scenic route”.
If you want a taxi, please tell me your name and l will put you on the bus, or phone your mum.
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Tony. Try take your PSV and see, talk is cheep.
I am retired and drive part time and have a little understanding of taxi work.
A lot of comments are of its greener on the other side,just try it first before you run everyone down. Put your money where your mouth is.
Taxi drivers are self employed, no work no pay, no final salary pension or expenses. Get sick and you earn nothing, go on holiday you get nothing.
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Ben
Your story doesn’t surprise me!
When I lived in the UK for a while I came home one weekend, jumped in a cab at the airport and asked to go to Grandes Rocques. I was a bit surprised when he turned right as we exited the airport, and soon afterwards he asked me if I lived over here (which I had done for the first 25 years of my life, but at that time I was living in London). I suspected what was going on so I just answered “no” and we continued driving towards St Peters. It was only when we reached the junction at L’Eree hotel that I mentioned that I was local, and that I was surprised we hadn’t gone through Route des Blicqs, Candie Road, King’s Mills etc, as I thought that was the quickest way. Cue a look of shock on the driver’s face, a quick “sorry mate, I didn’t realise you were local, I’ll turn the meter off here” and on we went to Grandes Rocques. It actually worked out cheaper for me than the correct fare would have been, but had I been an unsuspecting tourist I would have been well and truly fleeced.
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Messing about with fuel and alcohol duties, higher rates etc. will not disguise the colossal mistake in introducing zero 10 without setting out concrete proposals for filling the annual black hole.
At the time the First Minister said that he did not know what we were worrying about.
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Edquet
How far is it to Pleinmont do you think?
Surely not more than 8 miles? In which case your 25 minute journey works out at an average of 19.2 miles per hour. You’re not seriously expecting me to believe that that’s a realistic average speed on deserted main roads are you?
By the way, feel free to continue hurling personal insults at me, it just goes to show how insecure you are in your argument. Hardly surprising seeing as though it appears to be based on incorrect and nonsensical claims.
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Davee
I do appear to have struck a nerve. I wonder why.
“Guernsey the 65th cheapest place for taxis in the UK” – what sort of a statistic is that ? How many places was it compared with (if it was only 70 then that would make us one of the most expensive !), and when was the survey carried out ? I bet not in the last 2 or 3 years when local taxi fares appear to have rocketed.
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Phil
Town to Pleinmont. Average speed 20 – 25 … quite likely. If you stick to the speed limit ( you are aware how much of the route is in 25 mph zones ? Whichever way you go .. )
Slowing for corners? Stopping at the, what, at least 2 or 3 sets of lights ( they always seem to stop me when I’m the only person on the road ) along the way ? Slowing down for the roundabouts ? Slowing down for all the road junctions ( and stopping where appropriate ) ?
……
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Off topic I know but
Hey David
How’s that Dubai business going?
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david, it takes a lot more than that to strike a nerve, and i wasnt talking to you i was aiming my comment at martino but to answer you the survey was carried out this year ,and as it says (which you seemed to miss, that its in the uk, remember the uk? it consists of districts boroughs and councils so say if london is the most expensive then the list works it way down through manchester birmingham etc to guernsey at no 65, you see ,(simple.com)sorry i cant provide pictures or big letters !! ben, apologies to your gran from the majority of hard working honest drivers ,and phil we.ll take take your story with a pinch of salt as you,ve already confessed on nov 26th 10.15 to consuming excessive amounts of alcohol “i suspected what was going on ” if that was the case and you felt aggrieved ,then the law provides that a properly licenced taxi displays its plate at the rear and a repeater plate inside the vehicle if you have a complaint then take the number and put your case to environment, or the taxi federation (in most cases people cant even describe the vehicle or even its colour)or were you so chuffed at ultimatly ripping off the taxi driver with your cheaper than normal fare, that you missed that bit, and martino you dont get this facility with minicabs ,what you get is a £250 mondeo with no regognisable features except that it stinks, and a driver fresh off the plane from mozambique who was carting an ak47, (thats a machine gun, david) around last week .at the end of it all this thread was started to highlight the fact that our government found it in thier hearts to tax fuel to enable the buses to continue to operate, which not only taxi drivers find unfair but people in other walks of life ,inevitably the thread wandered a bit and we find a few who are disgruntled with taxis ,thats entirely thier perogotive personally i dont like getting legally ripped off by the states or every day by hugely excessive charges from our saviours the banks but there you go !!
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Can’t we train a flock of seagulls, or several (could I have a photograph of you?) to carry two seater carriages?
It would cost a bag of chips, and a few sardines for wait and return?
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Failing that, a train to the airport from town, and on to the bridge. Be cheaper in the long run.
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I’ll let David and davee have their spat but I would like to let davee know that given a choice between him and his gold plated luxicab for £12 and a Somalian in a beaten up Mondeo for a fiver I’d take the latter because I’m quite used to roughing it. However, If I win top prize in the Christmas lottery I’ll gladly go by his taxi and give him a big fat tip to show there are no hard feelings.
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Tony
Town to Pleinmont – 7 sets of lights by my reckoning, 2 roundabouts, at the most 1 mile out of 8 at 25mph, and not 1 single junction!
I do of course stand to be corrected by an all-knowing taxi driver……………
19.2mph is woefully slow and totally unrealistic in my opinion, I might time the journey tonight just for the hell of it.
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Davee
Sorry to split hairs, but you actually said to Martino that Guernsey was the 65th cheapest place for taxis in the UK. You didn’t say that it was the 65th most expensive, which is what you now infer in your 3.16pm posting !
So, rather than insult me, please consider what you actually said, which prompted my response.
To spell it out, being the “65th cheapest” means that there are 64 other places which are cheaper. Being the “65th most expensive” means that 64 other places are more expensive. Not quite the same thing, so which is it please ?
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Not a taxi driver, but there’s a junction just before the Bus terminal ;)
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Phil lay off the 7 pints for tonight and i do know more about taxi work than you, that does not take much.
Being a real Guern with the passport to match.
Martino are you offering these £25 flights to Jersey, if you do you will have a good few requests.
I have been to a good few places in Europe and taxis are not cheap.
Also some of these mini cabs are unlicensed and do not have limited liability insurance, do be careful.
I was in Mexico and the taxi driver would not take me back to the boat, without a large fee.
I have not tried that yet, but it might work with a Jersey man, when the flight only costs £25.
In Jordan at the city of Petra, it was 18 Jordanian dollars ( same value as pound ), from the bottom to the top.
These holidays, may l add not money from taking people to Pleimont.
Why did the moderator take off my ” A La prochoine “, do you not know Guernissais.
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Edquet
Aurigny have lots of flights to Jersey for £25, just check their website.
Maybe also check your spelling of Guernsey French while you’re at it……………
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Edquet, just go on the Blue Islands website and you’ll find plenty of £25 flights to Jersey but finding a reasonably priced taxi service in the Channel Islands is harder than finding an ego free Chief Minister.
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Weighbridge to the Imperial without exceeding the speed limit – 7.5 miles – 16 minutes – as driven on a Sunday afternoon.
So for those cab drivers taking 25 minutes after 10pm, you’re either dawdling or taking the wrong route!!
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