mini cab drivers

[fleursmummy]

bit persomal this, but what can you realistically expect to earn if you put in the hours?

[Piper-AK]

Dependends - if you ask a Taxi driver who is your friend they will tell you it's possible to make �150 - 200 on a good night (outside London). If you're asking one of them to fill in a Self Assessment tax return, they probably make �4000 all year if they're lucky. Before expenses.

[fleursmummy]

which is exactly why i'm asking !!

a couple of friends have told me their husbands can make �200+ a night, but how true this is I dont know

we desperately need some extra income, now our fixed rate mortgage is coming to an end - but my husband is anxious about going from a regular wage to becoming a mini cab driver

[Buenchico]

From the many taxi (or 'private-hire') drivers I've spoken to, it seems that you can make a reasonable living if
(a) you're self-employed and driving your own car and
(b) you're based in a reasonably large urban area.

The reason for (a) is that the firms who take on employed drivers only pay very low wages. Even though self-employed drivers have to pay their own insurance (expensive) and pay for the rental of the firm's radios (typically �100 - �200 per week) they can still make much more than employed drivers.

The reason for (b) is that much of the really lucrative work comes from pubs, restaurants and night clubs.

In another question, you indicate that you're not too far from Stansted Airport. (Neither am I). If you happen to live somewhere like Cambridge, there's probably quite a bit of money to be made taking drunken students home from night clubs. In the more rural areas, however, there's probably very little late night work. (In some of the more rural parts of East Anglia all the taxi offices close at 6.00p.m. If you don't book before then it's just tough luck!).

It's worth remembering, as well, that a new recruit to taxi driving may have to wait several weeks (or, possibly, months) for all the criminal record checks to be completed.

Chris

[Booldawg]

to be honest the best way to make it work is for your hubby to keep his full time job and cabby on a part time basis, maybe a couple of nights a week. You can guarantee the cab company will only want weeknd nights but then thats the way it goes.

[fleursmummy]

thanks everyone for your answers, you've been really helpful !

buenchico - we are nr stansted, a town called saffron walden, and yes i'd say it was fairly rural - but there a 5 or 6 cab firms and always seem busy

perhaps cambridge would be a better bet, we're eventually planning to move to newmarket so that should be fairly busy too!

thanks x