Irish Taxi Forum
Public Area => Taxi Talk => Topic started by: silverbullet on July 18, 2020, 07:13:37 pm
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https://bluelightblogspot.blogspot.com/2020/06/taxis-in-crisis.html?spref=tw
Hailo launched in Dublin 10 years ago to the delight of both taxi drivers and customers. A simpler, quicker way to order a taxi had customers downloading the app in their droves. Drivers, who had for decades been working with radio companys or working the streets signed up to Hailo in their thousands.
The promise of no base fees, the ability to accept jobs from anywhere and only being charged a percentage of each job done was revolutionary. Hailo delivered on their promises and became the friend of taxi drivers and the taxi hailing public.
Unfortunately this excellent company sold out to Europe's My taxi and things became a bit sinister. Customers and drivers complained about the new app. It wasn't as efficient as the Hailo app which had during it's time tweaked the model to suit all.
A very sinister turn of events came about when My taxi sold out to Daimler and BMW. These motor giants invested heavily into a taxi app!!!
The company had been reporting losses and still does today, yet they pay bonuses to drivers for special event nights, give discounts to customers for first time use of the app, spend millions on advertising in the airports etc. etc.
They are constantly trying to entice new drivers into the industry, even paying for area knowledge training and the test. They consistently barrage existing drivers with ads on the app offering big bonuses for bringing a friend on board.
Every second taxi on Dublin streets is adorned with the Freenow livery. All paid for by Freenow on the promise that the driver will be considered an ambassador and entitled to special privileges.
WHY? Why are these car companies investing so heavily in an app that is losing money?
When the name changed from My taxi to Freenow, what was the reasoning behind it?
Customers joked that the taxi was free, no fare to be paid. Taxi drivers were bewildered by the name. At least with My taxi the word " taxi" was in there, Hailo was pretty obvious, so why Freenow?
Here's why, and why it's owned by car companies who keep investing in a loss making enterprise................................................................Freenow means FREE (from a driver) NOW.
With the speed of technology ever increasing, companys are constantly having to change and look to the future. The future for the motor industry is the self driving car. People in the future won't need to own a car, they'll just hit an app on a smart phone and a car will come to them, it will take them wherever they want and then park itself awaiting the next call.
Daimler and BMW will be huge players in this market because they already own the biggest app in Europe. All they need is to develop and build self driving cars and they will own the taxi industry.
What they are doing now is keeping the Freenow app alive, advertising it, building its customer base so that when the time comes, they will take over.......free from drivers now.
Some seem to think driverless cars are 10 years down the road, Tesla are at present testing their driverless car on Irish roads. Toyota have invested heavily into Uber with the same objective as Daimler and BMW. We'll see taxi bots soon enough.
As taxi drivers you are assisting in this plan. You are keeping the app serviced, keeping it in people's minds, advertising on your cars, it's been said before,
" IT'S LIKE TURKEYS VOTING FOR CHRISTMAS "
In recent times Freenow have become a member of the taxi advisory committee and have started to behave like the national transport authority, making rules etc.
What we have now is a fox in the henhouse...............
FREENOW..................................................A MASSIVE THREAT TO THE TAXI INDUSTRY
Thanks for reading, thoughts or objectives on what you've read to taxisincrisis@gmail.com
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About sums it up...."what do we want.....and when do we want it?"
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Lots of moaning but no solutions.
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Hailo aren't ten years in Ireland.
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About sums it up...."what do we want.....and when do we want it?"
What do we want?
A CURE FOR TOURETTES!
When do we want it?
CUNT!
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self driving cars are decades away. don't worry about them.
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The immortal words of Dalymount spring to mind
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About sums it up...."what do we want.....and when do we want it?"
What do we want?
A CURE FOR TOURETTES!
When do we want it?
CUNT!
rofl
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Hailo aren't ten years in Ireland.
near enough
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Lots of moaning but no solutions.
lol
I recall proposing a not for profit driver owned app.
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Hailo aren't ten years in Ireland.
near enough
It's actually eight years but they only really got work seven years ago.Does feel longer though.Dunno where the ten came from.
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It's true and there ain't a damn thing we can do about it, thing is it was going to happen anyway, all this does is give Free now a fighting chance of being the leader in the driverless car market, there's a very good chance a bigger player will emerge.
Either way we're fucked.
The aim would be to own one of the driverless cars, put it on the free now system (you'll still be paying them a percentage!) and earn whilst horizontal, not sure if that's a viable/practical solution (currently run at about €300,000 each) but that'd be the dream.
There'll still be Taxis, Driverless cars will be similar to GoCars (who will similarly believe they have the head start in the market) there will be a monthly membership charge and a fee per km, there's a very good chance that initially at least we will be a considerably cheaper option, certainly for the infrequent/leisure user
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why would you worry about something that is likely to be around 30-40 years away if not longer.
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why would you worry about something that is likely to be around 30-40 years away if not longer.
That might be true. or maybe not, tech moves very quickly, once they agree on the ethical issues about when and who they can and cannot kill, they're pretty much there.
Would you get in a car that'd kill you rather than the person on the street if the choice had to be made?
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30 or 40 years...I don't think so.Less than ten easily in some countries.Tesla announced they have cracked level 5 autonomy.That's the full package.And they can upload it to their current vehicles AFAIK.
That's a 40k car not mad money by any means.If they can send shit up into space and get it back on it's own autonomous cars aren't that unlikely.
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Elon musk is full of $hit, don't be listening to any of the crap he spouts, he said we would have level 5 autonomous driving by 2020.
https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/sorry-elon-fully-autonomous-tesla-vehicles-will-not-happen-anytime-soon (https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/sorry-elon-fully-autonomous-tesla-vehicles-will-not-happen-anytime-soon)
https://www.businessinsider.com/self-driving-cars-fully-autonomous-vehicles-future-prediction-timeline-2019-8?r=US&IR=T (https://www.businessinsider.com/self-driving-cars-fully-autonomous-vehicles-future-prediction-timeline-2019-8?r=US&IR=T)
https://www.thetelegram.com/wheels/why-your-dream-of-driving-an-autonomous-car-is-still-decades-away-390259/ (https://www.thetelegram.com/wheels/why-your-dream-of-driving-an-autonomous-car-is-still-decades-away-390259/)
even people in charge of autonomous driving for different car companies agree its decades away.
It may eventually put some of us out of a job but you cant fight it either, from the minute i started in the business I was planning my next one, we are all entrepreneurs and capable of running other businesses so we shouldnt keep all our eggs in 1 basket. think about it, if we all had another business and level 5 autonomous cars put us out of a job tomorrow, we wouldn't be that bothered as we would have the other business/businesses to fall back on.
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About sums it up...."what do we want.....and when do we want it?"
What do we want?
A CURE FOR TOURETTES!
When do we want it?
What DO..we want ?
Dempsey outh
When do we want ith
NOW
We goth
it but I dont condone throwing shit at his office window to get!
Ffffs sake
CUNT!
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Reverse that....that word condone is a tricky one...seems to have many contrasting meanings...
FFS....disregard or overlook the post if you find it objectionable or the like...Eamon
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Elon musk is full of $hit, don't be listening to any of the crap he spouts, he said we would have level 5 autonomous driving by 2020.
https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/sorry-elon-fully-autonomous-tesla-vehicles-will-not-happen-anytime-soon (https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/sorry-elon-fully-autonomous-tesla-vehicles-will-not-happen-anytime-soon)
https://www.businessinsider.com/self-driving-cars-fully-autonomous-vehicles-future-prediction-timeline-2019-8?r=US&IR=T (https://www.businessinsider.com/self-driving-cars-fully-autonomous-vehicles-future-prediction-timeline-2019-8?r=US&IR=T)
https://www.thetelegram.com/wheels/why-your-dream-of-driving-an-autonomous-car-is-still-decades-away-390259/ (https://www.thetelegram.com/wheels/why-your-dream-of-driving-an-autonomous-car-is-still-decades-away-390259/)
even people in charge of autonomous driving for different car companies agree its decades away.
It may eventually put some of us out of a job but you cant fight it either, from the minute i started in the business I was planning my next one, we are all entrepreneurs and capable of running other businesses so we shouldnt keep all our eggs in 1 basket. think about it, if we all had another business and level 5 autonomous cars put us out of a job tomorrow, we wouldn't be that bothered as we would have the other business/businesses to fall back on.
Why would I want another business.I've enough work to avoid as it is.Let us know when you build a rocket that can go into space and land on it's own when it comes back.
Taxi drivers are usually the ones full of shit from my experience.Tell us about all the successful business you operate?I'm genuinely curious.
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I'm not concerned about my job as I don't really turn up as it is for work. People will buy the autonomous cars as gadgets. Taxi use is another matter altogether.
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Elon musk is full of $hit, don't be listening to any of the crap he spouts, he said we would have level 5 autonomous driving by 2020.
https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/sorry-elon-fully-autonomous-tesla-vehicles-will-not-happen-anytime-soon (https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/sorry-elon-fully-autonomous-tesla-vehicles-will-not-happen-anytime-soon)
https://www.businessinsider.com/self-driving-cars-fully-autonomous-vehicles-future-prediction-timeline-2019-8?r=US&IR=T (https://www.businessinsider.com/self-driving-cars-fully-autonomous-vehicles-future-prediction-timeline-2019-8?r=US&IR=T)
https://www.thetelegram.com/wheels/why-your-dream-of-driving-an-autonomous-car-is-still-decades-away-390259/ (https://www.thetelegram.com/wheels/why-your-dream-of-driving-an-autonomous-car-is-still-decades-away-390259/)
even people in charge of autonomous driving for different car companies agree its decades away.
It may eventually put some of us out of a job but you cant fight it either, from the minute i started in the business I was planning my next one, we are all entrepreneurs and capable of running other businesses so we shouldnt keep all our eggs in 1 basket. think about it, if we all had another business and level 5 autonomous cars put us out of a job tomorrow, we wouldn't be that bothered as we would have the other business/businesses to fall back on.
Why would I want another business.I've enough work to avoid as it is.Let us know when you build a rocket that can go into space and land on it's own when it comes back.
Taxi drivers are usually the ones full of shit from my experience.Tell us about all the successful business you operate?I'm genuinely curious.
Not sure why you have replied in an aggressive cynical tone, im just trying to give a little advice to my fellow taxi drivers.
That is ok if you don't like working but we are all different, I love working and am very ambitious, I knew all about rideshare and autonomous cars before i started the business, i brought a lorry driver home one night, he was worried about a robot taking his job and asked me was i not. The way I feel about it is why dwell on things like that, just get the head down, work hard and have your eye on other opportunities.
I have plans for another couple of businesses one of which i will start in the next year hopefully, I needed to save a certain amount of money the last few years in order to start it, i have enough now. people laughed at me when i started the taxi business and told me not to bother but i never listen to anyone when it comes to things like this. you can do anything you put your mind to. I do believe that a lot of taxi drivers are clever people who can transfer the skills they have to other businesses.
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Most are trying to come up with a business idea that pays us while we're horizontal, that's why the PUP payment has proven very popular amongst taxi drivers.
In fairness Taxi driving is about as close to doing nothing as you're going to get, we get paid for the part of the day everyone else does for nothing ...commuting to and from a real job.
Prior to Taxi driving I was a sales rep, I drove 200 miles a day no problem, unfortunately that wasn't the bit I got paid for, the real work was far more taxing.
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Most are trying to come up with a business idea that pays us while we're horizontal, that's why the PUP payment has proven very popular amongst taxi drivers.
In fairness Taxi driving is about as close to doing nothing as you're going to get, we get paid for the part of the day everyone else does for nothing ...commuting to and from a real job.
Prior to Taxi driving I was a sales rep, I drove 200 miles a day no problem, unfortunately that wasn't the bit I got paid for, the real work was far more taxing.
Most of us hate working for someone else so id say continuing to be self employed is the only option for a lot of us.
Taxi driving is handy enough most of the time but its hard going if you work a lot, 7 days a week, day and night, nights can be good craic but they can be hell also, putting up with aggressive customers, and cleaning up sick after the nights work. its not the driving aspect of the job I think is transferable, its all the other stuff that goes with running any business.
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"In fairness Taxi driving is about as close to doing nothing as you're going to get".
Occasionally you do say some foolish things, more so recently. Making a family rearing, mortgage qualifying, income from taxiing is as soul destroying, marriage wrecking as it gets.
Getting paid for doing very little is usually the domain of low paid, lower level state, or local government, employees, or alternatively very rich men.
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"In fairness Taxi driving is about as close to doing nothing as you're going to get".
Occasionally you do say some foolish things, more so recently. Making a family rearing, mortgage qualifying, income from taxiing is as soul destroying, marriage wrecking as it gets.
Getting paid for doing very little is usually the domain of low paid, lower level state, or local government, employees, or alternatively very rich men.
Only occasionally ... thanks!
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Fair play to Boyd-Barrett. AGAIN. The only one who dares utter that four letter word in public, beginning with T and ending with I, when it comes to giving us some sort of backing.....
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Yes we are in trouble
But 350 a week wont solve it
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"In fairness Taxi driving is about as close to doing nothing as you're going to get".
Occasionally you do say some foolish things, more so recently. Making a family rearing, mortgage qualifying, income from taxiing is as soul destroying, marriage wrecking as it gets.
Getting paid for doing very little is usually the domain of low paid, lower level state, or local government, employees, or alternatively very rich men.
For a middle class family man it was enough, don’t know when it changed, couldn’t comment on such as I’m neither middle class nor a family man.
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The reality is that a taxidriver is a low skilled job.I remember a courier in my cab...telling me back in the zeros that we should only be getting 10 euro P H ..max for self employed and 5 e for renters.
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"In fairness Taxi driving is about as close to doing nothing as you're going to get".
Occasionally you do say some foolish things, more so recently. Making a family rearing, mortgage qualifying, income from taxiing is as soul destroying, marriage wrecking as it gets.
Getting paid for doing very little is usually the domain of low paid, lower level state, or local government, employees, or alternatively very rich men.
For a middle class family man it was enough, don’t know when it changed, couldn’t comment on such as I’m neither middle class nor a family man.
A guard used to be able to buy a house on his own income, now with a working nurse for a wife they may JUST afford one.
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The reality is that a taxidriver is a low skilled job.I remember a courier in my cab...telling me back in the zeros that we should only be getting 10 euro P H ..max for self employed and 5 e for renters.
You should make as mush as you want as a self employed taxi driver according to how much and how hard you work. was the courier self employed? if not i wouldn't give a $hit how much he thought we should be paid, im guessing he was an employee.
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I dunno...i was earning up to 40 a hour like a skilled Doctor..Jonny Cyclopse was only getting 5 euro for collecting scrap...Dja see my point..We expect too much
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I dunno...i was earning up to 40 a hour like a skilled Doctor..Jonny Cyclopse was only getting 5 euro for collecting scrap...Dja see my point..We expect too much
Doctors only make 40 an hour? I don't think so. There are very high operation costs in the taxi industry, even insurance alone is very high. we need to be making 40 an hour, I gave my mechanic about 800 euro in the last week. when that big mouth courier has the balls to become self employed and not be an employee I might listen to him.
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40 an hour? Well for some!
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I dunno...i was earning up to 40 a hour like a skilled Doctor..Jonny Cyclopse was only getting 5 euro for collecting scrap...Dja see my point..We expect too much
Doctors only make 40 an hour? I don't think so. There are very high operation costs in the taxi industry, even insurance alone is very high. we need to be making 40 an hour, I gave my mechanic about 800 euro in the last week. when that big mouth courier has the balls to become self employed and not be an employee I might listen to him.
Re operation costs, there’s a fella around our way ya see him most days pushing a 15 year old push bike with a 25 year old ladder on the back of it and €1.30 brand new bucket he got from b&q, €10 to do the front windows on the gaff and €25 to do the front and back.
Makes ya wonder.
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I dunno...i was earning up to 40 a hour like a skilled Doctor..Jonny Cyclopse was only getting 5 euro for collecting scrap...Dja see my point..We expect too much
Doctors only make 40 an hour? I don't think so. There are very high operation costs in the taxi industry, even insurance alone is very high. we need to be making 40 an hour, I gave my mechanic about 800 euro in the last week. when that big mouth courier has the balls to become self employed and not be an employee I might listen to him.
Re operation costs, there’s a fella around our way ya see him most days pushing a 15 year old push bike with a 25 year old ladder on the back of it and €1.30 brand new bucket he got from b&q, €10 to do the front windows on the gaff and €25 to do the front and back.
Makes ya wonder.
Exactly, some guy came an emptied our septic tank lately, just 1 man and a tractor and slurry spreader, he was here for 20 minutes max, 200 euro, then he came back in a half hour an did our next door neighbours, another 200 euro. what big costs does he have compared to us?
I wonder would the window cleaner guy have insurance? or is it all cash in hand.
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The reality is that a taxidriver is a low skilled job.I remember a courier in my cab...telling me back in the zeros that we should only be getting 10 euro P H ..max for self employed and 5 e for renters.
I bet it was MFH.
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I dunno...i was earning up to 40 a hour like a skilled Doctor..Jonny Cyclopse was only getting 5 euro for collecting scrap...Dja see my point..We expect too much
Doctors only make 40 an hour? I don't think so. There are very high operation costs in the taxi industry, even insurance alone is very high. we need to be making 40 an hour, I gave my mechanic about 800 euro in the last week. when that big mouth courier has the balls to become self employed and not be an employee I might listen to him.
Re operation costs, there’s a fella around our way ya see him most days pushing a 15 year old push bike with a 25 year old ladder on the back of it and €1.30 brand new bucket he got from b&q, €10 to do the front windows on the gaff and €25 to do the front and back.
Makes ya wonder.
I wonder would the window cleaner guy have insurance? or is it all cash in hand.
Lol.
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I dunno...i was earning up to 40 a hour like a skilled Doctor..Jonny Cyclopse was only getting 5 euro for collecting scrap...Dja see my point..We expect too much
Doctors only make 40 an hour? I don't think so. There are very high operation costs in the taxi industry, even insurance alone is very high. we need to be making 40 an hour, I gave my mechanic about 800 euro in the last week. when that big mouth courier has the balls to become self employed and not be an employee I might listen to him.
Re operation costs, there’s a fella around our way ya see him most days pushing a 15 year old push bike with a 25 year old ladder on the back of it and €1.30 brand new bucket he got from b&q, €10 to do the front windows on the gaff and €25 to do the front and back.
Makes ya wonder.
Exactly, some guy came an emptied our septic tank lately, just 1 man and a tractor and slurry spreader, he was here for 20 minutes max, 200 euro, then he came back in a half hour an did our next door neighbours, another 200 euro. what big costs does he have compared to us
The plant cost him about 50 large !!
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He would have that made back in no time charging what he charges.
The same fellow would probably be moaning if you charged him 20 to drop him home on new years eve.
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1990 what happened to your taxi that it needed 800 worth of work done?
Tell us so we can avoid the model.
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1990 what happened to your taxi that it needed 800 worth of work done?
Tell us so we can avoid the model.
just wear and tear really, and a mini service. I have 190,000 miles on it so its to be expected, had an NCT and im off at the moment so getting it ready for returning to work. it might actually be 600-700, thought it was more.
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He would have that made back in no time charging what he charges.
The same fellow would probably be moaning if you charged him 20 to drop him home on new years eve.
He also needs a holding tank or (slatted house about 100k) to store the slurry if he is registered. If he isn't you shouldn't be employing him!!
Did he give you a receipt?
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He would have that made back in no time charging what he charges.
The same fellow would probably be moaning if you charged him 20 to drop him home on new years eve.
He also needs a holding tank or (slatted house about 100k) to store the slurry if he is registered. If he isn't you shouldn't be employing him!!
Did he give you a receipt?
he is registered apparently, he doesn't need a tank as there is a place in town he unloads the tank. yes, got a receipt.
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He would have that made back in no time charging what he charges.
The same fellow would probably be moaning if you charged him 20 to drop him home on new years eve.
He also needs a holding tank or (slatted house about 100k) to store the slurry if he is registered. If he isn't you shouldn't be employing him!!
Did he give you a receipt?
he is registered apparently, he doesn't need a tank as there is a place in town he unloads the tank. yes, got a receipt.
A place in town.... does the council let him empty it at the town treatment plant, which town?
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He would have that made back in no time charging what he charges.
The same fellow would probably be moaning if you charged him 20 to drop him home on new years eve.
He also needs a holding tank or (slatted house about 100k) to store the slurry if he is registered. If he isn't you shouldn't be employing him!!
Did he give you a receipt?
he is registered apparently, he doesn't need a tank as there is a place in town he unloads the tank. yes, got a receipt.
A place in town.... does the council let him empty it at the town treatment plant, which town?
A lake lol ah no its some treatment place as far as I know.
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He would have that made back in no time charging what he charges.
The same fellow would probably be moaning if you charged him 20 to drop him home on new years eve.
He also needs a holding tank or (slatted house about 100k) to store the slurry if he is registered. If he isn't you shouldn't be employing him!!
Did he give you a receipt?
he is registered apparently, he doesn't need a tank as there is a place in town he unloads the tank. yes, got a receipt.
A place in town.... does the council let him empty it at the town treatment plant, which town?
A lake lol ah no its some treatment place as far as I know.
The Green party would like to know his name, spreading raw sewage!
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Sure they'd be all into that. Be good for the veggies and stuff...[emoji90]
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night soil.
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night soil.
Like living next door to a Chinese wet market.
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night soil.
Like living next door to a Chinese wet market.
I'm sure that's what Mayo people think of Gaillimh!!
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Soylent Green
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What was the outcome of the supreme court case involving UBER ,and is it likely to have ramifications for dispatchers here ?