After collecting a couple of regular customers, John and Jane T, from Bristol Airport- who were on the return journey from a week long trip to Belgium, the Taxi driver soon picked up on the fact that John seemed to be a bit under the weather. After talking with his partner for a short while the driver learned the reason for this was down to his love for Belgian beers. There are about 400 Belgian beers available and John’s mission was to sample as many as possible over there 7 night stay!

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Brewers say that it’s the organisms in the air around Brussels give these beers their uniqueness and that they couldn’t be produced anywhere else in the world to mach the same taste. Needles to say, John slept ¾ of the way home.
Feel free to leave any comments about Belgium Beer below.

Over the last few months, many of Gloucester’s Taxi Drivers have tested Biodiesel in their cabs to see how the Reported Green and cheaper fuel of the future shapes up as part of the day to day business plan.

As Biodiesel in Gloucester is relatively new to the area, many drivers have recently filled their tanks with the fuel just to see what happens, can they reduce the monthly fuel bill as the price of oil based diesel rockets - in the last 12 months a rise of up to 30% has been seen at some forecourts in Gloucestershire.

Results seem to vary between different cars and driver preference. Back in a cold spell in February, a few drivers where put off using Biodiesel due to cold start problems in the mornings when temperatures went down to about minus four degrees centigrade. You would not expect this sort of problem at a fairly warm temperature with oil based diesel. Not knowing how low the temperature would go over the coming weeks was enough to make local drivers go back to the more expensive stuff!

Another low temperature issue with biodiesel was more vehicle specific and related to the Ford Galaxy (pre 2006), VW Sharan and Seat Alhambra. These three vehicles are equipped with a booster heater, which is controlled by the vehicles ECU. When ambient temperature is below 10 degrees centigrade and the engines water temperature is below 70 degrees centigrade the automatic booster heater is switched on. The booster heater works by spraying diesel over a red hot glow plug, which burns the fuel. Unfortunately, the flash point of biodiesel is higher (162oC) than oil based diesel (82oC), resulting in huge clouds of white smoke pouring from under the vehicle. In fact so much smoke can be emitted people can believe the car is on fire!

Have you tried Biodiesel in your car? Do you run on Biodiesel? Why not post your comments on this site now and share your experiences with others.

All too often customers accidentally leave lost property in one of our Taxi cabs after a journey. Although our drivers always check the seats as soon as the customer leaves the cab, sometimes a mobile phone may have fallen out of the passengers pocket and slipped down between the seat and door of the Taxi.

Gloucester City Council requires all Taxi and Private Hire Drivers to hand lost property into the Council Offices at Herbert Warehouse, Gloucester. This forms part of Taxi and Private Hire Drivers terms and conditions for the grant of a licence. However, this is not always practical, as the owner almost always calls the lost mobile phone very soon after noticing they have missed placed it. Most Taxi drivers tend to hold onto lost property for a day also after finding it, in the hope that the owner will make contact with the driver to arrange its safe and prompt return, a Taxi fair will apply to the customer if the driver has to make an extra journey to pass back the lost property, or they will be able to arrange for you to collect it from the Taxi Company Offices at a suitable time.

Mobile Phones are probably the most common left items in our Taxis, if you regularly travel, it may be worth you taking out mobile phone insurance to cover yourself in the event of loss.

If you have lost some property in a Gloucester Taxi, you should contact the Environmental Department at Gloucester City Council, they may be able to help you recover your lost property. You can call them on 01452 396396.

More than 40 officers from Gloucestershire Police have held a massive sting operation in central Gloucester today (Operation Brogue), targeting illegal motorists and known criminals.
Using hi-Tec vehicle number plate recognition cameras (ANPR), in real time, uninsured drivers are spotted, pulled over by the police, their details double checked and arrested all in the space of a couple of minutes. To really spoil the uninsured drivers day, their car is confiscated by the Police and could be crushed!

Gloucester Taxi drivers had a front row seat as Police pulled illegal car drivers into the City Railway Station forecourt to avoid unnecessary congestion on the city centres roads. One of the arrested drivers was a young women with a child in the car, she was stopped due to lack of driving licence and insurance – thats another one of the road!

Word on the street is that people think Gloucestershire Police are doing a cracking job today, getting illegal drivers off the roads in Gloucester. Top marks on a good days work by all officers and support workers involved today!

Gloucester Taxi would to like advice local Taxi Drivers, local Businesses, residents and Visitors alike that forged £20 notes have hit the streets of Gloucester!

The problem was highlighted today by The HSBC Bank in Gloucester when a local Taxi driver banked his takings, only to have a number of £20 notes retained by one of the new automated cash deposit machines at The Gloucester Cross Branch of HSBC. Staff at the bank confirmed the machine was correct and the notes were forgeries!

Be on your guard and double check that all the notes you handle are original, as you will get no refund !
More advice can be found here

It was reported on TV Today that fuel prices could rise to a record £1.50 per/l by summer 2008.

This could cause misery across the country as the price of everything will be forced to rise. Almost everything we depend on is related to the price of fuel, if it is delivered by lorry, the increase in the costs of delivery will be passed onto the consumer! –Be sure the nations energy suppliers will take full advantage, the cost of gas and electricity will be sure to take another big price hike!

The cost to Gloucester Taxi Drivers will also be huge if the price rise prediction goes ahead, many local drivers already spend between 5 and 10k a year to keep their Taxi in fuel, a near on 50% rise in fuel costs would need to see a sharp rise in the tariff charged to the customer, just to keep the local Taxi services viable.

Will it be less than five percent for 2007, thats the question!
In the 2006 Festive Drink Drive Crackdown by Gloucestershire Police, over 3200 motorists were breathalysed in Gloucestershire, with about 5% failing the test and being charged.

The 2007 Drink Drive Crackdown is due to finish on the 2nd of January 2008, whilst in the first week of this Crackdown, 578 drivers had been tested with 23 failing the test. Gloucester Taxi will publish the results as soon they are available, hopefully the figure will be lower than the 2006 figures.

If you are going drinking at any time of the year, please feel free to leave your car at home, store some Gloucester Taxi Phone Numbers in your mobile phone, call on us to be the driver - and enjoy yourself !

Gloucester Taxi 01452 341-341

Andy Cars 01452 523-000

Assosiated 01452 311-700

Gloucester Taxi would like to wish all of our customers a very Happy New Year, as well as thankyou for your custom in 2007.

New Government legislation is set to put a huge demand on Gloucester Taxi Services from January 2008.

This will soon be noticed by the general public who try to book a Taxi, particularly in rush hour times on school days. We predict it will get increasingly difficult to book a Taxi between the hours of 7.30 – 9.00am and 2.30 – 4.00pm through out Gloucestershire, as more and more drivers will accept the guaranteed security and income that a School run offers the self employed Taxi driver.

From January 2008, new government legislation will stop unlicensed vehicles from carrying out school runs for Gloucestershire County Council directly, or through sub-contractors. Starting on the 1^st January 2008, all vehicles contracted to take children to or from schools will have to be a fully licensed vehicle (Taxi, Private Hire or PSV Vehicle) which can only be driven by fully licensed Taxi, Private Hire or PSV drivers.

It was going to happen sooner rather than later! The first Gloucester Taxi Drivers to be caught smoking whilst driving their cabs. Gloucester City Council has issued fines to 3 Taxi drivers who were caught smoking in their cabs. Smoking is now illegal at any time in a licensed Taxi or Private hire vehicle- for both passengers and the drivers. Even if the driver is not working, they may no longer smoke in their taxi! The three Gloucester taxi drivers in question will have the option of a fixed penalty of £50, or going to court and risking a fine of £200! But looking at the issue from a customers point of view, why would they want to pay to travel in a Smokey, smelly taxi these days!