Extremely Worrying, Racist, Or Just Plain Business Sense?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2802543/taxi-firm-rochdale-offers-white-drivers-demand-two-pakistani-origin-jailed-sex-grooming-girls-town.html

[mccfluff]

you shouldn't assume you are safe just because your taxi driver is white or any other colour

you need to know your taxi driver is licensed & registered

[jno]

I think the point is that it's the same company (or rather the one that bought out the company whose drivers had caused trouble). But as fluff says it won't make much difference if they're just hiring white rapists instead.

[paddywak]

I don't think it's particularly racist,it's a business providing a service that the customer wants and if they don't the customers will go where they can get it.

[B00]

We all know that it's not just Pakistani men who do this, and more than likely the taxi firm also knows this, however in a (probably) desperate bid to keep their company I can't say i blame them doing it.

[whiskeryron]

Surely we haven't completely lost freedom of choice

[ummmm]

I wouldn't use that firm regardless of the driver. I'd find it very hard to believe that the owners didn't know what was going on.

[Gromit]

None of the above.

The public can ask for whatever they want. If there is enough demand, a business will meet it. If people would sooner be picked up by a Pole or Latvian than a Pakistani, then the firm will try to meet that request.

[jno]

it does seem the same man has run both companies, so I agree with ummmm.

[anotheoldgit]

mccfluff

/// you shouldn't assume you are safe just because your taxi driver is white or any other colour ///

/// you need to know your taxi driver is licensed & registered ///

Just because your driver is "licensed & registered" doesn't make one safe.

I believe the two Pakistani drivers who worked for Rochdale minicab firm Car 2000, were licensed and registered.

[anotheoldgit]

ummmm

/// I'd find it very hard to believe that the owners didn't know what was going on. ///

jno

/// it does seem the same man has run both companies, so I agree with ummmm. ///

Well I have read through the report and cannot find any evidence that "the same man has run both companies", or that he knew "what was going on"

Stephen Campbell, manager of Car 2000, bought out Eagle Taxis.

[ummmm]

I don't care whether it's reported or not. People talk. I don't believe for a second that this was going on and he hadn't at least heard a rumour.

[sp1814]

Very sensible - customers now have a choice as to who will rape them.

But on a serious note - you are much safer booking a cab, rather than hailing one on the street.

It's almost pointless feeling 'safer' with a white driver, because a non-white driver is hardly likely to rape a customer if his name has been booked for the fare.

Common sense really.

[andy-hughes]

Two out three ain't good.

I would never want to sanction any level of choice based purely on ehtnicity - which is the implication of asking for a 'local' driver, so in my view, the company should advise that they will be sending the next available driver - as do any firms I have dealt with.

[andy-hughes]

Gromit - "The public can ask for whatever they want."

Not if it contravenes the law on racism they can't.

[sp1814]

andy_hughes

According to the owner, the majority of the Asian drivers were born locally anyway!

Actually, I'm warming to the man.

He says:

"He said: ‘The Asian drivers are harder working, they do what they are asked and they don’t complain about it.

'If the public could actually see these [Asian] people close up and see what they are about, I don’t think they would be asking for white drivers.

‘We do get a lot of customers ringing up and asking us for a particular Asian guy as well.’

But he said customers who had asked for a white driver might have to wait as long as 20 minutes -compared with the average wait of three minutes."

If it were me, and I had someone requesting a white driver, I'd let them wait an hour, 'due to exceptional demand'.

[alexanderd]

I see nothing wrong with this as here in my town females can request a woman driver ihey wish so whats the difference

[alexanderd]

sorry about the typos, it should,of course read,"if they wish"

[jno]

aog, the report also says this:

///Mr Campbell said around 20 drivers had left Eagle Taxis after the two drivers were prosecuted...

Mr Campbell said the exodus cost him an estimated £40,000 - 30 per cent of the firm’s annual profit: ‘It was devastating.’///

The exodus from EAGLE cost HIM £40,000. That suggests he was in charge of Eagle too. The Mail could have made this clearer, but what do you think?

[andy-hughes]

sp1814 - "According to the owner, the majority of the Asian drivers were born locally anyway!"

Indeed - I think the idea of asking for a 'local driver' is simply a way of pretending not to be a racist pig - even if clearly you are one!

"If it were me, and I had someone requesting a white driver, I'd let them wait an hour, 'due to exceptional demand'."

If it were me - since this is not a customer base I would be remotely interested in entertaining - I would simply not send a car at all, and if the customer rang back, I would advise that all my drivers, white and Asian, are refusing to pick you up because you are a racist, and they won't carry racists in their taxis.