Thank God I am an old man

                                        e2 worth of fruit in Sicily.

     I was at this pole one day and a guy reversed over the first step,bounced up the other step and hit the lamp

          If this door in Modica could talk..


Thank God I am not starting over again.

I gave my old car over to a friend whose car had broken down while I was in the process of getting a new one.

I saw a great car in London and bought an air ticket and Sterling to pay for it.
Before I flew off I rang my insurance company to tell them and was told by them that they would not give me cover to drive it home !
So I had a day in London and came home by boat.

(The insurance company told me later that this information was incorrect)

I did housework and looked on the net.
Then I was at a wedding in the midlands and saw a Prius advertised.
I bought it and the next day I rang to have insurance cover on the car to bring it up and have the meter put in and made ready for a taxi.
Then I was told by the insurance company that they couldn't do that either.
But if the car was registered in somebody else's name I could drive it on my insurance.
Therefore I asked the garage to register the car in my sons name.
So I brought the car home and had the meter fitted, then I rang the NCT people,expecting to get a date 2 or 3 days later.
I think the date for testing was 5 weeks away. "No there is nothing sooner"
A few days later the the notification was on my phone and the first words were
"Please bring your drivers license and the car must be registered in your name.".
Time enough  to change this so I sent the tax book back to Shannon with instructions to put the car back into my own name and I worked at home and then went off to sunny Sicily for a break.
Its a great place for sure.

Then I came home and there is the motor tax letter with my name spelled wrong. I had a full 8 days to go so I typed a cover letter saying how this was urgent and sent it off..
No It didn't come back in time but they did test  the car.

Next to get the "suitability test" You need to bring in the old green stickers from the old car.
I had shredded them as there was nothing written on them to sat that they must be retained.
Pay €50 for a duplicate set so that we can destroy them and issue new ones.
So I have to pay €50 for another set to be destroyed I said, so you can issue new ones "Correct"

Then I answered questions and when it came to my PPS number they stopped me.
That is not your correct PPS number.
I was back on to them and then to the Revenue who agreed with me.
But it is a BIG NO from the National Transport Authority.
I photocopied 6 tax documents showing correct number.
Still nothing back from them.

I have not worked in the taxi for more than 6 weeks.

The National Transport Authority tells me that they cannot speak to the Revenue as it would be against the freedom of information act !

Tonight in Dublin I guarantee you there are more than 800 illegal taxi drivers working without fear of detection or prosecution.  Some unions have placed the number at over 1,000
A woman told me that she arrived at Dublin Airport and the driver didn't know where the city center was.
So she directed him to show the way.
Isn't that just dandy.

I hope that anyone injured, raped or killed in an illegal taxi manages to sue the National Transport Authority, perhaps this might loosen up this bullshit.

Just to say it is not any individual that is to blame.
The entire system is flawed and the staff are working on short term contracts so they never get a handle on the job. Plus there is no accountability.

Just in from Roys taxi blog.

Sunday World expose

Roy October 11th, 2014

I got a call from someone purporting to be a reporter from the Sunday World who said there is an article appearing tomorrow exposing a driver who has been removed from the road thirteen times and still continues to operate as a taxi without licence insurance or valid plate.
Might be worth a read?


Have a nice day !