Peterborough School receive minibus donation following start of Travis Perkins Masters

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The start of the Travis Perkins Masters was marked with a donation of a new Variety Club Coach to a local school for children with learning difficulties.

 

Woburn Golf club were the hosts of the Masters tournament and the Minibus donation was kindly donated by Travis Perkins the long term sponsors.

For the last 15 years the sponsors have been associated with the Senior tour and were absolutely delighted to hand over the keys to Heltwate School in Peteborough.

Several top tour players including Colin Montgomerie and two time Senior Major winner, Roger Chapman attended the presentation which took place before the start of the Pro- Am tour.

The Minibus is the 8th to be donated since 2008 and a great turnout of players were present at the ceremony.

The minibus was specially adapted with a hydraulic lift which has made it easier to access the Bus for the children with disabilities.

At Quotax we have specialist insurance schemes that cater for modified minibuses and minibuses that are used for schools and charities.  

#SaveTaxi Protest outside TFL office a great success

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A Taxi drivers wife is leading the protest today against TFL. Artemis Mercer has founded the #SaveTaxi campaign and has a great team around her.

The #SaveTaxi campign is a campaign directly against Transport for London’s failure to enforce its regulations. The lack of enforcement is having a direct impact on thousands of hard working Taxi drivers who are seeing spiralling costs and less work due to TFL releasing thousands of Private Hire licences over the last few months.

London Taxi drivers spend usually around 4 years studying to be a London Black Cab driver through a test called the knowledge, this takes time and is a considerable cost.

The peaceful demo outside TFLs office has been hailed a great success and this group is quickly gaining more followers by the day.

Quotax – You are doing a fantastic job keep up the good work, the current situation can’t continue.

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Quotax expands their short term/temporary minibus insurance offering

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Quotax have recently expanded our short term minibus scheme to allow cover for short term European Insurance cover.  

“ We have worked tirelessly to expand the range of Minibus Policies we are able to offer, our team are seeing an increase in the number of requests for short term Minibus cover. We have agreed with one of our Insurers to provide a this type of cover for our clients. This short term Minibus scheme has been a huge success and we have extended the policy to allow European Cover for certain uses”  Daniel Fosker, Sales Director Quotax Insurance

Please give our team a call if you require short term cover on a Minibus, our rates are very competitive for Charities, Not for Profit and most Social Domestic and Pleasure uses.

Gett Taxi Partners with Knowledge students to deliver Verve Clicquot Champagne

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Gett, the exclusive black taxi app has launched a on demand delivery service that is hoped will eventually allow users to order a wide range of goods and services.

Gett users in Shoreditch, Knightsbridge, Chelsea, Clerkenwell, City of London, Belgravia and Kensington will be able to order a bottle of the yellow label champagne and two flutes within 10 minutes between 4pm and 10pm and the cost is £50.

The Champagne will be delivered by those currently studying the Knowledge (an extensive test  of 320 basic routes, all of the 25,000 streets that are scattered within the basic routes and approximately 20,000 landmarks) to become a Taxi Driver.

Gett Founder had previously indicated that the app would look to expand and could include: Gett Sushi, Ghett Grocery, Gett Wine, Gett Flowers as well as many more.

The Tel Aviv-founded company recently raised $220m in funding and changed its name to GetTaxi in preparation for its new products.

Uber has recently run several schemes for delivery including its latest partnership with Walls Ice cream. The London Taxi market has experienced fierce competition recently from the likes of Kabbee, Addison Lee, Green Tomato and Minicabit. GetTaxi have positioned themselves solely with Black Taxi drivers hoping to win the war with their

Donated Minibus

Special Needs school receives generous Minibus donation

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Rigby Hall school in Bromsgrove has recently been given a 50th Variety Club Sunshine Minibus from insolvency firm Poppleton & Appleby.

Poppleton and Applyby gifted the minibus to the school in celebration of their partnership with the Variety Club Golfing Society. The Society aims to improve the lives of disabled and disadvantaged children by donating Sunshine Coaches. The Variety Golf Society has raised around £750,000 a year and presents on average 20 minibuses a year.

Donated Minibus

The dinner was held at Marriott St Pierre Hotel and Country Club in Chepstow, special guests included Strictly come dancing’s Len Goodman and Anton Du Beke captain of the society.

The new minibus has already had its first trip planned before it was even delivered, it was taking a group from the school to a week long holiday in the Lake district.

Insurance Premium Tax to rise from November

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The Chancellor George Osborne has just announced a rise in Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) from 6% to 9.5% from November.

This tax will apply to the following lines of insurance: Mobile Insurance, Minibus Insurance, Short Term Minibus Insurance, Taxi Insurance, Care Home Insurance, Fleet Insurance, Home Insurance.

The British Insurance Brokers Association estimate this increase will effect 19.6 million motor insurance policies, 20 million Home insurance polices

This increase will also effect any mid-term adjustments made on the policy as insurance premium tax is also charged then.

IPT was first introduced in Oct 1994 and since then has increased regularly. It was last increased in 2011 when it went from 5% to 6%.

 

 

Uber Protests turn violent in Paris as Taxi drivers take on car-booking firm

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Angry Parisian taxi drivers have blocked access to airports and railway stations, overturned cars and set fire to tyres in and around Paris in protest against unlicensed Uber cars.

Riot Police have been deployed across Paris to quell the violence and disperse the blockades.

Suspected Uber drivers were pelted with missiles and one Taxi driver was taken to hospital after being run over.

Courtney Love was also caught up in the protest claiming on twitter that her driver had been ambushed and held hostage.

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Taxi drivers in Paris pay up to 240,000 euros for a Paris for private Hire licences and drivers are alleging Uber are operating illegally and Police are not doing anything to stop them.

In France UberPOP operates which is not licenced by the authorities and act as a ride sharing App. The law states that all Taxis must be licenced and there have been about 500 legal cases as Prosecutors crack down on UberPOP. Over the past few weeks there have been around 100 reported attacks on Uber passengers and drivers.

Taxis that ignored the strike were also targeted in the attacks.

Night Tube start dates announced

Night Tube start dates announced

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TFL have released the lines that are set to be open 24 hours a day on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 12th September this year.

Night Tube start dates announced

 

  • Victoria Line – Trains will run the entire length of the line
  • Central Line – Trains will run between Ealing Broadway and Hainault
  • Jubilee Line – Trains will run the entire length
  • Northern Line – Trains will run along all stations except Mill Hill East and Bank
  • Piccadilly Line – Trains will run between Cockfosters and Heathrow Terminal 5

The night tube is set to increase the capitals night time economy – supporting thousands of jobs and stimulating hundreds of millions of pounds in economic growth.

The London Taxi trade are set to suffer another setback with many late night revellers set to use tube instead of taxis.

Gareth Powell, London Undergrounds director for strategy and service development praised the increase in service as ‘’a historic step in our modernisation of the Underground.’’

Tube staff are set to strike on July 8th over pay and shift conditions.

 

TFL unveil card payment plan for the London Taxi trade

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All black cabs could soon be forced to take card payments in a new initiative by Transport for London to help the Taxi trade compete with cashless rivels Uber.

Currently about half of all London Taxis accept card payments but this soon could change. TFL are holding a consultation with drivers and passengers before they make a decision. It is expected that they will become compulsory in the near future.

83% of passengers say they would prefer to pay by card and this is one of the factors that is said to be driving passengers away from using black cabs.

“Card payments have become a central part of the lives of Londoners over the past years – something that has only increased since the introduction of contactless payment.”

TFLs Taxi and Private hire general manager Helen Chapman.

Charity Minibus insurance

300 Communities win share of £25 million minibus fund

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Across England more than 300 local charities and community groups will receive new minibuses from the Department for Transport’s £25 million community transport minibus fund.

The minibuses will help transport elderly residents, people with learning difficulties or who are disabled who do not have access to transport.

The minibuses will be used to transport venerable members of the community to medical services, shops and social events.

The successful applications will receive a 9 – 16 seater minibus that has been specifically adapted for their requirements, such as tail lift to allow disabled access or adapted seating.

List of successful applications (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-transport-minibus-fund-successful-bidders)

Interactive map showing successful schemes (https://maps.dft.gov.uk/community-transport-minibus-fund/index.html)