WOMEN IN OUR INDUSTRY:


Over these last few surreal months of the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the full-scale national lockdown and then its gradual relaxation, PHTM has brought readers the full picture and all the facts – as always.


As you all know, taxi and private hire drivers, the large majority of whom are men, have been classed in the highest risk area of con- tracting this pernicious coronavirus. The Government has swung in with trace and test allocations for taxi drivers – which we have to say is about the only thing it has done to even recognise #the forgotten industry (please refer back to our July edition for the full coverage of this).


It has also been documented that minority ethnic groups have fallen victim to the disease in huge numbers – which of course has resulted in so many taxi/PHV drivers from those groups either staying at home for their own safety, or having to self-isolate after having caught Covid.


So - what about women? How are they coping in themselves, and how are women who run their own transport business dealing with the dramatic changes this industry has seen, and will contin- ue to see, as a result of the lockdown?


Recent scientific evidence provides a rationale behind the fact that women live longer, have better immune systems, are less prone to Covid and have a higher pain threshold: it’s called “the X factor”. Simply down to chromosomes: men have an X and a Y chromosome, whereas women have two X chromosomes – and those are the “fighter” or “backup” DNA that give women these physiological advantages.


OK, what about women in our industry coping with real life during this pandemic? PHTMspoke to several prominent businesswomen from different parts of the UK to get a profile of “the fairer sex” in the battle against this 21st century germ warfare.


STACEY LOCK - FIVE ONE TAXIS, LOWESTOFT


We’ll start with long-time NPHTA member Stacey Lock, director of Five One Taxis in Lowestoft, who had quite a story to give us:


“From the start of lockdown it was a very scary time, in which we had no idea what the future may hold in every respect; staff, drivers and the work that we would receive. We did not have to lay off any drivers but organically found that several drivers for different reasons decided to stop working. We were left with a group of drivers who have worked extremely hard through what were initially some very worrying times. We have gradually taken drivers back as our workload has increased, ensuring that there is sufficient work for all drivers and we are now at a point where we find ourselves requiring more drivers than we currently had at the start of lockdown.


We were forthcoming with our decisions to the lead up to lockdown ensuring that busi- ness could continue as usual and provide our normal service within the ‘New Nor- mal’. We have always ensured that all our vehicles are kept to a high standard of


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cleanliness inside and out, this is paramount to us as our vehicles are part of the face of our company. So although we have always had cleaning procedures in place for our vehicles prior to lock- down, it was vital for us to introduce at the start of March a deep cleaning rota for our drivers. This ensures that the vehicles are deep cleaned each day at both the start and end of shift, as well as wiping between customers.


Drivers must manually fill in the rota and provide photo evidence on a daily basis ensuring the standard is as required. Alongside of this we looked to install partition screens very early on: the wait for these unfortunately took a number of weeks due to shortages of materials, but we now have partition screens in all of our vehicles including the minibuses. Introducing partition screens to all vehicles has provided in our eyes the necessary protection for our customers and drivers to travel safely and putting both at ease; we feel this allows confidence within the community of a new normal for safer travel in taxis. In addition all drivers have been provided with the highest rated filtration masks to wear if they wish or if a customer requests this.


We listened to our drivers on their thoughts and concerns with regard to face coverings as they are indeed the guys out driving and they all have the personal choice to wear these full time or if requested. Customers have been unsure with the guidance around transport whether face coverings included taxis or not, so again we have been completely led by customers if they wish to wear face coverings or not.


We have had a tremendous amount of positive feedback from our customers in relation to the safety measures we have imple- mented and with this have seen an increase in public use since the partition screens have been installed.


Our company has also signed up to the Safe Taxi & Private Hire Charter, so this should bolster public confidence even further.


Having invested in our taxi dispatch system iCabbi two years ago this has meant all office staff are able to work remotely from any location whether this is in the office or from home; or in my case wherever it may be if an emergency arises, which has helped us immensely in following the guidelines to enable our staff to work from home.


Unfortunately we have had to furlough a number of our office staff, with the remainder who have continued to work all working remotely from home. This has been pretty smooth sailing; where an odd expected hiccup with technology has occurred as we adjusted to a ‘New Normal’ which was quickly overcome. The staff have worked really well from home exceeding any expectations we had, especially considering this is a situation in which we have never found ourselves.


The majority of our staff (close to 80%) have been working for us for over 20 years and have been very understanding of the situ- ation and are looking forward to returning or getting back to the normal office environment.


We have had to adapt and change many things to ensure our busi- ness is up-to-date with the changes that have been in happening in the world; this has been in all aspects from safety, staffing and the type of work that we have carried out. Our local authorities in both Norfolk and Suffolk have continued to use us with many of


AUGUST 2020


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