DRIVER PROFILE
JARED JOINS THE RANKS OF UK’S YOUNGEST TAXI DRIVERS
As further proof that age is no barrier to becoming a licensed driver, may we intro- duce you to Jared Colclough from Taunton.
A lot of drivers, as everyone knows, sort of drift into this trade by accident rather than design. One might say that Jared, however, has taxi driv- ing in his blood: his father Bob has been in the trade for 17 years and has his own com- pany, Scorpio Cars. Jared’s brother Craig, who has been in the trade for 11 years, also has his own business, 24/7 Airport Cars. So as Jared says, it just fell on him to be a taxi driver as well. He was born on 27 July 1990; he applied for
his hackney carriage driver licence to Taunton Deane Bor- ough Council, and was granted the licence on the 14th July this year, just two weeks short of his twentieth birthday. Therefore at 19 years, 11 months and two weeks, Jared qualifies as one of the youngest taxi drivers in the country. And he says it’s going very well; he likes being his own boss, and likes keep- ing his own timetable - the usual plus points in this trade.
What has also helped Jared locally is that, as he points out, he set- tled into the trade very quickly in the Taunton area through his dad and brother being involved; the other
earlier. Quite recently I removed a guy from the club who was par- ticularly under the influence... some four hours later,
having
drivers already knew him, so he didn’t have to suffer the New Kid on the Block syn- drome.
NEW TWIST
There is another inter- esting aspect to Jared’s story so far. He takes up the story: “Taxi driving isn’t my only job; I’m also a
doorman on a Satur- day night, so on many occasions I’ve had punters asking if I have a number for a taxi company and I end up taking them home when I finish my shift on the door and hop in the taxi.
“On more than one occasion I have taken home the drunken customers I kicked out
sobered up a bit, he flagged me down and I took him home.” We asked Jared if he feels in any way vul- nerable because of his age. Well, quite apart from his obvious stature and the fact that he is also a door- man, Jared points out that his age in this instance is a distinct advantage.
Why is this? “On Fri- day and Saturday nights in particular, a lot of people like trav- elling with drivers nearer to their own age,” Jared says. “I’ve already got quite a few regulars in the 18-23
age bracket. They seem more comfort- able in my cab; if we strike up a conversa- tion, we have more in common. “You can understand what I mean... some of the drivers are quite a bit older, and a lot of younger passengers don’t feel comfortable even talking amongst themselves in front of the driver on a lads’ night out. That’s not a problem in my cab.” So Jared Colclough is now successfully car- rying on the family tradition. He works under his own compa- ny, J Cabs, and is one of the trade’s record holders for all the right reasons. We wish J Cabs and Jared all the best of luck in his new venture.
Conversions built to your specification for taxi and minibus use
PAGE 66
PHTM SEPTEMBER 2010
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