OxBowBusiness

Taxis for Ladies only

Have you heard of the Pink Ladies of Warrington yet? You will! We all will!

In yesterday's Sunday Telegraph there was an excellent article on the Pink Ladies taxi service that has been started by two enterprising ladies from Warrington, Tina Dutton and Andrea Winders. Basically, all Pink Ladies drivers are women and the only passengers allowed are women.

The motivation behind the firm is to help ladies to protect themselves from attacks from male taxi drivers and from male passengers.

Although the firm was started in Warrington, it is now about to be rolled out nationwide, starting in London. They started with 14 Pink coloured Renault Kangoo cars and after London will open franchises in Manchester, Plymouth and Carlisle in the Spring.

What about discrimination then?

Well, to be eligible to be a passenger you have to join the club: £1 please. By running the firm as a club, Pink Ladies can choose whom they ferry around the place.

As far as their drivers are concerned, the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act says that an employer can refuse to offer someone work on the grounds of their sex if "the holder of the job provides individuals with personal services promoting their welfare." So it's women offering women greater security and welfare.

Fares on account

They don't carry cash in the cars either since all fares are charged on account: a bonus from running the business as a club. They haven't filed any accounts yet as they are less than a year old so it's not known what level their bad and doubtful debts are running at ... if there are any!

The fares are set at normal rates, too, by the way: being run as a club doesn't mean that it's run as a charity. They say they net £20 an hour for at least eight hours a day on the streets of Warrington.

I think this is a cracking idea and my prediction is that this business will take off in a big way. If it ever floats on the stock exchange I reckon there will be a massive premium to be had. I also predict copy cat companies ... probably a saddo will open up an all make taxi company as well and you can imagine how that would work!

Duncan Williamson

posted by Duncan Williamson @ 4:31 PM