It won’t come as a surprise but sometimes I have these crazy ideas, like putting advertising screens into taxis and fitting them with CCTV.

It was only a matter of time before I thought of something else and although its not exactly a new thing, CabTure is the first to do it in Bradford.

This weekend the first external taxi adverts went live.

Mr B’s Takeaway is already advertising inside vehicles at Tong & Euro with fantastic results which is why they have decided to advertise on the outside of their vehicles too.

This advert is our budget version, designed for companies who want to take advantage of advertising on a taxi without covering the whole vehicle or those who want to use multiple vehicles for a campaign.

Of course it would be rude not to have tested it first so we had this done last month and the response has been excellent, we have added a further 7 vehicles to our network as a direct result of this advert.

This form of advertising is available in Bradford & Halifax, for more information just call me on 01274 600 116.

Thank you for reading.

Rob.

We’ve all heard it and even I have said it.

Many taxi drivers have transported famous people and you just don’t when it will be your turn.

How would a taxi driver prove it to their friends and family, just the same way as they would a false claim of rape and sexual assault I suppose, simply hope that they would be believed and the truth will eventually come out.

How could you prove anything that happened inside a cab, its your word against theirs.

Here’s how this cabbie could prove he transported Bradford’s favourite Girl Aloud (Kimberley Walsh)

*Please note, this is not a true story and no celebrities, taxi drivers or passengers were harmed during the making of this video. This video features references to Lady Gaga, Gary Barlow, Justin Bieber, Go Compare, Compare the Meerkats, Sesame Street and Bradfords very own Kimberley Walsh*

It has come to my attention that too many people do not know how to tell if a Taxi/Private Hire Vehicle is licensed, or the difference between them.

Each council has its own rules which means that Bradford can be completely different to Halifax and Leeds, this makes it really easy for members of the public to get into an unlicensed taxi.

So this is what you need to be looking out for:

Bradford

Hackney Carriage can only have White Vehicles, they have a green Taxi sign on the roof, a green stripe on the front door with Bradford Councils crest, a unique number underneath, a white information plate on the rear and white sticker on the windscreen just above the tax disc.

Private Hire can be any colour except white they must have a blue strip at the top of the windscreen and rear window showing the name of the company they work for in white, a yellow information plate on the rear, yellow sticker on the windscreen just above the tax disc, some vehicles will also have signs on the doors too but these are optional

Leeds

Hackney Carriage vehicles are white with a black bonnet and boot, a yellow taxi sign on the roof and unique number on the front door.

Private Hire can be any colour and will have a strip across the top of the windscreen showing the name of the company they work for, a Leeds Council Crest on the door with a unique number and the name of the company they work for.

Halifax

Hackney Carriage are white they have a Taxi Sign on the roof and plate fixed to the rear

Private Hire can be any colour except white they have a yellow plate on the rear and a Halifax Crest on the front doors with a unique number and the company who they are working for.

Other Issues:

Hackney Carriage vehicles can be hailed and pick up anywhere, they will park on ranks and do not need to be prebooked.

Private Hire vehicle must be prebooked through the company they work for, if they pick up with being prebooked then they are not insured if they have an accident.

Finally

All drivers will have an ID Badge so if you are unsure then ask to see the badge first.

You would never get into a strangers car at 2am if you were sober so please don’t do it just because you have had a drink, if you are using a Hackney Carriage (Taxi) then a quick note of the unique ID number is all it takes.

If you are using a Private Hire Company then think of it this way, they will have your name and destination so ask them who its for before you get in and confirm your destination, that way a quick call to the office will track the driver if you need to.

PLEASE BE SAFE, AND MAKE SURE YOUR NEXT TAXI IS A LICENSED ONE!

Yes its true, I have won an award.

The University of Bradford presented me with the Tom Ashdown Award at the Excellence in Knowledge Transfers Award on 13th April 2011 at The University.

This enterprise award was first presented in 2006 as an accolade to Tommy Ashdown, former Pro-Chancellor and Chair of Council at the University of Bradford, who died in 2006. He was a great advocate for the importance of learning practical skills relevant to industry and a strong supporter of personal development. His industry experience helped exploit the University’s intellectual property.

It celebrates the success of the University’s business support programmes such as Think Business@Bradford & Amaze Yourself@Bradford.

This award means a great to deal to me as it was the Amaze Yourself programme that helped me take CabTure from an idea into a business.

The award will take its place alone on the mantelpiece until I manage to get another award to sit next to it.

I would like to thank everybody who has helped me get CabTure to where it is today.

Thank You

Rob

If cartoons & movies have taught us anything, then surely its play to our strengths.

You’d never see 007 in lycra trying to fly or shoot lasers from his eyes so why try to do the same with your business, you have to let other people do what they are good at to get the best results.

I need 4 Advertising Sales Executives to cover Bradford & Calderdale and whilst searching for them, I have been working with some really interesting clients creating much more than adverts for them.

I am so proud of the work I have produced, I would like to share them with you.

This is the 4th string to my bow.

1. The Techie Fairy

A PC Repairer who has been trading as Carlton Consultants for over 20years, and tweets as @TechieFairy.

Carlton Consultants were the first client to advertise with CabTure and has decided to start trading as The Techie Fairy.

I have designed the new logo

and redesigned their advert from THIS to THIS.

2: Vacs4Spares

Vacs4Spares will Repair, Rebuild, Resell and even Buy broken vacuum cleaners along with servicing working machines and supplying parts.

I met Simon at the last ATL Enterprise Business2Business Network & he was weeks away from starting trading at a time when all the support was coming to an end.

I had a broken vac at home so decided to give him a try, in return for becoming his first client he asked me to design his company logo and help him get his business going, so the logo is finished, the vacuum is like new & the website is in the editing stage.

Vac4Spares will stop you getting sucked into buying a new vac, when yours could simply be repaired.

3:Tong & Euro Private Hire

One of our Advertising Partners in Bradford who has over 60 vehicles and 10 of them currently have CabTure CCTV.

I was asked by Tong & Euro to give them a fresh new image with a new logo, fresh designs and bring their corporate image into 2011.

This is currently a work in progress and so far I have turned this

into this

along with a Newsletter to all their customers

These have all been exciting projects to work on and the next batch sounds like it could be much of the same with a few start ups and some well established companies lined up its about time I stopped typing and got back to work as I lose too many days this month due to Bank Holidays as it is.

Take care and thank you for reading.

Rob

So the diet has been ruined, instead of shrinking our waistline we have expanded it so far that we now cover a truly staggering distance.

From Keighley to Elland and From Tong to Todmorden.

Our CCTV System has been approved by Calderdale Council which means we can now offer advertising space within the Calderdale & Bradford boundaries.

Unfortunately our In-Cab Advertising Screens are not available in Calderdale at the moment but we can offer full external adverts on Cars & Minibuses across the district.

As you can see from the map above this vast area is too much for our current team to cover so we are looking for Advertising Sales Executives in Calderdale, please see the advert below for more details of the vacancy.

As we currently have around 8 inches of Snow in Bradford I thought I’d offer my tips on driving in these conditions based on my experience and having seen what the roads are like, the way people are currently moving and the fact that it will get much worse.

Tip No1: Don’t do it, unless you really have to.

The gritters are caught in the traffic, the traffic is getting worse because the roads are not gritted and you can probably see a pattern emerging, unless you have a snowplow on your bumper its not worth the risk.

Tip No2: Be prepared.

In your car you should have: 2 bits of old rug (if not sacrifice your car mats), De-Icer, scraper, spare clothes, boots, jacket, blanket, torch, first-aid kit, warning triangle, tow rope and jump leads.

Tip No3: If you don’t know, don’t do it.

If you are unsure how to drive in snow then its best to leave it somebody else, it sounds silly but if you need to stop your instant reaction will be to hit the brakes when its actually a combination of using your gearbox and brakes that help you stop.

Tip No4: Help each other.

If we all build a snow person then we are helping to clear a bit of snow away, and its good fun. Just imagine driving down a perfectly clear road with lots of snow families at the side.

It’s with that thought that I’m off to clear my very own bit of road and create a snow family with my daughter.

Take care of yourselves out there and stay safe.

Thank you for reading.

Hello and welcome.

I haven’t got much to say for my first CabTure Blog.

If you have read the rest of the site and my social networks then you will pretty much know everything about me.

We are going through some interesting changes during December and you will notice a few tweaks to the site along with some new pages.

Starting first of all with the smallest of changes to the CabTure logo with the addition of a Santa Hat and a blog of course.

I welcome your comments on any of the changes we make and if you have followed any of my previous attempts on improvements to update this site you will be aware that I have on occasion deleted very important bits of code so I’ve a lot learn.

Anyway, enough rambling from me, I’ve got work to do.

Stay Safe