www.HHH TAXI.com
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About Us
Where did our name come from?
The 'H' is the first letter of my surname and the 3 from the fact I have 3 children.
Why do we have 3 titles.
Originally I called the company Triple H Taxis. After about 4 years one of our very good American customers had finished his tour over here, and the going home party left him without funds. He said if I took him to the airport he would mail a cheque (check) and he did. He made the cheque out to 'HHH Taxis'. About 1 year later a similar story with another customer going home to America and this time the cheque was written to pay '3h taxi co'.
Thank-you America for my extra 'titles'.
First day of work was September 27th 1992.
The first car was a four previous owners (all taxi drivers) Nissan Bluebird GSXi with 175,000+ miles on the clock.
18 years later having used 32 vehicles to date, (getting newer as we go), we are now 3 vehicles (I see you frown, explanation below) with differing seating capabilities and not 1 car more than 4 years of age.
July 2000, the first NEW car was bought. Kia Clarus Executive. Not an expensive car, but more room than most executive cars inside and totally reliable. Leather seats, wooden dash and comfortable. Germany and back over a week-end. No problem. 100mph when on the continent. No problem.
November 2001, our first NEW mini-bus. VW Transporter, Petrol, so that LPG (Natural Gas to our cousins across the pond) could be implemented, (and is), 8 seats, wheelchair friendly, remove all seats for larger courier items. A truly all round vehicle.
Another NEW vehicle was bought on the 9th October 2004. Brand new, Sat-nav, Cruise control, Onboard computer, Rain sensitive wipers, Turn signals on frontside of door rear view mirrors, 6 disc cd player, rear bumper sensors, climate control, air conditioning, traction control, 1.9TDi, 58mpg @ 70mph, (I know, I got the figures). Skoda Octavia Elegance.
This is the 3rd brand new car we have had within the last 4 years.
Initially the company was started as a taxi service, but it doesn't take long to become flexible when asked 'can you' and you know it will fit in a car, then a courier service you offer too.
We do not group our courier work, if you call us - it goes.
The Skoda has now been superceded as our newest by a nearly new Ford Focus. It did its 1st days work on 6th December 2004, just in time for the Christmas rush.
February 2005 I bought a Mercedes 'S' Class Limo. Needless to say this is not on the taxi circuit, but can be booked using the regular numbers. This now compliments our 'E' Class and gives the customer a choice.
April 2005, a Ford Tourneo 8 seater ML05 KKT was bought, converted to wheelchair friendly in May, and made its appearance on the road in June 2005. I was pleasantly surprised with the comfort and space inside this vehicle. Better than I expected and huge. So much room inside.
September 2005, The Mercedes 'E' Class was traded in for a second Mercedes 'S' Class. Fully loaded, it's great. Again bookable through the usual channels.August 2008. Now waiting for our latest new vehicle to be delivered. It will be last week in August or first week in September. Another Ford Transit Tourneo. It will be converted to 'Wheelchair Friendly' and then ready to go.
December 2008. The new Ford Transit Tourneo has eventually arrived. This also was converted to 'Wheelchair Friendly' and compliments the rest of the fleet.
2009 What a disaster. Recession. People keeping money in pockets. Can't blame them. Banks putting charges up whilst still paying bonuses to staff. Rest of us still paying for their cock ups and greed.
Sold 4 vehicles. Now using good owner drivers instead of supplying all my own vehicles, to help me cover my work. As it says on my 'home page', all drivers vetted by 'Criminal Records Bureau' and licensed by 'Local Authority'. I had the choice of many and have picked four gooduns.
My 'garage costs' have come down and my 'costs' have gone up. But I am still pleasantly surprised about the amount left in my pocket.
Making a further effort to reduce 'costs' I made my biggest mistake since I started this company. To date and it is now 2012 as I update this document I am still suffering from this decision. 2009 and recession is still rampant and the money supply has started to dwindle. I removed my telephony services from BT and transferred all services to an independent telephony company called Global Communications from Manchester. They promised to halve my bills in comparison to BT. I believed and I signed up.
2010 MAY. All was well for one year then my phones were suddenly switched off for 24 hours. After I complained they were switched back on again. I asked why this had occurred and they told me it was a technical error, very sorry, won't happen again.
Two weeks later, same thing again. This time for three days. I phoned the company, got the same story again, won't happen again.
The very next day I received a 'cold call' from another telephony company who informed me that I better move my equipment to their servers as 'Global Communications' is about to go bust. I didn't like his attitude as he informed me and gloated what a fool I was to go with them in the first place. I was immediately anti him and his company, but I did phone 'Global' to tell them what had just happened and asked for a response. The receptionist would not make any comment to me though I kept her on the phone for just over thirty minutes. She finally transferred me to someone who would talk with me. I was assured that 'yes' they were having problems, they were confident they would overcome them, but in my case because I am a business they have transferred my account back to BT. I was pleased to hear this, at least I will have continuity.
Three months later in MAY, I phoned BT and asked when I was to receive an invoice as I had not received one. They told me I did not have an account with them. I told them I was a Global customer who had been transferred back to BT. She could find no record of my account so transferred me to a manager. I relayed everything to him that had happened and I held, whilst he contacted someone who he thought should know about this. He came back after about ten minutes and said, 'You did say your number is 01638 515 515' I said yes. He said, then you're number is to be disconnected next Tuesday. I said 'What for', he said because 'Global Communications' has gone into receivership and their is monies outstanding on that number. I said if you tell me how much is owed, I will pay it to keep the number connected. He said the only way you can keep that number now is to pay the whole of the monies that 'Global' owes to BT. I said I can't afford that but if you let me pay and keep the number I will give you a cast iron guarantee I will never remove the number from the BT system again. He said I can't help you there because the job order has been given to BT Openreach and we need at least fourteen days to rescind the order. If you had phoned fourteen days ago we could have done something about this, but I'm afraid you are going to lose your number. I will give you the number for the telephone ombudsman that you may talk to him if you wish, see if you can get a ruling from him, I said yes please and he duly gave me the number. I said thank you for your time and ended the call.
I immediately called the onbudsman, got through straightaway, told him my story and he said yes he is aware a number of telephone numbers are to be disconnected next Tuesday and he is sorry to hear that mine is one of them. BT does have a right to continue to disconnect and he sees no reason why they shouldn't. I told him I have customers all over the world who have my number and I am their preffered company of transport when they come to the UK. I am thinking of the US servicemen who held my number at that time. He said he found that very hard to believe and bid me a gooday and put the phone down.
The phone number was duly disconnected on that Tuesday.
2011After buying several different phone numbers, each one better than the previous one, in June I had a call from a company that deals in telephone numbers. They asked me would I be interested in the number 01638 777 777. I didn't quite snap his hand off but I also didn't haggle when he told me he was holding an auction for this number and if I wanted it I had to join in. I joined in and duly won. I won't tell you how much, but it wasn't cheap. It was thousands not thousand.
2012 My bank balance has suffered from anorexia ever since losing the 01638 515 515 number. It is now seven months since I acquired the 01638 777 777 and coupled with my working from Mildenhall taxi rank again, the situation has stabilised, my 'regular' work is still about eighty per cent down on what it was. Hand to mouth is very much the norm these days, but I am now at the point that I can start to see a slight improvement in work. I have been working from the Mildenhall taxi rank for the past year and slowly meeting some of the old customers. Apparently they didn't know what had happened and thought I had retired without telling them. Some have returned whilst others just use me if I am front car on the rank. But couple this with new customers I have acquired and I think, recession permitting, the future is starting to look as though there is one.
To be comtinued
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