The journey has to go on

If you are leaving one of the clubs in the Watford precinct at night and order a taxi from Lucketts, the chances are they will not be able to pick you up exactly by the bar or restaurant. That is out of bounds and it is a sore point with local taxi drivers.

They contend that they pay the same fees to the council as Hackney carriage drivers, undergo the same stringent tests and checks, the medicals and the form-filling but they do not have the same access.

Licensed private hire vehicles, as the Lucketts taxis are referred to in officialese, cannot provide a door-to-door service to certain parts of central Watford. The punter cannot always be set down at the shop, pub or restaurant of his choice.

A Punters Petition in support of the local drivers states: "We do not want to be ushered or herded to pick-up points, or be treated like cattle, or to be told to come to the top of the town, where we can join a free-for-all and have to fight for the vehicle that we have previously ordered."

Calling for the restrictions on Watford private hire drivers to be lifted immediately, the petition has the tacit sympathy of the police who would like to see the town cleared quickly of late night revellers after the clubs close.

But the likes of Lucketts drivers cannot park up and make themselves available for punters. They have to be booked, whereas Hackney carriages can be hailed, can loiter and have organised stands, such as at Watford Junction.

"The feeling is," says Vic Morgan, Lucketts controller, "that our drivers pay the same for their plates, their license and undergo the same tests as Hackney carriage drivers. But they are not allowed in the same areas."

Of course Hackney carriage plates may cost the same modest amount as those taxi drivers obtain from the council but the Hackney plates have been known to change hands, Vic tells me, for anything up to £30,000 by the Junction stand.

The private hire drivers are not asking for a license to be hailed by passers-by, but they would like to enjoy the same access and, at times of mass demands for taxis late at night, the right to park up.

Securing a taxi can be a bit of nightmare. Fights used to break out when a taxi pulled up outside Lucketts late at night and people attempted to jump the queue. Now, at the firm's own and extra expense, Lucketts have someone on the door who takes a note of who wants what and makes sure those who order first are served first.

It is an evolving saga, with Watford and its inhabitants changing in appearance and outlook.

"There are just not the number of people there used to be coming into Watford during the week," Vic reckons. "So many things have changed. You see traffic wardens out on the streets at 10.0 at night when the football is on. That never used to happen."

Our conversation is repeatedly interrupted by the demands of his job at the control desk but he can deal with problems, direct drivers and return to the subject in hand without missing a beat.

"I am sorry, madam, did you say number 24," he asks one caller ordering a taxi from he house in Bushey. "I didn't think that road went up to number 24."

Local knowledge is essential in the job and Vic has amassed a great deal in the course of his 36 years driving and directing drivers in the locality.

Yet despite the beefs, the rising costs, the job still holds its appeal. For instance, Alan Evans has been driving for 35 years.

"It grows on you. I was a shy, introverted lad with a really bad stutter. Driving taxis and meeting people, brought me out of myself."

The "freedom" of the job, the fact they are self-employed and have a great deal of self-determination is very appealing.

"You chose your own hours, make yourself available for those hours," says Ajad Khan, who was the first Asian to join the company along with a chap known as Elvis. That was back in 1977, which was around the year the real Elvis made the last journey from Graceland. However, despite the claims that Elvis lives, he did not reappear as a taxi-driver in Watford, for Lucketts' Elvis, with Presley-style pompadour, was Asian.

Ajad, along with Vic is a full-time employee at Lucketts, managing the drivers and maintaining the standards set down by managing director Eve Down.

The irony of the current dispute over the access the Lucketts' drivers are refused, is that the company used to run taxis at Bushey station and also had some at Watford Junction.

While the family still own Lucketts, the managing director Eve Down, who started work there as a part-time clerk some 15 years back, has been in charge for the past four years after the illness and death of George Hutchings.

George, who died in 1999, was something of an authority on the family concern. It is sad that when reviewing this essentially family business, he is not able to contribute. He used to give talks on the history of the company and was planning a small book on the subject before being struck down by illness.

George maintained the family ethos that remains despite the fact the 40 drivers at their disposal are self-employed. He set down the standards of service, courtesy and appearance but he also had other interests, running several travel agents businesses and spending almost four years in Guernsey, organising a bus service on the island under license.

George, was at the helm when Lucketts bought out Kirby's in Bushey Heath, and taking on another long-serving full-timer, Eddie Berry. After winning the tender, George launched the Lucky Bus Service in Watford, ferrying workers up and down Tolpits Lane to Watford and Rickmansworth from and to the new industrial estates.

Luckets also ran a tendered line, the 311 up to Bushey Heath, and George was in at the ground floor when Dial-a-Ride was introduced by the Herts County Council in 1989.

"Obviously we must have given good service and it expanded. We had seven buses covering the Hertfordshire area. Then George sold it to Arriva," says Eve Down.

"He ran the whole dial-a-ride experience: you phoned and booked, rather like a taxi, only as a bus. It was the elderly, the infirm and disabled. People paid a fixed rate."

George Hutchings also developed a coach with wheelchair access, which was in great demand, and he then bought mini-buses with similar access, building up contracts for ferrying those with special needs and the disabled. To this day, Lucketts employ 24 drivers and escorts in this branch of their business.

"If George was still alive, we would have continued to expand," says Eve. "He was an enthusiast and tackled everything with great enthusiasm. I became hooked and threw myself into the job. I came here as a part-timer but soon became full-time. George had just got the route to Bushey and it was a very exciting time and it was a case of all hands to the pumps.

"He believed we were here to provide a service and he wanted to ensure that the good name of Lucketts was maintained."

The mini buses and coaches were maintained at their depot in Olds Approach, High Street, but they are now based in Smith Street, just around the corner from Lucketts. Eddy Berry, who was a coach driver with Kirby's now maintains the vehicles, so the links with yesteryear remain.

Back in the control room, Vic has company. There are a few drivers waiting for fares.

"I remember one anecdote," says Ajad Khan. "The customer opened the back door to put his briefcase in, slammed the door and the driver drove off thinking he was in there. The customer was planning on getting in the front but the taxi went off with just his briefcase."

Vic remembers a somewhat illegal drive many years ago.

"We did a mini bus between Gatwick and the East Midlands airports at the time when the captain had to pay for the fuel in cash. They broke down on MI so we deployed two cars to take seven crew. Just south of Northampton, my mate's engine blew up.

"For a short spell, I had seven in with me in a Cortina: all their bags and handbags plus this bag full of money in the boot. It was getting uncomfortable, the car must have been on a floor, but I found a garage and found another taxi service.

"That was 20-odd years ago."

Pretty much like the show, the taxi journey has to go on and in the case of Lucketts, the show has gone on for over a century.

Says Eve Down: "Having been in business 140 years, George wanted it to continue for another 100. Now that is my aim."

July 4, 2002 17:30