Category: Latest News

Taxi Drivers and other self employed citizens will receive help from the UK government during the Pandemic Crisis

The Chancellor has announced a Grant very similar to that awarded to regular employees recently.

247 Cars is explaining the process in very simple terms to it’s drivers below.

To be Eligible for the Grant You have to:

Be Self Employed already with a 2019 Self Assessment Form

Earn Less Than £50,000 per year

What if I became self employed last week?

You cannot apply for this Grant as It maybe very difficult to work out your income.

Limited Company Owners CANNOT apply for this Grant.  This means 247 Cars owners will not receive any help.

I missed Jan 2020 Self Assessment Deadline Can I still apply?

You have 30 days to get your Tax return submitted and then you can still apply.

How will Grant be worked out?

Amount claimable will based on 80% of average PROFIT over your last three tax returns

At least half your income needs to be from self employment.

Whats The Maximum amount I can get?

You can get up to £2500 per month for 3 months initially

The Grant is Taxable and needs to be declared on your next Tax Return.

When can I get the Grant?

The target for getting Grant paid to you is the beginning of June 2020

Grant will be backdated to 1st March 2020 and paid into your bank account.

How do I apply for the Grant?

You do not have to apply, HMRC will contact you if you are eligible.

A simple form will have to be submitted online.

Can I carry on working if I get the Grant?

Yes, self employed taxi drivers CAN carry on working unlike regular employees who cannot

 

A SEMI-LOCKDOWN HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED FOR THE NEXT 3 WEEKS

247 CARS DRIVERS ARE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE TO WORK AS THE  UK GOVERNMENT DID NOT BAN TRAVELLING TO OR FROM WORK OR STOP PUBLIC TRANSPORT WHICH WE ARE PART OF.

OPERATORS WILL BE ASKING NUMBER OF PASSENGERS AND EXPLAIN ONLY 1 PASSENGER WILL BE CARRIED SO WE DON’T BREAK THE “2 PERSON GATHERING RULE”

WE ALSO PROMISE TO PAY ALL DRIVERS THEIR CARD PAYMENTS EVERY  WEEK FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE AS LONG AS YOU FILL OUT THIS FORM BY CLICKING https://bit.ly/2Uv8xgF

After the Latest UK Government Announcement

What is Allowed:

1. Shopping

2.Exercise once a day

3. Medical Reasons

4. Travel To & From Work

What Is Not Allowed:

5. Gatherings of more than 2 people

6. Weddings, Baptisms etc Funerals are still ok

What Can Stay Open

7. Parks Open, but no gatherings

What Has To Close

8. Non Essential shops/Premises to close i.e electrical stores, clothes shops, Mosques, Churches, Temples etc

Our understanding of this is that a taxi driver’s To and From Work is what it is and so taxi drivers are allowed to continue

AS THE GOVERNMENT HAS STATED THIS IS A RAPIDLY CHANGING SITUATION AND IS CONSTANTLY BEING REVIEWED AND WE WILL UPDATE FURTHER IF ANYTHING DEVELOPS.

247 Cars have always had a disaster management plan for the type of scenario we are all facing today.  As you all know our operations spread over more than one office in more than one country; so we are more than used to organising remote working.

We already have one UK operator in self-isolation at home.

It is possible Watery Lane MAY close temporarily if further base staff are affected.

Can all drivers please store the Driver Support number 01922664671 to their mobiles.

Option 1 is to pay your rent or you can ring 01902916932 driver payment line and we would advise all drivers to register a debit or credit card so you are able to pay if Watery Lane is not available.

Our managers will be available via phone throughout this crisis and as many of you can see today, we are very busy.  It is possible to have busy days and earn your money even during this crisis.

We urge you all to be safe, clean your surfaces after every journey and encourage customers to sit in the back towards the near side door.

We have avoided giving a statement to drivers until now.  The reasons behind this are that 247 Cars believe in good governance, reflection and above all avoiding unnecessary overreaction.

You will have received many messages over the last few weeks from dozens of sources including from the government.

Keeping clean is in our opinion, the most important.

Hygiene

• Keep Clean – Wash Your Hands Thoroughly For More Than 30 Secs
• Avoid hand contact with eyes & mouth
• Use Tissues when you sneeze and cough
• Look out for symptoms of flu, cough, shortness of breath, loss of sense of smell/taste and self-isolate and seek medical help if experienced
• Keep a distance of 2M from others
• Clean your handles, steering wheel, etc after every job

Lockdown

The Government appears to be gradually locking the country down.

The thing that has affected our industry the most was the closure of all Leisure facilities.  This has seen a sharp decline in work, especially in the evening.

Our work is strong M’A and we are still doing 1000’s of jobs a day as we have always concentrated on building firm private custom and not doing school runs etc at peak time.  This means we still have regular work at many times of the day.

For Instance, this Saturday night driver numbers were down by over 50%, but work was down by less than 50%.

Most of our drivers were still getting a job before 30 minutes and many other competitors have reported drivers waiting over 2 hours.

Our advice to Drivers

• You need to get out of your comfort zone and change your patterns
• Early morning bookings (4am onward) are not for leisure and people need to go to work.  We are trusted by customers M’A so the work in this timing has hardly been affected
• Early Saturday & Sunday morning also is unaffected as there are fewer drivers than normal.  The screenshot below is this morning Sun 22nd March at 07:00 am.  As can be seen most drivers were waiting between 1 and 9 minutes for a job.  35 on shift, 14 Clear, 21 On Jobs

• Evening Work is severely affected, however, we believe that there will be an improvement over the coming days I’A
• These are not normal times so be prepared to travel further to pick up a job and keep your wheels rolling.
• Card jobs are the safest work as there are no notes/coins changing hands
• We are still continuing our sales and marketing as usual and are increasing  advertising in Birmingham to spread out the work
• Keep your PDA’s on when at home so you can pick up extra income when you normally would be off, especially at peak times where there will still be a surge of work

Forward Plan

We are doing everything possible to keep you and your family with a viable income I’A.  The government is only giving minimal help to the self-employed at the moment so we must do all we can to help ourselves.

We will keep you all informed via Driver Blog.  It is important every driver reads and understands every Blog.

Driver Rents

1. All fixed rents have been suspended
2. Every driver has been put onto a 17% commission, which means you only pay for what jobs you do.
3. 247 Cars will do whatever it takes to ensure drivers can earn a reasonable income.
4. We will reduce the commission payable further in the future if the situation continues to deteriorate.
5. 247 Cars are monitoring situation hour by hour.

To keep the base operational for you we need to be able to pay overheads and we aim to strike a fair balance with this.

We pray that Allah SWT keeps us all safe in these most difficult days.