FAQs

Private hire taxi driver Raymond Woods has been a Patons Insurance customer for several years and is pleased with the service he receives.

He has been a private hire driver for 10 years and knows how important having the right insurance is to protect himself and his business.

Taxi drivers take great pride in keeping their cars clean and tidy so they look their best for the next fare.

But dealing with passengers in all weathers, as well as their shopping and luggage, plus heavy traffic and dirty roads, means drivers have to work even harder to keep their cabs and private hire vehicles looking spotless.

As trials continue to pave the way for driverless taxis, one manufacturer is recalling hundreds of thousands of vehicles following concerns about its driver-assistance software.

Pilot schemes for autonomous taxis have been carried out on public streets in a variety of major cities which have raised concerns.

Taxi drivers are calling for action to tackle the problem of catalytic converter thefts which can leave their cars off the road for weeks and facing hefty repair bills.

Since the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, thieves have become more inventive and ruthless as they find new ways to make money.

As more taxi drivers are using dash-cam footage to protect themselves in case of a crash, cabbies are being warned about spies on two wheels recording their every move.

The message comes after ‘sneaky’ cyclists have recorded taxi drivers and other professional drivers doing things that they shouldn’t.

A kind-hearted taxi driver rescued a lost dog during its morning walk – taking the cold cavapoo on a 100-mile adventure before managing to reunite the petrified pooch with its worried owner.

The drama happened when Georgia Crewe and three-year-old Ralph enjoyed their daily early-morning walk near woodland at Gresford Quarry in Wrexham.

Taxi drivers are calling for fares to increase by almost 20% to help them battle the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and rising fuel prices.

Watford Borough Council is considering responses to a consultation after Watford Hackney Carriage Drivers’ Association asked it to raise the current tariff by 19%.

Potholes are a real problem on our roads, and for professionals such as taxi drivers, damage to their cabs is not just an inconvenience, it stops them earning money.

You don’t have to go too far today to find a pothole – in fact, drivers are spending more time trying to avoid them, with the RAC reporting that the final three months of 2022 saw 1,800 call-outs for damage caused by potholes.

Autonomous taxis are being allowed to spend more time on the road as one tech giant is stepping up a gear.

Chinese search engine firm Baidu has branched out into the driverless taxi sector and has seen demand grow, collecting nearly 500,000 fares in three months in Wuhan, with its autonomous taxis operating from 9am to 5pm.

Patons is a family business with quality at the heart of everything it does. And that drive has been strengthened with the arrival of insurance industry veteran Rob Leyland as National Taxi Sales Manager.

Rob has been involved with insuring taxis since 1999 and has worked for numerous brokers.

Taxi drivers in Glasgow have seen fares go up by almost 20% as they continue to battle rising costs.

The move comes after it was revealed that taxi drivers in the city had lost up to £5,000 a year as a result of the pandemic, with lost revenue and rising costs contributing to the deficit.

Is it possible to have too much of a good thing? Taxi drivers in one major city believe it is and say they are looking to swich jobs to make ends meet.

The issue has come to a head with Uber and Lyft drivers in New York City who say they are facing crippling debts just to keep their cars on the road – only to be taking home a fraction of what they used to earn.