The Smartly Dressed Driver.

I always thought, if I ever became a taxi driver I would try and look smart.  Therefore I have always worn a shirt and tie everyday when driving my taxi.  I would look upon it as a ‘discipline of work’ and it came quite naturally to me after twenty years of wearing a suit and tie when I worked for a large insurance company as a financial advisor.  I was to find though that this little dress code of mine was to bring funny looks from many of the other taxi drivers I met on my travels.  They probably thought that I was odd or mental or something, never mind.

I found that a lot of the ‘old dears’ using the car felt a lot more at ease with me and some even asked the radio controller to send me next time on the call.  They obviously thought I was old fashioned and harmless, and felt safe with me.  The owner of the taxi firm was more than happy with my appearance and said on several occasions that he wished more of his drivers wore a tie.  I found that when he wanted to make a good impression with a new client or company account I was one of the drivers who would be sent on those jobs, generally ferrying business men from the company to the rail station or airport.  Over the years I was to find that people would jump into my car, take a look at me and say, you don’t see many taxi drivers wear a tie.  Usually I would reply, well I can look scruffy if you like, but more often than not, I would just say, my Mum got me dressed this morning.