Taxi firm clocks up 70 years (From York Press)

Taxi firm clocks up 70 years

8:24am Friday 16th February 2007 in News By Press reporter

A TAXI firm celebrates its 70th anniversary this year - and one of its original drivers told The Press about driving a cab back in 1937.

Frank Oates, 92, drove for Streamline Taxis for three years, from when it was first founded until 1940.

Mr Oates said: "I started driving for Streamline to save up to get married though the drivers were laid off during prolonged frosts - this was before the time anti-freeze was invented".

When Streamline Taxis was founded it was the first private car hire taxi firm to set up in York. The firm's eight drivers all wore a suit and a hat when working.

The taxi company had a total of nine cars - all were Morris Sunshine Saloons, each with only three gears. As the fare chart reads, the cars were driven by "local men" and could "seat four passengers in comfort". The flagship logo, which was painted on the cars in 1937, is still used today.

All cars were painted identically in the "cream and black" that was used as the company's slogan during the late 1930s.

In 1938, Streamline had ranks in Museum Street and Station Road. At the latter, two telephone boxes provided a contact point for the drivers and customers, according to Mr Oates.

Since 1937, Streamline's four-figure telephone number has increased to a six-digit figure and computer system that automatically rings a customer's mobile when the taxi has arrived.

Today, the company has 80 cars of various types and the company operates on a 24-hour basis, 365 days a year. In 1937, the taxi drivers worked day shifts only. Mr Oates said: "It was a cushy job. There was no traffic and we used to play cards in-between customers - and there weren't very many."

Mr Oates has been using Streamline Taxis two to three times a week since he stopped working for them in 1940. "Now the cars are a lot more comfortable and a great deal faster than they were when I was a driver."

Steamline's oldest customer, Hilda Elsegood - born in 1907 in Leeman Road - has been using the taxi service for more than 25 years. Streamline take her to her 78-year-old daughter's house and to the Silver Circle club two or three times a week.

This year, Mrs Elsegood turns 100, and for her birthday she will get free Streamline taxis from then on. Mrs Elsegood said: "It is a good service. I know most of the drivers, though not the new ones. They're very helpful and come into the hall of my home and get me out of my room."

David Rhodes, 58, is the chairman of Streamline and has been working at the taxi company for 23 years. He said York's student population had contributed to the company's ten-fold increase in cabs - and perhaps that people might be slightly lazier than they were in 1937.