Abbey Taxis: Working for taxi man Jack was an experience

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Robert Walker, of Littleover, was an Abbey Taxis driver in the 1960s when the firm was still owned by its founder, Jack Jones. Here, he reflects on those days – including the night his fare was TV gardening celebrity Ted Moult.

I WORKED as a part-time driver for Jack Jones’ Abbey Taxis between 1966 and 1969 and enjoyed every minute of it. It was a pleasure to work for Jack and a great experience.

The pay at the time was half a crown an hour (12.5p today). This made the princely sum of £1 for an eight-hour shift – not a lot of money by today’s standards but the enjoyment and company of the people that you met more than made up for it.

Some of the drivers’ names I remember from 40 years ago are Ray Viner, Freddie Bagshaw, Jack Ratcliffe and Bob Wallace. There were others whose names I cannot recall. Of course, there was Jack, the proprietor, and regular staff – Daisy Anderson, Tony Poole and the overnight man, Bill Johnson.

The cars were always immaculately turned out, with well-dressed polite drivers, and the maintenance of the vehicles was first class. Most of the cars were Austin Cambridge or Morris Oxfords but Jack still liked his MGs and had a very nice Magnette saloon, which he generally drove himself.

Bill Johnson drove a Riley. The cars were all black and highly polished at all times.

During the time I worked for Abbey, the American military staff were at Fauld ammunition store and came into Derby at the weekends for entertainment.

We would drive them back in the early hours. We accepted American dollars in payment and, as we drivers were not entirely sure how to work out the exchange rate, we would always make sure that we had more than enough dollars to meet the fare. The Americans would also give a tip, so there was never a shortage of drivers, whatever the time, to take them home.

The antics of some drivers were beyond belief, as Jack discovered one night when a driver was long overdue after taking a young woman to Nottingham, late at night.

His excuse on his eventual return was that he had a puncture and had a problem fitting the spare wheel. In fact, he had let the spare wheel down and returned to base with dirty hands.

He would normally have got away with this excuse but Jack had new tyres fitted that day which were still on the car. It was rather embarrassing for the driver. I don’t know whether Jack ever got to know the true reason for the delay but some of us had a good idea.

I also recall some of the regular account jobs that we used to do – 6.30pm on Saturday night, 14 Alice Street to The Hippo Club; 11pm, Clarendon Hotel to Barrow Street; and taking a lady named Rose from Ramsden’s Restaurant to Hanover Square, Mackworth.

Another quite regular customer was a market trader known to me as Sid. I used to drive him from Ripley Market Place to Hall Street, Alvaston, on a Saturday night, after he had spent a good bit of the day’s takings in the pub.

One Saturday night, I was sent to the Midland Hotel to pick up a gentleman and take him to Ticknall. It turned out to be Ted Moult, the television celebrity and farmer, well-known for his pick-your-own strawberries.

On arrival at Scaddows Farm, Mr Moult, who had obviously enjoyed his evening, did not want to pay the fare at that time and said: “Send me a bill”, giving me a 10 shilling note for a tip, a very good tip considering the £1-a-shift pay.

When I got back, Jack was not at all pleased at the prospect of having to send a bill to a private hire customer and said I should put the money in myself until the bill had been paid.

However, all went well and I got my money back, but I never let anyone else not pay at the time. Yes, it was a pleasure and an experience to have known and worked for Jackie Jones, and I wish him well in his retirement.

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