Two taxi firms in Harrogate that have run an essential service during the pandemic, are hoping that demand will increase as we ease out of lockdown.
The firms have offered extra services over lockdown including 24/7 phone lines and a shopping service for the elderly and shielding.
They have put safety measures in place including drivers and clients wearing masks and customers are asked to sit in the back seat.
Tracie Geelan who works for Elite Taxis told The Stray Ferret that the firm has continued to run during lockdown:
“We are doing more to support our older clients, our drivers are even taking shopping orders over the phone and doing that for them too. We also have one of our directors Paul who rings all of our shielding customers weekly to check in and say hello to give them someone to talk to.
“We’ve had different requests during the pandemic, for example, driving to Heathrow airport to pick up customers after they’ve been stranded abroad or we had one client who was stuck on a cruise boat and wasn’t sure where it would dock. So we put one driver on standby who left as soon as we knew where the boat had docked.”
One of the directors of Elite Taxis, Paul Cox, has been ringing his shielding clients weekly to give them someone to talk to.
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Another taxi firm in Harrogate, Blue Line taxis, has
“We are still fulfilling contracts with some schools, especially those with parents that are key workers. We have kept our offices open 24/7 so customers hear a human voice rather than an automatic message when they ring us, its normally hospital staff that ring us overnight and we want to make sure we’re maintaining a high level of service.
“Things are getting back to normal but people are still frightened to come out. It won’t happen in a month or two but we’re optimistic business will pick up again.”