Anna Phor

Could anyone recommend a reliable car/taxi service to travel from Glasgow airport to an address in Edinburgh? We are arriving at 7.30 AM on a transatlantic red-eye with a three year old child--so looking for a service that's reliable and comfortable and also will provide a child car seat. Any recommendations or prior experiences most gladly welcome!

WHBM

Taxis off the front of the airport (actually, from a point in the terminal car park) would be my suggestion. They use regular saloon cars rather than taxi-type vehicles. They are well used to going all aound Central Scotland and each driver probably gets over to Edinburgh once a week or so.

The operator with the airport contract is here :

http://www.glasgowairport-taxis.co.uk/

Children are exempt from UK car seat regulations when riding in the rear seats of taxis

Swiss Tony

Whilst that is indeed the case, I think an awful lot of parents would rather their child be secured properly in the car!

A quick google does show up some firms in Glasgow who say they have them, but I've never needed this service in Scotland so can't recommend - sorry!

AyrMiles

I use a local Ayr firm but NEVER take the expensive and uncomfortable taxis from the rank at GLA! I travel in an extremely comfortable, long-wheelbase Audi A8 with a well-dressed and reliable driver for less than a white box from rank.
My suggestion would be to Google something along the lines of "chauffeur drive Glasgow"...

HIDDY

When I was domiciled in Glasgow I never used the official taxis at the airport....they have a monopoly so tend to be expensive. I used to use a local Bearsden company who were half the price.

Edinburgh taxi companies can also be considered so EDI based Flyertalkers might be of help here. Failing that then as AyrMiles said Google is your best bet.

ft101

Charlton Limo provide the chauffeur drive service to/from Glasgow airport for Emirates First and Business Class passengers. They've always been reliable for me so might be worth getting in touch with.

http://www.charltonlimo.com/

HIDDY

Excellent suggestion.

EK are quite strict on who they use so I'm sure they'll provide a good service.

GlasgowGuy

The Company quoted above are not longer operators at Glasgow Airport staring from mid january and about time too.
I don't think one official driver wanted this company to operate the rank.
They are in fact a Taxi firm based in Greenock, some 25 miles west of Glasgow Airport whose management then got the contract to operate the rank.
How they got the contract is another matter altogether. loll

GlasgowGuy

loll

I think if you research, Chauffeur companies (in Scotland, maybe Uk) must provide child seat and also seat belts. They are not exempt like hackneys.

What would happen if caught, the driver would receive 3pts for each child under 14 not wearing a seatbelt and 3 pts for a underaged child not in a boster seat/child seat. Too boot, the vehicle would not be insured if involved in a accident.

Im all for peple taking cheaper taxis/mini cab but make sure everything is above board and legal

Glasgow Guy

GlasgowGuy

Which company was half the price?
I never make statements unless they are totally true
I know of all the Bearsden/Canniesburn firms prices and I know of the official Glasgow Airport Taxis prices.
Fact is! If you book taxis run by official Glasgow Airport drivers from online the prices are cheaper than the official rank and sometimes (I'd say half and half) cheaper then the Bearsden/Canniesburn Taxis.

I sent off requests yesterday from online websites for these firms and remember, by journey Bearsden is over 12 miles north from Glasgow Airport.

I have just got back 7 prices from 2 of the biggest Bearsden firms and from 5 offiical Glasgow Airport Taxis, all from online.


The official site was the dearest, then a bearsden firm, then a Airport Taxi website, then the next Bearsden firm was equal with another Airport firm, then the last 2 official Airprot taxi firms each cheaper.
The journey was from Glasgow Airport to Edinburgh

I don't want you taking offence but it's like me saying, (wait for it);
'Don't use Glasgow Airport Taxis because the Bearsden taxi drivers are better looking!!!


hmmm, is that a fact, not sure but some of the drivers are not too braw, but we can say that about hundreds of Taxis drivers we have taken a lift from loll


Regards

HIDDY

Is GlasgowGuy a taxi owner I ask myself?

I'm talking over 5 years ago before we moved out here. Canniesburn taxis I think was the company we used most often and the journey is nearer 8 miles than 12 using the Clyde tunnel. IIRC they used to charge £12 with no boundary charges.

GlasgowGuy

Nope, sorry, I aint a Taxi driver, (thank god)
Just wan't the facts to be out there.

You must know yourself when you go to forums people add stuff that is just down right not true.
I'm not saying the information you supplied was not true but it was incorrect.

The journey from Glasgow Airport to Bearsden cross is 12 miles, Canniesburn is a little closer but the price of £12 wasn't from Canniesburn Taxis as they were still starting up at the time. The £12 price was years before the bombing and the price was cheaper than the official Taxis but so was it cheaper to book an official taxi online.

I'm more interested to be honest in the situation with transport out at the east end of Glasgow, it's not good.

I just know the facts concerning the Bearsden and Airport taxi prices from way back and up until now. The first Taxi service with a major online presence was 'Station Taxis'. Then 2 official drivers sites went online, 1 didnt last and the other then wen't from strenght to strenght and now there are 7 online Glasgow Airport drivers sites.



regards

HIDDY

I can assure you my facts are correct especially for a GLA-Bearsden hire. The airport taxi fares were double what I paid. I certainly wouldn't have hung about in the freezing cold waiting for a Bearsden taxi after 20 hours of travelling if it wasn't worth my while financially...I can assure you. I might be tight-fisted but not that much.

Where do you get your 12 miles calculation from? AA as well as Google Maps show the distance from GLA - Bearsden Station is 8.9 miles.

GlasgowGuy

First of all my apologies, I was just about to fix the thread. The distance to Bearsden station/cross is 9 miles the back end of Bearsden was over 12.

The fare was not over double the price. But I know for a fact if you turned up at the Airport for an official taxi and didn't pre book one online it would be the full fare, booking online was always savings to be made. How much depended on distance.

There is a reason why all Taxis are differently priced.
It goes by area, council authority, distance and other factors etc...


Fact!
Glasgow Airport Taxi drivers are to be vetted by the Renfrewshire Council and then the police and finally B.A.A.
The driver applies to Renfrewshire Council, sits the test and then the council check his credentials, by check, I mean Police check and also a medical check. Then once he gets his hackney badge he then applies to B.A.A.
The situation before 4 year ago was that the driver applied for a badge and the same checks would be performed and then you would be issued with a badge and uniform.
When the new company took over there were no official badges supplied for B.A.A drivers so you had to trust that everyone at the rank was official and no uniforms were supplied.

When the east dunbartonshire drivers apply for a badge they are then checked for police record only.

It is stricter at Glasgow Airport but lets face facts, B.A.A doesn’t do anything unless they make money.

The bombing was a blessing in disguise for them.
They then put up barriers, changed route system and then hiked up prices for customers and users of the system, Busses, Taxis alike.

One thing you will notice, Every taxi service say they will always be there for a customer when their flight lands.
Why because they all watch the flight details online.
But the thing is, not one company know, except 2 of the official Airport taxi services, is that the flight details are updated by each airline and if that airline are understaffed then the flight details are not updated. This would leave all the Taxi companies waiting for their customer thinking they have still to show when in fact they could have already landed or delayed.


In this thread I'm not contradicting what you said, I'm stating some details need corrected and price of Airport Taxis which were stated as “double" the price of the Bearsden Taxis 5 years ago, which they are not and then if you booked online it would have been cheaper making the price closer to the Bearsden Taxis. 5 years ago the price to Bearsden Cross was £19.80, booking online gave you a discount.


And yes if I had the choice, would I use an Airport taxi, No I would not, (you shocked, loll).
But the person at the start of the thread asked the question and in my experience, and yes I'm in the transport business, Airport taxis were far easier for many reasons to use as a transfer to Edinburgh with baby seat than other transport services including Taxis, mini cabs and chauffeur.

Sorry about the 12 miles, looking at the wrong part of the map loll.


Please don't go in a huff with me, as some people do with other people they disagree with on forums.
If I saw a thread with someone stating that all Bearsden Taxis were cutthroats etc... I would stick up for them as well.

HIDDY

Not going in the huff with you...honestly.

Just correcting your claim that I was giving out wrong information. Booking a official GLA airport taxi online over 5 years ago might well have made the price more competitive with my then local taxi company but that's hardly the point I was making.

Welcome to Flyertalk by the way. ^