Taxi drivers, like the majority of other people, will no doubt be aware of the impact the Coronavirus disease is having around the world including here in the UK. So far, at the time of writing this post, there have been several hundred people here in the UK diagnosed with the illness and there have, regrettably, been a number of deaths.

So, what impact may this disease have on taxi drivers?

Well, you will no doubt wish to do as much as possible to prevent catching coronavirus such as preferably keeping a reasonable distance from your passengers. If you have a black cab then you may be able to keep the sliding window between you and the passenger closed and ask him or her to leave the fare on the back seat.

One of the problems you will have is that you will be picking up people on a regular basis and you will be unsure if they have the illness. If you do airport transfers then you will no doubt be picking up a lot of people who are flying in from other countries and your passenger may have contracted the illness. You will also be picking up their luggage bags so you may wish to wear disposable gloves and change them on a frequent basis. You should wash your hands thoroughly on a regular basis.

If you are diagnosed with the disease then, having sought medical advice, you will need to be sensible and confine yourself to a room in your home for the currently recommended period of a minimum of 14 days.

Of course, if you end up having to do this then this will no doubt impact upon your income as, after all, you will not be earning any income unless you are able to employ a taxi driver to cover for you.

It is likely that there are less people travelling on planes due to the Coronavirus disease as well as other forms of public transport such as trains and some of those missing passengers would have used a taxi to pick them up from the airport/railway station. As a result, your income may suffer.

Therefore, let us hope that this epidemic clears up as quickly as possible and that your taxi business is not impacted in a negative way too much over the next few weeks and months.