Office News

By using Blue Line Taxis or one of the other Blue Line Group member companies i.e. Preston Taxis or Black & White

You will be automatically entered into a draw where you could win £100.

The more you use  Blue Line the more chance you have of winning.

Blue Line Taxis – Terms and Conditions of Free Prize Draws

1. These prize draws are open to all UK residents aged 18 or over, except for anyone directly connected with the planning or administration of the free prize draws, employees or their immediate families, agents or anyone else professionally connected with the free prize draws.  The free prize draws are not open to residents of either Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland.
2. Entry is by booking a taxi (a hackney carriage or private hire vehicle) with Blue Line Taxis in a relevant draw period.
3. The relevant draw periods are from 11th February 2011 until March 31st 2011 Only a record in the computerised booking and dispatch system used by Blue Line Taxis shall be proof of entry to a prize draw.  Blue Line Taxis shall not be responsible for any valid booking that fails for any reason whatsoever to be recorded in the said booking and dispatch system.
4. It is the responsibility of the customer to ensure that when they book a taxi with Blue Line Taxis they provide such details as would reasonably enable Blue Line Taxis to contact them in the event that their booking record was drawn as the winner.  Blue Line Taxis may be contacted 24 hours a day (except for Christmas Day) on 0191 2626666 for the purposes of booking a taxi.  All telephone calls maybe recorded for quality and training purposes.
5. Should you not wish to enter the free prize draw, please send your name and address along with details of your journey or journeys (i.e. date and time of pick-up and destination) to Blue Line Taxis, 31-35 Sycamore Street, Wallsend NE28 6TH, clearly stating that you do not wish to participate in the prize draws.
6. Multiple entries are permitted, but only one prize per household will be awarded throughout the duration of these prize draws.
7. By making a booking in a relevant draw period for a taxi, the customer shall be deemed to have accepted the terms and conditions herein.
8. Blue Line Taxis reserves the right to hold void, cancel, suspend or amend the prize draws where it considers it necessary to do so for any reason whatsoever.
9. Each draw will be held on ?????  The winner will be the customer of the first booking record drawn from the booking records for that draw period.  The prize for each draw will be a single cash prize of £100 (one hundred pounds Sterling).
10. Winners will be notified by Blue Line Taxis via telephone and / or post and / or email by the end of the Friday of the prize draw week. Winners’ names will be available 14 days after that date of the last prize draw by sending a stamped addressed envelope to Prize Draw Winners, Blue Line Taxis, 31-35 Sycamore Street, Wallsend NE28 6TH.
11. Prizes not claimed within seven days of the prize winner being notified will be redrawn and awarded to another person, the new winner.
12. The decisions of Blue Line Taxis will be final in all matters and no correspondence will be entered into.
13. Blue Line Taxis shall not have any liability to any entrant in connection with these draws or the prizes, save as required by law.
14. Winners agree to their names and photographs being used for promotional purposes and / or to take part in publicity as a result of winning.
15. All customers consent to Blue Line Taxis using their personal information for the purposes of fulfilling their taxi booking, administering the prize draws and to contacting them with information about their services and promotions and to sharing their details with other companies in the Blue Line Group that may provide services and / or have promotions that Blue Line Taxis believes may be of interest to the customer.
16. These prize draws are not lotteries as defined by the Gambling Act 2005, section 14 and Schedule 2 thereto; and are not regulated by the Gambling Commission or a licensing authority.
17. The promoter of these prize draw is Blue Line Taxis of 31-35 Sycamore Street, Wallsend NE28 6TH.
18. These terms and conditions shall be governed by English law in every particular, including formation and interpretation, and shall be deemed to have been made in England.
19. These terms and conditions can also be found at www.bluelinetaxis.com

Tyneside taxi firm on road to success

Oct 1 2009 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

Over the last 50 years a car with a blue stripe has helped drive the mass creation of jobs on Tyneside as Andrew Mernin finds out.

IN THE late 1980s, two Wallsend lads packed their bags and jetted off west to spy on the New York taxi industry. Their mission – as dictated by their father – was to find out how their family business could evolve with the dawn of the brave new age of computers.

Colin Shanks knew the firm he had built up from the ground needed to change with the times and believed the answer lay on the mean streets of the Big Apple.

His two sons Paul and Ian, watched closely at how the network of yellow cabs were dispatched across the sprawling metropolis and even took a behind-the-scenes look at the workings of the NYPD.

The move ultimately paid off and helped Blue Line become one of the largest taxi companies in the region, with an army of around 450 drivers and 30 office staff.

“He had a drive to better himself and I guess he had the foresight to see the importance of technology,” says Ian Shanks, son of the late Colin Shanks.

“We were one of the first companies to have two-way radios and taxi meters inside our cars. He felt that all those things were best for the business and good for the customer.”

In a back office akin to a 1970s living room, Ian is surrounded by memorabilia connected to his father’s legacy, which charts the growth of the business from a one-car, terraced house business into a £3m empire.

The former Newcastle Gosforth rugby player – who once shared a bench with Jonny Wilkinson – now runs the business with his brother Paul and sister Jane.

On one wall he points out a letter from the daughter and son-in-law of Walt Disney, which is framed next to a gold-plated Mickey Mouse watch.

Shanks senior had ferried the couple round in a taxi during the production of a 1970s childrens movie in Northumberland but had refused a £20 tip – which is why they sent him the gold watch.

He also tells how Fleetwood Mac would regularly travel Blue Line to a recording studio close to the firm’s home off Wallsend High Street.

The firm started life in the early 1950s in the family home on Wallsend’s Wooley Steet, with a car embossed with a blue coach line along its body.

“He started with one car and my father was constantly under pressure over getting it repossessed with one thing or another. It was very hard to make ends meet in those days and taxis were very much a luxury.”

“We started from the family home and we as kids used to answer the phones but my father built the business up over the years.”

And Shanks junior has continued that tradition by adopting mobile and automated systems and has followed in his father’s footsteps by investing heavily on infrastructure.

In 1990 Colin Shanks unexpectedly passed away, thrusting Ian into a lofty position which belied his age and status.

“I remember at the time I was 28 years old and stood in front of drivers and was scared because there were men far my senior who had to now rely on me to make the right decision.”

“I had to give them reassurances that we were going to take the business on and we wanted their support because we didn’t want them to scatter thinking we were going to go down the pan.”

Fortunately for the 450 people whose jobs are supported by Blue Line today, the company survived the loss of its enigmatic founder and remains on the road to further expansion.

Recently, Blue Line Taxis have negotiated a merger with Wallsend Taxis. We are happy to report that the transition is now complete. This new organization will offer comprehensive range taxi/transport solutions for all our customers along with access to over 400 vehicles; we are currently the largest taxi company in the Tyneside and Northumberland  areas.

As part of the merger Blue Line Taxis will continue to provide its new and existing customers with a first class service and an unprecedented array of products, solutions, services and of course cheaper fares.

Because of this merger Blue Line Taxis can offer existing  Wallsend taxi customers  new services such as IVR (interactive voice response)  Text-points, Callback, Textback and Internet booking.

Please direct any questions or concerns to enquiries@bluelinetaxis.com or call our administration department on 0191 2098017.

Telephone Bookings

We will continue to take bookings on the main Wallsend Taxi’s numbers (0191 2621111 0191 2624444) our main call centre with an average of 10 operators that will happy take your taxi booking. Alternatively you can call our main number 0191 2626666

Internet Bookings

If you would like more information on our internet bookings system please visit our website http://bluelinetaxis.com/taxis/book-online/ to register.