COMMENT

Glasgow’s longest-serving taxi driver says he has no plans to retire.

Robert Mclaughlin, 79, has been driving cabs in the Scottish city for 58 years.

Pushing on for a million miles travelled around the city’s streets ferrying people to their work, rest and play, he still drives one day a week and the occasional Sunday shift for Glasgow Taxis.

Robert’s career has been so long it almost reads like a social history of the city.

“Glasgow has changed dramatically over my time in the trade,” Robert says.

“It’s a very nice city to look at now, whereas in my day the Clyde was still heavy engineering.

“The river was busy. Glasgow was a dirty old town, but it’s not so dirty now.”

Robert has defied his age to carry on the job he loves. He recently passed his medical to allow him to carry on driving.

But he says taxi driving is not the job it was when he came into the trade in 1960 – it is now a much tougher environment for younger drivers to make a living.

“The guys working in the trade at the moment are working a lot harder than I ever worked – or my generation ever worked,” Robert, who lives in Mount Florida, says.

“We were going home at one in the morning, with the night shift over. I did 25 years night shift.

“The younger guys now are still working till four in the morning – and sometimes later.”

Robert adds: “When I came into the trade there was only three doors on the car. It was the old [Austin] FX3 … no heaters, nothing at all, just the bare essentials.

“Did it start, did it go? Yes. Was there a meter on it? Yes and away you go to work. But when you’re a young man that’s neither here nor there, you know.”

Glasgow had a reputation as a tough “No Mean City”, but Robert says his experience was far from the stereotype.

“The guys working in the trade at the moment are working a lot harder than I ever worked – or my generation ever worked”

ROBERT MCLAUGHLIN