It’s late in the night in the city of Cardiff, when one usually sees the people coming out of pubs, clubs and various bars around Queen’s Street near the city centre. Besides the occasional policeman, garbage man, and of course, the bartenders eagerly awaiting the end of their graveyard shifts, the only other people working are the taxi drivers.
Queued in the taxi line waiting for a passenger is Shakeel Murat, a one-time resident of Turkey. Working with Cabs64, Shakeel has been working the late night shift for the past 9 years.
Shakeel works at night so that he can spend time with his family
As with most taxi drivers, he has seen some of the most ridiculous things happen in his taxi, especially because most of his customers are liquored-up university goers. “I don’t allow people who are too drunk to get into my car any more,” he says quite pointedly. “I had the worst time cleaning everything from the seats to the windows because of two girls who half rolled down the windows and still managed to vomit inside.”
A family man with a wife and three children, Shakeel volunteers for the night-shift as he likes to spend as much time with them as possible. Taking care of his family during the day and then working from 10pm to 4am does take its toll on him. He sighs wearily saying, “But what are you going to do, they are family.”
While he originally chose to be a taxi driver as he wanted to offer his services to people and genuinely likes to drive around town, he claims that the recession in 2008 has really brought the business down and he doesn’t even make enough money to scrape by. “The welfare system supports us and we are dependant on it,” he admits.
The recession hit the taxi industry quite hard and Shakeel is also on welfare to support his family
He mentions the bad rap that some taxi drivers in Cardiff get for not picking up people or refusing fares. “If the passenger is going to carry food or drinks out in the open, I won’t let them sit in my cab,” says Shakeel. The next passenger to sit in the taxi could find mustard or mayo or soda on the seat and then could potentially report him to the authorities for having a dirty taxi which he explains is too much of a headache to handle.
As with all jobs, there are ups and downs but Shakeel is glad to be able to bring home some extra money as his children’s education is paramount.
When asked if he had ever experienced racism, he hesitated, first clarifying, “Everywhere you go, in any country, in any region, you’ll find that there are some who are racist. But in Cardiff, the only question I find slightly racist is ‘why did you leave your country and come here?’ It’s not really a question that is racist in itself, but the inference behind it is ‘what are you doing in this (our) country?’ which is a bit anti-immigrant.”
As Shakeel waits for his last fare, he talks about how he is a staunch supporter of women’s safety and women’s education. “My daughters need to learn to be free but safe,” he says.
