A Taxi to Odessa!


For some time the simple task of getting around Odessa and visiting institutions had become a bit of a challenge. Many private cars in Odessa are also used as taxis. All you have to do is to stand on any street corner, wave down a car and negotiate a price to your destination. This initially seems very appealing as getting about is quite simple and cheap (if your negotiating skills are good)! The downside however is that you need a good command of the Russian language and have no control over the driving skills of your ‘taxi' driver.

During one visit to Ukraine, Graham was involved in a serious RTA where the driver of his taxi knocked over a pedestrian. This incident, coupled with several other frightening experiences prompted the need for the charity to obtain its' own transport in Odessa.

Local cars are expensive to purchase – duties placed on imported cars are extremely high and help maintain high prices in Ukraine. A study of regulations pertaining to the importation of vehicles led us to decide to bring a UK registered vehicle to Ukraine for use by the charity. The requirement to leave the country every 2 months was considered acceptable (the border with Moldova being only about an hours' drive) in return for the satisfaction of having a reasonably priced vehicle for our use.

We decided we wanted something ‘British' which would ensure locals would become aware of the charities UK connection. What better then than to bring a London taxi? The old FX4 type were being withdrawn from service in London in droves due to new legislation introduced by the (then) Mayor of London, Ken Livingston. These vehicles were cheap and in excellent condition so the decision to bring one to Odessa was made. At the same time we had located some medical equipment for the abandoned baby unit at Slobodka hospital which needed to be transported to Ukraine.

The journey was planned and the date set for our departure was the 22 nd May, 2008.

The first day involved a drive from Eastbourne in the UK to Wuerzberg in Eastern Germany. The route utilised the channel tunnel train (pictured) and traversed four countries (England, France, Belgium and Germany).
Wuerzberg was a great little city and extremely beautiful. The temptation to stay for a few days was great but had to be rejected! A hotel was already booked in Vienna for the following night. Day 2 saw the taxi complete its journey through Germany and ending the day in Austria, the 5 th country so far to be visited.

From Vienna Day 3 entailed a drive into Hungary with a short stop in Budapest. This is the home town of George Paul, the volunteer web designer who has done so much to help the charity through his hard work designing and updating this website. Crossing the border into Hungary was uneventful.

Here the taxi can be seen alongside the now disused customs post between Austria and Hungary.
George Paul (on the right) enjoys a pint with Graham (centre) and volunteer Cliff Haffenden (left). The opportunity was not lost in discussing new ways to further improve and expand the charity web site. This was in fact the first time they had met in person and the opportunity to celebrate the success of the journey so far was not lost!
The next segment of the journey took the taxi into Romania to a city called Cluj-Napoca. The journey was particularly challenging for the Taxi as we passed along roads of dubious quality through the regions of Transylvania and the Carpathian mountains. The roads snaked up and down the sides of mountains and through towns and villages not mentioned on our map.
A view from inside the taxi of one of the few vehicles we managed to overtake during the journey! Wherever the taxi went people just stood and waved. Every time the taxi stopped people wanted to be photographed with it (including border guards)! It certainly caused a great deal of interest. The next stop was made in Bucharest, the capital city of Romania.
The journey from Bucharest to Odessa turned out to be the most challenging of the entire journey, including wrong turns, getting lost and two border crossings (Moldova and Ukraine)! The roads in Romania and Ukraine were generally of a poor standard and one town in Romania necessitated driving for long stretches along city tram tracks (left) to prevent damage to the taxi suspension.

Border crossings (when found – we had to telephone the Moldovan embassy in London at one point to ask for directions) were polite and efficient.
The lack of, and pointing the wrong way signposts of Romania were in retrospect the most challenging part of the journey. The Bucharest ring road was a masterpiece of miss-information and potholes – a challenge for any would be explorer of a foreign country!

The picture above left shows the new suction machine delivered to the abandoned baby unit at Slobodka hospital. The old machine to the left of the new machine was constantly breaking down and was cumbersome and awkward to use. The new machine will defiantly help save lives. The picture above right shows one of the babies the machine is intended to help.

The journey in all took six days to drive covering a total of 1969 miles. The meter was used each day and had amassed a hire fee of £10,906.40 by the time the taxi had reached Odessa. 236 litres (62.4 gallons) of fuel was used with the taxi averaging 31.4 miles to the gallon. 9 countries were traversed, including England, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine.

The purchase of the taxi for the charity and the cost of taking it to Ukraine were sponsored by Ken Wills, charity co-founder.