Les Whittaker Email and Phone Number

Les first started driving a taxi in Sydney in 1966. He came to Darwin in 1968, where he bought his first taxi. Les spent approximately 20 years as a director of Darwin's biggest taxi network, then still a co-op.In 1984, Les went into partnership with Fred Hayes, and together they became Darwin's first fleet operators, building up a fleet of 14 taxis, which they operated within the Darwin Radio Taxi network successfully for 10 years.In 1986 Les was founding president of the Taxi Council of the NT, and remained on the executive for 8 years.Les identified training as a way of improving service levels and attracting quality drivers to the industry. In 1987, on his own initiative, he wrote and delivered the first training course in the NT. When nationally accredited training became a requirement in 2002, Les obtained his Certificate IV, Training & Assessment, and Certificate IV, Driving Instruction. He still delivers industry training under the auspices of a Registered Training Organisation.In 2006, Les took a break from the industry and joined the NT Police Auxiliaries, spending 3 years in that job until reaching the mandatory retirement age in 2009. He then took up full-time training with the RTO.The 2 roles - Executive officer of the Taxi Council and industry trainer - complemented each other, and Les continued to explore innovative ways to improve service levels and the profile of the taxi industry in the Northern Territory.Les retired to North Queensland in 2020, and is currently writing a book.