Scott and Liz Hasted say they lost $1m in decade as taxi owners

THEY were looking forward to a fully funded retirement from their early 60s. Now Scott and Liz Hasted expect to be working into their 70s to pay off debt. And they know exactly where to point the finger.

• Drivers on road to bankruptcy

SCOTT and Liz Hasted refer to their time as taxi licence owners as the lost decade.

They estimate they “burned” about $1 million in that time, mainly on buying two licences for $840,000 that they were forced to sell last year at the fire sale price of $135,000 each.

They still have $680,000 in bank debt on those licences.

Liz and Scott Hasted paid more than $800,000 for two taxi licences, which they subsequently sold for $135k each. Picture: Liam Kidston

Every time they open their bank statements they get a bitter reminder about the damage insurgent ride-share companies did to Queensland’s 3247 taxi licence owners.

“I feel really sorry for anybody who still has cabs,” Mrs Hasted said.

“I know, I look at the bank statements. I’ve got all these zeros there that I’ve got to pay back but I really feel sorry for people who are still in it, it’s like scraping your fingernails down a blackboard.”

A taxi rank in Albert St in Brisbane’s CBD. Picture: Tara Croser.

By the time Uber launched on Brisbane streets in 2014, the Hasteds were running their two taxis as well as leasing out nine other licences to give them a fleet of 11 cars.

As passengers dropped taxis in droves for the trendy new service, their profits evaporated until they felt like they were just “burning money”.

Instead of looking at a fully funded retirement in their early 60s, they think they’ll be working into their 70s to pay off the debt.