Touting! Just what can you do?

By Thomas the taxi
Most agencies who deal with the London Taxi Trade will not accept the fact that there is a problem on our streets with touting.
Leaving aside the very dubious practise of satellite office’s and clipboard men, the local councils, the Metropolitan Police force, TFL and the PCO will not accept that Private hire vehicles are actually touting.
Having tried for many years now to get these agencies to clear up this problem, it is amazing how little success we have had in this area.
Even the commissioner for TFL, Mr Peter Hendy has gone on record at a London assembly transport meeting as saying, “the trade’s troubles are mostly imagined” and that “they should get out more and work longer into the night”. Other top brass at the PCO and TFL are completely adamant that there is no problem with licensed touting.
It leaves London’s Licensed Taxi drivers bewildered.
Do these officers ever venture out in the West End late on a Friday or Saturday night?
Are they blind?
The police will not get involved, although touting is in fact an arrestable offence they completely refuse to enforce this law.
Local councils are just as bad and do nothing, some have even given the touts there own private hire ranks, have changed traffic orders and instructed their parking enforcement officers not to penalise touts.
In a back lash from the amount of complaints they have received they have escalated their victimisation of licensed Taxis, with drivers receiving PCN's for dropping off passengers on double yellow lines, ( we are in possession of PCN’s for just this)
We saw hope in our future, when last year one of our numbers was elected to the board of TFL.
At last after many years of misrepresentation from people with their own private agenda, now we should have a truly responsible cab driver on the board.
Unfortunately after nine months this voice has remained strangely silent, refusing to answer emails and letters from drivers in the trade who are not members of LTDA. Not quite what the trade had in mind from this person.
With the conception of the blue pre booked only TFL stickers for PHV’s our troubles have escalated dramatically, as PHV’s now seem to be able to park and tout , anywhere they please, quite openly.
In the next few months we are about to see an explosion of rickshaw bikes take hold of the West end. Westminster Council is currently looking at becoming a pseudo licensing authority. They will dish out expensive licenses to anyone with a three wheeled death trap, in a bid to raise revenue. As an incentive they are to offer ranks, our ranks, to the rickshaws where they will be able to offer services as hackney carriages. They will also be able to ply for hire.
How can the public carriage office allow this to happen?
The debating has now reached stalemate. It is time for the trade to unite on these issues. Plans are now afoot for the first time since the early seventies that will see the trade representative bodies joining forces to act for the whole trade.
In other posts I have likened our current problems to the Second World War, with us being the ally’s and TFL/PCO and Westminster council as the evil axis.
Well, we have had our Dunkirk, our forces have regrouped and we are now ready to attack.
Watch this blog and the trade press for details, D Day is coming. Our troops will take to the streets fighting for the survival of a trade that is second to none, the best taxi service in the world. Given to the good people of London by Oliver Cromwell, over three hundred years ago.

We lost the first battle, Click here.

We will never surrender, we will fight them in the streets.

It has now been announced that the united trade will demonstrate our unrest, in a drive in to Trafalgar Square on Thursday 5th feb at 2 pm.
Don’t sit this one out.