He agreed to be taken out in the back of a black taxi by two drivers who gave him a closer view of what we have to put up with every night of the week.
John agreed to be taken around all the night venue hot spots, including Nobu, Tiger Tiger, Jalouse, Movida and Abacus plus others that don't receive so much publicity.
This has been a fantastic effort on behalf of the new head of the PCO, it shows that he has a willingness to get to grips with the situation, to understand the problem we have to face each and every night.
After the trip Mr Mason, sent out, in reply to an email complaint this statement;
"I'm not going to go into a long winded email exchange with you on this issue.
Whilst I stand by my previous comments and did not mean to cause offence I can assure you I am taking the issue seriously. I was out until 2am last night with two of your fellow taxi drivers to see the problem first hand. They kindly took me to all the key locations and I saw many instances of both licensed and unlicensed drivers touting and problems caused by vehicles parked illegally outside key venues.
It is clear that more action is required. Despite it being a quiet night I could see for myself the problems that are caused by both licensed PHV drivers touting in key locations in the City and West End.
I will be working with my team and our enforcement parties to take further steps to combat the problem.
Kind regards
John."
Whilst I stand by my previous comments and did not mean to cause offence I can assure you I am taking the issue seriously. I was out until 2am last night with two of your fellow taxi drivers to see the problem first hand. They kindly took me to all the key locations and I saw many instances of both licensed and unlicensed drivers touting and problems caused by vehicles parked illegally outside key venues.
It is clear that more action is required. Despite it being a quiet night I could see for myself the problems that are caused by both licensed PHV drivers touting in key locations in the City and West End.
I will be working with my team and our enforcement parties to take further steps to combat the problem.
Kind regards
John."
Statement taken from the LTDF Taxi Forum.
The Anderson shelter may be quick to criticize any officer in TfL/PCO who we believe is working against the views and wishes of the Licensed Taxi Trade, but we also give credit where credit is due.
Mr Mason this is a great step forward for the PCO. We hope that your eyes have been opened and that you will now fully understand the flood of complaints, that your department has received regarding touting, which is being carried out on an enormous scale, by PCO Licensed PHV drivers.
A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step and on Thursday night/Friday morning, John Mason took that first step.
Well Done Jimmy
ReplyDeleteWe have to see just what this man has to offer. no good just attacking everyone.
Who actually took him out was it the RMT
Gerald.
We will find out soon enough just who took John Mason out in the cab.
ReplyDeleteIt will be splash all over the front page of their in house paper.
And quite rightly so!
But it shouldn't matter who,
it should just matter that it happened.
The Anderson shelter would like to be the first to congratulate the two drivers for their fantastic effort on everyone's behalf.
I have heared it may be oddy and mac.
ReplyDeleteNo,
ReplyDeleteI don't think so.
To much like hard work for them.
My opinion is its Grant and Darrell.
But I could be wrong.
We will just have to wait.
Who ever it is will want to claim the Kudos and rightly so.
Well one thing is for sure,it certainly wasn't anyone from the RMT. They were all for holding a demo at Penton St the day John Mason took office.
ReplyDeleteYou catch more bees with honey than you do with vinegar !
Myfanwy.