Westminster Escalate Hostilities Against the Taxi Trade...by Thomas the Taxi

After their initial assault on the licensed taxi trade with the inception of the first private hire rank in Whitcomb Street, Westminster City Council has decided to escalate the hostilities by banishing the word taxi from many of their bus lanes signs.

First we noticed the sign had been changed in Victoria Street, junction with Buckingham Palace Road, where the central bus lane now displays a newly erected sign that excludes taxis. As you go over the lights the word taxi is then visible on the sign at the beginning of the bus lane that runs along Grosvenor Gardens. Taxis have been allowed to use this lane for many years as it was felt necessary for the safety of the public and the driver when picking up from the tube entrance not to have to cross the bus lane, when wishing to go north. Now the right has been taken away, or has it?

Now we see a ridiculously laid out, purpose built bottle neck, at the junction of Charring Cross Road and Shaftsbury Avenue. Running from just passed Dean Street, the brand new bus lane excludes all traffic except bus and bike. As the traffic in the outside lane will also be turning right in to Charring Cross road, the tail back at this junction in busy times of the day, has become horrendous. This means taxis have to wait caught in this jam, with the meter running and cause's unnecessary expense to the unsuspecting passengers. Westminster obviously does not seem to understand, the reason why taxis were first granted the right to use bus lanes is, that we are in fact a metered service. The same reason why private hire vehicles, are not and should not, be allowed to use the lanes.

More and more square footage of the public highway is being denied to the licensed taxi trade every year, with Westminster being the worst offender. Bus lanes, environmental areas and thick red lined bus stops are making our job a headache. With more and more things we have to worry about we seem to be losing the right to just go about our daily work.

The Anderson shelter has written to Westminster Council and to the Mayor to find out if in fact they have a traffic order from the secretary of state for transport that details these changes, or has the wrong signage been erected.

We also ask if they will be prosecuting taxi drivers who as yet have not noticed this important change to their rightful passage through the borough.

Taxi Trade Being Sold Down The River......By Thomas the Taxi.

Just after the Taxi trade demo in Febuary, where disgruntled London Taxi drivers bought the center of London to a stand still, Westminster City Council's transport manager Martin Lowe, promised the London Taxi trade "ranks wherever you want them" on the James Whale show.

Well Martin where are they?

There has been some talk of three ranks, placed in highly dubious positions, but that's all it has been so far just talk. Probably just to judge our reactions by council officials with smug snide smiles on their faces.

Requests have been put in for a number of ranks to be placed outside clubs, bars and restaurants that at present, already have illegal ranks of touting private hire vehicles outside.

Most of the ranks requested were for restricted hours ranks that could revert back to pay and display parking bays, so no loss of revenue would be incurred by WCC.

We were then told, that the budget set aside for taxi ranks will not be sufficient, as each rank demands a cost of between £5,000 and £6,000 and the budget for this year was capped at £7,000.

This statement is in fact a blatant lie as a freedom of information request has revealed there is no such budget, as the funds would come directly from the transport budget.

Excessive ?
£7,000 for some paint and a board on a nearby post.

Who picks these expensive contractors?

Who authorises these excessive payments?

Are they not supposed to get quotes and pick the cheapest one?

We are then told by Westminster City Council, that there is no room for a rank outside the Buddha Bar on the embankment, even though every night, when this club is open there is on average 10 to 15 touts parked unlawfully outside, who scoop up unsuspecting members of the public that are charged inflated prices, sometimes treble what they would have to pay in a Licensed Taxi.


How do they sleep at night?
All this is happening with full permission of TfL/PCO, WCC and the Met Police under the safer streets banner. The fact that between 8-10 sexual assaults including rapes occur every month and have done since the mini cab trade was first licensed doesn't seem to matter as long as the streets are cleared.
Luke Howard from TfL keeps banging on about how much safer it is now the unlicensed touts have been cut in numbers. Get real man! the monthly 8-10 assaults we see now, are happening in licensed private hire vehicles, that's 120 a year for god sake.
Young unsuspecting females are being enticed by door staff acting like pimps, who sell their pray to illegal ranks of licensed mini cabs with your blessing.

Their fate is on your conscience.
There has even one case of an inebriated woman being raped by a rickshaw driver in Bloomsbury some time back that seems to have slipped under the media radar and gone unreported.
Perhaps the scheme should be renamed "The unsafe and highly dangerous streets scheme"?

Pedicab and Mini Cab Ranks?

Now we have the news from TfL's own web site, under the watchful eye of Mr Jeroen Weimar, Chief Operating Officer, Enforcement & Compliance, Surface Transport, they are planning to supply the private hire trade and Pedicabs with waiting areas (RANKS) all over the west end.

We already know that WCC are planning Bays (RANKS) for the death trap Pedicabs, with the first one already marked out. It is disguised as a loading bay and is currently being used by private hire drivers to form an illegal rank in Shaftesbury Avenue, just short of the Queens Theatre.

That's why they have narrowed the carriageway to accommodate these bays, future "Rickshaw ranks" in anticipation of WCC licensing them, when the so called Voluntary scheme falls flat on its face.
All this has been going on with the full knowledge of the general secretary of the trades top association, who has been present at most of TfL's transport committee meetings when these proposals were initially discussed... See John Kennedy's post click here

TOCU no better!
Last month the printers that print the license roundel for TfL was broken into and thousands of license discs were stolen. It is now suspected that there are thousands of cars with stolen license badges floating around central London.

So what does Joe Royal have his squad do last weekend over a two day period?
They stop and search Licensed Taxi's on the Bayswater Road.
What a great idea Joe, back to ticket searches on the buses for you then soon.



...........................................................................................

On a lighter note here is a great video from Luke Jackson directed by Murry John,
Called "Goodbye London" it was filmed on location in Camden Town. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Ed Thompson Resigns.....By Thomas the Taxi.

Its official, Ed Thompsom has stepped down from his job as head of the PCO.
He will not be missed by the trade that he leaves in utter turmoil.
He was never the right man for the job, never understood the Licensed taxi trade and his handling of the touting problem along with others based within TfL have left the licensed taxi industry in chaos.
Our Trade needs someone who knows and understands our needs and appreciates the fact we are not the same as mini cabs and do not do the same job.

There now needs to be a clean sweep of all the arrogant and biased amongst the officials of the PCO and TfL, who seem to be hell bent on destroying the "Best Taxi Service in the World", and replacing it with a substandard, untrained private hire outfit that is expanding faster than swine flu.

This is a perfect opportunity for the Transport commissioner to appoint some one from within our industry to this most senior position and bring about an amnesty to the current "Taxi War" that is about to kick off in central London.

But I wouldn't hold your breath.

Also nice to see the LTDA taking such an intrest in our little blog. Didn't realise you started that early Bob!!!

City Hall Demo....by Thomas the Taxi.

This morning at 9am a small contingent of Taxi drivers from a cross section of different representative bodies, RMT, LTDF, LTCPR , LTDA and the LCDC picketed the GLA City Hall building.

The aim of the protest was to gain an audience with members of the board of TFL and let them know that the trade is unhappy with the current level of enforcement appertaining to privet hire vehicles seen regularly touting and forming illegal ranks outside night venues in central London. Other grievances include the apparent lenient attitude of TfL officers when dealing with complaints against PHV operators and drivers.

Not wishing to cause a nuisance to members of the public going about their day to day business the drivers waited in an orderly fashion in the shadow of the blood red RMT banner, on the promenade in front on the main entrance. A representative was sent in to inquire if we could speak to members of the board and was told someone would speak to us at the end of their meeting.

After waiting patiently for a couple of hours we were informed that the board had left the building by a different exit.

Although disappointing, this demo was in fact a successful recognisance of the City Hall Building. Future demos will be strategically planned with pickets covering all exits.

The questions have to be asked;

As our man on the board of TfL, why did Bob Oddy sneak out of a back entrance? (The LTDA monitor the online trade forums, so he would have been aware of our presence).

Does Bob represent the whole trade or just his own membership?

Stop press;

Today, according to posts on the LTDF taxi forum, at around 15.00 hours, Ed Thompson phoned Grant Davis to tell him he was stepping down. (Did he jump or was he pushed?)

Now sit back and watch everyone from every association and union claim that it was because of something they have said or done.

I personally have the view, rather the devil you know.

Can you imagine the damage that can be done to out trade if a certain spokesperson or his ex bus driving colleague gets promoted into Ed's job.

In one respect this is an excellent opportunity for TfL to insert someone from our trade into their organization to even things up a bit. At the moment , virtually all of TfL top brass come from a bus company back ground.

As far as we know, there is only one person still working in TfL/PCO that comes from a Hackney cab back ground and she still holds a Bill to drive a cab!

Zig Zag Lines, Can We Can't We....by Thomas the Taxi.

Having been told it was lawful for a taxi to stop on a Zig Zag line once it had passed the crossing part of the pedestrian crossing, I decided to look up the appropriate law, which is the Zebra, Pelican and Puffin crossings regulations 1997.
Although on first glance it looks like we can, in fact you have to understand the legal translation of the wording.
In the regulations it clearly states;
Regulation 20 does not prohibit the driver of a vehicle from stopping in a controlled area if the vehicle is a public service vehicle being used in the provision of a local service or to carry passengers for hire or reward at separate fares.
What that is referring to is actually a bus not a taxi as some think. I have always wondered why buses sometimes overlap the zig zag lines when at some bus stops. Now I know.

Zig-zags associated with zebra and pelican crossings require no signs or a traffic order but they do need to be advertised before they are implemented. They are governed by these regulations and can be enforced by the police or local authority, with 3 points awarded if you are ticketed by the former.

OXO stired up....By Thomas the Taxi

On Thursday night at 10pm a large group of Licensed taxis descended on Barge House Street, where five minicabs were blocked in for over an hour, until restaurant manager Hein Pretorius came outside to talk to the cabbies about their grievances.

Grant Davis, chairman of the London Cab Drivers' Club, said: "The Oxo Tower is one of a number of venues across London who are using these minicab companies.

He later said to reporters from the press, "They are breaking the law and touting for business. We will stand up for our members' rights."

Although the LCDC has only a fraction of the membership that the LTDA has, their chairman Grant has shown he is not afraid to lead from the front when it comes to the "taking the work back campaign".

The LCDC e-mailed all its members and asked then to attend. Its not easy to get drivers to join this type of action at one of the busiest times of the night, but Grant said he was very pleased with the turn out which will give new hope to the campaign.

The demo had been advertised on trade forums and Twitter which is fast becoming the preferred way of keeping an eye on what is going on. Drivers who have Vodaphone contracts can get free updates from twitter

TAKE BACK THE WORK.

The take the work back campaign was started in early March by drivers from the LTDF forum when one of their members was attached by a group of touts in Hanover Square. Drivers from the forum then started to rank outside the night club Jalouse. The drivers found to their surprise that customers were only too ready to walk passed the lines of illegally ranked touts to get in a proper cab. The fight back escalated a month later when one of Dial-a-Cab's female drivers was abused by the doorman of Nobu 15 Berkeley Street, Mayfair. She contacted her dispatch and within minuets a Line of D-a-C drivers had formed outside. This is now a regular site at this establishment thanks mainly to the abusive actions of the doorman.

Since then thousands of cabbies have happily joined in and it is now common place to see ranks of licensed taxis outside all clubs bars and night venues all over the capital.

TAXI WARS.

With the licensing authority coming out in favour of the touts, relations between the PCO/TfL and the taxi trade have deteriorated. Week after week the licensed taxi trade find new laws and guild lines that are being bent or altered to suit the private hire trade. This is going to get a lot worse before we can move forward. At this moment we are heading towards "Taxi Wars" on the streets on London, like the ones seen a decade ago in Luton.

GO FORWARD TOGETHER.
The main thing we must all remember in the next few months is that we are all batting for the same team. We have to keep supporting each other, its the only way we are going to win this battle to claim back our work. The licensing authority seem hell bent on giving our work to the scabs. We must not let that happen in any shape or form. Join the revolution and help your brother Taxi drivers win back the work.

Ranks Committee not fit for purpose?......by Thomas the Taxi

Virtually every Taxi driver that ranks up at the Grosvenor House Park Lane entrance when there is a function on, is braking the law by forming an unlawful rank. The rank that is there is in completely the wrong place, starts way to far down the street and is not seen by the trade as a good place to find a job. The touts however park bang outside the door where the prospective passengers are touted and whisked away to the waiting scab cabs.

There is also a large rank in Charring Cross road that is in such a bad position a licensed Taxi driver, who legally cannot get out an tout for passengers to bring to his vehicle, would be there for hours and only get a job after every scab cab, illegally parked on the opposite side of the street adjacent to Bear Street, had long since gone.

We need many more ranks in central London this has never been more true, but we do not need any to be placed in the wrong position.

This is I'm afraid proof again, that TfL are not taking us seriously and are bending over backwards to accommodate the Private hire trade.

At the risk of being accused of being disingenuous again, what the hell is the ranks committee doing to earn there generous wage bill?

I refer to the LTDA ranks committee because lets face the facts, TfL only recognise this body as they have a very largest membership. Other representative bodies such as Unite and the LCDC added together have very few members and are mostly ignored by the PCO/TfL.

A newly proposed rank outside Nobu, as seen in this weeks Taxi Paper looks like it has been designed by a ten year old with no knowledge of the Licensed Taxi Trade or how it works on a day to day basis.

TfL have again come up with plans that are at best, a complete and utter waist of public money.

As with most ranks recently commissioned by TfL in central London, we see a rank in completely the wrong place that will only cause disharmony at the flash point outside the Funky Buddha bar and Nobu in Berkeley Street.

The point of this new rank needs to be placed right outside the entrance to Nobu and run along the kerb back passed the Buddha bar. Or better still the point of the rank could be outside the Buddha bar which would then run back along the kerb towards Stratton street against the flow of traffic like the one at the Victoria sporting club.

This trade needs a strong Ranks committee, not a bunch of yes men, that can deal with these situations before they are implemented.

Perhaps this is something that the newly formed RMT Taxi Branch can look at in the near future, as the way drivers are massing to join they will very soon be a force to be reckoned with.

Final note!.......
Last night, in the west end, outside clubs and bars such as OnAnon, Jalouse, Movidas, Funky Buddhas and Tiger Tiger, parked on double yellow lines red routs and bus lanes, with and without clipboard men, thousands of illegally touting PHV drivers sat forming illegal ranks, waiting, available for immediate hire. These touts are stealing millions of pounds worth of our work every week.

With limited man power and limited finance, what did the TOCU squad decide would be a great way to use up their funding?
They were stopping Black cabs in Bayswater Road, to see if they were wearing their badges.
Any driver who was stopped and given a ticket should appeal, as if you have lost your badge you can legally carry on working as you have 24hours to report the loss to a police station where you will be given a receipt to work until you can get a replacement badge.

So while sexual assaults and rapes in PHV's are increasing every month and the amount of injuries caused by dangerous driving of mini cabs is rising, Joe Royal's squad are out checking badges and bills somewhere in a brightly lit street near you.

Value for money Boris?

I don't know how these people sleep at night... Thomas the Taxi.

New Petition to number 10, please sign.

For a minicab office to operate in London it needed to have planning permission. This was to stop offices opening up wherever they thought was appropriate, rather than where the licensing authorities thought appropriate.

In March 2007 this law was revoked, and has resulted in minicab offices opening up all over London, many in totally inappropriate locations.

Almost every pub, club and restaurant has its own band of minicab drivers now working from it. Many 'offices' have been set up in hallways or share premises with barbers, Internet shops etc.

This is endangering the public. Health and safety rules are no longer a consideration as planning permission was not required. There is less driver accountability as it is much harder to track a driver who works out of a pub than it is one who works from an established office.

It has also resulted in long queues of minicabs waiting on the streets, and the inevitable touting that this encourages.

The legislation must be re-instated.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/minicabs/

Why should we do this?

Have a look at this reply from Luke Howard, sent to a fellow member of the LTCPR and see what they think of us. Click Here . This letter was received on the 17th of June in reply to an e-mail sent in February this year. They have no respect for this trade or the drivers, what so ever.

Click the link and sign today. Also get friends and family to sign as well.

Sisters are doing it for themselves..... By Thomas the Taxi.

London's female cabbies are getting a raw deal and are planning to take the PCO/TfL to the international court of human rights.

Forums are buzzing with posts from disgruntled women taxi drivers as they come together to discuss equality in the working conditions between men and women in the London licensed taxi trade, currently being exacerbated by the apathy of the TFL/PCO and local councils such as Westminster city council.

Not enough protection.
They are also concerned that they are not being protected by the Police or the PCO, from the aggression of touting PHV drivers when trying to exercise their right to gain access to licensed taxi ranks.
In an interview with The Anderson Shelter, one female driver who wishes to remain anonymous said;
" Working with my male licensed taxi colleagues has never been a problem. But we have to face abuse from PHV drivers on a daily basis. I understand that some of these drivers hold women in very low esteem, but I would expect the Police to be more sympathetic."
She went on to explain that she had faced sexist attitudes from all departments when dealing with the problems she has been experiencing.

Westminster worse.
Westminster Council came in for the most criticism from female drivers, for the lack of safe toilet facilities available over a 24 hour period.
It seems as if Mr Lowe is of the opinion, that women should not drive taxis on a night shift!
If this is not the case, perhaps he can facilitate our female colleagues with there very own, very safe, purpose built conveniences.

TfL could also help by making available the conveniences used by female bus staff along with space to park for a few minuets. It would be a great PR move on their part. How about it then Len?

PCO finaly coming round?....by Thomas the Taxi.

Things are looking up for the cab trade this week with an excellent press release from the deputy head of the carriage office Mary Dowdye.

PCO press release 19/09 clearly defines the actions of satellite office operators who stand on the pavement with clipboards and take bookings as illegal.

After these private hire operators have successfully applied for a license to run an operating centre from within a venue, ongoing enforcement work by the PCO and the Metropolitan Police Service has shown that operators are failing to comply with private hire legislation, PCO guidelines and other conditions of licensing in the way in which they take bookings at such venues.

INSIDE.

Ms Dowdye has reminded operators that they must only accept bookings at the premises forming the licensed operating centre, that is, inside the building forming the venue. The Licensing Authority does not consider entrances to the building, or open areas adjacent to the street outside the building (whether cordoned-off, roped-off or divided with planters etc.) to form part of the licensed operating centre premises.

Also they must not, under any circumstances accept bookings on the street. This includes the use of Clipboard Johnnies.
We just need Mary to go that extra yard now and proclaim the ranking outside night venues equally illegal.

KEEP RECORDS.

She also reminds the operator that they must keep booking records securely on the venue premises, and they must be available for inspection by the PCO or police officers, a process that most have long since stopped recording. Private hire operators must also display a copy of their license at each operating centre specified in the licence.

This is fantastic news for the licensed taxi trade who, have this week learned that the three clubs who appealed against having their operators licence revoked, have indeed lost the appeal.
In this press release, the trade has finally seen a change in direction from within the PCO/TfL.

LEN SLIPS ONE IN.

Head of strategy and planning Len Simpkins has seen this week, when there were a number of releases, as a great opportunity to quietly slip in his insulting post to the trade in order not to upset the numbering sequence of the press releases...
"A number of highway authorities have indicated that they will start enforcing waiting restrictions and penalising for obstruction offences if the present levels of over-ranking continue." and we can guess which one will be first Mr Lowe.
Its a mystery that these same agencies are allowing PHV vehicles to illegally rank on red routs, double yellow lines and 24 hour bus lanes. We were wondering if there has been some collusion between these agencies and TfL/PCO. Perhaps Mr Simkins would like to contact the Anderson Shelter and explain some time in the near future...
In these financially taxing times, TfL should be out and about creating temporary taxi ranks and feeder rank spaces. I'm sure that if we were driving buses they would be creating ranks all over the place.

Let us remind ourselves that this is the man who wants you to completely change your working practices.
Instead of working in the day time, when there are not enough rank spaces at the stations and hotels for empty cabs, he wants you to come out at night, when there are not enough ranks outside hotels, clubs and bars, with private hire vehicles parked up forming ranks and stealing the work in plain sight.

DEAD MANS SHOES.
Not sure if I am reading this right but in the latest Post 21/09 it says that if a PHV driver dies (Continuance of licence on death) the operator’s licence is not terminated and that another person who is acting as the operator is treated as the licence holder for a period of up to six months.
Does this really mean that anyone can drive as a replacement even if they do not hold a PHV license?
I feel another batch of e-mails coming your way Mary!

Only one way forward now...by Thomas the Taxi

I have been rereading a post made on the London Taxi Drivers Forum about a case that was bought against two PHV drivers in Eastborne in 2000.

Using an article by Alan Fleming from the Taxi globe published in January 2009 my colleague states that;

Two PHV drivers were summoned by the Eastbourne Council for plying for hire in plain site of the public by forming an unlawful rank on the licensed taxi rank at Eastbourne Station.

They were summoned under section 37 of the Town Police Clauses Act of 1847 of plying for hire without a licence. Sec 37 allows licensed hackney carriages to ply for hire outside of London.

The Magistrates dismissed the case on the grounds that the forecourt was not a public place.

The council then appealed and the case was subsequently heard by Lord Justice Pill and Mr Justice Bell. Both drivers were found guilty.

In this Case Lord Justice Pill quoted the case of White v Cubitt 1929(LCJ Hewart) and I'm told by Alan Fleming the case of Gilbert v Mc Kay 1946 ( LCJ Goddard) Two cases that happened here in London.
Lord Justice Pill quoted the case of White v Cubitt where a vehicle parked in a private yard was plying for hire, as it could be seen from the street on view to the public.

When a case is used as a precedent in this way it then becomes case law which is in fact common law. Its how most of our laws are formed under British justice if not by Parliamentary decree.

Case law is law according to a judgement and therefore sets a legal precedent which judges refer and make reference to and therefore base their judgement on

I have written to Luke Howard on several occasions who agrees with this but states as the fact the waiting to become hire outside a premises in full view of the public was not mentioned in the 1976 and 1998 legislation then it is not unlawful for them to do so.

This statement from Mr Howard is rubbish. It was also not mentioned that private hire drivers should not sexually assault or rape their passenger. Does this mean it is quite legal for them to do so, I think not.

The talk in the trade now is we have to go back to parliament and get this situation sorted out once and for all.

If you belong to a trade representative body you should contact the leaders and make sure they unite on this important issue. Until we have clarification on this matter there is no way forward.

Also see previous post made in 2008 Click Here

Black Cab Bully Boys... taken from PHC magazine

TAXI TROUBLE

The credit-crunch appears to be hitting the London hackney trade hard. Private Hire & Courier has been contacted by operators and drivers who allege that taxi drivers are using increasingly desperate tactics to steal their customers.

Rajid is the boss of a licensed private hire firm with an office in Smithfield, Clerkenwell and has accused black cab drivers of intimidating his drivers: "They are blocking private hire drivers in and double ranking all the way along Charterhouse Street. They are there every night. They block us in outside the Smith in Smithfieldʼs restaurant and only move when they get a customer." Rajid says that one of his drivers approached a hackney cabbie and asked him why the taxi trade was acting so aggressively and he was met with a barrage of ʻfʼ words and abusive, racist language.

The private hire boss says the sudden influx of hackney drivers may have something to do with a rumour that Dial-a- Cab has lost a major contract at the nearby ITN headquarters and that he "will be out of business soon" if the cabwar carries on.

HACKNEY HASSLE

PH&C thought the problems in Smithfield might be just an isolated incident but the accusations from Rajid were just one of several calls the magazine received complaining about the ʻbully-boyʼ manner of taxi drivers. Licensed driver Clement says he has also suffered problems with aggressive hackney cabbies while picking up customers outside the Bedouin Bar (also in Smithfield).

And operator Bob Kamel alleges that the London taxi trade is continually, "breaking the law, left, right and centre. He accuses black cab drivers of, "Ranking on double yellow lines, plying for hire (while parked up outside of established ranks) and double parking in many streets of London". Bob says he has videos of taxis ranked up for hire on single yellow lines, sometimes 30 at a time.

And he claims that his drivers often have problems picking up customers at celebrity-restaurant Nobu on Berkerly Street, Westminster: "They can't even get to the door because the black cabs have blocked them in. They just hem drivers in so that they can't do their job.

They just loiter and block the public highway. "The council doesn't seem to be interested but then they go back to the clubs and say there is too much noise in the streets. But it is the taxis which are causing the noise and blocking the way and not allowing anyone to get past. "It's a joke. There are often numerous black cabs ranking up on Berkeley Street. All the traffic is held up. The buses canʼt get through, the ambulances can't get through, no one can go through."

TRENCH WARFARE

It is obvious that the London taxi trade is deliberately behaving in an aggressive manner towards the capital’s private hire industry.

On-street hails for black cabs are down because of the recession and they are (quite understandably) going to where potential customers can be found, ie; restaurants and clubs. A lot of London entertainment venues have private hire companies with PCO licences within their premises but taxi drivers don’t like the fact that revellers are booking jobs with licensed PH firms before they even step out onto the street. Tough.

Steve McNamara and his buddies at the LTDA are right to highlight the abuses of so-called ʻclipboard Johnniesʼ who tout for custom on the pavement outside pubs and clubs but that does not excuse the bullying of legitimate private hire drivers picking uppre-booked jobs.

Taxi drivers must not be allowed to get away with the intimidation of legally, licensed private hire operators and drivers and PH&C will expose anyone within the London hackney trade that believes it does not have to obey the law.

Taxi Trade Lose the Moral High Ground......by Thomas the Taxi.

Bob Oddy and his colleagues at Taxi house thought it would be a jolly jape to upset the door man of Nobu by Publishing his photo in there advertising brochure along with insulting him by using the title "Smile please, I'm a plonker".When you put a loaded gun in the hands of drivers who have seen no other direction from their association representatives, they will fire the bullets.

Unfortunately the doorman didn't see the humour in these actions and called the police, who also seemed to have had a sense of humour bypass.

The officers have warned that they will now start reporting drivers found unlawfully forming a rank whilst causing an obstruction, double parked outside Nobu. They have also said it is unlawfully for us to wait outside (unless we have a booking) even if we park curb side as we can only ply for hire from a taxi rank. As there is no rank (yet) outside Nobu, we only have the right to ply for hire whilst we are moving or stuck in traffic. They have taken advice from TfL who have informed that PHV's can legally wait outside if parking restrictions permit, to become hired, as they are not openly plying for hire and are not touting. (drivers who have e-mailed Luke Howard will be familiar with this dialogue).

Within the pages of its in house magazine, the LTDA have destroyed all the hard work that the LTDF, RMT, LTCPR and Dial-a-cab action group has done over the past two months. These drivers have taken up the fight every night, in the shadow of an association who's leaders have capitulated, sold out and are home tucked up in bed when the lines are drawn in the sand.
We have spent many hours in discussion with front line Police officers, inspectors from Charing cross, TUCO officers and PCO representatives.



By the childish antics of a few uninformed LTDA board members and an editor who should have known better, all this work has now been discredited.

This piece of bad timing and bad taste has now back fired, well done Bob we are now back to square one.
So are we to expect you to take up the gauntlet now, and show us how we should be fighting back with you leading the charge.
More chance of being hit on the head by a flying pig.

Also read what John "the cabby "Kennedy has to say about the Latest issue of Taxi Mag; Click here.

Heathrow Express, strike action?

RMT announces strike ballot on Heathrow Express

RMT, BRITAIN’S biggest specialist transport union, announced today that they are to ballot all driver members on Heathrow Express for strike action in support of a call for the reinstatement of RMT driver member Omono Edokpayi following what the union believes amounts to his unfair dismissal by the company.

Heathrow Express is refusing to reinstate Omono Edokpayi back into his driving role following an incident at work. Omono had given formal notice that he was leaving the company to join another train operator as a driver. Following the incident the other company withdrew their offer of employment and Omono sought to withdraw his letter of resignation from Heathrow Express.

Heathrow Express have now refused to accept him back into the drivers position he had held for 5 years, a decision that RMT finds totally unacceptable bearing in mind that Omono has not been subject to any disciplinary sanctions.

“We are demanding the full reinstatement of Omono Edokpayi in his substantive post. Heathrow Express is riding roughshod over the disciplinary procedures and we cannot allow them to treat members in this way without following the correct procedures,” Bob Crow RMT general secretary said today.

“Following An angry mass meeting RMT has agreed to ballot all our driver members at Heathrow Express for strike action in support of Omono and against this clear breach of the disciplinary procedure. We anticipate that ballot papers will be issued on Tuesday 23^rd June 2009 and that the ballot will close on Tuesday 7^th July 2009,” Bob Crow said.

Is Your MP On The List?

Labour
Tory
Lib Dems
Others

Who will be next, MEP's, TfL managers, PCO officers?
Would make great reading.

MPS PAYING BACK EXPENSES CLAIMS