Oddy,The Little Dictator …..By Jason Byrne.

Collusion?

The “London Cab Drivers Club” had to wait well over two decades to be invited on to the joint trade ranks and highways committee, hosted by Unite and chaired by the LTDA.

The London Taxi Branch of the RMT has no intention of waiting another 20 years.

So in January 2010, a delegation from the RMT met with John Mason and was told that he could see no reason why regular and meaningful talks could not be held on a bimonthly basis.

When the little dictator from Woodfield road heard the news, he went straight round to see his pal and colleague on the Board of TfL at Palestra building in Blackfriars.

Peter Hendy then issued a statement about the conditions for consultation with the new LTPH. Conditions that no trade union could accept, which are unlawful under the data protection act and are against member’s human rights, as laid down by European Parliamentary Law.

Lies

There has been a lot of talk about propaganda and lies spread within the trade media and the finger has been pointed at the RMT by all trade publications affiliated with the UTG. But the Lies have been a one way street. Bob Oddy has accused the RMT of spreading lies, well I hereby challenge the little dictator, to produce any official RMT article that they can be positively identify as a lie…

Whereas the Taxi paper, for the past eight months has contained many mistruths, blatant lies and provocative photo-shop images of the RMT and its members, in mostly unsigned articles. But these articles and images (unsigned) are considered in law, to be the sole responsibility of the editor and paper owners.

Unity

There has also been a demand by ordinary working drivers, for the trade to unite, well the RMT has applied to the hosting Union, Unite, to have meaningful talks with the UTG and as of yet, they have not received any reply. This from a fellow member of the TUC is unacceptable behaviour. Every driver, no matter which representative body he/she subscribes to is entitled to full representation in talks with the licensing authority.

After many prosperous years, the iconic London taxi trade, the best taxi trade in the world, has had to come to terms with the fact, that within the next few years we could possibly be merged into a one tier service with private hire. PHV waiting areas at stations, hotels and night clubs are high on the agenda at TfL surface transport meetings and harmonisation, integration and consolidation are the new buzz words floating around the corridors of power inside the Palestra building. This award winning state of the art building has itself replaced many TfL buildings and will has also incorporated the old Penton Street carriage office.

Westminster council

Westminster council have, in the past, commissioned a survey that has shown late night revilers will jump in to the first vehicle they see, regardless of whether it is a licensed taxi or a licensed PHV. They (WCC) have also contravened hackney carriage laws and placed private hire waiting areas on the streets of the West End. This, in conjunction with the victimisation of taxi drivers in respect of unfair and in some cases illegal PCNs, puts Westminster City Council high on the must watch closer list.

Adding to our troubles, is the fact that the majority of the London Taxi trade have, in the past turned a blind eye to the open touting, as this practise only seemed to affect the late night weekend trade.

But now as the recession bites hard the unscrupulous hoards of privateers have upped their game and escalated their attack on what they see as an apathetic taxi trade.

But the game is changing fast, as they are now encroaching into the dayman’s pocket. We have now started to see the setting up of satellite offices inside hotels and underground stations all over the capital.

We he also been informed by a whistleblower, that Griffins Addison Lee, are now targeting the more upmarket hotels. He has applied for satellite office licenses and has informed his top drivers that when the consultation with the taxi trade comes round in September, he has been assured by top brass at TfL, his applications will go through.

While licensed taxi drivers spend hours on hotel ranks for local work, airports and roaders are siphoned off by greedy hotel staff and placed into private cars, for nice little backhanders.

This has been going on for many years but Griffin means to take every job and place vans outside the entrance to the hotels he has licenses for.

A great big fat lie Bob

So who is watching the backs of the Taxi trade in London?

Certainly not the general secretary of the trade’s biggest organisation.

Our man on the board of TfL has been present at virtually all surface transport meetings, where much of the plans that have bought about our present troubles, has been hatched.

And he said nothing, not even to us, the drivers, hence the nickname Silent Bob.

The minutes of all meeting are on line and can be found on TfL’s own website.

The worst thing this little dictator has done is lied about the killer on the knowledge.

At the first Aldwych Demo, I stood beside a committee member from the LCDC and we spoke to the whistleblower who first gained the information about the wife killer. He said that the first person he went to with the info was Bob Oddy, being a member of the LTDA.

Bob told him he already knew and to keep quiet. He was afraid that if he bought this story to light it could affect his position on the board of TfL as the problem had already been spoken about, at a meeting in city hall which he had attended.

So the Whistleblower then approached a member of the RMT who gave the story straight away to Andrew Gilligan. As the paper hit the stands, the RMT organised a demo at Penton Street.

Bob tried to jump on the band wagon by organising a second demo, trying desperately to upstage the RMT.

Finally what you can do.

If you want to make a difference, if you want to save your job, your trade, the time has come for you to get off the fence and join your colleagues who are fighting to take back the work. Join the RMT today, and if your online, join the LTDF (London Taxi Drivers Forum) you know it makes perfect sense.