Minicabs Parking on Licensed Taxi Ranks, Whose Responsibility? ...By Thomas the Taxi.

Wednesday night around midnight, I made an attempt to get on to the Licensed Taxi rank outside the Grosvenor House Hotel. As you can see from the video, Park Lane looked like a car park with minicabs in some places treble parked.
By the time I got to the Licensed Taxi Rank outside the ballroom exit, I found it full of Addison lee vans and had to double park to ply for hire. No wardens (Local or TfL red rout) are ever seen in this area. Being a red rout, TfL have CCTV cameras in this area but PHV's are not targeted.

Touting PHV drivers, who always say they are pre-booked, were seen walking up and down approaching guests leaving the Hotel. These exiting guests were being asked blatantly if they required a minicab, even as they were making their way to the line of licensed taxis, who now had to form a line adjacent to the illegally ranked/parked Addison Lee vans.

This is unacceptable:

Abstract of Laws: General guidance on hackney carriage law for London’s licensed taxi drivers

"40. Appointment of and Regulations for taxi ranks (Act of 1850 s4)
TfL may appoint taxi ranks and make regulations as to the limits of the ranks, the number of taxis to be allowed to ply for hire there, the time during which they may ply for hire and also for enforcing order at the ranks, and removing any person unnecessarily loitering there.

All orders and regulations as above are advertised in the London Gazette."

This paragraph was taken directly from the Abstract Of Laws and is categorical proof that TfL have a duty to enforce the removal of the Touts on any Licensed Taxi rank.

Its also amazing that in the current climate of a security code red, the Met police allow these vehicles to treble park outside such a prestigious address, especially in the wake of the two car bombs, disguised as minicabs, left in the West End in 2007.

Westminster No Better!

With the most up to date, HD CCTV cameras situated in the Haymarket, Westminster still refuse to issue PCN's to the Touts that infest the 24 hour bus lane, 24 hour Bus stand and the night time Licensed taxi rank outside Tiger Tiger. TfL enforcement officers have in the past also refused to evict these touts from our rank! (because they were told by the touts it was legal for them to be there) Click here to see achieved post.

The CCTV cameras in Charing cross road are NEVER used to ticket the touts using the bus stand and license taxi rank.

The Bus Stand outside the Cafe d'Paris is also a free minicab rank at night.

More worryingly, Westminster have informed the public at large that parking restrictions in the West End will be enforced till midnight, but the touts that congregate in large numbers around Soho have been informed that they can use loading bays and single and double yellow lines as unofficial minicab ranks at night. We have been informed by a whistle-blower at City Hall that Westminster has an eye of a permit scheme to allow minicabs to use parts of the borough for marshaled Private Hire ranks in the very near future.

Using HD CCTV, WPS target Licensed Taxis, allowing them just two minutes to pick up or drop off passengers, irrespective that a fare may be payed on a clumsy credit card machine which then needs to be confirmed by GPS signal.

How many times in a shift do you have to sit there while a passenger searches every crevice of every pocket to find an illusive 20p coin to save braking into another note?

Or a groups of young girls trying to split the fare five ways and then all searching around for the exact coinage. I was once asked to change five £5 notes in to pound coins (25 pound coins) so the 5 students could give me £2 each. Just my argument that a was not a banking service took more than 2 minutes to explain!

As you will know by now, the instances of serious sexual assault and rape rose by a dramatic 54% last year. The Mayor has agreed to fund a 4 man enforcement team to operate in the West End at night to deal with the problem of unbooked minicabs. These new officers are currently in training and will not be operational till nearer Christmas.

The Mayor has also sanctioned a 30 man team to deal with stolen bicycles, so its obvious where his priorities lie. Its time the Mayor and his aids stopped jollying about and took the safety of the traveling public at night more seriously.