A Word from TRAVIS B.

Well 'Uncle Tom Cobley an All', So the purpose of all this was?
Are John Mason & TOCU NOT AWARE of the touts?

The cab trade and TtT have sent them enough evidence.

Apart from letting people know they are still alive, why were the LTDA and UNITE in attendance? REMEMBER Folks It is THEY who walked through the legislation that led to satellite offices in the first place, now they expect you to believe they are concerned (who for?).
The LCDC are after financial support for the well meaning 'minders' scheme. How many do we need (100's?) and how long is it needed (for ever?). So even in the medium term little more than a flea bite at the issue.

What is needed is continual pressure on the authorities to do the duty we pay them to do. ENFORCE THE LAW!
REINSTATE THE NEED FOR PLANNING PERMISSION OR EVEN BETTER BAN SATELLITE OFFICES (why are they needed as the phone/web is the way you pre-book things?)

All the while they are inside and we are outside we will get shafted,

End of story

Video By TtT

Movida rank finally up and running... By Thomas the Taxi

Cant help thinking I've seen this Photo before on huge billboards all over England. Oh yeah, Labour isn't working, the famous Saatchi and Saatchi Poster.

The Likely Lads are taken on a tour, to see three of the new taxi ranks.

photo by TtT

In a bid to quell the escalating calls for direct action, currently reaching boiling point, amongst the disgruntled, hard-working Licensed Taxi drivers of London,and after many years of inaction from our supposed trade leaders, we find we have a new night rank. The powers that be have thrown us a crumb to keep us quiet.

Although Nobu has been a huge success , ranks have been implemented of late that are badly placed (Babble, Mahiki, Abacus) with the cabs facing away from the exit,plus we have the Jalouse rank finishing an hour before the club closes. This is surprising, as Westminster City Council commissioned a survey that told them Taxis should be placed right outside the exit of venues,as customers will normally use the first available transport they see when leaving, including unlicensed touts. It is imperative that they should be able to see for hire signs to realise there is a rank with vacant Taxis waiting to take them home in safety.

The trade has been crying out for a rank on this site for many years, finally it has been marked out. When oh when is Tiger Tiger going to be marked out properly?

I decided to have a look at the new rank and to my surprise; John Mason, Martin Low, Joe Royle, Peter Rose, Grant Davis and Bob Oddy were standing by the point of the rank after a visit to Nobu where the doorman had told John Mason where to go.

Peter Rose was the first to break rank and came forward to greet me, shaking my hand. As I had a few questions, I said hello to Bob Oddy who turned to his colleagues and asked who I was. When he was told, he quickly retreated into the shadow of the night muttering and gesturing. Strange behaviour from my representative on the board of TfL. So I decided to say hello to Martin Low, who in the past has refused to see me in an official capacity. I thanked him for replying to my last email albeit the same reply he sent to every other driver, but I think he thought I was being sarcastic, judging by his expression.

The disappointing fact of this meeting was that although there seemed to be at least three warrant card holders alongside Chief Superintendent Royle, no one took a blind bit of notice of the illegally ranked touts surrounding our ranks. One tout got a ticking off for driving the wrong way down Little Argyll Street. Apparently he then assaulted the officer and was chased to Poland Street where he was arrested. One Hit and you're out?

Tout ticked off by plain clothed policemen

Photo by Steve

The delegation then moved on to Tiger Tiger.

Well better late than never I say and I have heard tonight that we will soon be getting another new rank for 3 cabs outside Cipriani's and one in Shaftsbury Avenue just west of Wardour Street.

The Anderson Shelter put forward an idea over two years ago, that the only way to combat the illegal lines of PHV's nicking our work, is to have official ranks outside the exit of every club, bar and restaurant in the West End.

It seems at long last someone is finally listening to sensible suggestions.

As Kevin Costner found out in the hit film Field of Dreams, "Build it and they will come".

Put the ranks there and we will use them.

Now watch the aggressive

way the Nobu doorman speaks to John Mason and Martin Low

Taken from the LCDC Web blog.

Shame to hear the LTDA people carrier got a parking ticket while Bob and co stood outside Nobu's, still his mate Martin was heard to say he would take care of that for him. Mind you, as it was illegally parked on double yellow lines, can you legally do that Martin?

The Anderson Shelter...Always first with the news that counts TtT.

Guest spot of the Week- Undercover taxi Driver Simco

This is Abacus at midnight last night. Scabs ranking on both side of the road.

There were 3 regular touts outside touting. I was there 3 times on my own. Lots of cabs passing by and looking but not aware to stop and join my rank.
What did the raid by Police, PCO etc.. achieved there?

This was the scene when we arrived at Abacus at 12.30am. outside the door were 8 touts including woman tout that knows a lot on about human rights as in my video.
I was about 10th and got off in 20 minutes when the Club burst just before 01.00am.
Few touts gave up and left and there was no space for new touts seen arriving.

I took a young manager going to work at Central (The End, AKA) Names keep changing.
He told me that they have 2 minicab companies working from the club and that they have parking problem. They get ticketed in Museum St.
See photo above.
There is a crappy minicab office on the corner. What a mess - as licensed by PCO.

Taken from the LTDF Taxi Forum....First with the real NEWS.

John Mason changes his statement......By Thomas the Taxi

Click on images to enlarge

It seems that 05/10 has been scraped by Mr Mason and is to be replaced by 06/10.

He said that with hindsight the wording of the notice could have been better and confirms that he is still willing to meet with the RMT on an informal basis.

Darren Johnson AM Brands London Taxi Drivers as Killers.... By Thomas the Taxi.

Some people just don't learn. Just months after upsetting almost every Licensed Taxi Driver in London, by advertising for an "illegal" minicab tout to pick him up form the City Hall Christmas Party, Darren Johnson, leader of the Green Party on the London Assembly has again upset the whole taxi trade by branding then Killers.

Darren made the remark when answering a "Tweet" from respected journalist and trade leader, Peter Rose of the Unite union. Surely by now, someone should have a word with Darren about his behaviour on Twitter.

Darren was referring to a type of particle given out in exhaust fumes by heavy oil diesel engines.

This is something that the trade has no control over and at present the government has made no representation to the makers of London's taxis to change these current engines. As a trade we have done everything in our power to comply with European standards and the latest TX4 type taxis have cleaner engines than most cars. Darren has made no comment about buses or emergency vehicles that use similar engines, his tirade was aimed solely at the London Taxi Trade he seems to have contempt for.

Click to enlarge image.

This is a sample of the Tweets he received back last night. Lets hope Darren receives a lesson in diplomacy soon. Or we could see every Taxi driver in London turning up at city Hall calling for his dismissal. TtT.

Smiths, Let the battle commence....By Givati

Those that know me know I am a relatively new driver compared to some of the hard working guys on the forum and up to now I have enjoyed every minute. But last night was different.

I put on the miniscab rank at Smiths (I do this often, Ranking up behind the scum on that bit of rank that is left).

I put on 5 times on the first three occasions I got nice jobs, 1 to Putney, 1 to Stratford and 1 to Holland Park) the fourth job was to Kings Cross which was fine as I like to take any job off of there but I noticed that the CBJ or marshal or what ever he is indicated to the punter that he should get in my cab.

I asked the passenger what was going on and he told me that the CBJ had told him he must take a black cab on such a short journey as PHV charge a minimum of £25 as they are trained to only do long journeys.

When we got to the Cross (MacDonald’s York Way) there was £7.60 on the clock. He gave me £5 and got out I stopped him and pointed to the meter and he told me that he was told that it is a fixed fare of £5 to Kings Cross in a black taxi. He was enraged and gave me another £5 said keep the change and said he will be making a formal complaint to the club.

I went straight back to Fabric and put on at the front of the scab rank and then it kicked off.

I was verbally abused (those on twitter can see my tweets), I had scum bang on my cab, people trying to get in the cab where prevented and hustled away.

I was determined to stand my ground but out of no where came a parking enforcement car and moved me on whilst leaving at least 20 scum bag cars doubled parked on double yellows etc.

This was a really scary moment, I was intimidated and bullied by a pack of savages and the local public servants (parking enforcement) allowed them and even helped them to do this.

As I drove off I felt something thud against the cab but I was too shaken to get out and look.

Can I thank the few cabs that stopped to see if I was OK?

These ‘people’ behaved like Nazis, They treaded me as an enemy and not as someone who was going about his lawful business.

It seems that the enforcement bodies are on their side and do nothing when our members are attached, spat at or verbally abused. They have been given the freedom to do what they want and no one is going to stop them.

This is what London has become in 2010. It is down to us to stop this and we need political support.

I cal upon the RMT to help us in clearing the streets of London of this filthy.

The time for talk has stopped and we need action.

We need a public enquiry now into the PCO

We need direct action so that the people of London know what is going on and what the future of this city will look like if nothing is done.

We have amazing power. We could snarl the traffic of London for days or weeks on end with very few cabs driving up and down the main bridges very slowly.

If nothing is done then we will lose and when we have lost, the people of London will wake up and say we need to do something but it will be too late.

The only night I work is Saturday and I will be back on that rank next week

Taken from the LTDF Taxi Forum

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

I feel I should air here my incident at Fabrics. On 28 July '09 (before I was on the Forum) I parked at Rank at Fabric. Almost immediately bouncer put metal barrier in front of my taxi almost touching it. I moved the barrier back to the pavement, but not before getting abused by touts and bouncer and I think CBJ.
I got back into taxi and sat there about 1 minute when couple of people run towards my taxi from the front carrying refuse bags. As they were running past me they threw the bags at my taxi. One of the bags was full of bottles and did damage to my bonnet and smashed my windscreen. When I cleared bottles and rubbish from my taxi I saw them smirking and some said not to come back.
Went to Snow Hill Police Station where I gave my statement and a policeman examined damage to my cab. As usual I was told that my statement will be dealt by Islington Met Police as the boundary between City and Met is in the middle of the road and City Police can't do anything! I had not heard from them except for crime number.
I had new windscreen fitted (£75 excess), 3 days loss of work. and estimate from garage for bonnet (£500 not yet repaired)
Yet again PCO licenses criminals and honest taxi drivers and passengers have to deal with consequences.

Comment from Simco (LTDF)

Below Simco attacked at Abacus.

Barrier proving to be a hurdle at Tiger Tiger...by Thomas the Taxi.

In the early hours of this morning two young females were knocked over and injured against the steel barriers being erected by the door staff of Tiger Tiger, to stop customers using licensed taxis off the licensed taxi rank, in the Haymarket.

One young lady was knock unconscious as an affray broke out, then was man handled by door staff into an illegally parked PHV who had been touting outside the southern exit to the restaurant. Head injuries are serious and this young lady should have received treatment from a paramedic not bundled into a waiting minicab.

Just minutes later a second young female was knocked against the fence when an argument broke out on the forecourt of the club. The second female was given first aid by one of Tiger Tigers staff carrying a green first aid box, but again no proper medical advice or treatment was given at the scene.

This steel barrier is dangerous and should be dismantled. The safety of the customers using this establishment is paramount. Westminster City Council must act soon before more people are injured.

Photos by Steve

QUESTION:

WHY HAS SUCH A LARGE SPACE BEEN LEFT IN FRONT OF THE NEW RANK AT MOVIDA?

Some time ago Westminster City Council carried out a survey that showed categorically that most night club and restaurant customers will take the first means of transport they see when leaving a venue. This is why it is so important that Taxi ranks are place right outside the exit of these clubs, bars and restaurants. We know it, the council know it and the joint ranks committee know it.

So why are we seeing new ranks placed so far away from the exit with spaces in front of our ranks for touts to operate. Perhaps one of the joint ranks committee members or a member of the council would like to leave a comment on this post and explain why! TtT

The News We've All Been Expecting?....By Thomas the Taxi

Well, now we know where we stand and just what John mason thinks of a dedicated Transport Union.

After a full year of the Unite trade Group, the amounts of serious sexual assaults including rape in London, have gone up from 8 to 10 a month.

The main cause of this problem, Satellite booking offices and the lines of illegally ranked, touting mini cabs, has not been address by the representatives who negotiate on our behalf.

Last night, going on the average in London, two women were the victims of serious sexual assaulted and one was raped.

While John Mason, Martin Low, Bob Oddy and Joe Royal slept safely at home in Bed.

Mark White replies to Martin Lows Email.

Thank you for your quick response to the Anderson Shelter Martin, I appreciate it as I'm sure that you are a busy man.

I also appreciate that you have been talking to Bob Oddy and the LTDA for 7 years now; but that kind of begs the question as to why there was a Mini Cab rank put in Whitcomb street in the run up to Christmas 2008 that the Taxi trade claimed to know nothing about. Are you saying that Bob Oddy knew full well what your proposals were regarding this as I know full well that Grant Davis did not? It was only after the editor of the Anderson Shelter informed me of the planned proposition that I informed Grant and the LCDC.

If that is what you are saying, it would seem rather disingenuous for the LTDA to take part in the demonstration that took place on February the 5th in 2009? Thousands of ordinary London Taxi drivers decided "Enough was enough!" and took to the streets yet you are saying that you and 'your partners' were discussing the problems at that time......so what went wrong? Why did thousands of ordinary sole traders in your borough descend on Trafalgar square on that day???

Bob Oddy sits on the Board of TfL and says nothing; it seems that he says nothing to you and your partners as well.

Martin, you do not have to explain to me how easy it is to get Touted on the streets of London. I have been trying to get someone to do something for almost as long as I have been driving a Taxi. In the '90's I took my old MP, Harry Greenway to Ealing Broadway Station to show him the situation. Harry insisted on walking alone to the forecourt which was not recommended at night. Within yards of starting his approach he was touted. I have shown Steve Norris the same situation all over the West End. When Private hire was licensed we were told that this would no longer happen! It still does and now it's worse than ever!!! We now have different tiers of touting. There are Private Hire (aka Mini Cabs) illegally ranked and touting outside all venues all over London. There are touts that are Licensed Private hire and those who are unlicensed just as we had before. I believe in New York they are caled "Scalpers" or 'Gypsies'!!?

"Steve Norris attended one of these night time visits when we had a helpful briefing at Charing Cross Police Station and then went around the West End to see conditions. We were both approached by touts outside Mahiki in Dover Street at the end of our visit on Friday 8 May 2009 and in the early hours of Saturday 9 May 2009 at about 2:30 am. The touts also made the mistake of touting Jeroen Weimar who took some action on the spot."

I must say that I am amazed that Steve Norris felt the need to see for himself what has gone on since I took him around with the other Members of the LCDC but I'm glad to see that you had a helpful briefing from the Police at Charing Cross. I have spoken to one Officer there who was extremely helpful, Sgt Rob Nanasi; however, his colleague who is responsible for the section in the Haymarket has let it be known that Mini Cab touting is a low priority and has not even bothered to return any of my calls to even discuss the situation despite repeated requests. In the meantime I have made contact with the ordinary coppers on the beat and through them put in touch with members of the hierarchy at TOCU.

As for Jeroen Weimar, both he and Ed Thompson are responsible for the 'carnage' that goes on each night....if he toook some action in his Office he would not be dragged out at all hours to see what is wrong in the first place. Having said that what difference has his on the spot action made???

With the greatest respect, it was the action of Taxi drivers at "Tiger,Tiger" back in August that brought matters to a head not the actions of you or your partners....it was not your 'partners' who stood in the hours of a late friday night/early saturday morning making sure that vulnerable people did not get touted in the Haymarket.....it was me, armed with a digital camera! My colleagues and I cannot afford to do this every night that is why Grant Davis felt it necessary to employ Professional Security Guards at the same venue!

If your "Golden Fares" scheme is to succeed then you will need to address these issues or it will fall flat. Taxi drivers will not be able to access the rank and Passengers will not wait! I have already identified one illegal rank of Private Hire outside O'Neills in wradour street that will directly affect your scheme by causing Congestion in the area. I will take another look over the next few days and see what 'improvements' have been made.

Regards,

Mark White.

Westminster's Martin Low and a truthful account of what the City Council and their partners are doing.

Dear Thomas the Taxi.

I have received emails from you and other individuals who are members of the RMT, which repeat concerns already raised through the three bodies representing licensed taxi drivers who are recognised by Transport for London: Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association (LTDA), London Cab Drivers Club and Unite.

The City Council, Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police, Transport Operational Command Unit (TOCU) has been addressing the concerns raised about unlicensed private hire drivers operating outside night clubs in the City of Westminster and neighbouring Boroughs with Steve Wright (Chairman Licensed Private Hire Car Association), Bob Oddy (General Secretary Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association), Grant Davis (Chairman London Cab Drivers Club) and Peter Bond (Unite).

I am the City Council's Chief Officer with responsibility for the Council's roles as highway authority, traffic authority and street works authority, so I have been coordinating our response to these problems.

The City Council has waged war on touts operating in the City of Westminster for many years and worked with several agencies on Safer Travel At Night campaigns and joint enforcement action.

I have changed the parking controls at several locations in the City of Westminster including two particular hot spots in Berkeley Street by Nobu near its junction with Stratton Street and Funky Buddha (changes made to introduce an additional taxi rank on 5 November 2009) and in Haymarket by Tiger Tiger (changes made to protect the night time taxi rank on 14 February 2010) as well as at several others.

You may have seen previous editions of TAXI that announced these changes that would be made through the traffic order making process.‬

We are making a lot of progress through changes to the parking controls at various sites around the West End and the joint actions being taken by TfL and the Metropolitan Police with helpful input from the taxi trade.‬

Berkeley Street has been transformed from the conditions that Bob Oddy and others showed me back in May 2009 when I saw three rows of vehicles parked southbound by Nobu and Funky Budha. The front page of TAXI (edition dated 17 November 2009) reported the positive changes.‬

Bob Oddy, Grant Davis and Peter Bond are doing a great job representing the licensed taxi drivers and coming forward with constructive suggestions for other locations. It's a shame that you do not belong to one of these groups as they are partly responsible for the many positive changes developed with them to benefit all taxi drivers.

Kevin Goad hopes to get the necessary consents from the Vehicle Certification Agency for our CCTV enforcement camera system very soon, so that we can use CCTV enforcement for the enforcement of the parking controls. That will remove the cat and mouse game when touts or licensed private hire drivers contravene the parking controls and I would expect to see much greater compliance when we have use of the CCTV cameras again. Kevin Goad is already reviewing the deployment of CCTV cameras, as we prefer to use them at locations with poor compliance.

I remain concerned about the safety of the civil enforcement officers and the dangers that they face when dealing with drunk, violent and abusive people.

I am going out again to see conditions for myself later this month, so there is no need to send me or others any more pictures or emails unless it is raising new issues.

The City Council will continue to help licensed taxi drivers in appropriate ways and our record demonstrates that we deliver on our promises.‬

I am really pleased that the TfL Board agreed earlier this month to make the necessary legal changes to allow the "Golden Fares" trial that is another initiative that I put forward about a year ago with support from Bob Oddy.

The fixed fares scheme due to be introduced in mid April 2010 will benefit passengers and licensed taxi drivers picking up fares by Leicester Square (Mark White has probably already showed you the plan that I sent him yesterday).

I was very pleased with the reaction that it got when mentioned recently on LBC. The taxi driver gets paid the fare before leaving Leicester Square and the passenger knows how much he or she will be paying, so everyone is a winner. ‬

I am copying this reply to those who have been involved as they may want to add to the contents of this email, rather than wait to read an edited version on the Anderson Shelter.

I have already sent Mark White a copy of the report considered by the TfL Board on fixed fares from Leicester Square (see section 7 on page 4 and Appendix 4) and no doubt you already have a copy of it.

I see no value in holding separate meetings with RMT unless you become recognised by TfL as a representative body for licensed taxi drivers and start raising new issues.

Martin Low
City Commissioner of Transportation

Police probe parking 'fraud' at Westminster Council

Police have begun an investigation into allegations of fraud against two senior officers at Westminster Council.

The case concerns the awarding of a multimillion-pound parking enforcement contract to private firm NSL Services.

A Met spokesman said: "We can confirm we have received an allegation of fraud. The allegation is being looked at and we are unable to discuss it."

A spokeswoman for Westminster Council in central London said the allegations were unfounded.

European Union law says that contracts worth more than £156,442 must be opened to tender to any interested company and advertised in the EU's official journal.

Westminster's parking contract is worth about £13m a year.

It was previously being carried out by private parking firm NCP.

Full story click here

Find out who is behind the investigation? Click here

We asked Kevin Goad for a statement on what action is being taken over this incident with the no co operative traffic warden.

Mr Goad said;

Mr Thomas

Can I first correct you by advising that I am not a councillor, but an officer of the council.

With regard to your email, given the numerous exchanges on this matter with various officers at both Westminster and TfL I do not intend to add anything further other than to confirm that I am working with those officers to address the concerns that you and others have raised.

Regarding the actions of our wardens, this has been raised formally with the contractor who is responsible for on street enforcement to ensure that wardens are reminded to take enforcement action; ask drivers to move on, issue a penalty charge notice, where it is appropriate and safe to do so.

Kevin Goad

Kevin Goad

Joint Head of Commissioning, City Management.

Well sorry Mr Goad our date base had you down as councillor for Hanover Square Ward, we didn't realise you had lost your seat. TtT.

Fenced in at Tiger Tiger.....By Thomas the Taxi

Tiger Tiger have now started to erect barriers to corral leaving guests up Shavers Place away from the Licensed Taxi rank in the Haymarket. In our opinion this action breaches the Health and Safety act and also Fire Regulations, plus they are stopping right of way which is one of the oldest laws of the land and goes back to "Magna Carta" Libertatum (the Great Charter of Freedoms).

In the event of a major fire or public disturbance, people fleeing this venue will be trapped and as we have seen many times before in the past this action could lead to injury and even fatalities. It's no good trying to reason with the door staff as they make it quite clear they are no friends of the cab trade and have an agenda to direct customers to waiting touts.

LTDA looks after their members interest....By Jason Byrne

The LTDA who supposedly, look after the interest of its members have run a full page add in the latest edition of "Taxi", informing their valued members that they can get an injection of cash from this company. All they have to do is hand over their log book to the company as security on this loan and sign on the dotted line. How simple is that.

But how simple do they think their members are. Read the small print the APR for this loan is a massive 378%, what a bargain. So if you borrowed say £2,000 to help with you tax bill and paid it back over 24 months you would have to find a staggering £15,120. A BARGAIN????

And if you cant pay them back, no worry, they just keep your cab. Nice one Bob.

With friends like the LTDA looking after you interest, who needs enemies?

Some people will print anything for money!

NEWS FLASH....By Thomas the Taxi.

NEWS FLASH

DSA not allowing PRIUS to be to be used for driving tests.

Over to you John Mason?

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

Caught bang to rights, its the real thing.....By Thomas the Toutbuster.

Monday morning 2am 15th of February, St Valentines day party still in full swing at the Pepsi Club, Haymarket, corner with Orange Street.

Outside on the Pavement contra to PCO and TFL directives stands the Clipboard man in a "High Vis" jacket. A walking advert for Licensed Cars, which constitutes touting by advertising and offering this service on the pavement outside the venue. See video below.

John Mason said he would not tolerate this behaviour and any satellite office found to be doing this would suffer a one strike and your'e out policy.

Sounds too good to be true!... It is.

All over the West End and City, even after receiving a letter to cease and desist they have taken no notice of the new head of the PCO. If chief superintendent Joe Royle, head of the TOCU squad, cant deal with this problem and publicly stated that these set ups were unenforceable, what chance does a civilian (who up to now has done absolutely nothing other than talk) have?

Where are these one strike and your'e out cases John?

Westminster Councils Transport Manager Martin Low and Councillor Kevin Goad.

You have victimised Licensed Taxi drivers for years in a bid to plug holes in the councils budget deficit why?

Simple, because you know that as law abiding citizens we will pay up. While to get the money from PHV drivers, its a nightmare chase involving vehicle substitution, name and address changes and in some cases they just go home to where ever they first come from when the fines rack up to high.

You both have shown bias towards illegally touting PHV's which include sexual predators amongst their numbers.

With serious sexual assaults including rapes currently running at 8-10 a month, you say you act only in the interest of safety for the travelling public and yet you let these PHV vehicles park unhindered outside every club, bar and night time venue, causing traffic congestion and worst of all fire safety hazards. You really should hang your head in shame. In my opinion you have both been a disgrace to the office you hold.

The Brit Awards 2010 at Earls Court

The Brit Awards 2010 at Earls Court are being held on Tuesday 16th Feb.

They have requested the services of the London Taxi trade between the hours of 22:15 - 02:30.

Last year there were approx 500 Taxi fares from this event.

Let's give this event a great service, and show them that the London Taxi trade is the only service to use.

If you normally go home before these hours, please try and stay out a bit longer, and help the survival of the London Taxi trade.

Thank you.

Beware! don't click on LCDC site until virus fixed

Its has come to our attention that the website for the LCDC has come under sttack from a computer virus. Please do not visit this site until this bug has been fixed, especialy if your anti virus software is out of date.

Scavenging Touts at Abacus.

Message from the LTDF taxi forum;

You may have already heard that one of our colleagues was assaulted outside Abacus in Cornhill by a minicab tout in the early hours of Friday 5th Feb. I am sure that we all agree that this attack is a step too far.

Many drivers have been involved in the ‘Take the Work Back’ campaigns at Zuma & Nobu. Although we all know the touting continues inside these premises, on the whole, our efforts have made a big difference to the amount of quality work we are getting from there.

We are now proposing that the Licensed Taxi trade pay particular attention to Abacus. This is to show the touts that operate here that an assault on a Taxi driver going about his legal business is way beyond acceptable.

The time has come to stop the public being harassed & intimidated in Cornhill and ensure that they always have a choice when leaving Abacus; either hire a trained, CRB checked driver with a purpose built vehicle and a meter or hire a Sat-Nav merchant who will charge what ever he get away with.

We think it is important to stress that all we are proposing is to ensure the public have an opportunity to take a Licensed Taxi for their journey home from Abacus.

Why not try calling in there in the near future? Even if it looks busy please consider hanging up for a few minutes to increase our presence. Punters will never use a tout before us if they have a choice. If the customers know there will be a Licensed Taxi outside when they leave they will not be tempted to use either the Abacus “car service” inside or the increasingly aggressive touts outside.

We know, in the short term, it may costs us all a couple of quid. However in the long term, given we will take the work back from here, there is everything to gain for both us and the public.

Whether you are on a rank, twittering or perhaps on a DaC terminal, please let as many other drivers know about the assault and this proposal.

It is obvious that the authorities don't have the will, resources or the powers to sort this problem out. The simple option for us is to give in and allow the touts to continue to believe that this is their work. Alternatively we can stand together and take our work back from people who have no respect for the law or the history and tradition of our trade.

If you are coming back from a job in the east then look in at Abacus. If you see a line of Taxis ranking outside, please join the queue. There will also be regular organised 'hits' in the near future, so watch this space. Alternatively check out details on the Forum.
We look forward to seeing you in Cornhill in the very near future

Be Lucky LTDF

We believe the success at Nobu and Zuma has been due to the professionalism of the drivers putting on there. Please continue this tried and tested formula and always remember to protect yourself and your badge.

Don’t get out of your taxi or get involved in any verbals with the touts, we all know that they have little to lose.
Be fully aware of the devious tactics they will use to protect their "rights".
Remember that if you are asked to move on by either an Enforcement Officer or the Police then please do so (drive round the block) immediately.

A City of London Policeman recently told me that they are sick of these touts but are powerless to do anything about it, so let's do something about it ourselves, please put on there and starve them out.

Reproduced on behalf of the LTDF. Photo by TaG.

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

New Electric Vito, is it the answer to London's Problems,

Or Just another white elephant?

Click here for article.

Four Cab Ranks, Three Bouncers and a Rickshaw...By John Kennedy

One year on after that massive taxi trade demonstration on the 5th of Feb 2009 and the London taxi trade has four cab ranks, three bouncers and another rickshaw bill to show for its effort.

Yes Mark Field MP for City of Westminster has introduced a private members bill to regulate and control rickshaws within the capital. Don't worry the RMT is on the case and we've already made contact with Mark Field MP and looking forward to recieving a copy of the draft bill when he makes it available on the parliamentary website. If you pick up any taxi trade publication you'll notice that this doesn't even get a mention, honestly you couldn't make it up! It just goes to show that some within our trade are so concerned at the creation of the RMT London taxi branch that they don't even seem to have a look at what is going on within the corridors of power (wakey wakey).

In the latest edition of one trade paper a senior member of this friendly society questions why members of the taxi branch attended a rally at parliament recently in support of the call for a safer rail network and no job cuts. Well maybe this individual has forgotten what it is like to drive a taxi-cab, maybe he and others need to understand that self employed taxi-cab drivers need a safe and secure rail network to provide us with work at the many train stations that terminate here in London. Yes trains bring us custom something you'd think fellow or ex taxi-cab drivers would understand especially considering this friendly society happens to marshall the Paddington taxi share scheme. This is though the same friendly society along with the taxi branch of the trade union Unite that thinks it's a good idea to give rickshaws/pedicabs bays/ranks on the public highway, so maybe this explains a lot?

On the bouncer front what can one say except this really does make Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police look rather silly for it seems they have very little influence or control over the streets and ranks of London at night.

Here though at the RMT London taxi branch we shall continue the hardwork and get on with representing you the self employed taxi-cab so if you wish to join the most democraic trade union in the UK please click on the linkhttp://www.rmt.org.uk/ and fill out the application form and join the only trade union that gives you a voice on the rank, the PCO, City Hall and the corridors of power at Parliament.

PS Just in case you were wondering what would members of the taxi branch do if the underground or the trains were to strike, well the answer is simple we go to work for secondary action is illegal under trade union legislation.

From the RMT London Taxi Branch blog

Its not just the Prius that's faulty, more models hit the news.

If your Car/Cab is faulty, you shouldn't drive it!
TOYOTA bosses are sweating over a massive recall of their cars. The firm need to bring in millions of cars worldwide, including 180,000 in Britain, amid fears accelerator pedals are sticking. They may also recall Prius hybrid models over braking issues. But the lawyer dubbed Mr Loophole - who has successfully defended a string of celebrities against driving charges - warns owners with affected models should not drive them ANYWHERE. Here, Nick Freeman explains why you could be the person facing charges in the event of a crash - even if it happens while you are driving for repairs at a Toyota garage.


Read More, Click Here
With thanks to Les.

The article shows just how serious this story really is.
Why are the Licensing authorities so worried about upsetting major players in the private hire industry. They didn't even blink about pulling 2000 TX4's off the road.
John Mason speaks of 74 effected Prius used as PHV's, Brian Rice Chairman of Dial-a-Cab, speaks of hundreds in just one company.
We don't need any more spin, just the honest truth!
Read what John Mason had to say about these problems click here
This release mentions only the sticky accelerator and was issued before the breaking system issue hit the headlines.
It seems that the PCO is now failing to insure that the travelling public can expect a safe vehicle when they book a license Private hire vehicle. This is the first crisis Mr Mason has had to face as head of the PCO and in the eyes of the Licensed taxi trade, he has badly let down PHV customers and the trust they have placed in his office.


Stop Press. Now its Honda as well.
Honda are to recall 500,000 cars with faulty air bags after death of motorist.
Honda says its identified 12 cases where air bags have over inflated and burst, scattering fragments of metal throughout the vehicle and in one case the malfunction proved fatal.

And Now Peugeot Citroen recalls thousands of vehicles

Peugeot Citroen, Europe's second biggest carmaker, has announced it is recalling thousands of cars made in Europe.The Peugeot 107s and Citroen C1s affected were made at a Czech plant which is a joint venture with Toyota. The Japanese car giant has already recalled millions of cars worldwide with faulty pedals.

See BBC report click here