Griffin, Above the Law?.....By Thomas the Taxi.

Photo by the Caretaker

Back in 1998 when the Private hire act was passed, we were been told by the PCO/TfL, that certain Laws regulations and guild lines would be enforced to protect the Licensed Taxi trade from the onslaught on unscrupulous Private Hire operators.

In fact, the main reason Ken Livingston fought so hard to get mini cabs licensed, was to stop touting, by making the drivers and operators answerable by law which he thought would also bring down the escalating amount of sexual assaults on passengers picked up illegally outside clubs and bars late at night.

The licensing of the Private hire trade has fail miserably to alleviate these issues.

So, in respect of the Private hire act 1998, why has one man, one operator, been allowed by the PCO to break so many conditions, of the terms of his PCO issued license?

John Griffin's Addison Lee was the first mini cab operator to set up satellite offices (The Hippodrome and Stringfellows to name but two) before it was legally possible to acquire a license to do so.

His drivers were the first to use the Royal Parks and continued to do so even after a High Court judgement banned them from doing this.

His vehicles were the first to carry identifying livery which he had to remove after complaints were voiced by the Licensed Taxi trade.

When the regulation was changed, his vans carried livery that did not conform with the regulations. His vehicles also had their factory fitted rear wash/wipe arm removed.

The licensed Taxi trade complained on mass and was told by a PCO licensing compliance officer that in fact the conditions of fitness appertaining to Private Hire Vehicles was not a set of laws but a list of guild lines.

Addison Lee was told to replace the wash/wipe arm but arrogantly took the best part of a whole year to comply with this request. All the time this was going on, Taxi drivers were having stops put on their taxis for not having the ashtray fitted in a vehicle that neither driver nor passengers could legally smoke in!

Next John Griffin sends his drivers a letter ordering them to commit the criminal offence of driving in the M4 bus lane (putting both driver and passengers in danger and invalidating the terms of their insurance). Griffin was also filmed by the BBC in one of his vehicles ordering the driver to enter the bus lane.

The PCO have taken no action against this man over this serious breach of conduct.

Griffins drivers now believe they are above the law and routinely park on licensed taxi ranks. Thousands of photos of his vans illegally parked on Taxi ranks have been sent to the Public Carriage office complaints department, so far no action has being taken by the PCO to stop this.

Some time ago Griffin applied to the PCO for a license to run a "Taxi Bike" service. While his request was (and still is) being considered, his fleet of motor bikes have been issued with a temporary PHV license to operate under private hire regulations.

Not satisfied with this Griffin has plastered a bastardised version of the word Taxi on his two wheeled mini-cabs, calling them TAXY BIKES

Addison Lee also pay Google, the Internet search engine, to have their adverts at the top of the search list when potential passengers enter the words; London Taxi, Airport Taxi or just Taxi.

By paying for this service it is deemed that they are advertising their services as Taxis.

Griffin was heard to describe his mini cab firm as a "Taxi Empire with 2,500 Taxis" on the TV program secret millionaire.

How much more is the PCO going to let this man get away with?

What next, a fleet of TX4's with Addison Lee plastered all over the bodywork?

For-Hire lights?

Their own Addison lee ranks?

The PCO have shown time and time again that they are not fit for purpose as licensing authority for private hire. They constantly fail to enforce the law and bend over backwards to accommodate, dodgy back street mini cab offices. They have done little to clear up the hoards of illegally operating Clipboard Johnnies and it is time that the Department of Transport stepped in. The enforcement arm of the PCO, the so called TOCU squad, have done even less and probably should be sent back to walking the beat.

The London Licensed Taxi trade, The best Taxi service in the world deserves better protection than this.

Time for the worm to turn time for action.

The LTDF and the TaG Hit squads have been doing sterling work at night and are making a difference. People leaving late night venues have been delighted to see rows of taxis waiting to take them home after being ripped off for many years by the touts seen outside virtually every bar and restaurant. Follow us on Twitter or get free text updates of hits on clubs from the LTDF Taxi forum.

A message to John Mason

John Mason has given us a tenner back off our license fee.

Is this to compensate for the mess the PCO is in?

Is this supposed to make up for the revenue we've lost under his watch.

Is this supposed to make up for the work being lost every night to dodgy back street operators?

Is this to make up for the doubling of the victims of serious sexual abuse and rape at the hands of sexual predators driving PHVs

Well John it don't! and you can have my tenner back.

Perhaps we should have a mass protest, where every Licensed Taxi Driver in London (approx 25,000) should turn up at the Palestra Building and personally hand back the tenner to Mr Mason.

Abacus security calls Police to remove Taxis... by Simco.

VIDEO of Security complaining to police.

By undercover reporter Simco.

Announced Yesterday on the LCDC Blog, a call by Grant Davis for a mass demonstration.

I will back the demo to the end. How many ‘Enough is Enough’ is enough!
It is every night.
Last night Abacus called security to remove one of LTDF Hit Squad drivers who dared to stop in the vicinity of the Club’s entrance.
Police did come promptly but were not keen to inflate the feelings that were running high.
I spoke to one Officer at lengths and was informed that their knowledge of the law as relating to Taxis or PH is very limited. They would not do anything other than keep the peace.
He said if we could give them some abstracts of the law so they could have something to back them up while dealing with PH (and Taxis).
I can’t believe, Taxi Drivers teaching Police the law?

Crouching Tiger- tout, Leaping tout-buster...a film by Thomas the Taxi.

Setting the record straight.....By Bob Crow.

From Tuesday 27th April 2010.

Thousands of leaflets will be handed out to Licensed Taxi Drivers, at all the major rail station Taxi Ranks.

A personal message from RMT General Secretary Bob Crow, in answer to the months of lies published in the trade media led by LTDA Taxi Magazine.

Below is the content of this message to be given out today.

TtT

The RMT position on London taxis.

Dear colleagues,

recent attacks on the RMT by the taxi trade press are unfounded. I can only put forward the points to you as self employed working cab drivers and finally put to rest any doubts you might have about our policy. I can state categorically that;

• The RMT has no intention of seeking to control hours of London Taxi drivers.
• The RMT has no policy to introduce tachographs into London Taxis.
• The RMT does not admit minicab drivers to membership of the union.
• The RMT has no official dialogue with the GMB Union in respect of taxi matters.
• The RMT does not support satellite offices.
• The RMT has no interest in matters concerning other trade organisation membership numbers.

Anything said in contradiction to the above is untrue.

The RMT will support the London taxi driver in securing the best legal assistance, through branch legal representation. it should be noted that the branch has recently successfully challenged two revocations of driver licenses through representation at Court and at the Public Carriage Office. The RMT has also successfully appealed on behalf of some members penalty Charge Notices and recovered monies after a member had been bilked for a large sum. This is what the RMT can do for you. Think about it!

Be Lucky

Bob Crow

General Secretary.

The RMT London Taxi Branch gives you the London Taxi-cab driver a Voice and a Vote, we have more members attending branch meetings than others can muster for an AGM. We welcome debate and always decide policy in a fair and respectful manner.

Our trade is under threat like never before with illegal ranks of mini-cabs standing outside TFL/PCO approved satellite mini-cab offices. Westminster City Council/TFL attempting to introduce legislation to appoint bays/ranks on the public highway for pedicabs/rickshaws. A complete failure of enforcement of a private hire trade growing out of control and we in the London Taxi trade get £10.00 knocked off the cost of a Taxi plate.

The London Taxi trade is in serious trouble and the RMT specialist transport union has the reach, influence and skill set to deal with the many serious issues affecting you and your trade

Editors comment;

As this site is independent, we will of course give Bob Oddy, Grant Davis and Tony Bond the right of reply.

Perhaps they would like to tell the trade just why they have been spreading lies about ordinary hard-working Taxi Drivers, who wish to have stronger representation.

PCO compliance officer, tells TaG hit squad, "Mini cabs can legally rank outside abacus, but you cant"...by Thomas the Taxi

Warning, contains strong language...

On Friday night just after midnight the drivers of the Twitter action group approached Abacus, 24 Cornhill, EC3, in an impromptu hit that had been casually arranged between a number of drivers on Twitter as the normal Friday night work had started to slow down.

Click on images to enlarge

As the first few drivers started to arrive at the usual waiting area, they were greeted by a PCO compliance officer, who had been inspecting mini cabs that were quite visibly parked and unlawfully ranking outside the club/bar.

He made his way to the group of licensed taxis and inform them that they could not wait outside this venue as they would be forming an unauthorised rank. When asked if he was going to move the minicab touts on he said "no they are working for the PCO licensed satellite office and can legally wait to be hire outside in the street.

When it was pointed out to him that this was not the case and these touts were in fact acting contrary to the terms of their license he said "I beg to differ".

His attitude was one not expected from an officer of the PCO. He obviously did not have a full comprehensive knowledge of the Hackney carriage acts that he was charged with enforcing.

This type of behaviour can no long be tolerated or left to go unchecked. It is giving the Private Hire trade the green light to rank up and tout wherever they please. Complaints will be made about this incident and we will insist to John mason, Joe Royal and David Drown that these officers receive better training in future before they are put out on to the streets.

Before they can enforce the law, they need to know and understand the law.

16 Cars according to the PCO compliance officer are legally waiting to be hired (Ranking).

Apparently, only the two taxis are breaking the law.

London Leads The Way - Not!....By Dizzy.

DRUNKEN revellers or clubbers who don’t have fare money will be stopped from taking taxis home.

A two-month pilot ‘taxi marshal’ service is being launched by Conwy council to make the streets of Llandudno safer at night.

Working on Friday and Saturday nights, the two marshals, in distinctive blue and yellow uniforms, will be checking passengers are in a fit state to travel and they have the right fare.

They will also stop queue-jumping and give vulnerable people priority when a cab is available.

John Donnelly, Conwy’s principal licensing officer, said: “We’re the first authority to look after taxi drivers and customers at the same time in this way.

“If a person is the worse for wear for drink, marshals will ask them to wait on a bench for five or 10 minutes to cool off.

“We think most will calm down, especially if their mates have gone.”

The marshals will be able to direct people to pubs and clubs, public toilets and cash machines for fare money.

The scheme is run in conjunction with North Wales Police and is believed to be the first of its kind in Wales.

Starting next Friday, the two marshals – one a Welsh speaker – will be at the taxi rank on Gloddaeth Street from 9pm to 1am every Friday and Saturday in May, and during the World Cup in June.

They will have Security Industry Authority (SIA) licences and first aid skills.

The marshals will be employed by the firm Door Guard Security.

Allan Cureton, secretary of Llandudno Hackney Carriage Association, welcomed the marshals, who have previously been used at Christmas and bank holiday weekends.

He said they could ‘referee’ problems such two passengers getting into a car from either side simultaneously. But with drunks, he said he simply locks his car doors to deter people likely to be sick or start a fight.


And all we get is 2 useless wastes of space holding up the railings!

The state the trade is in....By Mickey Walker.

Taken With kind permission from the LTDF taxi forum.

Playing devil's advocate, we don't see how much hurt the touts and satellites cause to the rest of PH becuase its invisible whereas the damage to us is very visible. Just take Embargo's for example. How many Addison Lee cars do you see there? Not many in my expeience. Wouldn't you expect to see more there? How many local PH (Private Hire) firms served this area for pre-booked work before it was sold to one supplier in the form of a satellite office? I would suggest that there will be PH firms around Fulham that used to do quite nicely out of Lots Rd and now only get what the drivers can tout off the street.

This is one of the main reasons why satellites and turning a blind eye to touting actually defeats what the authorities are trying to achieve.

As far as enforcement goes, Mr Mason is right when he says what they (PCO) do will never be enough. However, over the last five and a half months they have arrested about 50 licensed touts per week and nearly 300 have been convicted and had their licenses taken away. There have been loads of appeals that have been defended rigorously and largely successfully.

Now I know there will be some that will come straight back and say 50 a week ain't much and complain that not enough were convicted. However, that latter point is to do with the courts and not enforcement and who is going to say that the number of arrests is not a big improvement on the past?

Look at it from enforcement's point of view. They could reasonably think that the more they do the more stick they get so why bother too much.

I think you are wrong when you say that the PCO sees PH as the way to go. They are civil servants and the more drivers they have, the more power they get and so they want to increase both sides. This is still a problem because they have increased PH numbers by around 12.5% in about the last 6-8 months. This will probably tail off as the recession comes to an end but its still possibly the biggest problem to tackle.

It is us that will save or lose our trade, not them. The problem is that the public ultimately decide and at the moment they appear to be favouring PH. So, much so that TfL are committed to considering our welfare before making decisions re the PH mob. I know many willl not believe that but that is what they are committed to do.

However, their job is not to protect us but rather to serve the public. To this end, they are committed to improving the PH service, while leaving us alone as we are already at a more than acceptable standard. This is where things like "the gold standard" come in. Many of us take a one-eyed view of this and assume that this is just a way of TfL giving their PH friends ranks on the street. Objectively, whether we agree or not (and we don't), the purpose is to offer a carrot to PH in order to raise their standard.

As for The Met and when they ran the show, what did they achieve? They would not let me have a cassette player in the cab in case I played adverts for prostitutes to the punters in the back!

So, I had to pay twice as much for half the equipment. Thanks very mucch. When I went for an overhaul, I had to have my chassis painted before repairs so that those mugs could see the paint broken to see screws and bolts had been loosened. I once got tugged for having a dirty cab 30mins after a summer rainstorm following a dry spell. I told the copper to f**k off on that occasion and luckily I got away with it.

Birth was given to the minicab under the auspices of The Met. Then it started to grow uncontrollably while The Met were in charge. All the Home Office and then TfL have done is allow the rot to continue that was started under The Met. At least politicans are answerable to the electorate - The Met aren't.

Anyway, I digress. The truth is that PH will continue to outgrow us because its easier to get a PH license than a cab license and nobody is putting the brakes on them. Whether we like it or not, the standards of PH have increased over time and TfL are committed to continuing that trend. That will probably mean that we will become marginalised over time. It's not reasonable to expect them not to try and improve the quality of the PH service.

Sacrilege now;

We should be joining forces with PH drivers to try to limit PH licenses.

High-tech speed cameras which use satellites to track motorists on secret trial in Britain

Article from the Daily Mail

Speed cameras which communicate with each other by satellite are being secretly tested on British roads.

The hi-tech devices can follow drivers’ progress for miles to calculate whether they have broken speed limits.

Combining number plate recognition technology with global positioning satellites, they can be set up in a network to monitor tens of thousands of cars over huge areas for the smallest breach.

Known as SpeedSpike, the system uses similar methods of recognition as the cameras which enforce the congestion charge in London, and allow two cameras to 'talk' to each other if a vehicle appears to have travelled too far in too short a space of time.

After a covert national trial which has not been publicised until now, just days after a report showed motorists have been fined almost £1billion in speeding tickets under Labour, authorities hope the new cameras will enable them to re-create the system used on motorway contraflows.

The Home Office is currently testing them at two sites - one in Southwark in London and another on the A374 between Antony and Torpoint in Cornwall.

Details of the secret trials emerged in a House of Commons report and immediately attracted criticism.

Conservative MP Geoffrey Cox, whose Devon constituency is close to the Cornish test site, said fundamental questions had to be addressed before such an 'alarming' level of surveillance was extended.

He said: 'You always have to ask if it is really necessary to watch over people, to spy on them and film them.

'We will get to a point where it becomes routine and it should never be a matter of routine that the state spies on its citizens.'

Read more:

More proof of a harmonisation agenda.....by Jason Byrne.

We have known for some time that TfL have an agenda of harmonisation for the Taxi and Private hire industry in London. They have denied this at every opportunity, but the signs are there. This agenda started deep within the administration of the previous mayoral reign and is still being implemented by senior officers in TfL and the PCO covertly.

The so called leaders of our trade have done little or nothing, as measures such as Satellite offices with lines of illegally ranking PHV's have been placed outside every major venue in central London, in a bid to get the public used to using Private Hire in the same way they use Licensed Taxis. Our man on the board of TfL made no objection as safety shields were introduced into mini-cabs making them appear more like licensed taxis.

Addison Lee have taken no notice of the PCO or TfL and continues to use the M4 bus lane (unlawfully) plus they pay Google to have their website at the top of any internet search for words such as; taxi, taxicab, London taxi airport taxi. By Paying Google for this service they are breaking the law, this is advertising the company as a Taxi supplier.

But John Mason and the PCO refuse to take this company on.

The list of license contraventions is endless with this company. They were directed by the High Court not to use royal parks (which they ignored untill quite recently when TfL had the law changed in Addi lees favour!), fitted all their vehicles with illegal signage (which they had to remove until TfL changed the regulations into "Guild Lines") and removed factory fitted rear window wash wipe blades.

What hold has this company over the carriage office?

In a bid to get the trades harmonised within the intended time frame, the PCO/TfL have made a start by giving mini-cabs the new title of CABS. From this day forth Private hire vehicles will no longer be called Mini-cabs or PHV's they will now be called Just Cabs.

Remember, just a while ago, the then head of the PCO Ed Thompson said,

"Where I come from they are all called Just cabs!"

Last night I received a Tweet on Twitter from TfL which stated;

"London's extensive night bus network inc services to and from Heathrow and key rail stations in central London, Taxis & cabs in operation."

Taxis and Cabs, why have TfL dropped the word Mini?

Lets not forget what we already know. By 2012, there will be an introduction of a Gold, Silver and Bronze service, where new mini-cab drivers would start at the bottom as Bronze. They would then progress up the scale in three year leaps and eventually as Gold service drivers will be given Private Hire ranks to work from on central London's streets and major rail termini.

Same sort of thing they already do now but LEGALLY.

Bob Oddy knows about this plan and so far has said nothing.

I wonder if he has told his colleagues on the United Trade group? Perhaps at the next summit at Woodfield road, one of them should ask to be told all about it.

Hamilton Gate???.....by Thomas the Taxi.

Westminster Council have shown their complete contempt for "The Best Taxi Service in the World" over the conversion of the old Hamilton Motors building into a restaurant and rest centre.

First they refused a 24 hour license for a restaurant which would include rest and toilet facilities for male and female Taxi drivers.

This was challenged and eventually the council had to give in and a 24 hour food license has now been granted. But in a vindictive tit for tat move Westminster refused planning permission for the parking of more than one Taxi at this facility rendering its use as a restaurant and rest centre completely impossible.

John Anderson after who this blog was originally named, applied for planning permission and change of usage, for the old Esso garage to be converted into a car wash and charging station for electric vehicles.

The Council have stated categorically, that THEY will not give change of usage and that THEY want these premises to be used for nothing other than the selling of petrol and diesel fuel.

John Anderson doesn't want this, the owners of the building don't want this, the locals don't want this.

There is of course a Texaco garage virtually opposite and another one on the corner of Sutherland Avenue, so its not thought to be an essential site for a filling station.

Where are all these Greenies that live in St Johns Wood?

Where is the Green lobby on the local council?

Boris Johnson has shown a preference for electric Taxis to be introduced before the Olympics and gave John a letter of support for this charging station venture, but the council dismissed the document out of hand.

Westminster City Council have let it be known they are totally opposed to a 24 hour Taxi restaurant and they will do every thing in their power to stop part of this building opening up for the benefit of London's Taxi service.

I wonder in which direction the council would have gone if this had been a venture for private hire and pedicabs, with a kebab shop and Hookah smoking facility?

Westminster City Council in serious trouble over Parking Contract.

Westminster City Council’s parking department, headed up by Conservative Councillor Danny Chalkley, has never been the subject of so much debate as in the past few months.
It’s been amazing to see newspapers, websites, TV and radio news full of articles and broadcasts covering the financial scandals caused by Westminster’s parking policies.


An emergency meeting of the Westminster Council Built & Environment Scrutiny Committee due to be held at 7pm tonight (20th April 2010) at City Hall has now been cancelled.


The hurriedly arranged meeting was to examine the Parking Enforcement Contract Award debacle, for which Westminster Council are now being sued for £50m by APCOA. But the scrutiny committee meeting chaired by Councillor Angela Harvey has been abruptly cancelled after APCOA sought a high court injunction.

It’s believed this may also put the brakes on the Councils whole parking enforcement contract re-tendering process. It transpired that after the parking enforcement contract was awarded to Mouchel the council held a debriefing with all the bidders. It was at this debriefing that APCOA think they spotted a new set of hidden bidding criteria which favoured Mouchel.

The Council have tried to play down the cost of the flawed contract to the tax payer, claiming it would cost approximately £100,000 to put right. But after considerable effort the Labour Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg was able to prise a more realistic figure from the Councils Chief Executive Mike More. In an email sent to Cllr Dimoldenberg, Mr More confessed that

“Over the course of a three month period, the new contract will give rise to an additional £749,104 of unbudgeted expenditure compared to budget in 2010“.

Westminster CC faces second

High Court challenge.

But Kevins not bothered !

Read full story, click here

Source Nutsville.com

Breaking News from the front line...by Thomas The Taxi.

After an impassioned cry for emergency temporary ranks at busy rail termini, hotels, shops and major businesses in the City from The Anderson Shelter, how come only the RMT have bothered to pick up the baton and contact the DoT, PCO, TfL.

Taxi cabs are ranking all the way down St Pancras way. No flights, no work, no emergency ranks.

Where are the United trade group ranks and highways department in times of an emergency while you've been out there struggling?

They still get their wages even if they do nothing!

What are they doing to earn the very handsome salary your subscriptions pay them?

Where is our man on the board of TfL?

Why has he not made a statement?

Too busy making up lies for the next copy of the comic perhaps!

Or busy dictating what club members should write on their blogs!

Islington Council issued a parking ticket to one of its own vehicles, then fights it in court, against itself!

Parking wardens working for London's local authorities routinely issue tickets against authority-owned vehicles. When this happens, the authority takes itself to court to argue that it shouldn't have to pay fines to itself. Sometimes, they ask the courts to award themselves legal costs from their own pockets. This according to Barrie Segal, who published a book in 2007 on London's insane parking enforcement called

The Parking Ticket Awards: Crazy Councils, Meter Madness and Traffic Warden Hell.

"In 2007, Islington Council issued a parking ticket to one of its own vehicles. The department receiving the ticket disputed the validity of the Penalty Charge Notice and appealed against the fine. The council declined the appeal so the department took the case to the Parking Adjudicator. At this stage, the council submitted no evidence so the ticket was cancelled. The department that appealed the ticket then applied to have their costs reimbursed. The bewildered Adjudicator did not award costs, saying: "The legal status of the two parties in this appeal amounted to one and the same."

Mr Segal says: "You couldn't make this up. This illustrates everything that is wrong with unaccountable parking enforcement in the UK. The craziest thing is that to ask for costs, Islington council must believe that it acted wholly unreasonably or vexatiously against itself.

"If they ever make a sequel to the film Dumb and Dumber I would suggest that the producers look no further than Islington Parking Department for the starring roles."

Martin Low...they've beaten you to it....By Thomas the Taxi.

This used to be a sweet, drink and tobacconist kiosk.

Now it's a 24 hour, day-glow , PCO approved, passenger sharing, late night mini cab booking kiosk. A super rank with space on the unenforced loading bay and licensed Taxi rank, for up to twenty touts.

24 Hour convenience stores, Tobacconists, Chinese take aways, doorways, passageways, alleyways in fact anyway and wherever you want one. For a few pounds you can set up a 24 hour PCO approved minicab business where you like, no planning permission or change of usage needed.

A gold mine for drug trafficking, money laundering, prostitution and white slave traders.

And lets not forget 10-12 sexual assaults including rapes a month!

Strange thing Martin Low!

Westminster City Council wouldn't grant a license for a 24 restaurant with rest and toilet facilities for male and female drivers in the old Hamilton Motors building.

I say strange because this street, (Edgware Road) is a heaving mass of pubs, clubs, kebab shops and Hookah smoking facilities from Little Venice, all the way down to Marble Arch.

Our undercover reporter Simco says

"It has been three weeks since Bull Inn Court of Maiden Lane CBJs' antics came to light and TOCU, PCO, WCC and Charing Cross Police have been informed.
But, I can still see the same horrendous touting going on from the same alley.
Why is it still permitted to go on?"

News from the front line...By Thomas the Taxi.

Last week, Embargo's illegally parked pirate minicab firm got taken to the cleaners.
Last night... they got whitewashed.
.
Under cover of darkness the "Hit squad" (LTDF and TaG) arranged to meet at a secret location not too far from the venue. Messages went out by text and on Twitter plus updates where put out to drivers by helpful dispatchers on Dial-a-Cab.
At a given signal, the convoy of Licensed Taxis headed for the club where previously, one of our drivers had been held by two goons and assaulted by the clip board johnny.

.

As professional taxi drivers, we all have our license and livelihoods to think of. So revenge is a dish best served up cold.

By 1.30am the only vehicles ranking outside Embargo's were Licensed Taxis. We completely dominated the transport needs of the customers leaving this establishment. The touts ability to earn from our work was damaged so much that one tout actually laid down in the road in front of a Metro taxi to stop it moving up on this impromptu taxi rank. I think the driver showed great restrain until the tout was pulled away.

At one point six police officers turned up and the cowardly clipboard Johnnie took off his orange hi-vi jacket and blended into the background. But as soon as the police left, the jacket went back on and he took up his role as tout once again.

This type of controlled action at these clubs is beginning to have great affect on the earning capacity of touts and we must make sure we keep the pressure up.

This was truly a united action organised by the LTDF and Twitter action group, who's drivers belong to every trade organisation, radio circuit and union. No one group has claimed the praise, no politics, no kudos, just concerned drivers. No one turned up just to be photographed and seen.

The leaders of our trade organisations need to sit up and take note, the drivers are starting to realise that you are not doing enough for them and now they are doing it for themselves. How much longer do you think they are going to keep giving you money for little or no return, money for nothing.
.

.

Thanks must go to our front line troops. These dedicated drivers have constantly put themselves in the line of fire, to offer a service second to none and the public are loving it.

But we still need more troops. Every time we "Hit" a new club we spread ourselves thin on the ground. If we had more volunteers, we could mount hits on several clubs at the same time and the touts wouldn't know what hit them.

When drivers got off from the venue on the Kings Road, most with local jobs returned and kept the pressure going. Drivers who went east made their way to Abacus where successful actions have also been mounted in the past.

It has been noted, that there seems to be a couple of licensed taxi drivers working alongside the scab touts at this establishment.

Warning, this will no longer be tolerated. Any driver who is identified to be working alongside the touts will have his details published on line and in the trade media.

There are thousands of taxi drivers who don't go on-line or tweet, we have to spread the word and sign up everyone we can. Even if you don't have a computer or a smart phone you can still receive text alerts, it wont cost you a penny. Tell every driver you meet how to get involved. Get their phone number and pass it on to the forum for text alert updates.

The more manpower we get, the more work we can take back.

On receipt of information gained from a number of concerned Taxi drivers, regarding the assault of one of our number at Embargo, officers from the Cab Enforcement Unit STC deployed to the venue - the clipboard operator was arrested last weekend. Unfortunately he was not the one responsible for the assault but we are told the action being taken by Cab Enforcement Unit is still an ongoing operation.

A statement to the trade has been made by Insp. David Brown;
"In order to help us deploy to such venues as quickly as possible can I ask that you remind drivers to contact the police regarding such incidents".

TtT

********************************************************

The Hurlingham club success story.

The Hurlingham club would like to thank all drivers that picked up Tuesday night. In all, 250 jobs were covered 249 in Taxis, 1 went to the minicab's.

Full story click here

Where were the emergency contingency plans?...by Thomas the Taxi

Another 24 hours of grounded flights at Heathrow has lead to an extra 1000 or more taxis desperately trying to find rank space around central London.

Over the past 15 years we have seen TfL and the local councils take away vital rank spaces from outside major stores, hotels and rail termini. Roads have been purposely narrowed causing bottlenecked traffic jams. Major arterial routes have lost important local rat runs which have been blocked, forcing local traffic on to main roads and clearways. Traffic flows in funnel like patterns at rush hour, some days its a miracle that anything moves whatsoever.

But what happens if something goes seriously wrong???

A road traffic accident, a fire, collapsed building or terrorist attack. What emergency plans are there to swing into action?

The plain truth of the matter is .....there are no plans. No emergency traffic police group, and no TfL emergency consortium to swing into action.

They just leave us to it, close their eyes and hope it goes away by tomorrow.

Peter Hendy, Traffic commissioner for TfL should have swung into action and made special contingency plans on day one of this present crisis. In league with local councils all loading bays in the capital should have been turned into temporary Taxi ranks.

Existing ranks at Rail termini should have been extended by at least 25% and marshalled by PCSO's.

Where is the green lobby? Where are the environmentalists?

Not every Taxi driver wants to drive round in heavy traffic polluting the environment, but when there is no place to stop, you have to keep moving.

The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? By Jason Byrne.

The LTDF publish the full story.

----- Original Message -----
From: David.C.R.Brown@met.police.uk
To: Cliff.Llewellyn@tfl.gov.uk ; bob@LTDA.co.uk ; thelcdc@aol.com
Cc: Dave.Stock@tfl.gov.uk ; xxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 3:54 PM
Subject: Embargos


All,

On receipt of this information regarding Embargos officers from the Cab Enforcement Unit STC deployed to the venue - the clipboard operator was arrested over the weekend.

We will continue to deploy to the venue.

In order to help us deploy to such venues as quickly as possible can I ask that you remind your members to contact the police regarding such incidents or if they choose not to, then to please contact yourselves so this information can be passed on.

Many thanks.

Insp. David Brown

Territorial Policing | Cab Enforcement Unit | STC
.....................................................................

My reply...

The clipboard Johnnie you arrested was not the same one who assaulted a Taxi driver the night before. This guy was still outside the next night touting, and has been ever since.
And the reason Taxi drivers are reluctant to go to the police is because you locked up one of our colleagues for 18 hours without charge on false allegations of racial abuse last year at Oxo restaurant. Do you blame us? These people taunt us with threats of racial abuse claims, and we don't have much faith that you lot will believe us.

Dizzy.

Post Taken from the LTDF Forum. Where freedom of Speech is still respected.