John Mason Responds to David Clegg and Les Hoath

Sent: 28 January 2011 08:46

Subject: Private Hire Consultation

Dear Respondent,  

I would like to personally thank you for your response to the Private Hire Consultation which closed on Friday 14th January 2010. We are grateful for the time you have spent on providing your response and have been overwhelmed by the constructive views, suggestions, ideas and supporting information that you and many others have provided.

The proposal and suggestions outlined in our consultation were exactly that. We are now faced with a significant challenge of reviewing all responses and analysing the supporting information. Given the level of input we have received this will take a significant amount of work and effort at a time of significant other workloads and challenges that we face.

However, progressing the outcome of the consultation is a priority for us and we will be working very hard to do this as quickly as possible.

Once we have undertaken this significant task we will prepare a report for consideration at the Transport for London (TfL) Surface Board followed by the TfL Surface Panel and concluding at the TfL Board.

This will take time and will be subject to the normal governance rules that we are required to abide by.

Again, thank you for you input. We will provide updates as and when they are available.

Regards

John Mason

Transport for London 

London Taxi and Private Hire

More than three hundred PH operators gathered at Heathrow to discuss issues which could potentially change the shape of the Private Hire industry.

To the Anderson Shelter:

I received this response from John Mason today following TfL receiving the 32 page response myself and Les Hoath submitted in respect of the LPH Consultation.

I sincerely hope it’s true that TfL are overwhelmed by the responses and truly feel they are constructive.

I am in no doubt that they will have their work cut out analyzing all the various views, and possibly contradictory suggestions and ideas and hoping to amend the ill-considered LPH legislation and operating procedures as they were originally drafted.

I think many of us recognise that the LPH system is seriously flawed and I feel sure TfL feel much the same way in light of the serious problems created by the system since it was first adopted. I don’t think anyone doubts that there is room for major changes and improvements to make the system run smoother, more cost-effectively and in a more self-policing way.

We can only hope that the TfL Board will make the necessary changes to bring the LPH system into a much better form than it currently is. I’m sure many people feel that much of the legislation and the policing of it to-date has been a bit of a ‘dog’s breakfast’ and brought despair to many in the London taxi trade.

It really does need a major overhaul as surely no serious administrator would allow this 3^rd world system to continue but work towards finally eradicating the presence of illegal minicabs (and licensed minicabs that operate illegally) that plague our streets and put the general public at risk.

Given the figures of sexual assaults, muggings and rapes, the current system is a national disgrace and it is little wonder that so many taxi drivers have been voicing their concerns for so long now, as in some respects they are being tarred with the same brush.

Major changes are sorely needed and we can only hope the TfL Board can see the wisdom of this and make the required and very necessary changes. They will need time, and I believe we must accept that if they are to get things right – once and for all.

In spite of all the often severe criticisms we’ve aimed at them in recent times I’m sure we wish them well in what will be a major undertaking on their part. Good (better considered) legislation and proper enforcement could benefit everyone in the passenger transport business in London - and the people that use it.

Let’s hope it is a major step in the right direction so that the tension can be taken out of the serious situations that have developed out on the street where taxi drivers and the general public have been put at risk.

Let’s also hope TfL can come up ‘trumps’ as a result of this Consultation process and we can praise them in equal measure to the various and numerous criticisms they have received from us, even though this may be some way off as the bureaucratic wheels turn very slowly.

Regards,

David