London, on SEVERE ALERT for Terrorist Attack...by Thomas the Taxi.

What has happened to the guardians of our city?

Those of you who are old enough to remember the terrorist attacks in London in the 70's, at the hands of the IRA, should also remember the heightened state of security that we found ourselves living under.
The IRA bomb campaign, which hit London from 1973 onwards, sought to create a climate of fear over a long period, but the situation escalated as they tried to explode two or more devices at a time to maximise the havoc. There were 36 bombs in London in 1973. This was a war of terror that went on for the best part of 30 years


After the attacks of 1973 the totally unprepared anti-terrorist squad upped its performance and put in place certain measures that saw the frequency of attacks subside dramatically.
The last two attacks (Ealing Broadway and the BBC Centre Wood Lane) happened in 2001, then with the cease fire and subsequent disarming of the IRA,  nothing has come form that direction in almost 10 years.


The terror alert in London has been intensified and relaxed many times over the last 10 years as we have seen attacks coming from a different direction. In 2005 we had the heinous attacks of 7/7, followed by failed copy cat attempts three weeks later. In the same vein, two years later, we saw two car bombs left outside a popular night club area in central London, both failed to explode.


You would have thought the security services and local authorities would do all in their power to protect the public in central London after these attacks...But you would be wrong!
Amazingly,  to every Taxi drivers surprise, minicab touts were allowed to hang up outside Tiger Tiger as soon as the car bomb was towed away.


In the seventies and eighties, Taxi drivers were told not to leave their cabs unattended on Taxi ranks. Drivers feared that their vehicles would become victim to controlled explosions, so complied 100%.
The West End saw very few illegal touts hanging around night clubs as Metropolitan Police Traffic Wardens would appear and issue PCN's. Police officers on the beat would also move on Touts and occasionally tow vehicles away.  


Things started to change around 1991, when parking in London was decriminalised. Suddenly minicabs although unlicensed got themselves organised into groups and started hanging around the doors or night venues. The new Council Civil Enforcement Officers seem to turn a blind eye and the Police now stated that parking offences were definitely not in their remit. 
Taxi trade representative groups did nothing with the exception of the LCDC who, led by Jim Wells, organised hits on certain night clubs by groups of drivers, some members, some just joining in.  They decided to take back the work, (See this post for background) much in the same way as the TaG group and the UCG did last year.


Then, at the end of the 90's it all seemed to changed again. With the formation of a London Mayor's office and under the watchful eye of Ken Livingston, we got licensing for minicabs, who from then on became Private Hire. 
With this veil of respectability we then saw a new agenda emerged (STaN) and lines of cars appeared outside most night venues (headed up by a new invention, the clipboard Johnny) sanctioned by TfL's Ed Thompson, Mary Dowdey and Luke Howard as LEGAL, according to the work of a Derbyshire solicitor James Button.


When John Mason took control of the PCO he said he understood that these vehicles were illegally waiting to be hired (Plying for Hire) and we waited for him to do something... well we are still waiting!


We now find that these lines of vehicles, have become an accepted sight by all authoritative sectors, even the security services. 


Westminster City Council has allowed Private hire company West One Cars, to take possession of the out of hours  "Loading Bays" on Shaftesbury Avenue, to use as Private hire ranks in the wake of a failed attempt to put such a rank in Whitcomb Street. 
Westminster are turning a blind eye to the minicab touts operating on Charing Cross Road, Regent Street, Licensed Taxi ranks and in fact anywhere that takes their fancy.

Over the weekend we were told, London is currently in a state of heightened security. 

• We have seen in the past, vehicles loaded with explosives, nails and ball bearings left outside a night club hidden by these lines of private hire vehicles. 
• We have seen a dramatic unprecedented 54% rise in serious sexual assaults including rapes.
• We have seen Metropolitan Police officers removed from their positions for changing rape statements and recording the cases as none criminal.
• We have seen Licensed Taxi ranks usurped by aggressive minicab touts and no one in authority bats an eye lid.

CCTV footage of Car bomb outside Tiger Tiger

The question has to be asked directly to the people responsible for this appalling situation.

• Martin Low and Kevin Goad ...responsible for the lack of parking enforcement.
• Joe Royal ... Chief Superintendent Cab enforcement.
• John Mason...director of Taxi and Private Hire.
• Peter Hendy ... Commissioner TfL.
• Boris Johnson ...Mayor of London.

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?...
Must we see bodies lying in pieces, blown to bits by car bombs hidden by these lines of Touting minicabs?
How many more young women and their families, must have their lives rip apart by a savage act from a sexual predator?


You six MEN, have the ability to safe guard the vulnerable and you have failed to do this. 
All you need to do, is the job the Tax payers pay you to do. Its that simple. 


No extra laws are needed just enforce the ones that you already have.



And who could forget the brilliant compliance raid on Nobu, (Feb 2009) carried out by
John Mason
Martin Low
Joe Royal
Bob Oddy and
Peter Rose.
The United Trade Group in league with the head of PCO , Cab Enforcement and Westminster's Transport commissioner  fail to gain entry to check details of this satellite office.


Safer Travel at Night? I dont think so...