Just before Christmas, it was reported in the Badge Taxi Paper (LCDC), that over the course of a weekend, there was a badge and bill check at various points within the square mile. It was claimed that over forty suburban drivers were found to be plying for hire, some with passengers on board.
If this was the case, then under TfL's policy of "One hit and your out" these Suburban drivers should have been officially charged with working out of sector. However after contacting the City Police, they seem to have no knowledge of any "Yellow Badge" being charged. Checking the court records there doesn't seem to be any cases in the pipe line either.
So, is this just another piece of mis-informational propaganda put about by the committee of the London Cab Drivers Club, to give credence to its aggressive support of John Masons identifier system?
Complaints have been made that working Taxi drivers have been targeted by the CoL police in badge and bill checks all over the City (both day and night), while licensed private hire vehicles have been left alone to tout outside the ever growing number of late night bars in the square mile.
ABACUS
Touts have no fear of City Wardens who only work from 8-7.30 weekdays and 8-11.30 week ends.
Worst still is the fact that minicab touts are being allowed to tout and rank up on the pavement, completely blocking the footpath, outside Fabric night club. See Video Evidence below....
SEXUAL ASSAULTS, NO PRIORITY FROM CoL.
With sexual assault (including rapes), carried out by private hire drivers at an all time high and showing an increase of 54% on the previous year, you would have thought the CoL's Police would deal with this unlawful practice of touting used by sexual predators as a priority.
But you would be wrong!
It seems the need to confirm "Yellow Badges" are working out of sector is top of this plods list.
Did not the UTG 'storm down' to the Guildhall with a letter in hand to terrify the City Authorities!
ReplyDeleteWe all remeber the photo. in he UTG Trade 'press'
What do did they threaten them with?
'We will increase our stand down money if you do not give us more ranks'.
Well UTG the City Authorities has answered and laughed at them!
As for the Yellow Badge nonsense for thats what it is NONSENSE, The Badge supposedly checks its stories before it publishes them so it states. Who with The Editor of TAXI?
Well did they believe from their 'Source' that the 40 Yellow Badges 'Caught' were ALL first time offenders and will be getting a written warning from TfL! (Do you believe it readers?)
There's also someone else up before the beak with a stolen Green Badge, we will look to future editions for the court proceedings on that to be fully reported.
A message to the LCDC:
Concentrate on the real BIG issues,
Touts, Age Limits and the latest hammer blow on smoke test limits for new cabs that's the one you & TfL also knew nothing about when you agreed a 15 year limit for cabs including LPG Cabs and without considering the latest Euro V catylysts.
Oh and lets not forget the STaN Agenda, it seems you have!
Leaders Not Followers is the LCDC Motto, it appears the membership are increasingly concerned where to?.
Further Questions to:
The UTG College of Trade Journalism
Yellow Badge Detection Unit
Tom Pepper Avenue
The Biscuit Factory
Fantasy Island
SE16
The LCDC have started a war between the badges,I just hope most cabbies can see through this but with the reactions im getting i doubt it ,I hope it does not lead to punch up in the street with customers looking on ,Thanks LCDC for messying up the yellow badge trade.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame!
ReplyDeleteA once proud and idependently minded organisation hijacked by a lot of DaC Board wannabees!
I am not a member of the LCDC. However I do agree with windscreen badge ID. LF03*** is a Romford driver (Yellow Badge) who works in London everyday! This is just one that I know of, but how many more are there? Something has do be done.
ReplyDeleteAnon
ReplyDeleteWe can't solve all the trades problems overnight. Of course its wrong for yellows to work out of sector but we have to be realistic in our fight against our biggest threat to our lively-hood and that is the lines of thousands of touts that have been encouraged by our own licensing authority.
143 women were not sexually assaulted by yellow badge drivers last year, it was touts hanging up outside night clubs. That's our biggest threat.
We also have to look at the reason behind why YB are working in town.
Their areas have become infested with PH touts and the Trade orgs have let them down dramatically. The LTDA was happy to recruit thousands of suburban drivers, took their money and gave them nothing in return.
ID badges will not solve their problem and it will not solve ours. Most YB drivers I know share a cab with green badge drivers anyway. Who is going to change a sticker in the window ever time they change driver, it just wont happen.
Jason Byrne.
If the rumours are true, I for one will be seeking confidentiality and piece of mind with UGC combined with Alan Flemings coverage scheme. Second to that the RMT are looking pretty solid.
ReplyDeletefor once i agree with jason byrne yes it is wrong that yelloe badges do pull that stroke but put things into perspective the touts,sattelite offices and addi poo are the greatest threat and the licensing of phv drivers with sat nav and the influx of these eastern europeans and somallians that were licensed with no criminal record checks and yes that is correct no crb checks has been a disaster for the taxi trade no wonder griffin wanted it licensed
ReplyDeleteShould not TFL produce at least some EVIDENCE to support the myth that the west end and the city are flooded by YBs instead of relying on the word of the editor of the badge??????
ReplyDeleteIsn't it better that a YB has a fare rather than a scum tout.
I was thinking of joining the LCDC but my mates out here say there an't any ybs left and noone wants to join
Jive Bunny:
ReplyDeleteAlan's scheme fine for a limited range of Cab Trade only matters but if you want you and your family fully covered for ANY problem (Legal, Buying goods, Wills etc.) plus 24 hour Legal Help its the RMT you need.
You can remain in the UCG and support Alan's age limit fighting fund.
Anon 2:
As for the Romford Driver coming in, bad but not as bad as the 000's of jobs touts & PHV's take every day. Has he been caught? Will the Club 'shop' him?
Pity the Badge ran an Article from John Griffin. Loyalty? Quite who are they fighting for?
Does anyone want to 'inform' on a Yellow Badge to TfL?
Do people want to lurk on the borders (where are they anyhow) just in case someone accepts a hiring 'out of sector'.
Another non issue from an organisation that is now it seems a non event!
To JASON and JIVE BUNNY,
ReplyDeleteCan you please explain to me the difference between a YB working out of thier sector,and a licensed PHV driver touting because as far as i am concerned they are the same In fact i would put the YB as being worse as he drives the same vehicle as us,So he is in fact fooling the passengers.In town he like the PHV driver will have to use a sat nav,and as we all know a sat nav,will get you there but not always by the best route,At times the route they take is so far out its unbeleivable,And that will put extra money on the meter,fueling rumours we are to dear,
No sorry i have no sympathy for the YB working out his sector,We were all given a choice to do the YB or GB, So they made thier choice let them live by it...
if tfl believe yellow badges can do the work of the greens fairly competently then maybe 5 years down the line we wont need the all london knowledge eh?these yb drivers are massively undermining the green badge trade.....the touts and minicab drivers are well known to the general public as being useless black cab wannabes but the ybs are pretending to be something they are not and therein lies the problem.a bit like buying a fake rolex or dodgy lv handbag....if the ybs want to work in town the answer is simple..do the green badge otherwise stay in your own sector.make no mistake they are a real threat to the knowledge and our trade.
ReplyDeleteI'm Spartacus raises some good points. The RMT is certainly looking good and the security of belonging to a no nonsense trade union is looking attractive. As for the YB issue, it's a none issue!
ReplyDeleteThere is a massive change in balance coming and the UTG in their comfort zone are beginning to panic. The YB issue is no more than a drowning man grasping at anything to stop from going under.
The good thing to come out of this issue is the yellows are getting themselves organised. You must admit, they have been out on a limb like an orphaned child. I say leave them alone and get stuck into the real issues.
AS said no one is defending YB 'encroachment' but everyone knowes it ain't them hanging outside Smiths, Abacus, Crazy Larrys etc. etc. etc.
ReplyDeleteNo one has any real figures on this just some numbers dreamt up by a LCDC stooge in the City Police, pity that man does not nick some touts!
Can you not seen its a smokescreen from TfL aided by the LCDC committee (why, to take the gaze away from STaN?)
The yellow badge issue is being badly misrepresented through exaggeration and scaremongering or even sheer malice in an effort to make a case that doesn't really stand up to scrutiny.
ReplyDeleteTo make a case against them it seems a few zealots have claimed there were 400 YB drivers a week working out of their sector but with no evidence to back up these dubious claims.
Even if the figure was say 100 a week then how does that massively undermine our trade when there are probably nearer 10,000 unlicensed minicabs and perhaps thousands of licensed minicabs doing our work for us. There is no real comparison - just prejudice.
If anyone feels so strongly about the minicabs why not tell them to do the knowledge if they want to work in town.
The whole issue of YB drivers stealing so much of our work is a nonsense and it seems much of the case made against them is done out of sheer ignorance of the facts. If every single YB driver, all 3,400 of them, decided to work in town then it still wouldn't massively undermine us to the extent that the miniscabs are, but then there are some in deniable amongst us who don't want to recognise this even if it was shoved up their nose.
I suppose it's easier to report a YB than it is a minicab driver and pretend that YB's really are undermining us when the reality is somewhat different. Doing this is a a cop-out.
The point about YB's not knowing where they are going in town is misrepresented and a bit naive as it is true the other way round. Green badge drivers are usually out of their depths in many suburban areas, especially around Heathrow Airport and that is why so many drivers used to broom local jobs simply because they didn't know how to get to Harlington library or some similar destination. Or that was their excuse.
If a GB driver gets ajob down to East Dulwich and he stops for someone in Lordship Lane on his way back to town and the passenger wants to go to Catford, the outcome is probably predictable with the driver thinking 'I ain't doing that it's YB work' and brooms it.
Green badge drivers still regualrly broom jobs even in central London and I suspect that these refusals and other offences far outnumber any offences YB drivers are currently being accused of.
There aren't double standards going on here is there? Isn't it more like the kettle calling the copper black?
The yellow badge system came into being in 1937 simply because green badge drivers were either incapable or unwilling to do work out in the suburbs. With a few exceptions some things never seem to change much.
So what is the answer,Because if as you say it is not the YB thats out thier depth in town, Its the GBs in the suburbs,Surely then you are saying theres no point in doing the all london knoeledge,Lets scrap the green badge and all do yellow,
ReplyDeleteAnd as far as the miniscabs in town goes,its a situation thats got out of hand,But how many of you can put your hand on your heart and say,you have written to your MP,and stated in no uncertain terms that you dont feel you can give your vote to someone that condones the law of the land to be broken ie mini cab touting.
Surely none of you really believe your MP is there for your intrests,They are there purely for thier own,and the thought of losing thier seat,and the nice expenses that come with it will terify them,thats why the MPs for Ilford,are the first to stand up for cab related issues,So unless you write those letters to them,they wont give us a second thought.
the bottom line is we are going the same way as publicains and independent betting shop owners down the khazi.
ReplyDeletedo you really think clamping down on yellow badges is going to make a difference like f..k it is.
these touts are everywhere w1 is not the only place there in every town centre at night islington is a joke and you want to see areas like tottenham/edmonton but then i would not stop at night down there.
the bottom line is there are now too many touts and the police do not care because the touts are taking the drunks away for them.
you can forget your m p to help you and the public as black cab drivers are sterotyped as loud mouth whingers who are always complaining about the game and forget about who you want to run any union 95% of them you would not let run a bath .
the only way forward is for all drivers to stick together and take the touts on head to head but thats a pipe dream as you can not even rely on that any more as we all know now iam all right jack is our favourite quote so if we dont change our attitude we will be down addi lees office fighting for a galaxy and that is not a joke
The LCDC mouthpiece says “Lets scrap the green badge and all do yellow.”
ReplyDeleteIs there no limit to the stupidity that some fools spout? Is that the best he can come up with in his continuing poisonous and damaging postings on a subject that has no real meaning in the overall scale of things in the London cab trade?
It IS true that many green badge drivers have only a scant knowledge in many of our suburbs and has led to the ‘Sarf of the river jibe’ we’ve suffered for decades. No one is saying that the green badge should be scrapped – that is just your bitter and twisted view of what is actually happening and like most of your arguments you haven’t thought them through as prejudice and ignorance seems to cloud any good judgement you might once have had.
As many other green badge drivers have already said - this is a MINOR issue of no REAL significance to green badge drivers, so it is being blown out of all proportion by some who should know better. The green and yellow Identity Discs for ALL taxis will no doubt become part of the London taxi scene in the near future and it can be of good use in sorting out this age-old problem, but please spare us your bile based on ignorance and distorted views.
After all, taxi drivers already have identifiers hanging round their necks or pinned to their chests – if they wear their badge that is. Identity Discs are merely an extension of that.
Everything you write seems to be either pure unwarranted poison or negative and who would want to join any organisation that spouts this kind of hateful rhetoric and will long be remembered for it? Only fools and bigots I suspect.
With their kinds of extremist and far from sensible opinions it is surprising that we are not already under the control of the LPH trade. ‘Cos as sure as eggs are eggs that is where these minority views might take us.
No sensible person is ever going to agree with the negative arguments expressed. They do our cause no good. I bet they daren’t talk like this when they are sat round the table with John Mason.
It seems that there are those who cannot see beyond the end of their nose as they try to defend the indefensible. Trying to stir up hatred between yellow badge and green badge drivers is about as silly – and dangerous - as it can get – and for what?
Writing all this hatred is like the actions of the playground bully – and the other side to a bully is a coward. The bullies always lose in the end – though they are never wise enough to see it. They have got a lot to learn.
at city airport if the greens who return all day long waiting sometimes 3 hours for what might be a £12 to canary wharf kept to the city and gave us yellows a chance to make a half decent living then perhaps this issue would die out why they do the green to come and sit with yellows is beyond me
ReplyDeleteRe Stickers
ReplyDeleteWhat is the Truth Are They Going to Have Stickers Yes Or No . If So When . I think any yellow badge driver who wants to work central london should do the Green Badge .
The worst people are the Yellows who become Green Badges who act hollier than thou .
its simple punish the rule breakers but dont put all yellow badge drivers as having the same morals.
Green badges stick to your area you done the knowledge in, yellow badges stay in your area. So no airports for the GB's and no Olympics. You should all work together, otherwise we will be taken over by mini cabs. You cannot have a rule for one and not for the other.
ReplyDelete