John Mason, as nice as a fella that he probably is, is way out of his depth and clueless.
Not only was the appointment one of huge remit, but also a post for somebody with extensive and recorded front line people skills. A high ranking Police Officer or Military Commander would not have been embarrassed or degraded, in taking on a remit of this size.
I studied John Mason's CV at length when he was appointed to his current position, and my records on the LTDF forum will testify my opinion.
He just hasn't got the skills to take on a brief of this size, and by Christ, is it showing now.
Our Great Licensed London Taxi Trade is on the edge of collapse. Whether Mason and Co have been ordered to destroy it is immaterial...........we are getting murdered.
I have always said that our trade and Private Hire, require a separate Head of Control. For somebody to control both organisations is simply unhealthy.
It is like the same man controlling Burger King and MacDonald's. They may appear to both do similar things.........but they are in fact strong rivals, and hate each other.
Could you imagine John Mason being appointed to take control of MacDonald's and Burger King?.................It's ludicrous !
Mason's remit although legal has always been a massive conflict of interest, and it always will be. Under John's command, our 350 year old solid gold history is struggling to survive. Left at the helm much longer, Mason will kill us.
Did you see how he screamed and cried about how an 'allegation' of corrupt, bent behaviour upset him dreadfully?
That's how the Civil Service behave.
I was a very senior member myself, and I can tell you, they don't give a monkeys about anyone but themselves.
How many posts on the forum have screamed about touts, poor enforcement etc ? How many? hundreds? thousands?
Yet a stooge from SE1 comes on to set Mason up for an argument and he screams like a baby telling everyone how straight, un-corruptible and loyal he is.
He probably is. But he didn't like being called bent, did he?
Why the Hell then, should us Licensed, fit and proper professional London Taxi drivers, continue to be robbed, impersonated and have the piss took out of us then ?
We don't like it either John!
I have full Senior Civil Service Clearance, MI5 Standard CRB and Metropolitan Police and Army distinguished Service Record. I am a qualified and licensed Firearms Officer and Police trained Negotiator, and have served with bravery commendations on the Bomb Squad. I mention this, in case you think I am a jumped up, pissed up numpty.
I am getting the bollock ache of your piss poor embarrassing, and lacklustre command. I am also getting the hump with your useless administration, breaking down a once great London institution.
I repeat my challenge John.
- 18 Police Officers, hand picked by me.
- 18 Airwave Tetra radios.
- 1 van 1 car.
- Two weeks.
- No wages!
Touts ? Just have enough cells available for me to put them in!
The likes of you John, Livingstone, Boris, and Bus loving overpaid Hendy, are consigning our 350 year old platinum history to the archives. Who the Hell do you think you are?
Get a grip John! Stop whingeing about people calling you bent, and get out there and earn some respect!
8829
Editorial Comment:
John, this is a serious, emotive offer from a man who you well know can do what your team can't and for free. We urge you to take up his offer...
Well said Steve I will also give my services free for two weeks, although not in your league I can drive officers around. Will also offer my vehicle and pay my own fuel.
ReplyDeleteAll that will happen is that Mr Mason will scuttle off to Cab Hater Hendy and say 'How do I respond Mr Hendy' who will say 'Treat them with contempt, they are small fry'.
ReplyDeleteWell Mr Hendy & Mason so are Piranhas and we will keep nibbling!
Oh and while your reading this can you explain the difference between a Rank and a 'Waiting Hub' as proposed by Westminster for PHV's.
1.When did you know abou the proposal?
2. What was TfL's view bearing in mind case law makes such 'pseudo' ranks illegal.
After all we would not want to call into question your response ('when we say AGREED to PH 'Ranks' we dont mean AGREED'!!!!) in your propoganda publication The Badge would we?
I doubt if Mason will respond, as he is power pissed with his position and views cab drivers as bellow him, regardless of their background.
ReplyDeleteThe above article nips it in the bud, Mason is all about Mason. He epitomises everything that people dislike in civil servants, his arrogance and dictatorship qualities make him very difficult to like, let alone respect or trust. He claims certain groups are hostile towards him, yet takes no responsibility for his own actions. This latest toy throwing exercise is a typical of losing the plot, playing the victim card his done Mason no favours. Our livelyhoods are being plundered illegaly every night before our eyes, and John Mason is complicit with this agenda, soon to be made into policy. John, nobody has done anything to you; you have done it all to yourself !
I predicted some time ago that John Mason would deliver little if nothing to the cab trade of real value, and I'm sorry to say this has become a reality.
Well here you go Mr.Mason, here is an offer and a chance to prove the you are John Mason "Director of Taxi and Private Hire". And not John Mason TPH as many of us see you. That's TPH as in " TOTALLY PRIVATE HIRE ! "
Excellent post, only criticism is you might be taken more seriously if you put a name and not a 'tag'? It might seem normal to some using tags and call signs instead of proper names is normal but its not! Street games often only know each other by their street names we are above that
ReplyDeleteAnon 23:16
ReplyDeleteWow cab trade royalty commenting on this little old blog!
Anonymous and demanding a name no less.
The people that matter know who wrote this post as do most of the trade
Mason, Hendy and Boris know and that's what really matters
Don't worry Hendy is well known for using social media. He has a couple of Facebook accounts, he is on twitter and BB messenger and is a frequent visitor to the cab trade forums.
ReplyDeleteHe's not cleaver at covering his tracks as Windsor house uses a well know computer system that shows up on tracker programs.
Check out Hendy on facebook check out his friends ! And check out the picture of him WITH A BUS !!! yes my dear cabbies we have been shafted far to long .Helen "ids for ? " Mason "i havent got a account with them " Hendy "they should get out more " Treat us with contempt bordering hate ,Well the fight back has begun and the battle plans are ago ,We are waiting in the dark for the battle to commence .
ReplyDeleteHello Colleagues,
ReplyDeleteI am responsible for writing the above post, and it is both genuine and sincere. Thankyou for the positive comments.
As somebody pointed out, maybe it would be better to publish my full name. May I say, that I would be only too happy too, but it is for reasons previous to the London Taxi Trade, that it is tangible to protect my wife and family's peace of mind.
Our other colleague on here is also exactly right. TFL, The PCO and our Trade know very well who I am, and I promise I am capable of doing exactly what I offer.
Our Great World respected London Cab Trade is laying breathless and injured on the ropes. Under the regime of Transport For London and John Mason's command, we are in serious danger of having our 350 year old legacy exterminated.
The Civil Service would kill us off into the London Transport Museum in a heartbeat if we allow it. Our profession is being unceremoniously eaten alive by a ravaging cancer of mini cab touts. The enforcement appointed is at best totally inefficient and at worse non-existent. One doesn't have had to attended The London School of Economics to realise that if this continues, our Licensed Trade will have the life strangled from us.
For my mind, immediate enforcement is the answer. Our London streets are becoming like a disgusting third world country. Pedicabs and rickshaws, calls of "Taxi" coming from every shop doorway, and lines and lines of illegally parked private cars, offering their illegal services.
This has got to stop and it has to stop now ! If it continues, we are dead in the water.
To my mind, there is only two concievable reasons for what is happening. Either TFL are deliberately trying to run us off the road and kill us all, or they genuinely are unable to deal with it.
Personally, I fear the former. But if it is the latter, then I am your man to solve it !
Two weeks is all I require to make the difference. And what's more, the imposters at TFL both know me, and know I can do the job. Whether I ever get the chance remains to be seen. Meanwhile, I will have to remain as a frustrated square peg in a round hole. I never did fit into the Civil Service, cos I was one of the only officers in it, who wanted to earn my wages !
Be lucky folks, be afraid, be strong and God bless.
8829
If you really mean this you have worded it so wrong,You should have started by stating,"I have not got a fucking clue about anything to do with the cab trade".Then on current form TFL would have given you the job
ReplyDeleteDear 8829,
ReplyDeleteTfL are not incompetent, they are corrupt. With minicab ranks, the people who decide where the ranks go and which companies get to use them can get massive bribes from the minicab bosses straight into their personal pockets. With taxi ranks no bribe will ever occur, partly because no driver becomes wealthy enough to support that level of bribery and partly because even if a taxi driver did decide to bribe someone to get a rank created, as soon as the rank went in he would find himself queueing behind the other drivers who hadn't paid for it. This is the real reason authorities prefer the minicab industry to the taxis - they view the minicab industry as being able and willing to bribe, whereas the taxi industry is unable and unwilling to bribe. While your offer is an interesting read, it will not be accepted because they care only about bribes - they don't view minicab crime as the problem - they view the law-abiding taxi drivers as the problem because we can't and won't bribe them. Putting the taxi industry back under the control of the police would help - not that I completely trust the police, but they have to be better than TfL.
These are strong words folks, but very warranted.
ReplyDeleteMr Mason as the man says in Las Vegas before the boxing 'It's Show time'.
No more politicians words in the Badge or carefully edited masterpieces of PR such as the press realase after the PH consultation where we again got shafted.
Let's see you 'on the cobbles' for a few weeks at night at Greek Street,Kingston,Ilford, Crazy Larrys, Swallow St, Smiths and so many many more venues where you have failed to take any meaningful long term action since your promise to clean the scum from the streets.
TOP TIP: Stop only meeting people that agree with you, its a recipe for poor decisions.
Respect is earned not given and you have you work cut out to get some from us.
Show Time!
I am now a successful businessman with no vested interest.My 3 sons and 6 nephews are talking about doing the knowledge.I am not prepared to see a great London taxi trade with 350 years of solid gold history be ruined by these idiot civil servants.For your initiative I am to prepared to supply all vehicles and fuel.
ReplyDeleteThis site is useless. The only comments aloud are ones that agree with the poster. Useless people.
ReplyDeletere the post: 27/09/2011 09:44
ReplyDeletemy negative comment here, is to YOU (obviously, I've no idea who YOU are, but I'm an avid reader of your excellent blog) & probably not for public consumption
why on earth, would a successful businessman want his 3 sons & 6 nephews to do the KOL ?
doesn't he know that, after paying for the cab, the fuel, the..... , the financial returns from working a very long day, aren't much more, than a junior school leaver takes home, from stacking shelves at Tesco ?
Anon above:
ReplyDelete(obviously, I've no idea who YOU are, but I'm an avid reader of your excellent blog)
Its not their blog its ours, and we didn't post this comment.
TtT, JB, TB.
Anon 1659:
ReplyDeleteThis site is useless. The only comments aloud are ones that agree with the poster. Useless people.
Try posting on the LCDC, virtually everyone is banned from that sight, not just censored but banned.
If your comment is current to the article and contains no foul language it will be added.
Anon 09:44
ReplyDeleteYou say the blog is, "probably not for public consumption"
But it is open for anyone to view. If you have views you feel you want only the trade to see, then you should post them on the LTDF forum as that is a private forum.
Jason.
I am sure I speak for the majority of our trade, when I say thank you to both our staunch friend and colleague Gerald Coba, and the fantastic offer received from the gentleman with his sons contemplating the knowledge.
ReplyDeleteIt really is heartbreaking to watch such a world renowned and respected London Tradition, eroded and beaten down, by a shortsighted uncaring authority.
The revenue raked in by the licensing of mini cabs, has seen the coffers of TFL swollen with cash. I have always said, that this may seem a good idea if you are an accountant, but from a safety and operational point of view, it is outrageously ludicrous.
(Cont)
(Cont)
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, I launched an undercover operational sting, along with the BBC, codenamed Operation Nightingale.
It was tremendously successful, but sadly the extremely relevant and juicy parts were cut out of the documentary, by a yellow livered politically correct censorship team.
However, during the filming that was carried out over ten weeks, I trapped tout after tout after tout after tout.
There common denominator "claim" was that because of the fact that they were sporting a private hire disc in their rape traps, they were licensed to approach the public to offer their dangerous and dubious services.
Indeed, the film showed me having an altercation with the doorman of Crazy Larrys, who pushed his face within half an inch of mine, and threatened me with a kick in, if I didn't back off ! Rather than intimidate me, it ended with the BBC Crew pulling me away. How I was praying for this lowlife to have landed one on me, thus giving me the opportunity to "defend myself within the law".
The situation that Londoners and the public who are visting us the world over, is dire. They are led to believe that because these mini cabs are showing a permit, that they are just like us professionals, and allowed to ply for hire.
Despite selling these permits as quickly as drug dealers sell cocaine, TFL have absolutely no arrangements or operational brief in place, to control and enforce the licences that they sell.
They have created a monster that they have absolutely no control over, and that folks, is why we are seeing the problems that we are.
I wont even mention how many enforcement officers are out on the streets during evenings and weekends............it is disgraceful !
As us Licensed, Professional and Fit and Proper London Taxi Drivers know, the streets and doorways of London's West End and City venues are awash with illegal mini cab touts plying their illegal trade.
Effective and harsh enforcement is the answer !
John Mason, Helen Chapman and Police Officers of The Safer Transport Command Unit have a remit to control and enforce the compliance and abuse of the licenses that they sell and issue.
BUT THEY AIN'T ! THEY ARE NOT DOING THEIR JOBS !
THEY ARE INCOMPETENT, LACKLUSTRE, UNPROFESSIONAL, UNCARING, LAZY, CLUELESS, TOTALLY INEFFICIENT AND WOEFULLY POOR IN OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE !
They wont take me up on their offer, because they know only too well, that I will clear London up of touts, and eat them for my supper !
They don't want me rocking the boat for their cushty little numbers. This is why I left the Civil Service previously, I was a square peg in a round hole and they were terrified of me ! They just want to serve their days eating donuts and posing, talking bollox and walking the walk.
BUT THEY ARE FUCCKING USELESS...THE LOT OF THEM !
Many thanks to our colleagues who have offered their assistance, your heart, spunk and determination make me feel humble.
The imposters from City Hall and Palestra want to see the back of our world respected service, but all the time I have breath in my lungs and colleagues like Jim Thomas and many others, we will continue to save our heritage, legacy and future.
The hirearchy who are out to destroy us have nothing to be proud of. None of them are worth two bob, and continue drawing their inflated wages on the back of lies, bollox and deceit.
Our trade are getting the severe hump with it on the coal face, and we are going to challenge your p*ss poor performance.
Surely there must be one of you spineless, lazy imposters up there, who can come out onto the shop floor and lead by example and earn some respect ?
No !........I didn't think there would be !
Be lucky all, keep punching and God bless.
8829 (Semtex)
Alright mate, take a breath!!
ReplyDeleteI work for TPH and to be honest Mr Mason is a lazy, egotistical shit head who does not give a monkeys about your trade nor his own staff, he has come over to do a job and that is for the TPH department to fail so it can be finally privatized.
ReplyDelete