A Clear Strategy Behind the Demo....by David Davies.

London Taxi Drivers are being subjected to many improper and unlawful decisions by TFL which include access to the Olympic Routes, the Age Limit on Taxis and failed enforcement and regulation of private hire law to name but a few.

The crux of the matter is not these individual issues by themselves, it is the body that is making these improper and unlawful decisions; Transport for London.

There seems to be an identity crisis at TFL.  

It had an annual budget for 2010-11 of £9.6 BILLION of taxpayers’ money yet it seems to think of itself as a private corporation which is not subject to any of the legal requirements for the conduct of a public body. It is required by law to conduct proper research and have a proper process to make decisions and about its policies and practices. It is clear that TFL has not done this on many occasions, which is not an opinion it’s a fact.

A good example is the Age Limit.

The Department of Transport advises against an age limit because there is no evidence that older vehicles create more pollution. TFL have conducted absolutely no testing to show that older taxis create more pollution and in fact by their own standards they say that all taxis are at least Euro 3, which means that 16000 taxis are Euro 3 and the rest Euro 4. How can it therefore be a proper and legal decision to implement an age limit when TFL has not complied with the legal process to make that decision?

In addition TFL allows many improper situations to exist.

An example of this is the fact that, Bob Oddy who is supposed to represent the interests of the LTDA and challenge TFL on issues that his organisation and members objects to, is a MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF TFL where he is supposed to represent the Taxi trade as a whole. How can that possibly not be a conflict of interest?

Confidentiality agreement.

I have recently been told that when PCO staff were made redundant they were forced to sign a confidentiality agreement to prevent them disclosing information about improper conduct that had taken place.

How can it be correct practice for a Public Body to effectively bribe ex employees to keep quiet?

The demonstrations therefore should not be about any one unlawful or improper decision that has been made. It should be about the unlawful and improper organisation that has made them; TFL.

If the demonstrations continue to be about any one individual bad decision or policy implemented by TFL then all that will ever happen is that compromised solutions will be made to appease the Taxi Drivers for these individual issues. That is all well and good until the next bad decision.

Reason behind Demo.

The campaign needs to be for a complete regime change at TFL.

It needs to call for the sacking of its chairman, Boris Johnston.

Taxi Drivers helped the election campaign for Boris in 2008, in the hope that he would deliver fair and proper decisions and policies.

I want to deliver those changes that Londoners, and visitors to the city, tell us they want to see: a cleaner city with safer streets, better transport, and good quality affordable housing.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson

Setting the vision and developing strategies to deliver it

The Mayor is in charge of setting the overall vision for the capital and draws up strategies and policies to deliver the vision.’’

http://www.london.gov.uk/who-runs-london/mayor

The Mayor has repaid the Taxi Drivers support by implementing strategies and policies which have had a direct negative impact on Taxi Drivers. As chairman of TFL he has allowed LTPH to act improperly and not enforce proper enforcement of Private Hire regulations. He has conducted a report which says 4267 people a year are dying from pollution in London and that 30% of that is attributable to Taxis. He has implemented no proper strategies to improve emissions in London, there are many things that could be done to significantly reduce emissions in a simple and common sense way.

1. A peak time delivery ban could stop commercial vehicles from blocking London’s streets. If commercial vehicles delivered at off peak times then their emissions could be reduced by 80% because emissions are caused when a vehicle stops and starts. Instead of banning deliveries at peak times TFL has banned night time deliveries-the exact opposite of what needed to be done.
2. Stop smaller delivery and other vehicles from blocking a lane of traffic. How many times have you seen a huge tailback of traffic caused by a van or truck making a delivery without a care in the world for the hundreds of people they are holding up ? This situation creates a huge amount of pollution yet TFL continue to allow it to happen
3. Manage roadwork’s in a more effective way. How many times have you sat in a tailback for a long time only to find the cause is a section of road closed with no actual work taking place or if there is work taking place it comprises of a couple of guys leaning on their shovel? Roadworks should be carried out off peak with a sense of urgency.

These are just a few examples of what could be done.

Instead Boris is implementing ridiculous and ineffective strategies like an age limit or taxi idling which will have no effect on reducing emissions.

The Mayor has used PR to create the impression that Taxis are creating pollution and he is going to clean it up.  He has actually mocked London Assembly members when they have challenged him on his failed emissions strategies. He is mocking the taxi drivers who helped him get elected by the decisions he has implemented.

The Taxi drivers need to use PR to show that they are the people suffering from his flawed emissions strategies; they sit in this pollution day in day out and are keen to clean it up but want to do so in an effective way.

Taxi Drivers need to have a clear and defined strategy as to what they are demonstrating about. In my view it should be to campaign for The Chairman of TFL (Boris) to be sacked and for a Public Inquiry into his failed strategies which have resulted in 4267 deaths each year from pollution.

He has overseen the improper and unlawful conduct of TFL. He is the person that is ultimately responsible and he is the person that Taxi Drivers should make the subject of their campaign. One of the reasons that the Taxi trade has not successfully challenged TFL is because it has not been united. If a particular issue does not affect a driver then he will not campaign against it.

The fact is that the conduct of the Mayor in allowing TFL to make improper and unlawful decisions will affect every single Taxi Driver in some way and that is why he needs to be the subject of any campaign. I am sure if this is done then the Taxi Demonstrations will receive huge support from the media and public. 

Instead of the demonstrations being seen as an inconvenience they will be seen as a valid objective for people who want to see the cleaner and safer London that Mayor promised and has not delivered.