I have been telling this story myself for a long, long time.
When this was proposed in Kingston the residing Chairman of the LCDC was Mr. Alan Fleming. He wrote a letter to the LTDA and Unite the Union pointing out that what was being proposed in Kingston was illegal and the existing Hackney Carriage laws that would be contravened in the process. Mr Fleming never received a reply; the LTDA and Unite never challenged this action and Ken Livingstone's final solution for the London Taxi Trade "STaN" was rolled out in Kingston.
It should be pointed out that at this time the LCDC under the Chairmanship of Mr. Alan Fleming was unrecognised by the then Public Carriage Office (PCO).
How much the LTDA and Unite knew about the hidden agenda behind STaN is unknown. What is undeniable is:
Unite the union did originally publish STaN, but since have gone to great measures to stop the subject of STaN being discussed at monthly meetings and have been complicit in brooming this subject under the carpet for reasons better known to the LE 230/Branch committee !
The LTDA, to my knowledge have never published a single word about STaN to date !
The LCDC were warned about TfL's hidden agenda long before STaN was exposed and are well and truly on record as being STaN deniers since its exposure.
The LCDC and collectively the UTG have been 100% complicit with TfL's demands to bury the truth about the hidden agenda behind STaN !
These three organisations are collectively known as the United Trade Group (UTG). In my opinion they are guilty of being grossly negligent, to the point of incompetency and have failed to represent both their members and the London Taxi Trade at the required level at TfL’s negotiating table !
Finally we getting to the bottom of why the STaN agenda has never been comprehensively challenged, and why we as a trade are in the appalling situation we are today.
The truth will always prevail.
Apparently John and Helen are in Birmingham, wonder what they think about these illegal ranks in Kingston, although nothing to do with them.
ReplyDeleteWonder if they would support LTDA and TfL or consider scrapping them?
Some may say that the truth is, the LTDA the LCDC and Unite all support Mini Cabs ranking in Central London, if they were opposed to Private Hire Marshalled Pick-Up-Points they would challenge the STaN agenda?
ReplyDeleteSurely any self-respecting Taxi trade body would challenge any points within the STaN agenda where it could or would have a detrimental effect on the livelihoods and working conditions of it's paying members?
If the above is not a truthful statement, why do the LTDA the LCDC and Unite remain silent?
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt"
Stan will be the death of us, can the ucg news publish more about stan so we can all learn the facts?
ReplyDeleteTell us more about STAN we need to know, can it go in ucg news? This is urgent!
ReplyDeleteHey TtT, would it be possible to put a link on here so that the drivers can check out STaN in the UCG magazine issue 1 and 2, and while your at it maybe a link to STaN week that you published, this was highly embarrassing to the LCDC,LTDA, and UNITE.
ReplyDeleteI bet they do not want that published again, makes them look like complete idiots, then again maybe they are.