Travis B, A Christmas Message

As I sit here opening a tin of SPAM ready for Christmas Day.

I gave some thought as to the contents of my annual message to you the working cab driver, I thought of reviewing who did and, perhaps just as importantly who did not, defend the cab trade in 2011.
But no, that's been done many times over and if it was a court room the UTG would have already been banged up!

I thought about Mr Mason's LTPH and its continued bumbling, once again the prosecution has rested its case and the inevitable verdict has been passed.

Then, like the ghost of Christmas Past, it appeared, a vision of Mr Peter Hendy CBE, Commissioner of Transport for London,
Ah! thats the Captain of the Ship that carries our destiny.

Let's have a gander (sorry the goose has been cooked) at what his organisation has done for us, the taxpayer and the travelling public:

1. After instruction from Boris, finally removed his beloved Bendy Bus from clogging up the Metropolis. Soon to be replaced with another white elephant (or is it red?) costing who knows what?

2. Brought in a 15 Year Age Limit for Cabs that will do NOTHING to improve air quality as a 14 year old cab has the same Euro engine.
This will inevitablty lead to a lower age limit and 'we will remember them' who have agreed this on our behalf.

3. Used the statistics that were rubbished by his goodself only the week before as the product of 'A militant (that's you Editor!) Cab Drivers Blog' when it suited TfL to massage the appaling statistics on sexual assaults in PH/Non PH tout vehicles.

4. Will soon sign off on identifiers, tried to sign off on moving LTPH workers out of town, refused point blank to allow us ORN access and no doubt has many more 'benefits' in store for us in 2012.

Still as he said 'we need to get out more' or some of us are 'selfish arrogant fools'.
Perhaps we should conclude that this man's "achievements" indicate he ain't no friend of the cab trade and prepare accordingly.

If that was all there was, that would be bad enough, but we are big boys & girls (and I keep getting bigger!) and as we have proved outside Windsor House, Palestra, Woodfield Road and Trafalgar Square we can look after ourselves.

Pat yourself on the back all those that supported these actions in your own time without a penny in 'stand down pay'. No wonder the UTG mob was absent!

Also the magnificent efforts on Remembrance Sunday that again shamed TfL.

Unfortunately todays news raises somewhat more serious matters:

The failure to implement any of the Coroners instructions about First Aid Provision on the tube and much more following 7/7.
LU is under the command of Mr Hendy, Surely the rush to have driverless trains and cost cutting have no bearing on such public safety concerns can it?.
Well I can think of an immediate saving of £350K that would help..

An enormous increase in violence and assaults on Tube, Bus etc.
Its hard to tell about PH/Non PH stats. as TfL keep using different sources.

STaN in action? Stan Laurel more like!

So there we have it, Mr Hendy's TFL 2012 & beyond 'Olympic' London:

Less Safe, Less Cabs, Less Ranks, Less Work, Less Road Space, More Requirements (2 MOT's, & Taxi Compliance Test, Identifiers, Names on Websites Etc), More Touts, More PH. The Law Commission, The UTG. and there's more, much more, still lets not get depressed at this time of goodwill.

Merry Christmas One and All (well not quite all!).

EDITORIAL COMMENT:
Let's not forget that as these top TfL incompetents sit down with their families on Christmas day, to enjoy each others company and reflect on another wonderfully profitable year, there are another 120 families this year that have had their lives shattered by acts of sexual assault and rape, carried out on one of their love ones.

Hendy, Mason, Royle and Taylor, should be held totally responsible by their inaction and refusal to deal with the many lines of illegally ranked PH cars outside night venues.
All in the name of revenue, in the shape of "Satellite Office" license fees.

It will soon be time to elect a Mayor for another four years and as Boris wishes every taxi and PH driver a more PC Happy Holiday, instead of the traditional Merry Christmas, let's not forget that he, as Chair of TfL, by his inaction and inability to deal with our problems, is part of the problem, not the solution.
TtT.

And on that note, the Anderson Shelters editorial staff;
Jim Thomas (Thomas the Taxi),
Jason Byrne,
Travis B,
Semtex 8829
and Simco,
would like to wish all its readers
"A very Merry Christmas"