We all thought that the director of LTPH, John Mason, had always told the trade that he had legal opinion that stated that ranks of PH outside satellite offices etc. were 'legal' and nothing could be done.
Indeed Mr Hendy kept Eddie Nestor of the BBC well away from them on their 'Fact Finding' tour.
Well boys & girls, the big New Year News is that an FOI request from the RMT has discovered:
'LTPH has not sought legal advice on the matter of Private Hire waiting outside premises'
So there we have it, of course the Badge, TAXI and CTN has reported all this to the trade, Tragically no they have not to their eternal shame, Why?
*They are supposed to be on the 'Inside' and keep telling us Mr Mason is doing 'all he can'.
**Still it sure beats driving a cab in the recession does it not?
As for LTPH why had they not sought such an opinion?
Case law stated many times over many years clearly indicates that waiting in view of the public whether on public or private land is Plying for Hire'.
Well its pretty obvious to anyone who is not hungover from the festivities:
If LTPH get the legal opinion it will tell them what they don't want to hear:
The Satellite Office is both unworkable and results in illegal activity and must be abolished.
No doubt another set of high profile demos etc. along with the necessary legal angles by the Union beckon.
EDITORIAL COMMENT:
*The UTG cannot comment on this fact, as they have signed LTPH's infamous engagement policy, drafted by Mason which effectively gags their media publications from critical articles directed at TfL.
** It would appear that one of the editorial staff of the unelected trade representative group (since their AGM failed to attracted a quorum), the LCDC, failed to ad-hear to Masons engagement policy and published a damning report on-line (Click here to read) and has since been removed from the editorial team.
What happened to freedom of speech?
Why single out satellite offices? Minicab offices in any high street location or train station lead to the same illegal queue of minicabs that satellite offices cause. This is also an issue outside London, for instance in Potters Bar Station forecourt there are reserved spaces for the station Private Hire company (which of course calls itself a taxi company on its website) marked out on the tarmac. Requiring private hire offices to be in industrial estates away from transport hubs, shopping areas and entertainment venues is the only way to prevent illegal plying for hire.
ReplyDeleteBanning private hire drivers from being self employed and forcing minicab companies to pay their drivers the legal minimum wage when they are waiting for work would cause minicab companies to only employ the number of drivers that they actually need, and to sack any drivers who kept making themselves unavailable by picking up extra fares. This would make the illegal plying for hire and touting by licensed minicabs largely disappear. These are things that the Law Commission could sort out.
As Danny Sullivan said ..Sitting with number one and number two "feels great" I bet it does Danny i bet it does ,These three are in it all together back handers and brown envelopes the lot ,When the facts come out and they will ,People are going to court !
ReplyDeleteThe Law Commission has been dreamed up no doubt by tfl convincing their political partners in goverment that reform is required,the commission is a smoke screen to get all things currently illegal---legal---watch out????
ReplyDeletecolinthecabby.
would the Parisian, or any other city's Taxi Drivers, allow the authorities to continually, LIE, turn a blind-eye, to the THEFT of their legitimate FARES ie their TAKINGS?
ReplyDeletewe have to SHAME, the small handful of people who are in control & permit this
we don't do this by alienating the public with demonstrations - we've seen that this, DOESN'T WORK
hendy, on his mega-bucks salary (2008/09 was £348,444) plus expenses and a few others, who at a stroke, could put a stop, TO ALL THE ILLEGAL ACTIVITY, just laugh at us
we have to take the battle, DIRECTLY TO THEM
we have to start hurting those who are HURTING US - let's start making their lives a misery, as they have ours
Anon13:42
ReplyDeleteThats exactly what we intend to do!
Semtex said men at coming to kill us!
Well we ain't waiting for them, we are going looking for them.
And we ain't pulling our punches, they've had their final warning, now it's time for action.
TtT
Is that tie a christmas present? Must be from his admirers at the biscuit factory!
ReplyDeleteAnyhow another shocking tale of spin & deceit from TfL.
John Mason is a nice fella lads!
ReplyDeleteBut you wouldn't want to buy a car off him
ReplyDeleteWe'd be better off with an eastend barrow boy spiv incharge if the PCO
Opps that's exactly what we have got
Come on lads its not like John Mason has done anything bad....
ReplyDeleteI don't care if John Mason has the personality of Mother Theresa or Genghis Khan.
ReplyDeleteWhat I (and you) pay for is a professional licensing service, The job of Director LTPH pays well over 100K and these people cannot be bothered to obtain a legal opinion on the BIGGEST issue facing the trade.
That assumes of course that they have any desire to deal with the issue.
If anyone stays a member of the LCDC etc. after this then all I can say is, they deserve all they get.
Me? I'm fighting back!
This just proves that TfL's Engagement Policy is indeed nothing more than a gagging order.
ReplyDeleteThe LCDC seem to have a split personality of late with the Badge newspaper and the LCDC Blog.
The Blog has been telling the truth about what TfL have been up to, but the Badge is as bad as the LTDA's Taxi mag for manipulated propaganda.
Well now we know why.
And if Travis is correct that the LCDC blogger has had his butt kicked out, then we can expect the blog to return to the same old rubbish as the paper.
Shame, it was shaping into a good read.
RIP LCDC Blog!
What's the differnce between the LCDC and The Titanic?
ReplyDeleteThe Titanic had survivors!
dear sirs please excuse my ignorance if i am not right but i always thought that the being in sight law meant if broken the insurance companies i believe can refuse to pay out what would tfl say to the public if correct maybe a weapon our trade could use if handled the right way i think it could scare the shit out of a lot of city types?
ReplyDeleteStick with it. You strike me as a man of principle. I admire that. Unfortunately that quality seems to be few and far between these days...
ReplyDeleteTake care
- Henry
http://corruptionincortez.blogspot.com/