We are totally democratic and will uphold our members wishes, right to the final conclusion.
TfL/LTPH are failing ALL of London's Taxi drivers, by their point blank refusal to increase the number of enforcement officers throughout the whole of London.It is not for the Taxi trade to act as TfL's private enforcement company.
Mr Hendy, Mr Mason it's your job to enforce the Law.You have failed in such an enormous fashion you should be ashamed.
I, and the Committee of the London Taxi branch will not condone any driver, whether All London or Suburban, working illegally.These identifiers will serve no purpose other than to put driver against driver, a situation which cannot be allowed.
More funding for more Enforcement officers is needed to empty the streets of illegally working vehicles.
Mike Tinnion.
Chairman.
London Taxi branch 930.
The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers.
Unity House
39 Chalton street
London,
NW1 1JD.
Great shout from our colleague Mike Tinnion of RMT Taxi section.
ReplyDeleteOur green lanyard support can clearly see the problems we are dealing with. It is nice to have such strong and focused allies.
Good call Mike.
God bless mate.
8829 Semtex
I saw an identifier in a cab today at the lights, alongside a PH with the tiny sticker hidden behind the window tint.
ReplyDeleteJust like the meter printer nonsense and being turned over every night outside every club.
PH must be pissing themselves as once again London's Finest just roll over!
Me?
If and it's still If the law makes me fit the identifier, I shall be placing an exact sized piece of tint in between the window and the stickers.
After all, it wont obscure the view and whats good enough for PH then its more than good enough for us!
Lets call it the Grant Magoo Protest, !
A driver's wage depends on the proportion of time spent carrying passengers. For a Central driver, so long as every job takes them from one part of Central London to another, they are earning nearly all of the time, especially at night. When a passenger takes them out to a quiet suburb, they may end up driving empty back to the centre, which means that these jobs put their wage down. If they are lucky enough to get a job in the suburbs which takes them back to the centre, this puts their wage up again, so jobs from the suburbs to the centre are the most valuable jobs to the Central drivers.
ReplyDeleteThe inner edge of the Suburban area contains a ring of ranks, such as City Airport, where Suburban drivers do a lot of local work but also get a lot of work into the centre. Since jobs from the suburbs to the centre are the most valuable jobs to the Central drivers, if the Central drivers could get the Suburban drivers to disappear, this would put the Central drivers' wages up a lot by nearly guaranteeing that every job out to the suburbs led to a job back to the centre.
On the other hand, Suburban drivers who pick up in Central London have little effect on Central drivers' wages. There are 3500 Suburban drivers compared with 20000 Central drivers, so if every Suburban driver quit the suburbs and worked illegally in the centre it would be hard for Central drivers to notice the small drop in work in Central London. At night the Central drivers' wages are totally unaffected by Suburban drivers breaking rules, because the supply of cabs at night in the centre is so short that the number of taxis there could double without anybody's wage suffering. So Suburban drivers legally taking passengers into the centre and driving back empty have a much worse effect on the Central drivers' wages than the rule-breakers do.
While it is not worth the effort of Central drivers to report Suburban drivers picking up in the centre, it is definitely in the Central drivers' financial interest to target the law-abiding Suburban drivers by making false accusations of picking up in Central London every time they see a Suburban driver legally dropping off in the centre, because wiping the Suburban drivers out will allow any Central driver who gets taken to the suburbs to head for the nearest Suburban rank and be guaranteed a job to the centre. Passengers who currently use Suburban taxis for local jobs around the suburbs will have to use minicabs after the Suburban drivers have all been wrongly sacked, since the Central drivers will continue to illegally refuse to do local suburban jobs, as they mostly do now. So after the Suburban drivers have been wiped out, half their work would go to Central drivers and the other half would go to minicabs.
Minicabs outnumber taxis many times, so even if taxi drivers spent all day filming minicab lawbreaking, they could not dent numbers enough to make a difference to taxi driver wages. But Central taxi drivers outnumber Suburban taxi drivers six to one, so a small percentage of Central drivers making false accusations against Suburban drivers would make a big difference to Central drivers wages. Anyone viewing online forums knows that a sizeable minority of Central drivers view wiping Suburban drivers out as a form of holy war.
TfL's can't possibly want to protect Central taxi drivers from Suburban drivers stealing their work, since TfL has turned Central London ranks into minicab waiting areas during major events. On the other hand, if TfL wants to get rid of as many taxis as possible and replace them with minicabs, the identifiers would achieve that by encouraging one group of taxi drivers to tell lies about another group of taxi drivers.
In light of the massacre committed by Cumbrian taxi driver Derrick Bird who received a tax bill which he couldn't pay, any Central driver who thinks thousands of Suburban drivers being wiped out by false accusations is someone else's problem is very wrong! The surviving drivers will say it wasn't worth it.
Cant believe what I have just read, look I completed the GB after 4 years 2 months, I can work town.
ReplyDeleteYb know the SP before they start the YB.
GB work has to be protected from YB masquerading as GB and lowering our prestige by getting lost taking ridiculous routes etc CAN YOU LOT SEE THIS ?
We all know that Scabs are bad, but when a punter gets in a Black Cab in the centre of town and pays good money he EXPECTS A GB to do it.
Iam sick of all this, the IDS are one of the better things TFL have done, only the scared "at it" YB are worried and there are many hundreds.
YB that pick Up in central London after being Hailed are NOT INSURED TO DO THIS.
ReplyDeleteTFL I applaud you.
As Mandy Rice Davies would say. “Mike Tinnion would say that wouldn’t he”, as the RMT London Taxi Branch has as many yb’s as gb’s. Same goes for the UCG.
ReplyDeleteGo on gb’s lapped this bollocks up.
Anonymous 07/01/2012 22:39
ReplyDeleteSo after all that self serving, over long, War and Peace text we come down to leave us yb’s alone or we will go ape shit and shoot the town up?
Almost every Surburban Taxi rank that is near a underground station , has a private hire office nearer the station . So Surburban drivers get the smaller jobs . Despite the fact we provide a service . The surburban driver has been squeezed to the point of no return . Green Badges are also loosing work at Hotels , and Major Account Work to private hire drivers .
ReplyDeleteSo Rather than Create more Work , The identifier gives the Green Badge a false sense of security . Surburban Drivers are Green Badges
line of defense against private hire . Whilst they think Money will be on the streets forever . The London Taxi Trade has taken a step backwards . The Only Winner in this is Mr Private Hire .
By All means catch the rule breakers . But in a Recession to be proud of such a diversive act . Shows a lack of any understanding of economics . A green badge drives a Taxi , has more knowledge . But dont get an idea that Surburban drivers are stupid . Some have worked in other industries .
well said look what happend when they licenced mini cabs it killed our trade you only have to look at the radio circuits all the work has gone to mini cabs as a trade we need to work together and get rid of the IDS Fight for our trade and before you ask I am a green badge driver.
DeleteI put my name to everything I write, I don't have to hide behind the anonymous tag, my name is Mike Tinnion, what's yours. Brave aren't you. Its a shame you don't the courage of your convictions. Anonymous
ReplyDeleteI'll say it again my name is Mike Tinnion, and I stand by everything I've written
Anonymous 00:50 - Yes, my text was self-serving - but while there is no danger of me being one of the persecuted yellow badges with a gun, there is every danger I might be one of the green badges who gets shot.
ReplyDeleteMicky, "The chair" needs to set a good example and show a measured response. Be careful not to be drawn into the three ringed internet circus controlled by fictional names!
ReplyDeleteCome on lads this is not going to stop yb working in town. There will be less enforcement now so if a yb gets hold of a gb sticker,we will now know no different when he picks up in front of you with a green identifier so let's be real this ain't the answer? The trade are going to lose a lot of drivers this year with the 15 year cab rule so more work for mini cabs created by tfl and LCDC also we lose the suburbs we will be next !! So all carry on the in house fighting and we will all be out of work??
ReplyDeleteCan all the LCDC committee anons. use their own blog or in the spirit of the age identify themselves?
ReplyDeleteWhy do you say NOTHING about PH and the tinted windows and the non requirement of no booking no ride stickers?
Are you happy with 7 enforcement officers?
Has Mason gagged you?
I see it like this, another requirement for us and NOTHING for them and its them who are costing us our living!
WAKE UP.
Green identifiers, yellow identifiers, it doesn't matter because there is still virtually NO ENFORCEMENT.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks to Grant Davis and the LCDC there is even less chance of getting any now.
The only winners in this are the scabs who can continue to operate with impunity.
Even if every YB worked out of sector it still wouldn't come close to the amount of scabs touting.
I am a green badge.
“I'm Watching said...
ReplyDeleteMicky, "The chair" needs to set a good example and show a measured response. Be careful not to be drawn into the three ringed internet circus controlled by fictional names! “
________________________________________
What a real name like “I'm Watching”?
Tell you what get the UCG major players who post on here to give their names and badge colour and I will use my name.
The Identifiers Have Happened . They are now law . The Mini Cab offices in underground stations are Their .
ReplyDeleteThe Scenario of Shouting Complaining about Stickers is similar to a person with a rope around his neck seconds before he is hanged .
Its Happened . Its Too Late.
TFL issue our license they Decide What Happens .
The Stickers will not be changed . Why have the Stickers been introduced ? Answer because a minority of Yellow Badges work in town . And now they cannot do that , which means they will earn less . So various arguments are put forward to hide this fact . If these people had not done this , their would be No Sticker .
I suggest that all the suporters of identifiers Join a trade group preferably one that will represent you.
ReplyDeleteCos when the groundless and friviolous complaints start to roll in as made by the pissed off bus driver or cyclist scab or crank you will need assistance.
Keep up the war agaist each other and let those that want flush the best Taxi Trade in the world down the bog.
OK, so TfL say we need these identifiers.
ReplyDeleteLet's see these on Buses and trains then so we can complain about the terrible driving we see every day from bus drivers, or the jerky tube rides.
gary yb eastern section.there are loopholes in the identifiers having to be displayed in your windscreens.so if the so called clever gb club want to cause problems in our trade amongst ourselves and not sort out the bigger picture PH bring it on.
ReplyDelete