CABBIES AGAINST BORIS- Update...by David Davies

In 2008 Boris Johnson lobbied for the support of London Taxi drivers promising to ‘make their life easier’. In his 2008 campaign manifesto ‘Getting Londoners moving he said-

Protecting London’s Cab Trade
‘We believe that the cab trade has not got the support it deserves.’
‘we will enact right away to ease the burden on the cab trade’;

Taxi Globe reported-
As the New Year began in 2008,
Boris Johnson began his campaign to become Mayor of
London. At the Royal Oak he told cab drivers: “Taxi drivers
give London a great service – they are an institution. They
work hard to earn the right to drive on the streets of the
Capital and I do not believe in trying to wreck their trade
in the way that Mayor Livingstone has been doing over the
last eight years.” He continued by saying he would scrap the
mid year inspection. He said: “These inspections are adding
to the cost of the taxi drivers’ livelihood, increasing the cost
of their licence, putting an unnecessary burden on drivers.”
Secondly, Boris promised that cab drivers would no longer
be penalised for stopping on Red Routes to allow passengers
to use cashpoints. Thirdly, Boris promised to work with local
councils to make the rules on using bus lanes the same across
London, enabling cab drivers to use all bus lanes.

In response to a question the Mayor said
Boris Johnson (Mayor of London): I think that was the right decision on the twice yearly inspection. We are not going back on that. There are a variety of other measures that we are looking at to make taxis cleaner and greener and to improve the quality of London’s air, but without punishing, unfairly, taxi drivers who have invested in machines in good faith in the belief and knowledge that these are the things that are their only source of income.

In an interview with Cabbies in 2008 he said
‘They’ve had a pretty rough deal over the last few years and there are some very simple things we can do to make life easier for the cabs and to get traffic moving again’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLL4Bfd729g

So his promises in 2008 of ‘making life easier for the cabs’ and removing burdens and his acknowledgement that
Taxi Drivers give London a great service and had earned the right to drive on London’s streets led to the Back Boris campaign in 2008 which helped him to win the election.

Since his election he has moved the regulation of London Taxis from the Public Carriage Office to Transport for London who have done the complete opposite of making life easier for taxis. They have failed to enforce Private Hire regulation, they have taken away the right to drive on London Streets during the Olympics, they have introduced an Age Limit which puts drivers out of work and does nothing to reduce emissions and have now removed hundreds of Taxi Ranks across London. HE HAS NOT KEPT HIS PROMISES TO SUPPORT LONDONS TAXIS !

The Cabbies Against Boris protest tomorrow is to remind Boris of his promises and demand that he makes immediate changes and stops the persecution of the Taxi trade by TFL.

TFL have implemented a strategy of ‘Divide and Conquer’ by deliberately causing differences between trade organisations. The protest tomorrow has received support from members of ALL Taxi Trade organisations.
There is no political agenda or ulterior motive; the only people the Mayor has to answer to is the London Cabbies themselves.
Please support this protest !. If the Mayor see that London Cabbies are protesting against him he will have to make immediate changes. If the protest is not supported he knows he can do what the hell he likes.