But readers on here know the AS to dig deeper and ask more searching questions of the trade organisations, LTPH & the councils that encompass the suburbs.
So here we go:
- Why has the trade allowed TfL, London councils etc. to take hundreds maybe even thousands of rank spaces away without a murmur? This effectively locks out the YB from going to work in their sector. Still that's history, lets sort it out now!
- Why agree a PH 'Rank' at Kingston and let the situation at Richmond, Lewisham, Newham etc. get so bad? We don't want a bit of marshalling for the 'faces', but proper provision for ALL the drivers and not enrichment opportunities for PH. Let's solve problems not create them.
- LTPH seem disinterested in YB provision and are allowing satellite offices in stations so our fellow cab drivers starve outside. They have frozen applications on some sectors, but this will take 10 years to make a difference and by that time no YB trade will exist. (is that the plan?)
What is needed is more ranks in the right places right now!
Does it matter to the Green Badge as long as YB's stay 'out of town'?
You bet it does!
Every time a punter calls a minicab becuse he cannot access a local taxi, that driver will come in and book the return journey so thats a good ride possibly going home you wont get.
If they book with a big PH circuit they will use them ALL the time so thats a punter lost forever. However the reverse is true, if a punter uses a cab they keep using them!
For those who say nonsense, ask any airport driver who gets the 'return to LAP' on a voucher from the desk? The same happens every day when a punter uses PH instead of us.
If we lose service in the suburbs it reinforces the conception that 'Black Cabs are expensive and difficult to obtain' and gives a PR coup to PH. It can be a good 'finish' to service a busy local rank for those on their way home.
We need a proper strategy from the Trade (hopefully to be discussed at the forthcoming all trades meeting called by the RMT), LTPH and the councils to talk to all of us and to each other, it may need to look at cheaper vehicles, phone apps, meter rates, sector size, KoL, numbers, ranks and a whole host of ideas that come up. I suggest nothing...but we should look at everything.
What we don't need are ill informed and downright demeaning comments such as 'All YB's are scum and need burning', '70% of YB's work in town' etc.etc.
We all need to work together on this and many other matters, united we stand, divided we have no chance!
Lots to agree with in the above, trouble is thre are a lot of short sighted people in the trade.
ReplyDeleteLets hope Mr McNamara takes up the RMT's invite, time to move forward.
A truly united front will terrify TfL.
Whilst I couldnt agree more I fear we have passed the point of no return.
ReplyDeleteOn point at Balham station two days ago, couple come out the station and approach me. On spotting my yellow identifyer the fella takes the womans arm and says something. They both glance at the cab behind (also displaying a yellow identifyer) and then step away from the rank. They stand looking up and down Balham station road for a while before trying to hail a passing but occupied green badge.
I get out and approach them
Me: do you need a cab
Man: no thanks
Woman: we need a green one
Bloke looks furious with her.
Me: I am allowed to take you wherever you need to go, Im in my area.
Man: no thanks
Woman: we were told only the green ones know where there going.
Man: you havent done the knowledge, have you?
Me: yes! For the areas I am allowed to pick up in
Man: yeah,you would say that, wouldnt you. You just want my money. I aint paying someone who aint a real cab driver.
Hes squaring up to me now. You'd have thought I'd insulted his Mrs. Not offered him the exact service he required. She starts to pull him away and a free green badge rounds the corner and she flags him.
To his credit he did point to my cab and say they should take the first cab on the rank but the man said I want to take your cab, so with an apologetic shrug he let them in and I watched them disappear around the corner. Fairs fair I appreciate there was nothing the green badge could do, and in these times noone can turn down a fare but it makes me think that we've (ybs) had it.
If this mentallity of telling half the story continues, which it will, then the rumour that yellows aint done the knowledge, coupled with the rumour that ph is cheaper will result in the conclusion you might aswell take an untrained cheap ride home than one that youll pay the cost of a proffessional driver.
In weeks gone by I might have said please can drivers explain the system to there passengers but I know its a lost cause. For every green driver that wants to better the trade in the big picture, theres five who want to ruin any 'competition' and ignore the impending doom. The really sad thing is that they are only ruining the part of the trade that isn't actually in competition with them and was devised to cover the work they don't.
Appreciate the idea Travis, but Im sure you know really that the rot has set in and for every helpful gesture in this trade theres 5 unhelpful ones. It pains me to say I dont think this is one we can win.
Unlike most of my collegues Im not even going to do the green cos I cant help thinking by the time Ive got it the rot will be spreading inwards from the burbs and outwards from the already lawless Central hotspots.
Chapmans already stated theres nothing They can do, and so even when the do say something now, no-one even listens to them.
Im sure some short sighted fools will think this is funny or a victory of some sort, but in five years no-one will be laughing, but again the few who can see this are only preaching to the converted.
Be lucky.
I was a YB until recently, so found your story very depressing. Many stories from passengers over the years have led me to the conclusion that the YB is a specialised knowledge whereas the GB is a one-size-fits-all knowledge, and I would expect a YB who works Balham regularly to do a better job to pretty much anywhere than a GB who just happened to be passing through.
DeleteWhen I was a YB I used to pick people up in Kilburn High Road heading for Notting Hill, and I would pass GBs with passengers on board who were waiting five minutes for a green arrow into Cambridge Avenue. I would memorise their number plate before turning into Oxford Road, take my passenger to Notting Hill, drop them, write them a receipt, and then be all the way back to Ledbury Road or Great Western Road before I'd see the green badge's number plate coming towards me. This was not rare, it would happen about once per shift, and if the passengers knew the truth, they would choose the yellow sticker first, but unfortunately some GBs are feeding misleading propaganda.
Incidentally, I witnessed dozens of yellow badges discussing the John Warboys incident a few years back, but not one ever said "typical green badge" or anything like that, there wasn't one ounce of disunity over that even though the yellow badges will have been financially damaged by the reputation loss more than the green badges. Sadly, cab trade unity was a one way street, and I can't help but wonder how green badges would have reacted if Warboys had been a yellow badge - or even how yellow badges would react if there was another green Warboys now, after yellow badges have suffered several years of anti-yellow propaganda in The Vadge.
I wish these annual surveys of customer satisfaction would stop comparing London with New York, Moscow and Paris and start comparing London with Harrow, Kingston and Bromley, I think a lot of green badges would be in for a shock, although most of us would probably rationalise the lower satisfaction in Central London by blaming poaching yellow badges...
Sites like the LTDF do not help its full of anti yellow badge taxi drivers ,And the LCDC with their back handers from Minicab firms.
ReplyDeleteDesigned to be implemented just after the half term holiday, there will be a small increase in work which will be normal for this time of year.
ReplyDeleteThere will of course be those who will be screaming "I told you so"
Most cab drivers can't see passed a pound note and don't care about trade politics, they nick off their own on ranks and overtake empty cabs.
They will be the directors of their own demise
Greed will win the day and STaN will be the victor
These badges are ofcourse illegal. The act of 1934 deals with a drivers requirement for wearing a badge. To signage nade compulsory needs new legislation and that's something Hendy can't do.
ReplyDeleteAt present I only need to shoe my badge number to three people
A policeman
A magistrate
The passenger
I will show a licensing officer out of courtesy.
This is covered by the act of 1847, which has not been amended.
Any law suit for failing to display, would fail
I understand that quite a few drivers are to refuse to display out of principle. I will be one.
And I'm a green badge.
Instead of spending money on this badly planed issue, the LTPH should have looked to improve the ranks in tbe burbs
But then there's no new money in that and that's what is all about
Raising revenue from PH at the expense of the yellow badge trade
It's disgraceful
I said it on this Anderson Shelter in black and white ages ago, that the only winners here would be Transport For London.
ReplyDeleteSadly Travis, I think it is all too late mate, and tend to agree with a posters above.
I tried to side in with our yellow badge suburban colleagues, but the short sighted opposition from our own trade were having none of it. Yes, there was skullduggery going on whereby yellow badges were going over the wire, but I still think it was blown way out of proportion.
What is the result ? Green badges earning 5 grand a week because of the shortage of yellows in the centre ?
Of course it isn't. The result is that we have turned on our suburbian representatives with such hate and savagery, that they are leaving the trade, walking away and letting mini cabs take over a huge geographical area, that once belonged to us.
I warned of the implications of this 'Lord of the Flies' syndrome when it all started, and I hate to say it, but......
I also fear my predictions of the time will come true as well. The suburbs of London will be controlled and run by mini cab companies now. In a short time of a year or so, and with the massively influential assistance of the powerful Law Commissioners, our central London Trade Green Badge area will have the financial life squeezed out of it, resulting in a unviable business for us to continue.
I also said at the time that whoever invented the identifiers and the whole STAN project, should be given a medal.
The foresight and planning have been nothing short of masterful, and would have made Churchill proud.
Our trade have been decieved and conned into thinking that there was no Agenda.
Sadly and frustratingly, we have been taken to the cleaners by Civil Servants, who have made the great Operation Mincemeat look lame !
We ain't all angels.I know dozens of green badge colleagues who are nothing but slags, and should have a rope around their neck, let alone a green badge. Despite the rogue yellow badges that cheated the system, we have embraced TFL's identifier idea with open arms. We have crucified not just the wrong doers, but the whole yellow badge representation that supported us out on the fringes.
Well, it's gone now folks, and the little bit we have got is disappearing by the day.
The great STAN agenda scores another platinum point, and will probaly go on doing so........until we are all dead and gone.
8829 Semtex
All Yellow Badge surburban drivers are invited to download TLCtaxiapp (iPhone & Android) with a view to forming groups and using the app as a tool to bring people back into the habit of riding in a Licensed taxi cab whether in town or in the suburbs.
ReplyDeleteJoin the protest tomorrow at Tooley Street at 11am . All drivers welcome!CAB
ReplyDeleteMost cabbies are too greedy to attend a demo every week while they see others working around them, but there is a possible solution - the taxi apps could monitor which drivers attend the demo and then reward them by giving them a certain amount of priority over other drivers for the rest of the week (this is technically fairly easy, and should take less than one man-day to programme). In this way the drivers who attend the demo could end up with as much money in the bank at the end of the week as the ones who don't, and the ability to stage and repeat demos would go through the roof just in time for the Olympics. The only question is whether the people who control the apps want to do this. Good luck with the demo, I'd be there were it not for a prior appointment.
DeleteI forgot to add that if apps rewarded drivers who attend demos, this would mean GB drivers would be rewarded for YB demos and vice versa, so massive demos in YB areas would at last become viable, and we could get the ILLEGAL situation at Kingston ended before the cancer spreads.
DeleteOnly way forward is to give Nasons job tk someone who knows and understands hackney carriage law.
ReplyDeleteThis lot are making it up as they go along.
They are bending the law to fit their own agenda and they must be taken down and soon.
Mason has had nothing but contempt for us.
ReplyDeleteHis brief when he took the job was to open up the private hire revenue stream.
Since he has been in office PH numbers have gone from 30,000 to over 85,000 in two years
Over 300 passengers in PH vehicles have been seriously sexually assaulted and enforcement has been disbanded.
No agenda John... My arse.
A excellent Article . In a Yellow Badge Area . You now have Mini Cab Offices in nearly all underground station forecourts . So customers now take Minicabs . They probably pay the Same if Not More . So We do Short journeys in a vehicle that costs up to £35,000 . Road Tax £445 . etc etc .
ReplyDeleteAnd No One Gives a Toss . We are supposed to be a public service . We should be ranked in station forecourts . At present being a Yellow Badge Driver is not a living . But dont worry the Green Badges will feel the ripple of lost work .
People need to get off their Backsides . All the People who have taken money trade people . Their Seems to be a lot of Talk from some sectors . But its all Hot Air they are Full of Poo.
The big bully GBS have lost London of a night time, with scabs every where ,They blame us YBS for this ,its not divide and rule its one law for them .
ReplyDeleteno one is blaming the ybs for anything,only those who are working illegally in town have anything to fear from those "bullying gbs"as you put it.the gbs owe it to themselves and all those kol men and women working hard to get their greenbadge to make sure theres no shortcut or backdoor route to working in central london.the work in suburban sectors is dire at the moment so its only human nature that some ybs will sneak in to nick a few quid.its not rocket science.but its still illegal.hence the ids.worried that some unscrupulus bus driver or passenger will take your badge number down and report you?have a look on the back of your cabs gentlemen,the biggest number is the big yellow thing called a number plate.the next biggest number is the big white license plate under the big yellow number plate,which incidently is also inside the cab.the badge number is the small one on the green id sticker.ive had numerous pcns to my address BEFORE the ids came in so they obviously had no problem tracing me did they?everyone knows why some ybs are so vehemntlyagainst these ids so lets stop pretending its about division,human rights,one law for them etc etc bleeding etc.if you want to work in central london DO THE GREEN BADGE and stop wingeing about how unfair it all is.to all those ybs who are struggling in their sectors,i salute you and can only hope with a bit of organization you can fight back and get the work you did your badge for.but those ybs who work in central london,your wronguns and you know you are.
DeleteHello anonymous 11.09am, its not all green badges mate,its a certain section of green badges,most gbs are not anti us.Remember this site is run by Gbs.Grant Davis and Oddy are the people that should be held accountable.When Hendy and his bulldogs Mason and Chapman knife us,you expect it because they are lying scheming devious gutless civil servants.But when one of your own betrays you,its far worse.Thats why we need the Ltda and lcdc out of the picture and someone else to represent what drivers want.Its called democracy
ReplyDeleteWhat gives you the right to say what personal right I have to surrender!
ReplyDeleteYou said it yourself, we already have identifying numbers all over the cab, so why the need for our badge number?
Buses have reg numbers but no drivers number!
Police cars have reg number but no driver number!
Minicab drivers do not display their badge number!
What makes you think it's only YBs that are against the IDs having badge numbers on? I know loads of GBs who haven't been taken in by the agenda to divide us.
You are living proof that the agenda is working.
I can't wait till the 1ST of March when you will see no trade resurrecting increase in work as you've fallen for the clubs propaganda.
.
The real enemy will still be stealing the work from under your nose because your too stupidly blind to see passed the lies.
After a FOI request I uncovered that only 13 drivers were cautioned for working out of sector last year and over half were working in another suburban sector.
But now with all the promoting and with the help of photo copied green badge IDs, expect to see an avalanche of YBs working in town who feel they have been betrayed by people like you.
When the id's come in next week for the yellow badges I urge each and every one to start marshalling the ranks they share with greens, because despite assurances from the so called trade bodies and TFL, I guarantee there will be wholesale Brooming and suggestions that local jobs should get in a cab with a yellow id. This will be most prevalent on City Airport where greens seem to think that because 'they've done a bit of bird' they can tell passengers to walk to the Travelodge or Excel. The time any of us spend on a rank is irrelevant to passengers because they have only just arrived and the reason they want a cab is because they haven't a clue how to get to their destination. The reason it takes hours to get to point on the airport is because clever cabbies turn away local work or have some kind of teenage strop because a punter wants to go to Canary Wharf. How would you like to be faced with that attitude hen you visit another country? You wouldn't and you would be making alternative travel arrangements, hence why more pasengers choose the mini cabs or the DLR at City. Make sure no one takes money out of your pockets boys & girls, make sure they take what's their and you take what's yours.
ReplyDeleteNice idea, but the GBs who encourage their LCA->Kensington customers to only use GBs will NOT be giving the same advice to their LCA->Beckton passengers... so over time, the GBs will gradually steal all of the cream work, with the long distance passengers walking down the rank picking out the first GB, and only the YBs ever making it to the front of the rank where they will be compelled to take the Beckton.
DeleteNot in your lifetime will that happen mate. To get people to change their mindset from getting in the first available cab, to picking out particular cabs is nigh on impossible. Most of them are rushing to meetings or wanting to get home after a long day, so whilst they will listen to the cab driver prattle on for the half hour they're in the cab, two minutes after they get out they'll have forgotten the conversation.
DeleteDon't be so easily defeated, would you let someone just put their hand in your bag and take your wallet? No you would not, but you seem happy to let another cabbie take money from you by brooming a job.
That's why I say get up alongside his window when you're near point and make sure he take's what's his and then he won't get a chance to tell punters going local to get yellow id cabs. Stand up for yourself, what's he going to do hit you? He won't be a cab driver much longer if he does and he knows it, so you're on safe ground. In my experience most cab drivers talk a good fight, but the reality is much different.
If we all are vigilant and marshal the rank ourselves then fairness will prevail. Green or Yellow, friend or foe, no one is going to turn me over by brooming or pointing punters towards the station or travelodge.