by News Desk | Jan 27, 2015 | London News
26 January 2015
RMT Press Office:
RMT London Taxi Drivers today registered their dismay at comments made by Sir Peter Hendy regarding the licensed taxi trade that it is ‘not the job of TFL to protect the taxi trade, but the public’.
In an interview with London’s Evening Standard the Transport Commissioners’ comments have exposed his gross ignorance of the trade.
As a highly regulated service, the licensed taxi industry provides the public with a safe, secure travel option. Protecting the standards of the industry in turn protect the public.
Sir Peter Hendy has added ignorance to insult through comments on the ‘archaic’ legislation that governs the taxi industry while failing to cite a single one and instead choosing to refer to an interpretative almanac of taxi law written by James Button QC.
RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said;
“Sir Peter Hendy seems unable to grasp the basic concept of legislative law as he continues in his defiant defence of smartphone app Uber while offering the meaningless drivel that TFL ‘try to apply the law fairly’.
“Whilst TFL may be able to argue that they do not have a duty of care to taxi drivers in the legal sense of the phrase, as regulator it is unquestionably their responsibility to enforce legislation Parliament has seen fit to allow to remain in force regarding the comparative roles of both Taxis & PHVs.
“TFL should not allow the roles to become blurred without the authorisation of Parliament.His comments and attitude are in step with the recent GLA investigation Future Proof: Taxi & Private Hire Services in London which found TFL’s management of the trade ‘woefully inadequate’.”
Ends
Source : live.rmt.netxtra.net
by News Desk | Jan 27, 2015 | London News
If you thought we weren’t in trouble, just look at the danger signs currently set at code red, as history repeats itself.
It’s all out war and TfL’s Sir Peter Hendy has fired a broadside.
STaN repot kicks off A Satellite Office Culture
2007: GLA transport committee meeting:
Assembly member Peter Hulme Cross tells Hendy
“The taxi drivers are complaining that private hire drivers are touting outside night clubs and enforcement is almost nonexistent. “
Hendy laughed and replied;
“Ha ha, they’re always complaining…they should get out more”
Hendy then went into a tirade about how he left the Grosvenor House Hotel with a dinner guest at midnight and there were no cabs outside. He said Cab drivers take their money too easily and go home early and won’t work passed 9 o/clock.
Addison Lee left alone to form rank on double red lines outside Grosvenor House Hotel, causing Taxis to double park.
His answer was in the form of the now infamous STaN report. The order was given to scrap the need for full planning permission and satellite offices exploded all over the capital. A veil of respectability was drawn over the lines of cars and everyone from cab enforcement to local council wardens, turned a blind eye.
Top Cop ” Statellite Offices Unenforceable .
Joe Royal of the TOCU unit said the new satellite offices were unenforceable, left and moved on. The TOCU squad was disbanded and enforcement was cut back.
Less arrests meant lower statistics.
After the implementation of Satellite Offices in late 2007, minicab numbers in London escalated from 18,000 to 30,000 in 2010.
TFL have bent over backwards to lubricate the passage of Private Hire driver licenses, operating centres and licence variations (satellite offices)
Regular sight outside clubs, the clipboard Johnny
By 2010, we saw 24hour supermarkets, tobacconists, kiosks, empty phone boxes, ticket agencies and even an archway in Maiden Lane (Bull Court) given satellite office status
>See Simco’s Video<. All given protection by TfL.
On the radio, Hendy has insulted the Taxi trade on many occasions. Take the Eddie Nestor show, 13/06/2013 he said “if you don’t want your business taken by illegal touts, get some cabs out there with their lights on”. He also said TfL had a one hit and your out policy and any driver convicted of a criminal offence would have their licence revoked.
Obviously, not the case if you’re a North London local councillor.
Sir Peter Hendy will also be remembered as the man who closed down the underground on a remembrance Sunday, leaving veterans wanting to get to the Whitehall ceremony stranded. Proving that even though a Knight of the Realm, he has no sense of honour of tradition.
Poppy Cabs
The Taxi trade came to the aid of the stranded veterans running a free service from multiple pick up points all over the capital. It has now become a regular feature with many hundreds of drivers volunteering to give up the days work each year.
2015, Hendy tells the Evening Standard:
“I think what Uber is doing is making headway in the late-night and recreational market, where we know there aren’t enough licensed taxis.”
When asked if he uses Uber, he replied that he did.
And yet the paradox is, it’s TfL that changed the knowledge system to its present state, where the ordeal has gone from an average of 30 months (when they took over from the Met to the present average of 4 1/2 years
While London Taxi drivers are having to work extended hours, overlapping shifts, with higher expenses and less work to go round, they are told by Hendy there aren’t enough Taxis out there.
This is the man who we finance through our licence fees, to drink champagne, eat oysters and sleep with high priced prostitutes
Hendy: ” I’m no moral compass “
The numbers of all London licensed Taxis drivers has stagnated since around 2007 and yet suburban sectors have been oversold. Rank spaces have been removed in large numbers and presently we now have a situation where there is one rank space for every sixty five Taxis.
This is an intentional agenda which helps to feed the ever increasing operating centres with plenty of work. Minicab numbers have almost quadrupled, rising from 18,000 at the beginning of 2007 to the present 70,928.
Long lines of Private Hire vehicles are left alone to tout outside virtually every night venue, some larger PH operators only operate in this way.
RD2, regular offender outside Old Billingsgate
On the other hand Taxi drivers regularly receive PCNs for over ranking, forming unauthorised ranks and takin too long to process Credit Card payments.
Both Westminster and Camden have been filmed targeting Taxis drivers while ignoring other motorists.
Overseas invasion:
The Chinese are set to flood London with cheap Hybrids later this year, the Law Commission has no intention of defining plying for hire in law and Hendy wants to get rid of us.
We are not only at war, we are fighting for our very survival. Will the rank and file answer the call?
Think we’re not in trouble….Well think again.
by News Desk | Jan 27, 2015 | London News
Another busy week or so in cab trade politics.
First the ground breaking meeting where most of the Trade Orgs met at Taxi House, let’s not have a public autopsy as to why some did not attend, all they need to do is to commit to attending the next one.
We then had the Mayor’s question time where it was obvious to all the contempt and indifference that Johnson has for us.
Then as if to kick us when they think we are down we had Sir Peter ‘Lunchalot’ Hendy who is obviously on the defensive following the damning GLA report decided to have a dig in the Standard.
What’s clear that that article destroys any chance of TfL taking on the prosecution on Über as Hendy states ‘it ain’t a meter’, he then goes on to say TfL is just the regulator and non concerned with the welfare of the cab trade but the customer (that assumes that we are not despite paying fat licensing fees).
IF ONLY THEY WERE THE REGULATOR!
Less than an handful of compliance officer on duty, woeful level of prosecutions, hundreds of outstanding ranks requests etc. etc.
So is it all doom and gloom?
Well the meeting at Taxi House brings some sunlight, the city hall gathering some more and perhaps even more when Hendy turns up at City Hall to be held to account next month.
Don’t disrupt the meeting as he will just walk out and not answer vital questions, let’s lobby the GLA before and after if we can.
So the penny has dropped with most of us, we are on our own, we are more effective if we coordinate action, it ain’t a dating agency and we don’t have to go on holiday together.
Let’s give Hendy’s article and the Mayor’s contempt the following answer:
“”YOU AINT SEEN NOTHING YET”
by News Desk | Jan 27, 2015 | London News
My name is Hassan, a black cab driver.
Myself and a friend have written an article about the choice of drivers for the customers and explaining the differences between all types of drivers.
I believe the only way to get around this unfair competition is to educate people and inform them about the black cab in london ( which 90% of them don’t have a clue ) and then let them choose
Do you think you will be interested to pub the article on your blog ?
BLACK CAB ARTICLE
We all know that the customer has the right to make an informed choice over public transport options. Let me make your choice easier and clearer.
It takes two days to learn how to use a satellite navigator and be a mini cab driver. Yet with this method, which is reliant on the navigator solely, the mini cab driver is not able to mentally challenge the proposed route in any way and choose the most effective route for the customer.
It takes between 4-6 years to become a fully licensed black cab driver. This entails learning “The Knowledge”, which is unique to London and famous worldwide. It includes the learning of in excess of 60,000 streets and all the road networks within the extensive London suburbs.
In reality this means driving a bike for 2 years; attending taxi school for 3 years ideally; learning in addition all the restrictions within an infrastructure pickled with one-way systems; official points of interest; as well as the hard won skill of anticipating road congestion and short-cuts.
During this long period of study black cab drivers-to-be have to make “appearances”, which amount to the toughest of oral exams in which they are ruthlessly tested for all the above as well as their personal manner and interpersonal abilities, the general driving license road knowledge and a special detailed exam to acquire the necessary disabled wheel chair license.
By contrast, a mini cab driver has none of these onerous obligations and may use any car in any condition so long as it meets the criteria of being less than 8 years old and the MOT regulations are met with once a year. The cost may vary between £1,000 and £30,000.
The fully licensed and professional black cab driver may only use a specified official London black cab, especially designed for transporting passengers only, with extra options for disabled customers and their wheelchairs, a large space for passenger comfort and an MOT requirement that is 6 monthly. The authenticity of the driver and his official badge are also checked rigorously too within this period. The cost of a black cab may vary between £15,000 and £40,000.
The black cab driver is specifically trained to get the customer to a destination in the most efficient, effective and trouble-free way possible. The mini-cab driver by comparison has no such knowledge or tailored training to call upon whatsoever and will be reliant entirely on his SatNav technology. The reality of this is that said driver will, inevitably, have his eye well off traffic considerations and be intent on his computer screen. Such methods are dangerous as well as unreliable, resulting in a significant number of reported accidents at a serious level, with mini-cab drivers tearing up wrong way streets in the wrong direction, for example.
In addition, the private mini-cab will decide the customer’s fare. The black cab driver has to use a fully inspected meter that is licensed by London taxis (Hackney Carriages) under the Metropolitan Public Carriage Act 1869. Section 9 of this Act allows them to make regulations which fix the rates or fares to be paid. The London Cab and Stage Carriage Act 1907 allows the fixing of fares to be paid for the hire of taxis fitted with taxi-meters, on the basis of time or distance or both.
We all understand that if the customer lives in an area where it is difficult to get a taxi , he has no other option but to call a mini cab, but what I can not understand is why does he have to choose that option and wait for a mini cab to arrive when he can get a black cab in a few minutes , like for example in the areas of , mayfair , Belgravia , Knightsbridge , Kensington , oxford street , soho , coven gardens, or anywhere in the central london when black cabs works mainly .
As we are all humans , we can not avoid making mistakes , but a black cab will recognise it and rectify it , and in most cases he will compensate that in the fare to keep the customers happy. When it comes to other drivers they are not aware of their mistakes simply because they are following a sat nav that (”never goes wrong way ”). And the customer ends up paying for their mistakes .
Lastly, but not least, London’s black cabs are part of the rich cultural tapestry which draws many tourists to London, without which our national cultural identity in London is seriously diluted. Tourists visit London in droves, parting with their money, expecting to see Buckingham Palace, The Tower of London, the famous red London buses and the very famous black cabs. They are an integral part of our heritage which we need to value and retain.
For more information, kindly Google “London Taxi Knowledge”!
The choice is yours!
Written by
Hassan and phillip
by News Desk | Jan 27, 2015 | London News
Hailo has added a new feature for its users in London that provides an alternate backup car in case you find your chosen mode of transportation unavailable.
For example, if you’re looking to hop into one of the capital’s iconic black cabs but Hailo doesn’t have any available, the Backup feature means that a HailoExec car will be booked at no additional cost. Exec-level vehicles, as the name implies, are generally high-end saloon cars – only Mercedes E-class, BMW 5-7 series, Jaguars and Audi A series are allowed.
It works the other way around too, if you book a HailoExec and none are available, then a black-cab will arrive instead. The feature is completely opt-in, so you’re not being forced to use the Backup option if you don’t want to. If you do want to, you can find the setting in the Options menu as you’re booking your car.
The company said in a blog post that it is also working to add the option to pre-book cabs, like its rival GetTaxi already offers; the feature is currently in testing but the company didn’t give an exact launch date, though it likely won’t be too far away.
This from Hailo Blog
Source : The Next Web: Hailo Blog : Twitter
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