Tony Arbour should be sacked immediately; he not only caused the disruption at City Hall by improperly ending a Public meeting but then made inflammatory and false statements and is now calling for Taxi Drivers who took exception to HIS improper conduct to be sacked.
He said: “Not only did they riot inside the building, they beat up several security guards, one was even knocked out and taken to hospital.
“I hope those responsible can be identified and have their licenses removed. Debate is the essence of democracy; but this was not a debate.”
That’s right Tony it was not a debate. It was a corrupt Boris Johnson who didn’t want to face public scrutiny of his improper and unlawful decisions and policies, deliberately avoiding the situation by colluding with you to improperly stop the Mayors Questions.
The response has to be urgent and continuous direct action by Taxi Drivers calling for the MEDIA to report the true facts about this utter corruption and for the immediate resignation of Arbour and Johnson and a full investigation
There have been suggestions of a Judicial Review in the High Court to challenge TFL.
The criteria to get Permission for a Judicial Review may not be met and even if they are this process is as corrupt as Johnson and TFL.
A Judicial Review can only be filed to challenge a particular decision and must be done so within 90 days of that decision being made.
I cannot see a clear decision that has been made that can be challenged.
The issue with Johnson and TFL is not any single decision ; it is utter corruption on may issues effecting taxi drivers.
I personally spent £100k and challenged TFL in the High Court on two occasions with Judicial Reviews.
In the first case the High Court Judge actually ruled that TFL had made 2 unlawful decisions yet no action was ever taken. All I got was a weak apology from TFL. No costs. No damages. No one was sacked for making an unlawful decision in Public Office (a criminal offence). Nothing changed.
The Judge also ignored the evidence and upheld one of TFLs decisions even though it completely contradicted a previous High Court ruling against the London Cab Drivers Club in 2006.
The Judge, Justice Sir Gary Hickingbottom had previously worked as a Parking Adjudicator for TFL and was congratulated on his appointment as a High Court Judge by TFL in a report. He attended and spoke at conferences with TFL and had a close ongoing relationship with them. How could he possibly fairly hear a case against them?
He did not declare any of this as a conflict of interest.
Instead he heard the case , ignored the evidence , contradicted a previous High Court ruling and found in TFLs favour.
It later transpired that my legal team Edwin Coe LLP were also corrupt and have subsequently lied under oath in court ( a further case against them is ongoing) No wonder I lost!
Anyone who thinks that challenging TFL in the High Court is a course of action that will lead to change is wrong.
All Johnson and TFL need to do is make sure they have a Freemason Judge and who ignores the evidence and rules in their favour
We also know that Cameron told Johnson to ‘lay off Uber’ as Johnson confirmed this in a meeting with Grant Davis. Lets not underestimate the extent of the Prime Ministers influence in this situation.
It will costs tens of thousands of pounds and take months and months and will merely be a distraction and stop proper action from being taken.
The media will immediately report nothing about the ongoing corruption of TFL and Johnson because it will be illegal for them to do so ; if there is a pending High Court Case there are reporting restrictions which prevent any details about that case being reported and it is considered Prejudicial if someone does report any details.
The only way things will change is if the corruption is fully exposed in the media.
Channel 4 News conducted an investigation into the improper £1 billion tender process for the Royal Albert Docks. They quoted the former Chair of Standards in Public Life Sir Alistair Graham as saying the actions of Boris Johnson were ‘semi corrupt’ (in other words corrupt)
Because there was no one calling for further action Johnson has been let off the hook and Channel 4 have not even bothered to report the fact that they have exposed corruption and Johnson has been let off.
The very best and ONLY course of action is for immediate and continuous direct action with the clear message to the media that the direct action will continue until they themselves report the full true story of utter corruption of Johnson and TFL.
The UCG need to hold a formal Press Conference BEFORE any further action clearly detailing the reasons for direct action.
The General Public hate corruption and will be supportive if the message is given that this is why Taxi Drivers are protesting.
As soon as someone talks about Uber or lack of money being earned then the media will spin it as something else and the support is lost
Today’s Mayor’s Question Time had to be abandoned after pandemonium broke out when Mayor Boris Johnson referred to assembled Taxi drivers as Luddites.
Because so many drivers turned up for the Mayors Question Time, it was decided the overflow of drivers would hold a separate demonstration along Tooley Street.
TfL had tried to dilute the situation by cunningly filling the auditorium with TfL student apprentices, leaving many cabbies outside, refused entrance.
Angry drivers, upset by the Mayor’s insults boo’ed and shouted which resulted in Boris running for cover like a rat abandoning in a sinking ship.
When drivers were asked to clear the hall, they refused to budge. News reached the cabbies outside, who heckled and jeered. Heated exchanges took place but there was no riot.
(Propagada story being put about that a security guard was beaten up and knocked out in a riot! ).
Truth was he fell over opening a door, knocking himself out.
Van loads of police were called in and City hall was forcibly cleared. The Mayors Q&A meeting had to be reconvened in a downstairs bunker.
Drivers leaving City hall then marched on foot to Parliament Square, closely followed by the ever increasing procession of Taxis. Using both Tower and London Bridges, the whole area was soon gridlocked and traffic back up for miles
The protesters converged and marched on past St Paul’s, down Fleet Street to the Aldwych where two minicabs, illegally parked on Taxi ranks had the shock of their lives. Surrounded by hundreds of angry taxi drivers and police, they were told firmly to “get off our ranks”, which they did!
The march carried on along the Strand entering Trafalgar Square, down Whitehall and finally reached Parliament Square, where they joined the flash Demo of Taxicabs.
Some protestors then went on to Windsor House, bringing Victoria Street to a stand still.
By 3:30 pm thousands more Taxis had joined in ranging from The Aldwych, Strand, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall to Parliament Square.
I am writing to you on behalf of the United Cabbies Group ( UCG ) in particular and the London Taxi trade in general.
We are an organisation that represents many Licensed London cabbies, whose livelihoods are under threat as is our iconic trade.
The licensed taxi trade was introduced by Oliver Cromwell in 1654 in an effort to protect the public by ensuring that all cabbies were of good character, licensed and posed no threat to their passengers.
For 361 years we have adhered to a very strict regulatory standard ,both for drivers and vehicles and are proud that we still do. The reputation of the ‘London Cabbie’ is recognized as the very best in the world,bar none; a reputation we treasure and live up to on a daily basis.
Unfortunately we now find ourselves in a situation that threatens not only our very existence but also the safety and well being of the public.
This is simply and solely because of the negligence and abject failure of our regulator Transport for London ( TFL ) who seem to have abrogated all responsibility for the safety and duty of care to the travelling public in our City.
Last year the Greater London Assembly ( GLA ), cogniscent of certain problems in TFL, undertook an independent and in depth investigation into their competence and ability to regulate not only the Licensed London Taxis but also our Private Hire (PH) colleagues.
The conclusion of their thorough investigation was that TFL are ‘ Woefully Inadequate ‘ and ‘ Not Fit For Purpose ‘ , a view they still hold some 9 months later.
The GLA produced a document called Future Proof in which they identified problems and made 19 recommendations to be implemented ASAP.
TfL ignored the first deadline and the second. Still none of the recommendations have been implemented.
When questioned by the GLA Transport Committee on July 8th 2015 as to why they have done nothing , Leon Daniels ,Director of Surface Transport Strategy replied they will comply by the end of the year.
The GLA hold out little hope of this and made their dismay at the ‘Laissez faire ‘ attitude of TfL.
In 2012 a new Private Hire company were issued an operators licence to work in London. That company is UBER.
They obtained a licence under ,shall we say, very lax conditions as an Executive Car Hire service. Within a few months the Executive side was succeeded by a basic mini cab service.
Within a short time Uber were found to be far from the model company their PR machine would have us believe and actually a ‘Gung Ho ‘ company running rough shod over Private Hire regulations to the detriment of many people that registered details with them.
When questioned about the failings and legality of Uber, Boris Johnson told Grant Davis ; Chairman of the London Cab Drivers Club , that……..’ He had been told by David Cameron to leave them alone ‘ !
Mr Davis reported this conversation on live radio ( LBC ) very recently, yet Mr Johnson has not refuted it.
Of course we do not know the veracity of this statement but if true we are sure you did not know the amount of complaints leveled at Uber , their propensity to ignore regulations and the possible danger many of their drivers pose to the public; they are involved in many accidents in London on a daily basis. This is due to two things.
1) A large proportion of Uber drivers have never undergone a British or European Driving Test. They simply exchange the licence from the country of origin for an International License, then exchange that for a European Licence. No stringent test ever taken to prepare them for the difficulties and challenges faced in London
2) The vast majority rely totally on Satnav to guide them on every journey. As you will appreciate one cannot concentrate on the road and the Satnav at the same time; this actin is fraught with danger as many hundreds of motorists, cyclists and pedestrians have found to their cost.
The safety of the travelling public is a prime responsibility of Transport for London yet they do nothing to address it. Indeed they continue to license with alacrity.
We hold an archive of in excess of 12000 complaints made by Uber passengers. They range from overcharging to fraudulent use of bank and credit card accounts, sexual assault, homophobia , threatening behaviour and discrimination against disabled passengers A fairly serious and unsavoury litany of complaints, I think you will agree.
On March 18th 2015 the UCG offered TfL unlimited access to our then 8000 complaints against Uber, an offer they roundly ignored. Ignored that is until on June 15th we were invited to meet Tom Watson MP in a committee room at the Palace of Westminster..
At that meeting I and colleagues from the UCG and other trade organisations gave Tom an overview of Uber and TfLs abject dereliction of duty. To say he was shocked would be an understatement. He assured us that he would do all he could to look into the problem. His investigation is still ongoing and we are extremely grateful to him.
It speaks volumes as to the mismanagement and ineptitude of the Mayor of London that TfL has to be investigated by an MP from West Bromwich !
Mr Cameron,Transport for London are not enforcing their own regulations and have lost control of their responsibility toward Londoners who use PH vehicles.
An average of 2000 PH licences per month are being issued, many with NO background checks whatsoever if the applicant has either Asylum Seeking or Refugee status a certificate of good conduct is then used. This is madness, not only from a safety aspect but also to congestion and pollution problems. We fail to understand how a an Asylum seeker who by definition is on the run from a regime under threat of imprisonment, tortue or perhaps even death sentence could ever be granted a certificate of good conduct by such a regime, a similar situation to a refugee on the run from a war torn country whose infrastructure is likely to be damaged resulting in little ability to check the status of an individual.
The Mayor said he would like to cap the numbers asap but does little about it. We have sought our own legal advice on this matter and provided it to Isabel Dedring the deputy Mayor for transportation. TfL have consistently stated they cannot cap numbers, Our advice offers potential solutions to this.
Earlier this year we called three protests to highlight the failure of TfL, not because we object to competition, we have worked alongside Private Hire for over 50 years and PH are working with us to resolve the problems that affect them too because of the danger this poses to the public and the envisaged demise of the best loved taxi trade in the world.
We suspended them (protests) temporarily on July 1st at the request of Tom Watson to give him time to investigate TfL and the Uber model.
However we are now seeing an unprecedented level of anger toward TfLs unwillingness to enforce the current laws. Consequently our members asked that we reconsider our suspension.
As a democratic group we gave all members a vote. The result was 90.2% in favour of Direct Action.
Our grievances are as follows.
1) Immediate implementation of all GLA Future Proof recommendations
2) Cessation of e-hailing through structured clear defined policy introducing mandatory time lag between hail and dispatch
3) Strong and effective on street enforcement by warranted TFL Enforcement officers
4) Abolition of Satellite Offices
5) Bob Oddy’s position on the TfL transport committee to be subject to a trade nominated and elected candidate
6) Hire and Reward insurance to be in place when any vehicle is licensed by TFL or inspected by NSL .
7) Capping of Private Hire licence numbers in London
8) Cross Border Hiring in London to be made illegal , in line with other Counties.
The UCG do not seek disruption or confrontation but feel that if we don’t give a controlled vent of feelings to thousands of cabbies by official demonstration the alternative could be reflective of the Parisian taxi civil disobedience.
We request an urgent meeting with you and Boris Johnson, not only to diffuse the palpable anger but also to enlighten you as to the true failings of TFL and the danger posed by the continued ‘Don’t touch ‘ approach to Uber
Well, another Summer almost morphs into Autumn, and despite the incompetent and murky actions of the licensing and enforcement authorities, the London Taxi Trade struggles on. Just !
Uber continue to expand their London Operations, TFL continue to rub their hands together at their “opium trade” PHV Licensing Coup, and Tout Enforcement Teams who work so covertly that they make MI6 Officers look like they are standing in Madame Tussauds, continue to watch thousands of wrong ‘uns escape through the net, night after night.
So what next ? Well, a call has gone up from our side for a massive trade turn out on 16th September. I know there are many of us who strongly disagree with militant demonstration tactics, and although I personally disagree, respectfully take their point.
I agree, it’s not the most fantastic of battle deployment initiatives, but sadly, it’s all we’ve got.
However, there is one thing happening the day previous to our demo on the 15th September, that I find extremely intriguing.
On that Tuesday in Parliament, between 0930 and 1100hrs, potential future London Mayor and current Conservative MP for Richmond Park and North Kingston, is to debate the “Future Of Black Cabs In London”.
Goldsmith is on record as saying that he supports London Taxis, and naturally, that is good to hear. But so did his pal Johnson say that too, didn’t he ? And strangely enough, if my memory serves me well, that was prior to a Mayoral Election too. Not only him, but so did Ken Livingstone, whose loyalty to our trade made Kim Philby look like an overprotective father !
Way back in the early Summer of this year, our friend and staunch supporter Mark White questioned Goldsmith on his potential policies regarding our trade, and Zac replied “Early days. I want to talk to people in the trade, before making policy.”
Mark pushed him further and quiet rightly explained that surely now (25th June) is as good as time as any?, to which there was no reply.
With this last minute Parliamentary Calendar addition to discuss our well being and possible future by potential Mayor of London Zac Goldsmith then, is this a morning to rejoice and appreciate……………..or a day to be suspiciously cautious ?
I was taught to be cautious and I would confidently bet the last penny in my bank account, that this is just another well planned, insincere, crafty, deceptive ruse, solely aimed at gaining space and more importantly, time, to allow our assassins to get into a comfortable firing position.
I’m not a lover of Zac Goldsmith, and disliked his father even more. I don’t wish to elaborate my reasons due to any libel slur, but feel that trusting this very affluent young man whose personal wealth would make the Beckham’s look like Big Issue sellers, and a contacts diary to equal President Obama’s…………..would prove to be a grave error of judgement.
One of his best mate’s and political sparring partner Boris Johnson, has already totally shafted us and continues to do so.
Not only that, Goldsmith, like Johnson is also an avid supporter of the cyclist in London, believing that every cyclist in London is another vehicle off the road.
Of course, I have absolutely no idea of the contents of Mr Goldsmith’s presentation exhibit on Tuesday 15th, but again, I would bet my life, that the spiel would interpret that the famous London Black Taxi, is not only synonymous with London, but is vitally important to London’s image and anything other than 100% loyalty to them, would be worse than treason.
Except of course, and as we all know……….that is utter bollox !
The two former Mayor have both done it to us, gaining our trust and confidence, until comfortably seated in the throne of City Hall. Then, once settled, have recoiled cobra like, in a programme of vicious insincerity, that would put Burke & Hare to shame.
This time is different though. We simply cannot afford to be tricked and coerced into another portion of Operation Mincemeat from these shysters again. We haven’t got the resources, we haven’t got the firepower and we haven’t got the strength.
Uber have gained enormous foothold in London over the last 12 months. Its not a case of us failing to keep up with technology. Its not a case of Uber having a fantastic business plan. Its not a case of Uber offering a better service than us. It is merely a slanderous case of rule bending, authorities turning the other way, murky goings on, strange alterations to policy and unexplained answers to allegations of policy breach, from a company with enormous financial clout and persuasion.
At this stage, I have no hard evidence of corruption within the walls of TFL or City Hall, and can therefore cast no accusations.
But put it this way…………if Sepp Blatter put his hat into the ring for the London Mayor Candidate Election tonight, I feel we could do a lot worse than give him a shot !
Maybe iv’e got used to the criteria now, but old Sepp looks ideal for the job from where I’m sitting.
We can only wait and see what Goldsmith has to say next week, but my guess is he has been sent in to tranquilise us, to keep us quiet and to take the flame out of the fire from the wrath of our trade the next day!
Its up to us whether we stand for it or not, or indeed whether our Trade Org heads think we should politely listen, act professional and listen in decent and democratic mutual understanding.
Personally, I have always thought that the only person to go into Parliament with good intent………was Guy Fawkes !
Also on a personal note, and I speak as a trade scribe and not in any official capacity, I have always believed that our taxi cabs and ability to cause embarrassing and massive legal disruption to the authorities, is our only viable alternative.
Whatever happens, I don’t want Zac Goldsmith to go back to his office echoing the victorious message sent to Churchill from War Office Command, in which was probably the best wartime example of strategic tactical deception ever.
It read simply “Mincemeat swallowed whole”.
The clock is ticking folks. We just can’t afford to make any more mistakes at this stage, or we are dead in the water.
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