Tribalism has to stop…Its not the colour of the lanyard that matters, it’s the badge that hangs from it that should be uniting the trade.
Enough is enough!
It’s alleged that TFL still have people in place from the John Mason regime, people like Leon Daniels and Gareth Emerson. They may have been moved sideways, but you can bet your bottom dollar they are still actively involved in TfL’s agenda to cause our trade as many heartaches as possible. We’ve heard today from the LCDC Twitter feed that they are now ready to take their evidence to the serious fraud squad and the press.
Under the new Mayor’s promises, things are not improving as fast as they should be. The new Mayoral team do not appear to understand fully how we as a trade feel right now.
• Drivers leaving on masse.
• Drivers losing their homes,
• Drivers have lost their family as relationships break up.
• Drivers suffering huge mental health problems caused by stress bought about by this organisation called TFL.
Reading through the LTDA’s paper Taxi, you could be forgiven for thinking that everything is rosy!
Well it’s not.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH and tomorrow the trade will gather outside 230 Blackfriars Road, to stand shoulder to should in a protest against all the corrupt practices which have come to light in recent months.
Flyers have been printed and will be distributed to the public
We all knew the PHV Map Test centres would be bent!
And thanks to the Sun News paper, we have some proof
Applicants for the Topographical test given the answers for extra £50!
Or even worse, just turn up and have the pass certificate printed out without taking the test!
In the latest undercover video, the Sun has shown us that hooky doctors are selling medicals passes without carrying out full tests onapplicants.
Look at this undercover video below….it’s frightening.
Dr Ashraful Mirza fills in the medical questionnaire without first doing eye test, urine test or taking the aplicants blood pressure.
He also signs a declaration stating he has had full access to the applicants medical records, which he has never seen…
• Surgery likened to a conveyor belt
• No urine/diabetes test
• Applicants blood pressure not taken
• No eye test even though the applicant says he gets blurred vision when tired.
• 2nd Doctor explains how to get round the issue of not using your own local GP.
Fake medical tests at £50-80 a pop!
This is an utter disgrace. These doctors should be suspended immediately and ultimately struck off for putting public lives at risk by passing as fit, unfit applicants.
Topographical testing should only be done by TfL in house as it is with the knowledge of London examinations. These two bit back street minicab set ups can not be trusted.
TfL should immediately suspend the licence of every applicant seen by these ‘bent’ doctors. Every one of the applicants should be banned from re applying for a PHV in future. After all, who is going to go to the trouble of seeking out a bent doctor, if you are fit and healthy?
It would seem that most of our orgs and unions have stayed pretty quiet on this when they should be up at Palestra and Windsor House every day, shouting the roof off.
Only one org has called for a demo over this latest issue !!!
The London Cab Drivers Club will be outside 230 Blackfriars Road this coming Thursday 13th Oct from 12:30pm, on foot (with the new traffic system in place a drive past would be misinterpreted as just heavy traffic).
It’s time to stand up and make our voice heard above the bias and obvious corruption
This isn’t a recruitment drive, this is a protest of drivers who have had enough of TfL giving Uber an easy ride.
It’s not about the colour of your lanyard, it’s about the badge that hangs from it.
Has this trade learned nothing as TfL took over and started to roll out PHVs at an unprecedented rate of 600 every week ?
The fate of your job is in your own hands.
Are you just going to sit back and watch TfL destroy the London Taxi Trade?
This is one demo every driver should attend….take some time off, leave the cab at home and come down to Blackfriars and make a stand.
A few months ago, the minicab related rape and sexual assault statistics were released.
154 reported attacks on passengers from Feb15 to Feb16.
We then found the Met’s statistics were reports from just 6 inner London boroughs.
So another FOI request was made to TfL, asking for the statistics of attacks in the whole of the Greater London Metropolitan Police District. This was promised by TfL to be released by September 20th. TfL have failed to honour this request.
Are the figures so shocking they feel it may stop the public using minicab services?
Are TfLTPH trying to camouflage and dilute the true facts?
Again the majority of our orgs and unions have said virtually nothing about this.
Again, we see TfLTPH bending over backwards to facilitate a ‘private hire operator’ circumnavigate statutory legislation laid down by Parliament.
Have you ever wondered what LTPH’s legal department do to earn their money, well so have we.
In our opinion it doesn’t appear to be protecting the taxi trade against PH companies illegal offering their services, describing themselves as a Taxi service.
Taxi Leaks first reported UbiCabs well over 4 years ago for advertising minicabs as a Taxi service.
We made repeated complaints over a 11 month period to LTPH, but got just the one reply from John Mason saying his legal team would look into it.
We are still waiting to find out what “his legal team” are going to do about this issue.
WHAT IS A TAXI…?
In a letter from The Department for Transport, Paragraph 4 reads “your subsequent e-mail asked for the legal definition of a taxi……A taxi is a vehicle licensed under Section 37 Of The Town Police Clauses Act 1847…. This is a hackney carriage Act, so a taxi is a hackney carriage.
The Miscellaneous Provisions Act defines a private hire vehicle as a motor vehicle constructed or adapted to seat fewer than nine passengers, other than a hackney carriage.
Substituting the word taxi for hackney carriage it becomes clear that a private hire vehicle is…a motor vehicle constructed or adapted to seat fewer than nine passengers, other than a taxi.
Therefore there cannot be a “private hire taxi” or a “taxi private hire”.
Mr. James Button licensing solicitor agrees in his book that taxi is “not a generic word” as this legal definition of taxi has been consistently used in every Act since the 1980 Road Transport Act.
What respected Taxi Drivers are saying:
Isn’t a taxi fitted with a meter? Didn’t @TfL rigorously seek to define what constitutes a ‘taximeter.’ Maybe QC Chamberlain could clarify? Sean Paul Day.
So the London licencing authority is not able to distinguish between the 2 different (taxi & private hire) licences that they issue. Unbelievable. Les Hoath.
A FEW TWEETS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED :
The Licensed Taxi Trade now waits with baited breath to see what our largest org, with their alleged £1m war chest will say and do about this…..perhaps this is another of their done deals?….seems to have gone a bit quiet at W9 lately…
Thursday 6th October 2016 see’s the launch of a new Taxi App, “oh no not another app” I hear you say, well yes, another app but this time it is different from the previous offerings.
Previously all of the apps that have been aimed at Taxi drivers have been from Corporate companies backed by Venture Capitalists looking to earn a profit off the back of the hard working Taxi driver.
Well this new app is different, their are no investors, no venture capitalists, no CEO’s on outrageous salaries, nope, it has been set up as a Not for Profit company.
The app is simply called Taxi App and has been set up by a small group of passionate London taxi drivers who believe in the future of our 360 year old trade.
Taxi App will also operate in a different way to other apps, there will be no commission charged on any job, so no 10% or 13.5% deductions from your earnings, the fare on the meter at the end of the journey is yours to keep.
So how will Taxi App operate? drivers will be charged a subscription of £5 per week, so it doesn’t matter if you accept jobs totalling £400 or more in a week, all you will ever pay is £5 per week.
Is there any work on the app you ask? Well lets be honest, to start with of course not, there have been a few jobs go through the app but without any money to promote the app to the public the steering team will have to wait until funds start to build up before they can embark on any promotions.
I have, for over 5 years, been extolling the virtues of the London taxi trade owning and controlling its own app, there has always been the worry that the existing apps want to control the trade so that they can manipulate the trade to maximise their profits, and if one investor backed app gained market share within London then where would that leave the working driver? They can remove a driver from the app at will leaving you without part of your income that you may well have become used to earning.
This is the app that our trade has been crying out for, an app for drivers, run by drivers with no one creaming any profit off the top, but it needs as many drivers as possible to get involved.
There is a caveat, it needs you the driver to sign up and be available for work on the app, it also needs you to promote the app to every potential taxi customer.
There is no point in saying “I will sign up once there is some work on the app” it doesn’t work like that. to make this work there needs to initially be an oversupply of drivers to service the customers. When a customer uses the app to order a Taxi there needs to be one available otherwise that customer may never use the app again.
Taxi App is not looking to convert the street hailing passenger, far from it they want to encourage customers to use street hailing when and where possible but to use Taxi App when they are in a location where Taxis do not normally drive past.
Any surplus income from subscriptions over and above the operating costs of Taxi App will be reinvested to promote the London taxi trade as Taxi App does not need to make a profit, the app has been set up purely for the benefit of the working taxi driver in London.
If you value your job and this trade you have nothing to lose but everything to gain, what is a fiver, 2 Costa coffee’s, less than a packet of cigarettes. Taxi App needs you the driver to sign up for the App, work the App and promote the App.
To find out more about Taxi App or to sign up please click here
UCG letter to Sadiq Khan demanding action following the Sun exposure of corrupt GPs selling PH medical certificates.
Dear Mr Khan
As I am sure you are aware The Sun recently printed an article by Jake Ryan exposing alleged corruption concerning medicals for Private Hire and Uber drivers.
Three GPs are said to have taken bribes to supply an ‘all clear’ medical report based on ,at best, a paucity of medical tests and in one case ‘No tests at all’
This ,as Im sure you will agree ,has put many members of the public at risk and must be thoroughly investigated as a matter of great urgency.
It is beyond comprehension how TFL has allowed this to happen . When I, as a licensed taxi driver, have my triennial Medical Examination it must be with a GP who has known me for at least 12 months, however it would appear that a PH driver may go to any Doctor ,even one who does not know the applicants medical history and leave with an ‘all clear’ certificate.
On December 5th 2015 Muhiddin Mire attacked passengers at Leytonstone underground station and cut he throat of Lyle Zimmerman ,an innocent bystander.
It transpired that Mr Mire had a long history of mental illness and yet was granted a PH licence by TFL and consequently worked for Uber.
After much stalling and refusing to answer a UCG members question as to whether Mr Mire had undergone a medical check prior to licensing ,TFL eventually but blandly replied that he ‘had a medical assessment with a registered practitioner ‘. The Doctors exposed by Mr Ryan were ‘registered practitioners’ and it begs the question did Mr Mire visit one of the corrupt GPs ? and were the GP vetted by TFL before being allowed to issue a medical certificate to the standard of the DVLA 2 requirements ?
You will recall that some Topographical Test Centres were closed down after the,shall we say, less than rigorous testing of applicants was exposed and all those who received a PH license through those disgraced centres were required to re-sit the tests with a large number failing ! How many PH drivers would now fail a full medical assessment carried out by a GP whose integrity cannot be bought fo £50 ?
It would appear that a full investigation is needed into the whole PH Licensing Outsourcing fiasco . It is ‘not fit for purpose ‘, which coincidentally is the same phrase leveled at TFL by Val Shawcross and the GLA last year and yet the same ‘not fit for purpose ‘ staff remain in place. !
The United Cabbies Group would like to know what you, as Mayor and TFL, as regulator intend to do about this appalling situation as revealed by Mr Ryan
Will you confirm that ALL PH drivers who have received medical certificates from the GPs identified by Mr Ryan will have their licences suspended pending a medical by a GP who has known the applicant for a minimum of 12 months and if they have not been resident in Britain for twelve months , by a GP approved by the General Medical Council or Royal College of General Practitioners ?
Secondly, will you confirm that any PH driver suspected of complicity in obtaining a medical certificate by deception will have his license revoked with immediate effect and prosecuted.
Finally , TFL have not yet revealed the most recent Sexual Assault figures , even though they were due for publication on Sept 20th. I must request that you direct TFL to release the data without delay.
Please let us know , within 7 days , of your intended course of action to address the above concerns.
Should we receive no reply within 7 days we will have no alternative but to ballot our members for a vote on a return to sustained direct action.
The previous administration abrogated their responsibility to public safety and were branded ‘ Woefully Inadequate by Val Shawcross and the GLA.
The finest cab trade in the world is fast losing confidence in the present regulator as are the general public.
We now look to you to offer not just an Adequate regulatory body but an Exemplary one .
Traffic jams in the Square Mile are being made worse because road space has been lost to make way for Cycle Superhighway routes, according to a report by the City of London Corporation.
Officials say that extra room needed to accommodate bike-only lanes running into the City, installed to protect cyclists, means there is less space to re-route traffic when problems arise, such as street closures for construction sites and emergency roadworks.
There were nearly 500 applications for roads to be shut in the City last year, the highest number since 2008, which added pressure to the dwindling amount of carriageway available.
It comes as Tower Bridge began three months of closure to vehicles this week, with drivers complaining of “complete gridlock” as they struggled to cross the river.
Further construction to extend a north-south portion of the Cycle Superhighway cutting through the City is due to begin in the spring.
But a report, due to be heard by the City’s policy and resources committee tomorrow, complains there are already extra “pockets of congestion” linked to space lost from cycle lanes.
The report says: “The most significant impact on the City’s road network in the last 12 months has been the construction and subsequent operation of TfL’s cycle super highway, and although it is too early to reach definitive conclusions, observations would suggest that areas of traffic congestion can frequently be found on those roads directly affected by the scheme, and a degree of network resilience to absorb other temporary activities has been lost as road capacity has been reallocated.”
The report gives the example of Newgate Street’s closure for gas works, when traffic would normally be re-routed to Ludgate Circus, but the Cycle Superhighway meant “traffic congestion was greater than previously experienced”, the report says.
Due to a “surge in development activity”, the corporation received 494 applications for road closures this year, compared to 382 last year and 232 the year before.
It is likely to compound the woes of drivers and cyclists on Tower Bridge sent on diversion routes over London Bridge and Southwark Bridge, who posted photographs of Twitter showing heavy traffic at a standstill and complained about increased pollution.
Neil Coyle, Labour MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, tweeted it was “complete gridlock on Bermondsey St, Tooley St & beyond in SE1”, while Leni Candan, a digital communications freelancer, added how it was a “struggle to breathe through all the car fumes” caused by idling traffic affected by the Tower Bridge closure.
Pedestrians and cyclists wheeling their bikes are still allowed to walk over the bridge for the time being.
A City of London Corporation spokesman said: “The City of London Corporation is supportive of the Cycle Superhighways in principle.
“We are working hard to encourage workers and residents of the Square Mile to cycle and walk more regularly, with the aim of 10 per cent of City workers walking or cycling to work by 2030.
“We are looking at ways to improve the flow of the City’s roads and work closely with TfL to ensure Cycle Superhighways fit into the City as smoothly as possible.”
MANY COUNCILS FINALLY WAKING UP TO THIS PROBLEM THATS KILLING LONDONERS
HOSTED THIS WEEK BY:
@MACTHECAB, @SEANPAULDAY, @GENTLEMANCABBIE
Issues Discussed this week:
Can the team pull it together this week and produce a show in SuperCabby’s absence?
Well at least @MacTheCab remembered to press the record button at the last minute although he had already started the show meaning SuperCabby had a lot of editing to do!
The show goes out even if it is 35 minutes late and they forgot that they had only done 1 hour 25 mins, so a short show this week.
Taxi Drivers retires and receives a horrible letter from TFL.
MacTheCab gets in a minicab!
SeanPaulDay rips the step of his Vito!
Long Jobs and Drunk Passengers.
Dodgy medical certificates being issued to minicab drivers by GPs!
Mac meets and EcoWarrior
Sean eyebrows are getting out of hand
TFL assault statistics still haven’t been released properly
Are TFL transparent or are they still trying to hide the true facts?
Money aside- is the trade having the time of its life?
London Taxi Radio’s new format radio show. Hosted by SuperCabby, MacTheCab, SeanPaulDay, TheHolbornCab, @GentlemanCabbie & @Iamcabman they share their views and opinions of the London Taxi Trade interspersed with music and Jingles.
London Taxi Radio is an New Digital Media initiative incorporating an online radio station, podcasts, Youtube channel, photographs and video footage
A new taxi app run by drivers will be launched in October in a bid to strengthen the trade.
The not-for-profit app’s founders say the app, called Taxiapp, was “born out of the need for an app that wasn’t beholden to big corporate investors or its shareholders”.
They say: “The mission is to build an app solely for the trade in a bid to compete with the corporate- owned apps who have descended on mass to soak up our work and sell it back to us after taking their cut. Taxiapp’s aim- with your help- is to win ALL that work back. We are an alchemy of buttas and veterans, mushers and renters, men and women with one thing in common, we are all knowledge trained TAXI DRIVERS.
“Whether it be a young lad on his first job (given for free of course) or a grizzled veteran of the game, if you want to get anywhere in London, or know anything about London, then the London cabbie is the one to call on.
“It is time for the taxi trade to be- once again- truly autonomous. We owe it to ourselves and our passengers to put the trade firmly back in the hands of the workforce.”
BIG-HEARTED black cabbies have rallied together to buy an electric wheelchair for a disabled customer desperately in need.
Cabbie Terry Vaus was moved by the plight of Alex Doodle after seeing the 44-year-old struggle to get into his taxi.
Alex, who is described as “gender neutral”, was in a cycling accident in Essex Road seven years ago, which aggravated various long-term health problems, including a degenerative disc disease and chronic pain condition fibromyalgia.
The costs of their physical and mental health treatment have increased due to government cuts, and Alex, an architecture graduate, has been surviving on full-fat milk since November. For affordable treatment check over here which also provides great services.
After an appeal from Tony, the Save our Black Taxis campaign has raised more than £3,000 for a wheelchair.
“I don’t get out,” said Alex. “This would change my life”.
“Alex is fighting every day,” said Terry. “They’re even considering selling the TV.”
Alex added: “My money goes on mental health services and taxis to get to appointments, sometimes seven a week, so I’ve been surviving on baby food. I fear losing everything and ending up on the streets.”
Taxi drivers have even resorted to bringing Alex food.
Alex has been a supporter of the black cab trade since university after learning about dedication it takes to learn the Knowledge.
“Black cabs are my lifeline,” Alex said. “Without them I wouldn’t leave the house. I know I can be safe in them. They are an icon of London and need to be respected. I’ve been absolutely blown away by the support I’ve received from them.”
To make Alex’s situation worse, they live on a first-floor flat in Canonbury, which means Islington Council can not offer a wheelchair.
Alex can barely get up and downstairs, falls up to 15 times a week in the flat and has been found unconscious by neighbours after debilitating bouts of paralysis.
The council has requested a continuing healthcare assessment due to the complexities of their needs.
The flat is managed by housing association Family Mosaic. They have offered Alex two alternative housing arrangements, one outside of Islington and one in Archway, but Alex’s doctor has said they are not suitable due them being outside their support network, close to Angel.
There are only a small number of wheelchair-accessible properties in Islington. As most of the wheelchair- accessible properties are distressed property. They are showing interest in selling a distressed property in Jacksonville, FL to earn more profit out of it.
Town Hall health and wellbeing chief Janet Burgess said: “The council was approached by Mx Doodle for help with housing in July this year, and we are doing what we can to help. Wheelchair-accessible council housing in Islington is scarce, and, while we are building new homes specifically for disabled tenants, demand for properties vastly outweighs supply and there are no suitable properties currently vacant.
“Unfortunately, a first-floor property is unsuitable for a wheelchair, but Mx Doodle has been provided with crutches and undergone treatment with the physiotherapist in Winnipeg. In February we also offered various in-home adaptations to aid with mobility.
“The wheelchair application will be reassessed once Mx Doodle is found an accessible property.”
A Family Mosaic spokeswoman confirmed it had offered two alternate arrangements, which were turned down.
To absolutely no surprise to the Taxi trade, it’s been exposed that not only Private Hire topographical testing is worthless, the medicals are equally so.
As Taxi Drivers, we all can only go to our own GP, why the difference for Private Hire drivers TfL?
What excuse can there be for endangering the public in this way?
GREED pure and simple.
All this followed up by synthetic outrage from Uber, the very same company that fights every regulation tooth and nail.
We are also expected to swallow that TfL weren’t aware of any of this, well if they didn’t then it’s at best incompetence, at worst a deliberate strategy designed to destroy the world’s No1 taxi trade by creating a cesspool as regulation is unenforced as a matter of POLICY!
Well boys and girls if you want something to get behind, it’s as follows:
1. An immediate enquiry into TfL and LTPH by the very least an eminent QC, it’s relationships with operators, actions and inactions etc etc.
2. Immediate suspension of further PH licensing until a ‘fit for purpose’ licensing regime is in place after 3 below is conducted
3. An audit of all current licence holders (include us if you need, we ain’t got nothing to hide) by an independent certification body (Lloyds Register, Bureau Veritas etc.) to international ISO standards with full disclosure of the results.
4. Revocation for any driver that have obtained their licence by fraudulent means and prosecution for fraud do them and their ‘aiders and abetters’
5. Revocation and if necessary prosecution for any operator that have encouraged or failed to have shown ‘due diligence’ in recruiting drivers with bogus documentation.
So then LTPH your ’empire’ built on sand has been shown for the shambles we all knew it was.
Recruiting more unwarranted compliance officers is a complete waste of time and money, the will to enforce doesn’t exist at TfL.
‘Gold standard licensing authority’ says your publicity, Fools Gold more like.
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