| Together with other trade
representatives, DaC Chairman Brian Rice recently attended a meeting with
the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. Although Brian had met him in the
past, this was his first official meeting and Call Sign asked him to give
our readers an insider's view as to what transpired...
Brian told us "The Mayor felt that over the next few years there
could be an explosion in the amount of work that the licensed trade will
be required to do and that we would have to respond to the challenge. The
three main reasons are the licensing of the current unlicensed trade,
which will leave a void as some operators and drivers will be unable to
meet the required standard, an increase in the money to fund the
all-London Taxicard scheme that will be financed by the GLA and thirdly,
'Road Pricing', which in his view will reduce traffic levels by 10-12% and
consequently increase the demand for taxis."
Peak Hour Taxis
"He was very keen to make more taxis available to the public at peak
times and particularly in the evenings and at night. He proposes to do
this by increasing the tariff during those periods, however, it was
pointed out by the PCO that the meter manufacturers would not all have
calendar meters before October. I pointed out to the Mayor that the busy
period i.e. the run up to Christmas, starts in September and implementing
a rise in October would be too late. The Mayor agreed and said that he
would like an increase in tariff to be implemented by September and the
meter companies would have to get their house in order by September or run
the risk of drivers stripping out meters that do not conform and then
being supplied by any meter company that has the calendar meter.
The reason the calendar meter is so important is because the
Mayor proposes to increase the running rate at night rather than just put
an increase on the extras. He not only proposed two rates, day and night,
but three - which I must confess took me by surprise. There would be one
rate for days, one for evenings between say 1800hrs to 2100hrs (still
undecided) and then a rate for nights."
Suburbs First?
"The Mayor was very keen to put more licensed taxis into
the suburbs and he felt that possibly, anyone who wanted to become a taxi
driver should do a suburban knowledge first, then work in those suburbs
before applying to do a green badge. He was aware of the shortage of
Knowledge examiners and proposes to employ more, but it was pointed out to
the Mayor that the shortage was due mainly to the rate of remuneration,
which at the moment is £15,000. He was very aware of that fact and was
keen to increase the rates in all departments of the PCO.
When the meeting looked at minicabs, Mayor Livingstone stated
that the authorities were unaware of how many there were in London,
although the figure was believed to be somewhere between |
Brian Rice Meets
Mayor Livingstone
40,000 - 80,000 and at the moment the PCO are in the
process of inspecting operator's premises to ensure they meet with their
criteria. Currently, only 160 applications have been made by operators
wanting to be licensed."
Enforcement
"Regarding the number of enforcement officers that would
be required to police the private hire trade, the figure of twenty that
has been mentioned in the past was in his opinion too low. He said that it
should start off with at least double that amount and be closer to 80-100,
something that was nice to hear.
Unlicensed drivers will have to undergo a topographical
Knowledge, although the first tranche - because there are so many of them
- will be granted grandfather rights although it is undecided at the
moment on the content of the rights. He then went on to point out that
those drivers who are granted Grandfather rights would still have to go
back to the PCO at a later date to have their knowledge established. He
felt that the newly licensed trade should gradually have their standards
raised so that within ten years there would be one standard of driver,
which means that an applicant on the KoL who has completed the course,
will then have the choice on whether to become a taxi driver or a private
hire driver."
So what was Brian Rice's conclusion regarding Ken Livingstone
and the taxi trade...?
"The Mayor has promised another meeting with the
trade in the near future and I would like to reserve my judgement for the
time being on Mr Livingstone, but I have no doubt that he has an excellent
grasp of our trade and our problems, and for a first meeting, I must say
that I was very impressed with him." |
