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Saleem Raja (S46J) has been on Dial-a-Cab for several years and a cab
driver for twelve. His friends know him as Sal. His bit of 'one-upmanship'
when it comes to name-dropping is that he recently picked up Mayor of London
Ken Livingstone who happened to be standing in Horseferry Road looking for a
taxi to take him to Victoria. Unlike some members of the current Houses of Parliament who claim to use public transport while having secret Jags waiting around the corner, Ken Livingstone really does believe in using buses, trains and taxis before having to use the mayoral car. His ill-fated Greater London Council had many points that the licensed trade would rather forget (remember Speedbus and the 'no right turn' from Shaftsbury Avenue into Charing Cross Road (south)? However, their policy of providing cheap - and occasionally free - transport, while costing the cab trade some work in those who would have got a cab if the bus never came, also improved the traffic flow and prospective passengers started to leave their cars at home which in the long term gave DaC much more account work because getting around London suddenly became more feasible. Recently Mayor Livingstone controversially claimed that ethnic minorities were under represented |
MEMO TO KEN LIVINGSTONE:
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within a cab trade that Ken described as an "...almost universal
white male club." Call Sign took up the subject in its June issue when the Editor said that, while not wanting to appear racist, he was against "...any special privileges being granted to any group on the back of them being of a different race or culture. If an African cannot speak English well enough to communicate with a passenger, then I don't want him in my trade any more than I would want someone from the Valleys who could only speak Welsh." Many of the trade press have since joined in and Ken now knows the feelings of most vagoraty of us. However, Sal - an Asian - took that one step further. Within the short trip, he told the Mayor that he not only did NOT feel that he was being held back, he actually passed out in under a year! In addition, both of Sal's brothers are licensed taxi drivers and neither of them ever complained of being held back through any form of racism. As a form of proof, Sal actually had his PCO appointment card from ten years ago with him! "He looked surprised when I showed it to him," said Sal. Sal told the Mayor and then Call Sign: "We all thought that we |
 Saleem with his ten year old PCO appointment card were always treated fairly by the PCO and when we thought that we weren't, it was never anything that white Knowledge boys weren't going through as well!" During the brief conversation, Ken asked Sal why he thought it was that black people obviously loved cars, yet so few were becoming licensed taxi drivers? The question was rhetorical as Ken obviously believes that there is an undercurrent of racism at the PCO. However, Saleem Raja disagrees. Sal gave the Mayor his views that there was no racism at the 'Yard' and later told Call Sign: "If a Knowledge boy is prepared to work hard, it doesn't matter what colour he is provided he speaks English well. Otherwise, how can he answer the questions they throw at him? That isn't racism, it's common sense..." |
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