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Conditions of Fitness – What
is going on?
Brian Rice has written about this subject
in his Chairman’s report, but the subject is
so important that I too would like my say.
In fact I’d like to know what on earth
possessed TfL/PCO to publish it’s original
Conditions of Fitness review paper when they
must have known that it had more holes in
than a Swiss cheese?
When that report was published, probably like most of you, I saw
nothing obviously untoward with it. Whether
you agreed with it was a totally unconnected
matter. But surely for something as
important as that announcement, legal advice
was sought? From here, it doesn’t look as
though it was, because TfL in return for
Allied
Vehicles/Cab Direct holding back its Judicial Review
application, have agreed to pay AV’s legal
costs to date and few legal costs nowadays
come cheap. You have to wonder how many more
buses TfL could have bought with the money
they have wasted! They are now
"reconsidering" their original decision, but
it looks from here as though Allied Vehicles
MD, Gerry Facenna, has given the mighty TfL
a legal lesson and a bloody nose..
Gerry Facenna is a nice guy and as mild-mannered as they come, but
my view on what I hope the outcome of the
"reconsidered" CoF will be, has not changed.
London’s taxi drivers are famous for the
Knowledge and the distinctive looking taxi
we drive. Fears I already had were
heightened when I heard the MD of Addison
Lee, John Griffin, announce that his company
were going to update their fleet so that
none of their PH cabs would be more than
three years old. Any older vehicles they
owned would be sold off for private use. So
if the manufacturer of the AL fleet decide
that they want a bit of this new freedom in
putting any vehicle out as a taxi (after
all, take away the turning circle and you
have a funny looking car), then London will
see Fiat Ulysses cars as taxis, private hire
vehicles and private cars. Confusing?
Imagine the public looking for a cab!
LTI cannot sell their taxis to any PH company, only to licensed
taxi organisations / drivers or for personal
use. Will that stipulation apply to any
alternative taxi manufacturer stepping into
the arena?
And if we suddenly have access to a "taxi" costing 5K less, how
long before the fares are reduced? TfL would
no doubt announce that we all have the
freedom to select whichever cab we want and
that if we chose a more expensive one, then
that will be our prerogative – but it won’t
stop a reduction in fares. And if the
decision goes against the current vehicle
and LTI and Metrocab pull out of the market
because |
drivers go for the lower price, the
competition would then be reversed. I don’t
believe that many of the so-called
"alternative" taxis would manufacture a cab
that is built to survive the rigours of London
as well as the current ones. Where would we go
then? Perhaps the LTDA would recompense us if
our new cabs fell to pieces after a year?
I’m sorry to say that if the CoF review reverses its original
decision, then in my view that would be the
end for the London taxi trade and the
beginning of us and private hire being
recognised as one and the same.
Getting the hump
Following Barnet’s decision to de-hump
their streets, Westminster Council have now
followed suit and announced that they are
curbing the construction of new speed humps in
the City. They especially wish to de-hump
those streets used regularly by emergency
vehicles and those where accident rates over
the past three years are minimal. In other
words, speed humps have been a dismal failure
– especially to those unlucky enough to have
to travel with broken limbs whilst being
transported in an ambulance on their way to
hospital or those waiting for the fire brigade
while their house is burning down.
When the cab trade – especially through the pen of the late Phil
Phillips in Taxi Globe – told anyone prepared
to listen that humps were a disaster with cars
speeding up in between them and then slowing
down at the last minute, with total pomposity
by the councils putting them down, we were
totally ignored. But then again, we charged
nothing for the advice. I wonder how much
Westminster spent on finding out that humps
are not answer to speeding traffic?
Awards ceremonies – not so
dull when we’re in them!
Earlier this month, DaC were present at the
annual Ecommerce awards ceremony at the
Grosvenor House Hotel. This is the Internet
industry’s equivalent of the entertainment
world’s Oscars. But however dull Oscar
ceremonies are when famous celebs prance about
in their finest, lavishing praise on those who
"they couldn’t do it without" when what they
really mean is that "I got |
it and you didn’t," when the ceremony
involves your company, then it becomes
different. You can read elsewhere in this
issue about DaC reaching the final eight out
of a total entry of almost 3000. And that,
most certainly, is nowhere near to
dullsville…!
And Another "Award" for DaC!
We all know about the sometimes
cut-throat competition that goes on in the
radio taxi industry, but whilst on the
subject of award ceremonies, in this issue
you can also read about the lovely gesture
from ComCab when they presented DaC with a
memento to commemorate our fiftieth
anniversary as radio taxi suppliers to the
public. When it comes down to it, the
licensed taxi industry needs each other
because the competition out there is immense
and a friend alongside you can make a huge
difference. So this column promises not to
say how much better we are than the rest
until the next issue!
Marston Hotels
In this and future issues of Call Sign,
you will be able to see and take advantage
of an ad which gives DaC members and their
families, the opportunity to take a short
luxury break in one of many Marston hotels
spread around the UK – but at a 20%
discount!
Linda and I took one last month and really enjoyed it. And before
anyone suggests it, yes we did pay for it
and excellent value it was too…
Zingo
I’ve had quite a few DaC drivers asking
me why I am so anti-Zingo as they only use
licensed taxis. So let me repeat my views:
Zingo’s original claim was to be a "cash"
only service to their customers. I said then
and I’ll say it again, Zingo needs account
work to make it pay. They said originally
that they wouldn’t and now they have
introduced their own ChargeCard as well as
touting for business in some of our major
account holder’s premises. All I am doing is
to point out that they are competitors to
all the radio circuits. I have nothing
against Zingo and I’d much rather those
requiring transport use them than Private
Hire, I just find their attitude of
pretending that they are what they aren’t,
to be irritating.
So I will say it once more, Zingo are after our account clients and
we should treat them as we would any
competitor in that situation. Otherwise I
have nothing against them, but I hope our
drivers can now see why the DaC BoM
disallowed our drivers from also having
Zingo Terminals when they first came out…
Alan Fisher
callsignmag@aol.com |
