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Call Sign has become sadly used to hearing
about drivers being given PCNs via CCTV camera operators. It
was bad enough when they first came out and just took
automatic footage, but now that most of them are manually
controlled, you have to rely on the evidence of someone you
cannot see. Consequently, many drivers on Dial-a-Cab would
rather pay up and get the ticket out of the way, but more
and more are questioning the validity of the imagery. Call Sign has managed to get several drivers off by speaking directly to the authority concerned. One such instance was the appalling case of DaC driver John Shaw (R90) and his Fairway. John was hailed by a passenger close to the Chancery Court Hotel in High Holborn – in fact in the 24-hour coach bay that Call Sign warned drivers about several issues back. However, there were no coaches there, but there was someone in a wheelchair with his hand out looking for a taxi. Admittedly John was unaware of the coach bay ban, but he wasn’t intending to spend his lunchtime there, just to pick up the wheelchair-bound passenger. John, got out and fitted the ramps up as it was an electric wheelchair and too heavy to push. According to John, the whole process took not much more than two minutes. Some time later, John received a PCN for stopping in the coach bay where stopping at any time is banned. John phoned Call Sign and told us the story and questioned whether he should appeal. He had written to the Council and then gone away for a few days break and was |
DAC DRIVER GETS PCN…  |
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phoning from there because he couldn’t get the PCN out of his mind. "It had ruined my break," a clearly upset John told us. "What should I have done? Drive straight past? Ken Livingstone is always going on about rights for the disabled and how London Taxis are 100% wheelchair compatible. Then I get a ticket for picking one up!" Call Sign contacted Camden Council on John’s behalf and asked why he was ticketed when it was surely obvious that he was picking up a wheelchair passenger? They told us: "Our CCTV footage did not show anyone getting out of a wheelchair, because the CCTV operator picked it up after the passenger had got in the cab, so a ticket was issued because the driver had pulled over in a coach bay. However, we have now inspected the footage closely. While we did not have any footage of a wheelchair, on closer inspection we could see that one of the people in the cab was a wheelchair user |
from the way they were sitting. We have therefore cancelled this ticket. If our CCTV operator had clearly seen the driver picking up someone in a wheelchair, the ticket would not have been issued in the first place." Thank you Camden, however, when Call Sign looked at the (poor quality) footage, it seemed pretty clear to us that there was a wheelchair passenger involved. One shot showed the driver closing the boot. Did the CCTV operator think he was looking for mice? What this cock-up shows is that licensed Taxi drivers should be given far more leeway in order for them to be able to carry out their jobs properly. The last word goes to John: "My thanks to Call Sign. If ever Big Brother has truly arrived, it’s now with these CCTV operators filming anyone they don’t take a fancy to!" We’re delighted that we helped John, but we don’t always have the time. If you really feel hard done by, you MUST appeal. Many are successful… |
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