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AGM
I am told that elsewhere in this issue
are the Editor’s minutes regarding the
last AGM. I must say that as usual, I
thought it was good and I did enjoy
myself, as you would expect. As many of
you would have noticed, there was a
tremendous proliferation of rule
changes. In total there were nine
instigated by the same group of members
and two from the BoM. I’m pleased to
report that members rejected all nine
rule changes, while the two proposed by
the Board were accepted.
I believe this shows overwhelming support for the BoM and very
little for the members that proposed the
rule changes. I hope they will now
accept the fact that their views are in
the minority and succumb to the
democratic decision - but I won’t hold
my breath! Unfortunately, the Board were
faced with the unenviable situation of
having to put a proposal forward which
stated that in future, any rule changes
or propositions would have to have the
backing of twenty-five members before
being submitted for member’s approval.
The members voted in favour of that rule
change, so as soon as the new rule is
registered, that will be the new
scenario.
It was apparent to me why so many members voted in favour of the
proposed new rule change, they obviously
saw the size of the documentation they
received this year regarding the AGM and
realised that much of it was
inappropriate. They ultimately must have
realised that exactly the same scenario
could arise again next year, with
exactly the same rule changes as they
only had to be proposed by two members,
which could be just a time wasting
exercise.
They probably realised just how long it took me to produce that
twenty-three page document and then to
have fifty thousand sheets of paper
printed, yet all to no avail as all the
rule changes apart from the two that
were put by the BoM, were defeated.
Well, ‘that’s the way it goes’ you might
say and you would be right, but in
future those changes will have to have
the backing of twenty- five members, so
that should help alleviate the time
wasters!
Turnover
I think most of you will agree that this
year has started quite well, with work
being fairly busy for January and
February. |
December also proved to be an
exceptionally good month for us with
turnover up 15.5% over the corresponding
period of the previous year. That helps
to equate to an extra £1.5m in turnover
for the first four months of our
financial year. Hopefully, that trend
can be carried on throughout the whole
year, which as you can appreciate will
have a significant effect on our top
line turnover at the end of the year.
After all, that’s what most of you are
interested in as it represents the
amount of work that is actually being
put into the back of your taxi.
PH Topographical
Testing – PCO style…
The Public Carriage Office have just
released a document regarding the
topographical skills the Private Hire
industry will have to possess after 1
April this year. Actually, on reading
the document, they will require very
little topographical knowledge, just an
ability to read a map! There will be
five map reading / route finding
assessments which will be as follows:
1. Map Reading Ability – how to use a map, index and grid
references to identify a location.
2. Route Selection
(local) - how to plan a route using
a map, within the area in which the
driver lives or works (chosen by the
driver).
3. Route Selection
(Intermediate) – how to plan a route
using a map starting within the area the
driver lives or works and finishing in
an area other than the one in which they
live or work, but within London.
4. Route Selection (Long
Distance) – How to plan a route
using a map starting within an area that
the driver lives or works, but finishing
outside London.
5. General topography –
general knowledge of geography in and
around London, including major arterial
roads, sites of interest, tourist
attractions and main transport
interchanges.
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It also
appears that any institution able to
satisfy the PCO’s requirements for
carrying out the assessment will be
allowed to do so, this will include
professional training schools - and wait
for it - Private Hire operators! Yes,
you read that correctly, Private Hire
operators will be able to test their own
drivers! I wonder how many will fail?
There is, however, a proviso that says
you cannot be ‘accredited’ if you
operate two vehicles or less. I suppose
the idea of testing yourself would be
something of a non-runner!
Most of you will agree that the new regulations are not very
stringent and quite honestly, it seems
to me that the whole process will just
be a complete and utter waste of time.
Incidentally, the assessment will only
have to be carried out once and assuming
the driver passes, they will not be
required to renew their assessment on
subsequent licence applications, even if
they change area or licensed operator.
Finally, you will no doubt be delighted
to know that there are some exclusions
to the assessment and they are:
a. Licensed
London Taxi drivers (Green and Yellow).
b. Anyone that
has applied for a Private Hire licence
before 1 April 2006.
c.
Professional London Tourist Guides (Blue
Badge, Association of Professional
Tourist Guides).
d. Any
Individual who can provide the PCO with
evidence of a relevant vocational
qualification in passenger transport (NVQ
or equivalent).
So there you have it in a nutshell, the topographical testing that
will be required in order to obtain a
licence to drive a Private Hire vehicle.
I must say it makes me smile just a
little when I think of how hard our
licensed industry worked during and
after 1998 in an endeavour to get
‘Topographical Testing’ included in the
Act.
I think we really hoped it would be a watered down version of the
‘Knowledge’ but at least it would have
consisted of some effort on the
applicant’s behalf. What we have
actually got is a map reading exercise.
Am I surprised…?
Brian Rice
Chairman
Dial-a-Cab |
