Call Sign October 2007 - Page 22 - MAYOR KEN’S ETHNIC MINORITY KNOWLEDGE FREEBIES

Mayor Ken’s proposals to offer a range of free goodies such as mopeds, free all-weather kit and maps etc to ethnic minority applicants who enroll on the Knowledge of London in an effort to incentivise that sector of our community to become taxi drivers, has met with a less than enthusiastic response from some of the DaC drivers with an ethnic minority background and who Call Sign spoke to recently…

Lee Robb (F30)
"Absolute tosh! Total nonsense! The Knowledge was just as hard for me as it was for the others in my group of students. I bought all my own kit. Look at me, I was the only one of my colour in my group and received no favours whatsoever. My mother was white English and my father was born in Burma. I have never had any racist remarks made against me. I’ve been cabbing 2 years and been on DaC since April ‘06"

Trevor Smith (V78)
"The Knowledge should be open to everyone, not just a ‘disadvantaged’ few. If someone is on benefits, they should pay a small percentage upfront to cover the costs of exams etc and then repay the full amount when they pass out. Anyway, if they are given a free bike, who is going to check on its

MAYOR KEN’S ETHNIC MINORITY KNOWLEDGE FREEBIES

DaC drivers give their views…

usage? How is that going to
work? Maybe the bike could be used for other reasons not connected to the Knowledge, leading to abuse of the facility. I’ve been driving a cab for 26 years and been on DaC for 16 of them."

Saleem Raja (S46J)
"The PCO should be the only place where they do not care what colour you are - so long as you can prove you know where you are going. There are all sorts in this trade already, so why should we give any handouts? I think this move would be detrimental to our trade. Ken is trying to destroy our trade by watering it down and no additional help should be offered. If someone wants to do the Knowledge, they should pay their Knowledge school fees, that would keep them focused and not give up easily. I did the Knowledge in 11 months and two of my brothers are cab drivers as well. My father came here to the UK in 1962, and we brothers were born in Pakistan, coming over here in 1966. I’ve been on Dial a Cab since 1998."

Colin Salmon (N81)
"It’s scandalous, it degrades the

quality of professionalism and integrity of the world-renowned London taxi driver, because you cannot make people do something they do not in their hearts want to do. Everyone who is driving a cab now must have, at some stage, wanted to do so and was not forced into it because of political strategy. We all did it under our own steam and it seems wrong to dangle a carrot in front of some for political gain. I think these ideas are slowly killing the trade and certainly not doing us any favours. Anyway, I still wonder if it will even work."

Divyesh Ruparelia (V59)
"I think it’s a stupid idea. My girlfriend is also Asian and she is on the Knowledge. I have no doubt that if she works hard at it, she could get out in under 18 months. The strange thing was that when she contacted the PCO about going on the KoL, they were so polite and couldn’t do enough for her including ringing her back! Have you ever tried to get the PCO to call you back? Would they have been so nice had they not seen her obviously Asian name? I must add that they told her afterwards that she could not expect any favours, but they were just so nice! I don’t remember that when I was on the KoL – then again, Ken wasn’t the Mayor at that time!

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