Call Sign November 2008 - Page 29 - YELLOW BADGE DRIVERS BEWARE…

YELLOW BADGE DRIVERS BEWARE…

The game will soon be up for Yellow Badge drivers stealing All-London driver’s work

Last month’s Call Sign broke one of its longest standing rules when it published an anonymous letter. We have always believed that if you want to make a point, then you should have the courage to stand beside it.
   Published under the heading of Yellow Badges Beware, the letter writer – I now know her name and she is the wife of a long-standing DaC driver – suggested that not only were Yellow Badge drivers working in central London, but that she also knew the details of several of them. I am going to keep both her and her husband’s name out of the mag, as I don’t know how well she knows the YB drivers. Her legitimate claim is that they are taking our work.
   Now she has written to Call Sign again and attached a response from Simon Buggey, the PCO’s Senior Driver and Operator Policy Manager. She told us:
   Dear Alan,
   Thank you for publishing my letter Yellow Badges beware. You were correct in assuming that I know of more than one Yellow Badge driver who is actively working in London. I do, in fact, know of two who work in London 6 nights a week. They boast about their earnings when they are on a south London rank and to add insult to injury, both have SatNavs in the cab so they do not get lost. However, I have not blown the whistle on either of them because I am sure that if they continue, they will get caught in the end. I’m pleased the PCO are taking the problem seriously and looking at other forms of identification so that anyone can distinguish if the driver is a Yellow Badge or a Green Badge. I have also spoken to Bob Oddy of the LTDA, he was advertising in TAXI for new sightings of a Dartford licensed cab that had been seen regularly working in central London.
   Mr Oddy confirmed that the PCO / TfL and the police were aware of the Yellow Badge problem and because it was getting worse, they are taking

sightings of Yellow Cabs in London more seriously.
Now you have published my letter, if any Yellow Badge driver that is working in London reads it, they might think twice before going in again and taking rides that are not theirs to take. My advice to yellow badge drivers who want to work in London is to get on your bike, do the full Knowledge and earn the right to work there.

Simon Buggey then responded:

Dear *********
   The PCO takes the issue of suburban taxi drivers working outside of their licensed area very seriously and any driver caught doing so will have his licence suspended for one month for a first offence, with a longer period of suspension or revocation if he offends again.
   However, as I am sure you will appreciate, policing this problem is extremely difficult as it is hard to identify such drivers. We are therefore looking at alternative forms of identification that would make it easier for the public, compliance officers and police alike to know whether the driver is a suburban or All London driver.
   If you have specific details of a suburban driver plying for hire outside of his licensed area, please let me know and I will ensure that we act on it or pass the information to the police as appropriate.
   Simon Buggey
   In Call Sign’s view, a suburban driver has no more right to work in central London than a minicab has and as the writer says, the Knowledge of London is available to anyone happy to spend the time doing it. The fact that they drive the same vehicle as us in not relevant. They are not All-London taxi drivers and I support this woman’s campaign…

Alan Fisher

Call Sign Home Page

Page 30