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Heathrow and minicabs There certainly has been a tremendous furore in the trade during the last month regarding minicabs having a booking desk on Terminal 3 and Terminal 5 at Heathrow. I have read all the various reports in the trade press and had several conversations with members of Dial-a-Cab on the same topic. Consequently, I intend to relay the events as they occurred regarding the situation and Dial-a-Cab. On the morning of Wednesday 1st July, I received a telephone call from Geoffrey Riesel, the Chairman of Radio Taxis Group (RTG) informing me that a meeting was currently taking place at Heathrow between the British Airports Authority (BAA) and taxi trade organisations. The trade was being informed that as of 1st September, two minicab booking offices were being set up on terminals 3 and 5. Terminal 3 was to be operated by Addison Lee and terminal 5 by One Transport, the ground transportation wing of RTG. I must admit I was somewhat surprised at the stance that had been taken and put my opinion forward, however I was told that having these booking offices at Heathrow "was in the best interests of the trade." As soon as our telephone call ended, I received two telephone calls from individuals at Heathrow, both informing me of the situation, while others asked me to clarify the situation. Later that day, Geoffrey Riesel and I had a meeting with a company that acts jointly on our behalf to lobby the authorities on matters that concern our trade such as Private Hire in bus lanes and ‘all over’ liveries on minicabs etc. They have set up numerous meetings for us with various bodies that can have an influence on our trade. As stated earlier, the lobbyists were jointly funded by RTG and Dial-a-Cab. Although both RTG and Dial-a-Cab had been reviewing the situation regarding funding due to the economic downturn and also because of other initiatives that were taking place in our trade with other organisations, it was reluctantly agreed at that meeting on 1st July that we would stop funding the lobbyists in the future. In the meantime, as you can imagine, the mood in the trade was getting a little militant and advice was being offered at Heathrow in the shape of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), so much so that Bob Crow attended the feeder park to |
 speak with drivers. I would like to point out that, in my opinion, events that take place at Heathrow would certainly have a bearing on the trade in town. If there is less work at the Airport, then there will be more vehicles in town looking for work and had the booking offices been successful, then other termini would adopt the same stance as BAA in an attempt to increase revenue. The trade had also organised a ‘drive in’ at Mountview House, headquarters of RTG, for the afternoon of July 10th. That same morning at a meeting with BAA regarding the booking offices, trade officials informed BAA that they would take action if they (BAA) continued with their plans for the offices. The meeting adjourned without any settlement being reached. However, trade representatives received a telephone call at 16.00hrs that Friday afternoon informing them that BAA were going to scrap their plans for the time being regarding the instigation of the offices. I immediately received a telephone call from the trade at the airport informing me of the situation. No sooner had I finished talking to the ‘trade’ than I received a telephone call from Geoffrey Riesel informing me that, in his opinion, the ‘drive in’ at Mountview house had not been very successful. I had to tell him that it didn’t really matter whether the ‘drive in’ was successful, as BAA had decided to postpone their decision to implement the booking offices. So what really lies beneath this thinking to implement minicab booking offices? The answer is simple - money! Every time a taxi goes through the feeder park, the driver has to pay £5.50, but what does BAA get from private hire when they pick up at the airport? The answer is nothing! It is a fact that 24% of journeys from Heathrow go in a minicab, so imagine if they could charge every one of those trips? The income would be extremely substantial. There is not any question in my mind that, in time, all cars would have to report to the booking |
office in order to pick up, or any pick up
would have to come via the booking office. I believe we need public support to keep the booking offices away and we will not get that support whilst we charge exorbitant prices for journeys that go just outside the MPD. The trade has to implement a suitable system, because until they do, the situation we have just seen will appear again in the future. Irrespective of what anyone says about pre-booking, a member of the public would have been able to approach the booking office for a minicab and one would have been despatched from their airport car park to transport the passenger. That is almost tantamount to immediate hire and would circumvent the Hackney Carriage laws. I believe there would also be a substantial minimum price from the booking office and if the public did not wish to pay that amount to go local, guess where they would be directed to! DaC and TaxiBoard John Lee and ComCab Brian Rice |
