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Taxi
vigilantes... Every taxi driver who works at night knows that the touting that occurs from the licensed and unlicensed minicab fraternity is reaching epidemic proportions. This occurs mainly outside clubs and restaurants and the touts are quite blatant regarding their activities, as they know the chances of them being apprehended are practically nil. Many venues have their own minicab satellite offices, which are usually manned by a Clipboard Johnnie who ushers members of the public into these minicabs that are illegally ranked outside the building. However, in recent times some members of our trade have been fighting back by targeting different venues on different nights of the week and supplying that venue with a constant stream of taxis. This has become much easier in recent times with the advent of the internet and email and the improvement in communication between individuals that this brings. Needless to say the touts are none too happy about this situation as they look on these premises as ‘theirs’ and in their view the licensed taxi trade have no business encroaching on ‘their’ territory. A couple of years ago when business was extremely buoyant, these touts had these venues to themselves. However, now that business for taxis is not so bright, the licensed taxi industry wants to give a service to their legitimate customers without any fear of intimidation and threats from any of these touts. There is no point in me preaching to any night man regarding the current situation, as they are probably more aware than I of how things are, however, to any day man, I can assure you that the atmosphere outside these venues leaves much to be desired and the scene is like any you would find in a third world country. As you can imagine, tempers are running extremely high on both sides and there have been cases of taxis being damaged and taxi drivers being assaulted, with one taxi driver having fingers broken. |
 There is not any question the law is not being enforced by the authorities and there is also a distinct lack of awareness for taxi driver’s safety. Neither is there any question in my mind that the blame lies with TfL and the Police for not protecting licensed taxi drivers as they go about their legitimate business, with the majority of that blame lying with TfL as they should insist the police enforce the law. We have had platitudes from them for years on what they intend to do and yet they do hardly anything except tour the ‘hotspots’ to see what is going on (all the regimes have done this), yet hardly anything is resolved – just what should a taxi driver expect from TfL in return for the fee he pays to renew his licence every three years? Things have become so bad that one trade organisation is paying for Marshals to attend various venues for a short time, because obviously the cost would be prohibitive for the long-term. The strange thing is that none of these Marshals are taxi drivers, the reason being - according to the trade organisation - is just in case there is any confrontation and physical violence, the Marshal would not be in a position to lose his Bill as he would not posses one. What a remarkable state of affairs TfL has allowed to happen when they play into the hands of those within our industry that would welcome confrontation. I have every sympathy with taxi drivers that feel intimidated by these touts and taxi drivers are rightly angry that they are not being protected by the very authority that seek to govern us. What message are we sending out to the public when we employ - as another trade organisation |
called them - ‘thugs’ onto the streets of
London? I can appreciate the sense of frustration, but this is clearly not
the way. The Mayor was keen to court the taxi trade when he was seeking our
support for the last Mayoral elections, so it is now up to him to give
instructions to TfL to ensure the law is enforced and the safety of taxi
drivers remains paramount! At a recent meeting at the PCO, I was informed that they had been advised by counsel that it was quite legitimate for minicabs to wait in a rank (line) whilst they were waiting to be allocated a trip. In all my years in this trade, many others and myself were always under the impression that minicabs could not form a rank in view of the public and it would appear this has always been accepted. I am now informed by the PCO that their advice is the former. I just wonder if that was the first advice they obtained or did they have to ‘shop around’ until they received the advice they wanted? There is not any doubt in my mind that the taxi industry believes the minicab industry are the favourites with TfL and receive preferential treatment. No doubt the PCO would deny this, but they have to start giving something back to this trade instead of keep taking. Enforcing the law and giving taxi drivers a safe environment in which to work would be a start! DaC AGM I believe there is a report elsewhere in the magazine regarding the AGM. I must say it was a pleasure to attend as everyone was impeccably behaved and everyone present was eager to hear what I had to say. Members were there because they wanted to be and I believe the proceedings were conducted in a very lighthearted manner – I must say I really enjoyed the day! Brian Rice |
