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JOHN MASON SPEAKS TO CALL SIGN |
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 The Director of London Taxis and Private Hire, John Mason, recently offered to answer Dial-a-Cab driver’s questions, so we took him up on his offer... Bernie Silver (G08): Mr Mason, I was under the impression the impression that Private Hire companies were not allowed to use the words taxi or cab, yet hundreds of them advertise the word minicab outside their premises. Does minicab come under the TPH direction? John Mason: Yes they do come under our direction and regulation. It’s no secret that we get a significant amount of complaints from taxi drivers regarding private hire operators using such words and every time we get such a complaint, I can assure you we take action. In the vast majority of cases, the operators didn’t understand the rules and they take immediate steps to remove such wording from advertising. In some cases we get these type of complaints about operators not licensed by us and who fall outside of our legislation. When this is the case, we will refer the matter to the relevant authority. I know it is frustrating for drivers, but I can assure you that we do follow this through and try and ensure that all operators we licence are aware of these restrictions. Alf Allen (A36): Could Mr Mason please explain to me how it can be that when I parked on the rank outside the Sanderson Hotel in Berners Street, I was told that I couldn't park there by the doorman as it was for their cars to pick up? I told the doorman what he was doing was illegal, but the nice man told me where to go! I then watched him ask people if they wanted a taxi, after which he put them into unlikely cars with no TfL signs on them. Could Mr Mason please tell me if he allows this to happen? John Mason: I’m sorry to hear of the action of this doorman. Of course, if you are parked on a rank then you have a right to be there regardless of what he might say to you. I do not condone such behaviour and based on the information you have provided, I have concerns that this activity is illegal and will ask our compliance team and the Met Police to follow it up. Steve Albasini (V02): I would like to ask Mr Mason two questions... 1) Within the M25 there are circa 25,000 yellow and green badge holders with approximately 2.5 times that in PHV drivers. Do you think there is a correlation between the unregulated numbers of PHV drivers and the touting behaviour of the minicab fraternity within London? If so, would you be prepared to introduce a cap on the number of PHV drivers, which would then reduce their numbers thus reducing the temptation to tout for business as they could then survive on pre-bookings alone? 2) The PH game is financially a free market, whereas the licensed game is strictly controlled by the meter within the cab. Since joining DaC, I begrudgingly agree with the management that it's impossible to compete with the PH companies on price for certain long journeys. I think parity is needed for the licensed taxi driver to take an equal share of this work. For this to occur, do you think in the future a change in legislation could allow certain jobs (eg Heathrow) to be a pre-set fare from central London, varying only dependent on the origin of the journey? John Mason: On the first issue, I can understand the concern with regards to the number of taxi and private hire drivers, but the simple answer is that we do not have power to introduce a "cap" and the Department of Transport do not support Local Authorities doing so. There are, however, not 75,000 private hire drivers, the numbers are much lower and this is only the number of people licensed as drivers rather than people actively out and about working. I know touting is a problem and there is always room for improvement, but we do work incredibly hard with our colleagues in the Met and City Police to tackle this problem. I often read articles or get complaints saying we do nothing other than badge and bill checks, but the reality is very different. Since we introduced our "one strike and out" policy 18 months ago, we have revoked over 300 licenses and since they were established, the dedicated Cab Enforcement unit have made over 6000 arrests for touting. However, one of the problems is the level of penalties the Courts hand down and we and the Police need more powers to act as a deterrent such as seizing and crushing touts vehicles and are lobbying Government to get these. Regarding set fares, I agree that we need to look at this issue in more detail as I would imagine not every driver would want to use them, so they |
would probably need to
be optional. One possible solution we discussed internally
recently was to introduce an optional scheme that all drivers
could participate in where they can enter into an agreement with
a passenger to take them to their destination for an agreed
amount and not use the meter. Personally I can’t see any problem
with this, obviously if the passenger wants the metered fare
then the driver would have a legal obligation to take them, but
if the passenger and the driver agreed a fare "off meter" why
would this be a problem even if it ended up being more (or less)
than what the metered fare would have been? I would be
interested in hearing more views on this. For now, however, you can’t charge more than the meter and if you wanted to compete by agreeing a fixed fare for any journey, you can do that as long as you don’t charge more than the meter. So you would need to leave that on and make this clear to your passenger. David Ballard (N28): Mr Mason, what progress has been made in identifying yellow badge drivers illegally picking up in town and how many have been caught? John Mason: This is one of those issues that I feel we get a lot of stick for from drivers regardless of what we do. If we don’t undertake checks, then we are abandoning our responsibilities. Yet if we undertake a badge and bill check then we are penalising law-abiding cabbies whilst letting the touts run riot just down the road! However, the fact is that we do regular badge and bill checks but this is a small fraction of the total activity we undertake which, quite rightly, is primarily focused on touting by unlicensed vehicles and licensed private hire. On the last exercise we did we caught two yellow badge drivers and one had one driver who didn’t even have a licence. I know that the City Police found quite a number of cases in September, so they are worth doing. Stephen Field (F68): Mr Mason, what control do you have re pedicabs as the word cab or taxi can only be used to describe the black cab? Otherwise who does have control on these death cycles and what advice are you giving users? Someone is going to be killed on one eventually... John Mason: I’m afraid TfL have no power whatsoever to control pedicabs. They don’t fall under taxi or private hire licensing and they aren’t buses or fall under any legislation we are responsible for. However, we do accept that there is a great deal of concern with regards to pedicabs in London and other cities in the UK and it’s one we think the Government should be looking at addressing. I know that there is opposition to a proposed voluntary licensing scheme in Westminster, that also includes power to issue penalties for parking offences but I would say that until such time as the Government decides to take action, this is better than nothing. Mark Blackett (M16): Mr Mason, can you please tell me why TfL are petrified to enforce the regulations set for Private Hire vehicles. Apparently PHV are not allowed to have blacked-out rear windows for passenger safety, yet there seem to be many Volkswagen Sharans and Ford Galaxys around with windows so dark, you cannot see the PH licence! If I were to cover my licence plate, I wonder how quickly it would be noticed? Also PH cannot use vehicles that may be mistaken with black cabs, does this mean that with the introduction of the Vito Taxi, PH Vitos and Vianos will be taken off the road?Finally touting. It goes on every night of the week and very little seems to be done. Don’t be scared of Private Hire companies, if they don't abide by the rules, don't give them a licence. John Mason: TfL is not petrified to enforce the
regulations. Quite the opposite and, as I set out in response to
Steve’s question, we do a massive amount of work to enforce the
regulations. But as I said, there is always room for
improvement. |
which you get via our
website:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/business-andpartners/taxisandprivate-hire/8832.aspx.
Ian Connelly (T21): Dear Mr Mason, would you consider
applying a visible identification to the outside of taxis driven
by suburban drivers? This could be in the form of a large yellow
spot stuck to the front and boot lid of the cab. On rental
taxis, the proprietor / garage would be responsible for sticking
the markings on and the driver would need to sign that the spots
are on the cab when handing over the copy of his Bill. They
could easily be removed by the garage for green badge driver’s
rental. This should deter drivers from plying outside their zone
and would be self-policing. John Mason: When we consulted last year on various
matters such as driver identification, in response three of the
taxi driver associations all came back to us and suggested such
an identification. We are actively looking at this and how it
would work. I have to say that as word has spread that we are
looking into this, we have had a considerable amount of
correspondence with Green Badge drivers generally being fully
behind such an identifier and Yellow Badge drivers being against
them, so we can not rush this and will need to make sure
everyone fully understands how such a system will work.
Alex Constantinou (N05): Mr Mason, can you give me your
views on the closure of the M4 bus lane? I am also concerned
that when Call Sign enquired in a previous article
about who was responsible for the lane, the magazine was passed
from one organisation to another – including the police and PCO
– all claiming just that it wasn’t them. From memory, Call
Sign’s conclusion was that everyone was afraid Addison
Lee Chairman, John Griffin, might launch a court battle over the
lane’s usage and that losing would be a huge embarrassment for
the authorities. Can you assure us that this wasn’t why it has
been disbanded? John Mason: Ok, let me put the record straight on
the M4 bus lane once and for all! It has nothing to do with
anyone being "scared" of a Court challenge. In fact, I think
such a challenge is inevitable. When I started last September,
the issue of private hire vehicles driving in the M4 bus lane
all "kicked off". I quickly established that responsibility for
the bus lane rests solely with the Highways Agency and illegal
use was the responsibility of the Police. Despite this fact and
due to pressure, complaints, queries and criticism directed at
TfL, I spent a considerable amount of time arranging and
attending meetings with the Highways Agency and the Police to
raise the concerns of the trade and to push them to resolving
this problem. Whilst private hire vehicles continued to use the
lane, enforcement did increase and, I understand, over 200
penalties were issued. I have to say that this is EXACTLY what
the private hire trade wanted! They had, and have, a very clear
view that the exclusion of private hire vehicles from bus lanes
is discriminatory and a restriction of trade. So they
intentionally drove in the bus lane with the objective of being
issued with penalties they could then challenge in Court. Call Sign would like to offer its sincere thanks to John Mason for his time... |
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