Addison Lee, Arrive In Greater Manchester.

Addison Lee arrives in Manchester. 

London PH Giant Addison Lee arrives in Manchester, EXCEPT, they missed it on their Sat Nav and instead set up in a nearby Town, usually the case with PH drivers, but not the Companies. 

Addison Lee are however owned by U.S. Equity group Carlyle and it must be remembered that Mark Twain (another Yank) once said of Manchester.

“I would like to live in Manchester, England. The transition between Manchester and death would be unnoticeable.”

However , for whatever reason, locating near Manchester but licensing with a more efficient authority is no doubt a wise one.

Lets hope they can give UBERK a run for their money. It is not a coincidence that UBERK have an 'Office' in Stockport as well.

Read more: >mcrblackcab.proboards<

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TfL Caught Bang To Rights Issuing PH licence Without CRB Check.

This tweet appeared on Twitter yesterday afternoon.

It followed this document which was posted earlier in the day.

We have been told repeatedly by TfL that Private Hire drivers go through the exact same process as Licensed Taxi Drivers when applying for or renewing their licenses. 

Last April we were warned in the media 

'Criminal record checks BANNED on foreign murderers and rapists who want to be minicab drivers if they have applied for asylum or refugees status'

TfL brushed these claims under the carpet and  repeatedly stated on Twitter, Private Hire Licenses are not issued, unless the driver has first completed an enhanced DBS check. 

At other times, we were told 'people that have lived in a foreign country and haven't lived here long enough, could be licensed subject to a letter of good conduct from the last country they lived in'. 

Well it seems they lied.....again!

Lies such as;

• They have switch on, switch off insurance.

• They complied with all the regulations when they first applied for their licence.

• They definitely have a land line for bookings

And now this;

Many Licensed Taxi drivers have been put out of work, some for many months, after Peter Hendy decided to scrap the temporary licence system that had been in use, with absolutely no trouble for decades. He said he could trust Taxi drivers to receive renewals just incase they had committed serious offences while waiting for their new licence to be processed. 

Now we find out that TfL have allegedly been issuing new and renewals to Private Hire drivers, without first receiving back DBS criminal record checks....One rule for us, and yet a completely deferent rule for PH.

A driver asked the question on Twitter, why are the org not all over this

He was told by a certain political lobbyist, that they had been silenced by TfL's gagging policy. 

At this, the same tired trolls rolled out to defend the engagement policy, but were told 'call it what you like, but the engagement policy clearly prohibits criticism of TfL'.

We have been informed the Mayor will be looking into this issue. 

This situation is unacceptable. TfL can no longer be trusted.

TO ENSURE THE SURVIVAL OF THE TAXI TRADE, THE ENGAGEMENT POLICY MUST BE THROWN OUT.

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New PH Feeder Park At Heathrow : A letter to the editor, from Tom Scullion

HAL / BAA have fast tracked a feeder park to a company who do not comply with tfl's rules or regulations a company who have been exposed and expelled all around the World for non compliance with the regulations of the particular City, County or Country.

How will HAL implement this mini cab feeder park? 

Are the car park charges be in line with the Taxi feeder park ?

 I am also interested on the Civil aviation authority's views on allowing cars to operate at airports in the UK ? I am pretty sure it breaks their own rules.

According to a leading insurance brokerage company there are 183,000 PHV drivers in the UK who do not have the correct insurance are BAA going to allow PHV drivers a permit or RFID readers without checking that they are correctly insured to pick up HAL's passengers ?

This back door deal with Uber seems to me, to be rushed through without consultation with the taxi trade and all of the other stakeholders including the trusting passengers who use and work at Heathrow airport.

The minimum requirement for registration must be a full audit including identity checks with finger prints, CRB checks, fleet management controls for MOT,  vehicle maintenance records and Full hire and reward insurance displayed in the vehicle at all times.

Tfl and the Police should have inspectors working with HAL to have daily vehicle inspections to make sure the vehicle are road worthy and are interrogated  with ANPR systems on every terminal 24/7 including searches for rape kits.

Is it true that HAL signed off the uber mini cab feeder over three months ago without any dialogue with the Taxi trade and other stakeholders like the trusting public it would be interesting to review HAL's  detailed data on this invisible review.

Will other PHV companies like Addison Lee be allowed to use this VIP car park? 

If not why not?

All seems dark to me.....

The only trade organisation to pick up the baton is The UCG well done Guys.

I feel really sorry for the local residents around the Heathrow area who have been subjected to the plague of filthy  drivers and I agree something has to be done, but HAL's decision to reward bad behavior and to cosy  up to a company who has no control or responsibility for their drivers is outrageous, imagine the costs of refurbishing our old feeder park then hand it over to a PHV company who do not have the ability to pre booked a job, which is against tfl's rules is nonsensical.

Is HAL's secret agenda to allow uninsured unchecked private hire drivers to force the London Taxi trade out of the airport ?  

Recent reports claim there are only four Police enforcement officers at Heathrow and by contrast Gatwick have over 90 if HAL want a third runway they need to step up big time, here is another example of lawlessness the Hilton on T4 has an illegal Uber rank plying for hire, it's all got out of control.

Not a word from TfL's new enforcement officers who stand around Edgware Road traffic lights shooting the breeze what's that all about ?

When are they going to be employed at Heathrow airport?

The whole issue of E plying for hire must be addressed by  the government, MP's and the courts in great detail as this current Wild West do as you like minicabs free for all has to stop.

Be lucky 

Tom Scullion.

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CAN'T DEMO BECAUSE OF YOUR MORTGAGE? HOW WILL YOU PAY IT, WITH NO JOB?

There is a UCG demo on 8th June, between 2pm and 4pm, Victoria Street and Windsor House.
It is a protest to highlight the corrupt state of Transport for London to a wider audience; with a call for Leon Daniels to go.

It is not aimed at the new Mayor. How could it be? His seat is not yet warm.

I am not a UCG member.
I understand the insignificance of replacing one corrupt official with another.
But the public, whose support we want, need to be informed of our struggle.
The whole of TfL needs to be reviewed.
London needs a Public Enquiry, looking into TfL's unhealthy relationship with rich disruptive organisations, from management level up to Johnson, Osborne and Cameron.

My union, the RMT do not support the demo. They also believe that Daniels will not be sacked, but promoted; re Hendy.

I personally do not care if Daniels is beatified.
This is not a tit for tat vendetta against Daniels. It is a public statement that we believe Leon Daniels is not fit to serve in his existing position.

Officially the RMT feels it deflects from real issues. But I believe this is an issue that needs public airing.

The LTDA do everything to undermine the UCG and any other trade organisation.
They did the same last time out, with an 'all fur coat and no knickers' lobby come photo opportunity at Parliament, the day before a demo.

The LTDA and TfL are too cosy. So cosy in fact it is hard to discern one from the other.

The LTDA boast about their relationship with MPs and officials. Look where that got us.
We are in this state because of the LTDA's cosy, ineffectual relationship with MPs and officials.
The LTDA are poodles.

Unite are more like a political party than a union. I am still waiting for that grand conjuring trick they and Tom Watson promised us, a year ago.
Luckily I did not hold my breath.

This lack of urgency, and my feeling that the Taxi Branch seemed to be of no real consequence to the largest union in the land, were my main reasons for leaving.

The LCDC are more a taxi newspaper than a taxi movement.

They released embarrassing emails between Daniels and Jo Bertrum, showing collusion between TfLTPH and Uber. But the readership of The Badge are only cab drivers.
It is the public who need to be informed.

The LCDC supply the bullets for others to fire, but are nowhere to be seen, for fear of upsetting the new Mayor or anyone else they might photobomb to raise their profile.

A refusal to 'out' Daniels in public, by Orgs who refused to sit at the same table as him, smacks of grandstanding.

This demo will not inconvenience the public too much. It is occurring during a convenient time the Metropolitan Police agreed was not overly disruptive.

TfL hierarchy must be rolling in the aisles watching this division.

Whenever we need to show unity, an enemy within throws a spanner.
If we die, it will be due to Machiavellian ambition and driver apathy.

I for one will be on that demo calling for Daniels's head. And why not? He conspired to take ours.

I will also be calling for a public enquiry, and highlighting how the rape and sexual assault of vulnerable Londoners, by TfL Licensed Private Hire drivers, has gone through the roof, on Daniels's watch.

So if you need an excuse not to attend, you can always use that old chestnut "My Org told me not to.", that is your perogative, your conscience.

If you work during the demo, any Taxi demo, then you are crossing a picket line. And you know what that makes you.

by Lenny Etheridge

   

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I owe my soul to the company store...by I'm Spartacus

So goes the old song, the Paul Robeson version being the finest and most moving.

So vehicle manufacturers are teaming up with PH and Taxi apps.
all talking about driverless cars so let's deal with that first then last.

Will there be a robot to load wheelchairs, luggage or deal with those who's language skills aren't great or not exactly sure of their destination?

We can imagine what will happen to those who have had one or twenty too many Cream Sodas and who might leave a parting gift for the next punter.

Back to the present, let's see all this for what it is, nothing more than a set of finance deals to tie in drivers to a app and a manufacturer over the longest possible time, they might as well install handcuffs to fit the steering wheel and a Benzedrine drip!

Some are already offering 'Payday' loan style arrangements so the suckers who work for those outfits are effectively driving today for yesterday's money, so we have now got financial manacles on the pedals as well.

This isn't the future it's slavery and that's nothing new.

Back to driverless cars, why bother at all? 

Those beloved tax avoiding multinationals can get mugs to drive for less than the minimum wage subsidised by another set of mugs called the taxpayer who fund the tax credit and housing benefit system.

I could write to my MP but their very busy filling in expense claims for 40p, I could call Uber and complain but the landline isn't there. I could email Leon Daniels but he's busy corresponding with Jo.

AlI I do know is ' St Peter don't you call me cos' I can't go, I owe my soul to the company store'.

I'm Spartacus.

P.S 'The EU protects worker rights' .... really????

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Uber Do Not Actually Accept Bookings, But The Drivers Do... An Open Letter To Chief Licensing Officer (Head of Licensing) Sheffield From Lee Ward.

   

  

To Stephen Lonnia, Chief Licensing Officer (Head of Licensing) Sheffield

I bring to your attention several drivers that had their badges revoked and are currently going through the court process of illegally plying for hire, and no doubt afterwards for then driving without insurance. 

I am sure that you are aware that these drivers had their licenses revoked and or suspended with immediate effect due to them being classed as a danger to the public by the Sheffield Licensing Committee and therefore the licenses were revoked/suspended under section 61(2)(a) of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976

I am now going to ask why, if this is the case of the drivers, have Uber not also been dealt with in the same manner for the exact same reasons?

Uber are a peer to peer company (P2P), they openly admit that they are not a transport provider. Section 3 of the Users Terms and Conditions states;

Uber UK accepts PHV Bookings acting as disclosed agent for the Transportation Provider (as principal). Such acceptance by Uber UK as agent for the Transportation Provider gives rise to a contract for the provision to you of transportation services between you and the Transportation Provider (the "Transportation Contract"). For the avoidance of doubt: Uber UK does not itself provide transportation services, and is not a Transportation Provider. Uber UK acts as intermediary between you and the Transportation Provider. You acknowledge and agree that the provision to you of transportation services by the Transportation Provider is pursuant to the Transportation Contract and that Uber UK accepts your booking as agent for the Transportation Provider, but is not a party to that contract.

For the sake of clarity, your PHV Booking will be accepted and allocated to a Transportation Provider by Uber UK as holder of the relevant operator's licence. You should be aware that the Transportation Provider to which your PHV Booking is allocated and who provides the Transportation Services may be licensed in an area other than where the booking is requested or the Transportation Services are provided.

And as I am sure you are aware that the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 Section 56(1) states that;

For the purposes of this Part of this Act every contract for the hire of a private hire vehicle licensed under this Part of this Act shall be deemed to be made with the operator who accepted the booking for that vehicle whether or not he himself provided that vehicle.

After reading the summary of Judge Sean F Dunphy in the Ontario Court of State Justice in 2015 which can be located here http://ift.tt/1TI3suO

It was very clear that a P2P service such as Uber do not actually accept the booking, but the driver does. This has been proven quite easily by myself and a friend who is an Uber driver. We drove to the outskirts of Sheffield to ensure that no other Uber driver was close by and I requested a trip from the Uber App, which I could not make because no Uber cars were available and therefore Uber could not and did not accept my booking. 

I then asked my friend to log into his Uber drivers App and make himself available for work, which he did. Sure enough I could now link myself to a driver on the Uber circuit, so I therefore requested a journey, but, I asked my friend to not accept the booking. Because he did not accept the booking the Uber App then told me to try again later, which is quite obvious that the booking was never accepted in the first place by Uber even though a driver and vehicle was in the area. 

Again, this simply proves that what Judge Dunphy identified that it is the driver who accepts the booking and not Uber or any of its servers, companies registered under its umbrella or an employee of Uber that accepts the booking as an operator of private hire vehicles is by law required to do. The driver quite clearly accepts the booking and Uber then link the P2P request of the customer with the driver. Even if the driver accepts the booking and then chooses to decline the booking, the customer is  then still without a booking being accepted because they have to try and get another driver to accept the booking by repeating the process.

This then means that every driver who accepts a booking by a user of the Uber App is actually plying for hire and as such is doing nothing legally different than the drivers who had their licenses suspended/revoked back in late 2015. 

This then therefore leads me to request that Sheffield City Council revoke the Private Hire Operators license issued to Uber on the grounds that every journey that the public think is fully legal and therefore insured is in fact no different than plying for hire which will as you are aware, cancel the Private Hire insurance of the driver who collects them and takes them to the destination unknowingly breaking the law.

Another scenario that would support this action is that if a friend of mine has an operators license and puts his phone on divert to my mobile so that I can take calls and then cover the work I would also, as a driver, be accepting the work and not him himself who is a licensed operator.

I must advise you and the Sheffield City Council that ALPHA see this matter of such a high importance to the safety of the public travelling in Sheffield that if no action is taken by yourselves by the close of business on Friday the 28th of May 2016 then we will have no option other than to take this information both locally and nationally to the the media and other bodies that will find this information relevant.

Please respond to this email as soon as possible and not like previous emails that I have sent to yourself. 

Yours

Lee Ward

ALPHA Chairman

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Unless The Taxi Trade Ditches The Engagement Policy And Unites Fully, It Hasn't Got A Hope Of Surviving...by Jim Thomas

Our trade is like this baby seal, floating on thin ice, in an ocean full of Orcas, closing in for the kill.

Any defence mechanism we've had, has been stripped away by the bureaucracy and red tape of the engagement policy. Half our trade orgs have and still are capitulating to the whims and wants of TfL, while excluding all other representative groups.

They call themselves the United Trade Group, but they are far from united. They meet regularly with TfL but there are no minutes of the meetings, because they are frightened of rocking the boat, incase they themselves become excluded.

In this present climate, with the trade on the floor and the large lady warming her vocal cords, you would have thought the trade would be falling over itself to become more united than ever and yet the reverse is true.

Ask any of the three constituent members of the UTG if they would support a push to remove the engagement policy and you get the same tired answer, that is not their call, it's TfL.  

And yet the LTDA have emailed all their members explaining why the engagement policy should stay in place. 

'For many years TfL has, understandably (in Steve McNamara's opinion), required trade groups to be able to justify that they have a membership of at least 5% of drivers, in order to be fully recognised and engage with TfL at a senior and mayoral level -a condition that only the LTDA meet- The theory (who's theory Steve, yours and Bob's?)being that without a minimum membership criteria (about 1200 drivers out of the 25,000 total), or a background of long established trade representation -both the RMT taxi branch and UNited Cabbies Group have been established over seven years and the Suburban coalition for much longer - it would be impossible to limit meeting attendances to a practicable and workable level.' 

Is Steve McNamara assuming that two members from six orgs/unions couldn't carry out a practicable and workable meeting?

I myself have been in TfL RedRout Forum meetings at TfL with over 24 delegates from 8-9 different groups and enjoyed extremely practicable and workable meetings. Come on Steve surely you can do better than that old chestnut!

"The Engagement Policy" has fragmented the trade, currently only the LTDA, LCDC and Unite are officially recognised. Steve McNamara holds this up as a major achievement?

But then there's the insurmountable hurdle of the one little word.....Kudos. 

If it's not their own idea, they won't be backing it!

If their not their glory, then they will steal it!

So why are they doing this: 

• Why can't they see beyond the insults of the past?

• Why can't they draw a line in the sand and step over it, leaving what's passed in the past?

• Why can't they step forward for the benifit of the whole trade?

Until the orgs get their act together, forget the insults, throw out the engagement policy and truly unite....we don't stand a chance....just like this baby seal, eventually the ice will melt. 

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The History Of The Black Cab

Source: Car Keys

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Sean Paul Day, An Interview With Francis Wyhowska

  LONDON TAXI RADIO INTERVIEWS EPISODE 51

In this episode Sean Paul Day interviews friend of the Taxi trade, Francis Wyhowska.

 

Francis is a big supporter of the London taxi Trade and regularly attends demos and hits and has just returned from the London Taxi Drivers Benevolent Associations trip to Ypres

Email: admin@londontaxiradio.co.uk
Tel: 020 8144 8294
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London Taxi Radio is an New Digital Media initiative incorporating an online radio station, podcasts, Youtube channel, photographs and video footage.

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Toyota Hails Ride With Uber

Carmakers Toyota and Volkswagen have struck separate partnerships with rideshare companies Uber and Gett. 

The Japanese company will invest an unspecified amount in Uber and offer new leasing options for its drivers. 

Toyota said the two companies would share also knowledge and speed up their research efforts in areas such as driverless cars. 

Toyota said that as patterns of car usage continued to change, it wanted the collaboration to be about more than simply providing vehicles but to also collaborate on technology such as in-car apps.

Gett chief executive Shahar Waiser also stressed that the partnership with VW would involve technology and innovation. 

VW said: "The ride-hailing market represents the greatest market potential in on-demand mobility, while creating the technological platform for developing tomorrow's mobility business models."

Uber's deal with Toyota follows Apple's $1bn investment in Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing. That has been regarded in some quarters as a political move by the US technology giant to bolster its presence in the crucial Chinese market. 

Apple is also believed to be developing a car.

In March, General Motors invested $500m in US Uber rival Lyft to help develop an on-demand network of self-driving cars. 

The partnership will also create a joint car rental service for drivers to increase the number of vehicles available through Lyft

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Uber accuse Taxis Of Overcharging Wheelchair Customers And Announce Their LandLine Exemption By TfL.

Uber, lying to the public.

In their announcement earlier this month uber state quite falsely, that two thirds of Wheelchair users have been unfairly over charged by Taxis and private hire. 

As we know, in respect of Taxis, wheelchair users pay the same fare as everyone else. But then let's not forget the Ubergate tapes that have shown this company is being coached by TfL Managing Director Leon (turn on off insurance, Yes they have a land line) Daniels.

This below has been taken from Uber's website.

Existing accessible private hire vehicles often require booking hours – and sometimes days – in advance and Scope’s 2015 Extra Cost Commission reported research from the Department of Transport showing that almost two thirds of wheelchair users have been unfairly overcharged in a taxi or private hire vehicle.

Notice again, the inference that Uber do not do pre bookings. (The subject of the first Ubergate email scandal)

A document has recently appeared on Twitter, showing that TfL have given Uber an exemption from the requirement of having a landline. 

Uber say they have been granted an exemption as having a landline for bookings would prejudice the interest of a third party.????

It appears that this company can do what ever they like and that the PHV act of 1998 doesn't apply to them as in TfL's eyes, they are in a category all on their own. 

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Volkswagen is making a $300 million bet on one of Uber's rivals

  Shahar Waiser, cofounder and CEO of Gett.

Volkswagen is making a $300 million strategic investment into taxi app Gett, the startup announced on Tuesday.

The auto giant’s minority investment comes as it attempts to move beyond a huge corporate crisis over emissions, and launches a new mobility unit focused on new technology.

VW “want to go beyond vehicle ownership,” Gett CEO Shahar Waiser told Business Insider in a telephone interview.

Gett, an Israeli startup that launched in 2010, works in a similar way to rival Uber: Users can use an app to simply hail a taxi.

The company is not profitable overall, Waiser said — although it is in some early markets. It has annual revenues of $500 million. It has previously raised $220 million in venture capital — with VW’s $300 million taking the total up to $520 million. Waiser declined to comment on Gett’s valuation.

It currently operates in 60 European cities, as well as New York. The new funding will help accelerate expansion on the continent, Gett says.

Waiser also said that Gett’s technology — big data, predictive algorithms, and so on — could prove useful in the development of self-driving vehicles, but stressed that neither Gett is not currently developing autonomous vehicle technology.

Drivers who use Gett can stand to benefit from the deal: They will be offered terms on Volkswagen vehicles that are better than market rates, Waiser says. This, in turn, could make the platform more attractive to potential drivers looking to get into the ride-hailing business.

The investment is also likely to some extent a necessity, as ride-hailing companies raise increasingly huge war chests in their battle for dominance. Uber has raised billions. And Didi Chuxing, a Chinese ride-hailing company, recently received a rare $1 billion investment from Apple.

VW isn’t the first legacy auto company to invest in the ride-hailing business. Back in January, General Motors sank half a billion dollars into Lyft, at a valuation of $5.5 billion (and as part of a larger $1 billion Series F funding round).

Source : Business Insider.

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It's Not Uber Killing The Trade, Its The Engagement Policy...Letter To Editor.

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Letter To Taxi Leaks : Heathrow Surrounding Area, Turned Into Pseudo Migrant Camps

I have witnessed first hand how Uber cancer has attacked Heathrow area like a tornado. I have spoken to residents who have basically given up reporting to the local authorities including the Met police. 

This Addison Lee Driver, was alleged to have repeatedly assaulted a female resident in Little Harlington Playing Fields on video. 

Uber have formed migrant camps all over the Heathrow vicinities. Every available space from parks and lay-bys, from McDonald's to pub forecourts. From Hotel areas, to business car parks and Petrol forecourts. Areas like Sipson, Colnbrook and Stanwell. Etc etc. 

Uber have decimated the local minicab firms. It's as if the Calais camps have moved here lock stock and borrowed. Unless you have actually witnessed what has happened here first hand, you will not know the horror that has happened to once lovely areas. 

Bags of human waste are evident all over a five mile stretch. Apparently the locals state the smell from human waste in the parks that once housed children playing or the locals that use to walk their dogs etc. The stench in the air makes you vomit instantly. 

On my journey in most days, Uber cars are lined up on no waiting areas. Drivers asleep or openly using the spaces as toilets. These animals have no respect for any laws or for the local communities. 

Look at the video posted earlier, these residents are now prisoners in their own homes. Anarchy and scenes of Calas camps are now visable for all to witness. NO FEMALES are safe walking around these parts. 

TFL have caused this attack on lawful home owners, as well as the rest of us. Gangs of Uber migrants are openly doing as they would from camps in Greece and France. Words fail me right now. 

Unfortunately we live in a PC world where White middle classes have played their part in creating "No go camps". This has nothing to do with being racist at all. 

The London cab trade has all creeds and colours etc. We all have to live by rules and regulations. Unfortunately this uber disease has no such rulings in place. 

Welcome to Conservative way of giving these animals a chance up the ladder and look how they are paying us back. 

Thank you Cameron thank you TFL. 

And thank you Met Police. 

Corruption at the top has created Migrant camps out west!

Regards, Heathrow Taxi driver

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Police Ignore Assaults On Female By PHV Drivers In Harlington

Amazing footage of a Harlington resident, Christine Aardman, who's had enough of the private hire vehicles she feels are destroying the area. So she decided to video what's been happening in a parking area of little Harlington playing fields, Sipson Lane. 

She went their to take a few picture but while there, on 9th April 2016 at 9:10 am, she was subjected to racial and sexual abuse.

She said "It's a risky business going to no-go areas full of Heathrow PH drivers, but I only planned to see if things have improved from three days earlier, when I fist contacted the police.

"As soon as I arrived I was spotted by a PHV driver who shouted 'hi, what woman what are you doing here?'. Intimidation and assaults followed, but it was the cafes leaseholder who rang the police".

A further assault happens just before police arrive but no crime will appear in police figures. So that's no action and no red faces, about no go areas is created by Heathrow (private hire vehicles) drivers

The lady filming, later discovered that the police officially recorded the incidents as littering and parking issues.

Christine says she was shocked by the lead police officers attitude. His focus was more on the female owner who had made the call to the police and the private hire drivers. He didn't want to see film she had taken all CCTV of the incident.

.  ...

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Minicab Sexual Assaults, Could The Solution Really Be This Simple?...by Jim Thomas

Apparently, the biggest problem facing the public, in regards to London's Licensed Taxi trade (in the eyes of TfL), has been the refusal of drivers to accept credit cards. 

TfL in their infinite wisdom have acted swiftly by mandating drivers acceptance of all credit cards -including contactless payments- to be implemented in October this year.

In the eyes of TfL and the public... simple solution, problem solved. 

The biggest problem facing passengers in private hire vehicles at present, is customer safety. 

Reports from freedom of information requests, show from February last year to February this year, 154 instances of sexual assaults (including rapes) against passengers were recorded against private hire drivers. 32 of which the Met police were accusations made against Uber drivers. We must also be aware that the Metropolitan police state in their POP (Clapham) report, that over 60% of sexual attacks never get reported.

So what has TfL come up with as a permanent solution to this problem....they've  sat on their hands, with a bewildered look on their face, shaking their head. 

Paying people enormous amounts of money, doesn't guarantee common sense, they just haven't got a clue what to do.

As always, the solution could be very simple. 

Every Private Hire Vehicle should have two way CCTV fitted as part of their conditions of fitness. Some insurance companies are currently fitting systems at no cost to the owner. Every vehicle should have 2cm high easy to remember registration numbers, emblazoned on the dash, plus both front and rear windscreen. PHV drivers should also be subject to having their DNA taken for future cross-referencing. These measures would also protect the driver from false allegations

>Driver saved from false allegations by CCTV footage<

Currently PHV licence numbers virtually unreadable and almost impossible to ascertain. Seven digits in minuscule font, with 9 out of ten roundels hidden behind tinted screens. 

A simplified registration of three letters, followed by two digits (1,797,600 combinations) in 2cm high font (same as Taxi ID cards) facing the passengers bottom left of windscreen, should be an easy to remember reference. Combined with tamper proof CCTV  video, should see an almost immediately cessation in sexual assaults on passengers in legitimate Private Hire vehicles.

How is it that Taxis have to have the drivers badge number emblazoned on both front and back windscreens, in 2cm high font plus vehicle PCO pate numbers on back and in passenger compartment...having to be clearly visible at all times, and yet PH have small roundels with tiny digits, unreadable unless viewed up close and in the majority of cases, hidden behind tinted screens. 

With 99.99% of all passenger assaults, over the past 30 years having occurred in minicabs, how have these brainiacs at TfL managed to get it so wrong with vehicle identification?

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The Buck Stops Here????....Letter To Taxi Leaks From Dads Defending Daughters.

The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing Like The Truth.... By Jim Thomas

While the LTDA are busy braking arms, slapping themselves on the back, in aid of the next Taxi magazine headline....

Taxi Leaks would like to set the record straight by thanking Danny Henderson who made the original FOI request on 11 Fed 2016 to the Met Police. 

Freedom of Information Request Reference 

No:  2016020000642

>CICK HERE TO VIEW FULL REQUEST<

We would also like to thank Angela Clarkson and Heather Rawlings from their time and effort spent, bringing this FOI request to the attention of the national press.

We should also like to thank Danny Sullivan for an earlier FOI request which produced this graph showing that more TfL licensed minicab drivers were involved in sexual assaults and rapes than unlicensed fake drivers.

But... Bob, Steve, Richard...don't let he truth get in the way of a good story....again.

FROM THE PAPERS:

IN THE SUN

UBER drivers are accused of rape or sex attacks on customers nearly three times a month in London.

They were suspects in 32 cases reported by female passengers in the capital across 12 months. 

The tap-and-ride app, which now operates in 20 UK cities, claims to be the “safest ride on the road”.

(Funny, not a word about the AddVan here!)

IN THE MIRROR

Female passengers have made 32 claims of rape or sexual assault against Uber drivers in London over the past 12 months. 

The Metropolitan Police Service and West Yorkshire Police released information on reports relating to the minicab app after The Sun requested information from 14 police forces. 

West Yorkshire Police received four reports of serious sex assaults and eight violent incidents from February 2015 to February this year.

The Met had recorded 154 allegations including minicabs, private chauffeurs and even rickshaw riders.

(Nothing again about the AddVan!)

IN THE INDEPENDENT

 Uber drivers are accused of sexually assaulting or raping customers almost three times a month, according to new figures which have outraged rape campaigners.

Freedom of Information data obtained by The Sun newspaper revealed 32 assault claims were made against employees of the taxi-hailing app in London over the past twelve months, equal to one every eleven days.

(Again, not a word about the AddVan!)

What ever next: 

They might even claim the kudos for sorting out St Pancras and not even mention the week long demonstrations organised by Dads Defending Daughters and attended by drivers from every org. Oops, too late...they already have. 

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