While Taxi Drivers Were Held Back With Renewals, PH Driver Applications Have Been Fast Tracked

Before the Taxi trade takes to the streets, over how long the knowledge should take, surely we should be making sure these KoL students have a job to fit into, once they've earned their badges. 

Again an issue of seemingly great importance, has been thrown at us, in a hope to split and divide the trade. They have done this in the past with identifiers, over-ranking, the GLA report, Credit Card acceptance etc....to make us take our eye off the real problems facing our future.

A future that could soon disappear before the next generation of cabbies pass out. 

While Taxi drivers have been held up, falsely told they couldn't work, while waiting unacceptably long periods for licence renewals....PH applicants have been fast tracked...yes FAST TRACKED through the process. 

        Who at TfL is responsible for this?

In just 10 years, TfL have expanded the PH fleet by 74,000 extra licenses, currently issuing over 2200 a month. 

Uber, Allowed To Ply For Immediate Hire:

TfL are allowing Uber to ply for hire with their phone app and on their Twitter account, they've lied to facilitate a cover up over the pre-booking only regulation.

          

                  This is a lie! 

Try and book an Uber ride to Heathrow 5 hours in advance.....you get a reply, sorry we don't do pre-bookings, please open the app when you want the car. We have asked Dan on the Twitter account to explain this and so far he has ignored the question time and time again.

Ranks And Road Space Dissapearing:

Rank spaces have been drastically cut back. Now Westminster and Islington councils are planning bus and cycle only areas such as, Tottenham Court Road, Baker Street, Fitzrovia, Oxford Street, Bank Junction...and there seems to be talk from certain circles about removing us from bus lanes altogether.   

Make no mistake, we are in trouble and we need to fight. But we have to concentrate on the real issue and not be distracted.

This last year saw more demonstrations from the trade than ever before. We even saw two successful demos from friends and family members of Taxi drivers. 

With very little support from the UTG orgs, and total silence from "our man" on the board of TfL, to their astonishment, TfL had to sit back and watche as the momentum of anger felt by rank and file drivers escalated and grew beyond all expectations.

Completely overwhelmed but the strength of support and number of protestors joining the actions, organised by the United Cabbies Group, TfL and the Met were at a loss what to do next!

They tried underhanded dispersant tactics, tried to kettle Cabs, provoked peaceful attendance of the Mayors Q&A, provided bus inspectors who took photos of drivers, plate and registration numbers, sent out warning letters over demo ephemera and finally threatened to arrest demo organisers.

In their inadequacy to police peaceful protest they finally introduce a sector 12 public order notice, which included a 30 minute time restriction, something the trade has never seen before, while rioters and illegal terrorist organisations marching on Whitehall were given Carte Blanche.

As threats hadn't worked, a meeting between the UCG organisers, the Met and TfL senior officers was arranged where certain promises of improved engagement, compliance and enforcement were made. In return they asked for a suspension of regular direct action. 

An agreement of action suspension was reached but the organisers from the UCG let it be known that if things didn't improve substantially, the trade would again be forced to take to the streets.

Unfortunately, TfL and The Met have failed to keep up their end of the bargain. All the talking, lobbying, negotiating, waiting has all achieve zero results.

There is to be a meeting in early January to discuss the reintroduction of direct action on a regular basis.

No more excuses, no more bullshit from TfL or the Met.

It will be a fight to the finish this time. 

Before we even think about saving the knowledge or who pays the CC surcharge, we have to save our trade.

#WeAintGoingNowhereBruv

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Now Is The Winter Of Our Discontent ... By I'm Spartacus

'What! not those cab drivers moaning again?'

Not this time readers, this week we had that famous high profile politician Mr Tracy, Conservative GLA member for we assume Tracy Island prattling on without any evidence or justification that the world renowned Knowledge of London needs dumbing down.

Why has he done this apart from his need to grab a headline? 

We can speculate if a well connected non tax paying company has used its offshore dollars to lobby on their behalf, if they have what does that indicate? well it's obvious if you think about it.

The sweatshop model they operate has now been seen through by their own drivers and the travelling public is becoming aware of the rip off surge pricing and the difficulty of getting any meaningful  customer service. Growth predictions are poor.

They are also under the pump from the regulator who has finally awoken to the gridlock and widespread touting etc. That is going to add cost.

The answers usually for any self respecting long term business is to invest in customer service and meet any reasonable regulation.

That's not their business model though is it?  

it's all about unrealistic low operating cost and growth and all and  any price and with no regard to either their workforce, environment  or client.

So now the gaff is blown, their response is to convince the citizens of London, the regulator and politicians that dumb and dumber is the way to go.

Well sorry to disappoint you all, we and our clients like London Taxis exactly as is, the envy of the world.

Your being dragged into courts all over the world over regulatory and employment issues, your backers are getting twitchy, your so called billion dollar market valuations don't appear accompanied by a stampede of buyers do they?

Happy New Year, the clocks ticking!

I'm Spartacus

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70 Uber drivers have been charged in undercover sting, in cracking down on illegal taxis

A massive wave of cases is set to hit the busy provincial bylaw court.

“We’ve set 70 or so for trial and they keep coming in,” said defence lawyer Paul Moreau, hired by Uber to handle them. “This is sucking up an enormous amount of resources. They’re having to adjourn other cases to make room for this.”

In the first case, heard earlier this fall, the driver was acquitted. The City of Edmonton appealed to the Court of Queen’s Bench and that decision is pending. The second driver was convicted Wednesday. But that case will also be appealed, said Moreau.

The third and fourth cases started this week. Both are tied up with complicated legal debates about the admissibility of evidence: an emailed receipt from Uber to the undercover investigator and the details of what an Uber driver said to the investigator. The investigator, a retired police officer, secretly recorded the conversation without getting approval from a judge.

Four different commissionaires are handling the files, in some cases ruling on essentially the same facts with slightly different arguments at the same time, said Moreau. “This is a really bizarre situation. … I feel like I’m living a movie, only it’s Groundhog Day.”

In the 1993 movie, Bill Murray plays a weatherman who finds himself forced to repeatedly relive the same day.

City officials have consistently refused to say what actions they’ve taken against illegal taxis, except to complain Uber stymied their crackdown by cancelling their investigators’ accounts.

Moreau said in his first case, bylaw officers used the Uber app only to find drivers. Then a young female city employee approached the driver, said her app was broken and offered $20 for a ride. The driver testified he said no, but let the young women into the car while they tried to fix the app. The city employee testified he said yes. Uniformed municipal enforcement officers swooped in as soon as she entered the car.

The second, third and fourth cases all involved a retired police officer who set up an account under a fake name and took 53 rides.

Garry Dziwenka, head of the city’s vehicle-for-hire division, said his officers now issue tickets in batches to avoid constantly having their Uber accounts cancelled. Drivers face $1,400 fines.

Deterrent

As for using court resources, “we take enforcing our vehicle-for-hire bylaw seriously. … We’re hoping it’s a deterrent,” he said, noting changes to the vehicle-for-hire bylaw that returns to council Jan. 26 will increase the fines for driving an illegal taxi to $5,000.

Driver Eyob Mandefro had been with Uber three months before the undercover investigator climbed into his car last April. He received a ticket, but won’t stop driving, he said during a break in the court proceedings. Uber is handling the fine and all the legal details.

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Is The Knowledge Of London-In Its Current Form-Taking Too Long ... by Mike Hughes

OK I'm probably going to get flack for this but here goes.

Before going further, and for those who don't already know my history, let me explain that I am in a unique position to see what has happened to the KOL over the past 39 years. I've done the knowledge twice. My first was in 1976 when the blue book had a pink cover with 468 (or was it 486 can never remember the exact order of the last 2 digits) when you signed on, were given a first appearance date 104 days later eventually progressing through 56, 28, 21 and 14 day Appearances until you got your Req. Suburbs took 6 weeks.

Second time I got my badge in 2004. But I was on the last of the 400 runs with a simple(r) map and written test. The talk on this was in November 2001 - I'd already started doing the runs. 

That's 2 systems I've personally done. However my COP for the second time around was one of the early students on the 320 run system. I've therefore seen all 3 systems in use.

There's been some exchanges on Twitter by people claiming that the 320 system must be simpler as there's less runs. The reverse is actually true. Let's look at some long distance races. The most well know is the marathon but there's also the 5000 and 10000 metre races. Using the argument about the numbers you could say that two 5000 metre races are twice as difficult as one 10000 metre race, yet when you look at the total distance run it is exactly the same. The same is true of the latest system of the KOL. When it was revised they removed the duplications, combined several runs together and in fact added in more rums to the outer areas of the 6 mile limit. (I interviewed Mr Howell, the examiner who put all this together, for Taxi Talk magazine so my source is, I believe, the best you can get).

But - and let's make that a big BUT - in addition to lengthening the runs they also added in a tougher map/written test. 

This all means that unlike the days of the pink covered blue book when you could get started in the process very quickly, the time it takes to get to the written test stage is considerable - taking a minimum of 6 months for the most determined students to well over 12 months for the average student. In fact by the time they are able to pass the map test they've probably done more than 80% of the work required to do the job competently.

It's only then that they start on Appearances. To be fair the marking system has been revised to show far more transparency than the totally dark system existing in the 70's. However the calibre of the examiners has also changed. In the 70's the examiners were nearly all retired police officers - drivers were making too much money to give their badge up to become an examiner in those days. 

This meant that by and large the examiners would go out for their trips around London looking for new points once a week, but would not be seeing things on a daily basis, This meant that they would often reuse certain points and the schools would put out these points as 'bankers' that you could learn to increase your chances of scoring. This doesn't take into account the 'super' examiners such as Mr Finlay, Mr Orme,etc who could always come up with new points - there was just no way you could get past them if you really didn't know it.

Today's examiners are often working taxi drivers. They are able to combine looking for new points with work and will be ready to ask these of the students. As a quick aside the Chief Examiner, Ms Danvers, was an Examiner in the early 2000's. She appears to have an almost photographic memory and her knowledge is amongst the best ever. Trouble is she expects everyone else to be able to do the same - allegedly!

So that explains why the KOL is now tougher than ever and why it takes so long, compared with the 70's and earlier.

Yet the trade needs an influx of drivers to keep pace with the increase in demand. I know some of you will cry that there's already too many drivers, but IMHO that's not true. There are too many people offering a 'taxi type' service. I mean of course the number of PH drivers. I won't go into the whole argument about them other than to say I think it's disgraceful that the entry standards are way too low (none) and the enforcement of the PH rules is, for all practical purposes, non existent. We need taxi drivers who are hungry, or dedicated enough to be there late at night, and at weekends when the public demand is at its greatest - and the law breaking by touts is also at its greatest. 

In my opinion the KOL should, for most students, take between 12 and 24 months with the average being around 18 months, the good will do it quicker while the less able will take 24 months or more.

How do we achieve this? That's an easier question to ask than answer, with no easy way to answer it without being accused of 'dumbing down' the knowledge. Incidentally most of the officers of the trade organisations who cry out 'no quickie knowledge' would have taken less than 2 years to get their badges. meaning that by today's standards their knowledge was a 'quickie'.

As I said there's no easy answer but here's some possibilities: 

• 1. Reduce the intensity of the written test - provide a set of maps, etc that have to be learned but only with really major points such as Buckingham Palace on them

• 2. Increase the frequency of Appearances. If this means recruiting new Examiners then so be it.

• 3. Re-introduce the 14 day Appearances. This gives Examiners more time to see the progress students are making

• 4. No more red lining. The current situation means that students must get 12 points in 7 Appearances to progress or they get put back to the previous stage. Remove the 7 Appearances so that students can carry on until they get the 12 points - if they're not good enough they simply won't get the marks so there's nothing lost but for the student who has just missed out this will mean that they no longer suffer the devastating blow to their confidence a red line gives, and would make faster progress.

• 5. Return to a max 6 weeks for suburbs. The Examiners must realise that in today's world many drivers already use electronic aids when in the outer areas but they should still prove they know how to get to the area.

I leave other possibilities for you to decide.

To sum up. Making the knowledge quicker, Dumbing down? No, but making it a greater incentive for people to become fully qualified taxi drivers.

I now await the flack

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We Are The World's Best Taxis, Because Of The Knowledge ... by Courtney Connell

The Knowledge of London is the Bedrock of the Cab Trade started in 1851, it was ordered by Prince Albert that all London cab drivers should know where they were going.

This was because cab drivers  knowledge was poor at the time of the Great Exhibition, since that time we have had the Knowledge of London, which has become an institution just like Parliament, how dear the Conservatives call for the removal of the greatest form of rehabilitation I know which is the Knowledge.

I wonder would these same Mps call for the removal of Black Rod, I think not, we are part of the fabric of this Society,  we are London not the Private hire, we must not let the Knowledge be destroyed at any cost, but we must stay within the law to do so.

 

We pride ourselves on being the best in the World no one else can come close to us, and that is because of the KNOWLEDGE OF LONDON, they call it archaic, but in the West Indian community we have a saying ( A NEW BROOM SWEEPS CLEAN BUT AN OLD BROOM ALWAYS KNOWS THE CORNERS ).

If the Knowledge goes then the Cab Trade goes then thousands of others who earn off the Cab Trade will go, the domino effect,

WE MUST SPEAK AND THINK AND MOVE AS ONE MORE THAN EVER. 

DON'T BE DISHEARTENED TRY AND KEEP STRONG BECAUSE AS ONE WE ARE STRONG.

Editorial Comment by Marc Turner 

My sentiments entirely Courtney. Unfortunately our trade greatest threat is from the 'apathy' of the majority of our own colleagues. 

They believe in letting others fight their battles, then no doubt espouse in the shelters how they would save the trade. But the truth is most of them don't have any stomach for the fight. 

All it would take for the authorities to take heed would be one substantial 'lawful' demo of approx 10/15,000 (from all orgs or none). 

But as has been proved most of our numbers can't be arsed, or just gutless!!

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The History Of The Hit Squad : I'm Not Ready To Sling The Towel In Yet....by Jim Thomas

We've all seen and heard the plans, the Tory Group on the GLA have for us. No need for me to reiterate. 

But what these people don't realise is the spirit that drove us on for years, through the knowledge, is still there burning inside. 

And now the London Taxi Trade, the "best Taxi trade in the world", has had enough of the corrupt, politicians and public officials who bend over backwards to support what is basically;

• An illegal app!

• A company that rides roughshod over regulation, stating its easier to ask forgiveness than permission!

• A foreign owned, multi billion dollar company who allegedly go out of their way, to avoid paying full tax in the Uk!

• A company that employs dubious drivers, with incomplete record checks!

• A company that allows uninsured journeys, putting the public at risk!

How can public official and leading politicians support this company....could be the huge amounts of cash available for the purpose of lobbying?

Many commentators have told us " we're finished, washed up....it's all over bar the singing....the games dead".

Trouble is, I'm not ready to sling the towel in just yet. 

The spirit that saw me complete one of the hardest exams in the world, is still burning away inside me.

But to go forward, we must first look to the past.

The Hit Squad:

We have to go back well over twenty years to see where the idea of an "overt hit" first emerged. Jim Wells chairman of the LCDC led nightly hits on the Sports bar, Hombres, Stringfellows, Hippodrome  and Mr Ali's in Cranbourne street. These well executed manoeuvres, gave work back to night drivers which was being stolen wholesale by then unlicensed touts.

A few years later, after persistent protest, we saw a rank appointed outside the Dover Street Wine bar. Although this developed into a rank not to be too proud of, with the recent closure of the bar the rank itself has become hugely popular with night revellers leaving the Arts club. This will be a substantial source of work soon when Novikov's new restaurant opens, which will also utilise the rank (mainly unused) in front of Mahiki as a feed.

The Forum Hit Squad (FHS), sprang up out of "the battle for Hanover square", which saw nightly protests at Jalouse. The concerted actions from likeminded drivers, produced a new rank right outside the bar's entrance, supported by a feeder rank forcibly taken back by evicting the touts who were illegally parking on the shelter rank. 

Next target was Nobu where a young lady Cabby had been given grief by touts and door staff. After enlisting support massive support from all radio circuits, we got an extended rank outside Nobu. 

   

The FHS was closely followed by;

The Twitter Action Group (TaG) Hit Squad, which used military style, planned manoeuvres.

The TaG hit squad was facilitated by its own Twitter account and it's success saw ranks appointed outside, Tiger Tiger, Abacus, CXR, Swallow and Heddon Street . 

We did a bit of time outside these venues and on rare occasions there were minor altercations, but the look of defeat on the touts faces made it all worth while.

March this year, saw the formation of the Mayfair Mob which has seen even more results, with ranks appointed outside Hakkasan, Novikov's and an extension at the Forge, with more to come soon!

In January 2016, the UCG, will be meeting to discuss the reintroduction of regular direct action. This time it will be the fight of our lives, possibly our last hope.

If we fight, we may win, we don't fight, we will definitely die, it's that simple. 

The  GLA Tory group may have played their hand...But remember this!

The best-laid plains of mice and men, often go awry

#WeAintGoingNowhereBruv

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London Suburban Taxi-drivers’ Coalition's Letter To TfL's OnRoute Team.

You may remember recently that we wrote to transport for London regarding the new OnRoute Taxi and Private Hire magazine. Below are our original letter and their reply-

 

Dear David,

 

I'm writing to you on behalf of the London Suburban Taxi-drivers Coalition and on behalf of the many taxi drivers we have spoken to in recent times….

 

Our members have voiced strong opinion on two issues.

 

Firstly is that we prefer a separate Taxi magazine away from Private Hire. We do not see ourselves as associated with them. Our members can appreciate the Private Hire are there to fulfil a role in London but with the constantly overwhelmingly open and illegal activity it is not something we feel we wish to share a platform with. In addition whilst our standards are very high their standards generally are very low. Again we do not wish to be associated with them.

 

Our members also voiced strong opinion that we do not wish to see Uber the non-British taxpaying minicab app that flouts laws and regulations and is partially responsible for the gridlock that occurs in London every day appearing in the online magazine as if they are "Part of the trade and our friends that we all work together with.”

 

They are not. Uber are our sworn enemies and we will never ever accept them. They will always be that.

 

Uber has been banned in over six countries.

 

Whether or not they have found loopholes in which to work is irrelevant. They are an unethical company. Many of their drivers claim in work benefits and use British taxpayers to subsidise their drivers.

 

Recently one of the drivers was convicted of rape.

 

Most of the private hire industry dislikes them intensely.

 

They charge using a digital” meter" which means if the satellite navigation system cannot find the shortest route (Which it can't) And the driver doesn't know where he or she is going (Which they don’t) then the customer is overcharged.

 

Whether it's legal or not is irrelevant. It’s a rip off and we all know that………….

  

If someone insists that Uber must feature in your online magazine please let us know who they are so we can make our objections known directly to them.

 

Thank you for your attention

 

Nick Gilbert/Alan Miller London Suburban Taxi-drivers’ Coalition

 

 

Dear Nick,

Thank you so much for your email, we welcome all feedback here at OnRoute.

 

To address your specific points:

 

TfL licenses the drivers and owners of taxis and private hire vehicles (minicabs) who operate in London and so must address both areas of the trade within OnRoute.

 

In the two issues of OnRoute that have been published so far, Uber has only ever been mentioned in one story – the High Court ruling on taximeters. As TfL, along with Uber, the licensed Taxi Driver Association, and the Licensed Private Hire Car Association, asked for this legal ruling we were obliged to publicise the result in the magazine.

 

We hope this answers your concerns. If you do any any ideas for aspects of the trade you wish us to cover in future issues, please do let us know.

 

Our next issue is out in February and the major areas we will be covering are compliance activity at Heathrow Airport and the suburban taxi driver roadshows.

 

Regards,

 

The OnRoute team.

 

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