Friday, 4 March 2016
TfL Board Meeting 03/02/2016 : Highlights and full video link.
Highlights:
Apparently, even though this board agreed a 1.6 tariff increase, Peter Anderson MD of Finance at Canary Wharf said "Taxis are just too expensive"
The Board wants an all embracing tariff review to take place within the next 12 months as by then according to Leon Daniels they will have more data to go on.
Peter Anderson then bought up the question of linking the CC machine to the meter. Leon Daniels agreed saying although their are some players in the market who can do this now, there are some who can't but are working to do this later. He said linking to meter should be mandated sooner rather than later.
Board member Peter Anderson said even though soon if us can afford to take taxis we don't cause they're too expensive. He was also heard to mumble "if we want a cheaper ride, we can use Uber"
He went on to ask the question "are we here to protect the Taxi drivers income, our protect the public?
He also said, normally we should be protecting the public from a monopoly but in this case, the monopoly is broken.
Other topics:
Apparently the 20p rise to flag fall, to compensate us paying commission on CCs is only for 12 months.
If diesel drops to 72p then fares would be reduced by 40p per journey
Garret Emmerson explained that the 3% cap on CC charges was unnecessary as market forces would find an acceptable level.
Even though the 3% CC surcharge cap was scrapped, all their calculations and hypothesis is based on a 3% surcharge. Typical of the way TfL do business.
Leon Daniels said "the cost of clearing CCs is being shared by the customer, who will pay 20p and the driver, who will pay slightly more than that".
When questioned about what would happen if a customer was refused CC facilities on the grounds that the machine wasn't working, Garrett answered:
"If machine is reported to us as not working, the first thing we would do is pull the vehicle in for inspection".
Isabel Deadring said that their are players in the market offering between 1 to 2 percent surcharge, but failed to name them!!!
The legality of mandating was bought up but the board was told it was a matter to be discussed later in a private session. Wonder what it is they don't want made public about the mandate?
It should be noted that Bob Oddy (far left in the video) had absolutely nothing to say on this issue.
See full video below:
Worth watching from 43 minutes into the meeting.
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Statement From Len Martin, Chair Of UCG : Our Stance On Credit Card a Issue.
UCG Credit Card Stance
We have received numerous calls and enquiries lately about the Credit Card Mandating Issue we are facing. Some of you have asked about a meeting that is taking place tomorrow 230 Blackfriars Rd. We were invited to this meeting but have respectfully declined for the following reasons.
I agreed to go to this meeting because I was led to believe that we were going to push back against the implementation.
However Helen Chapman has issued an Agenda that cannot be deviated from due to the meeting room being booked and the meeting having to run to time.
We know that there will be questions from our members asking why we did not attend, to pre-empt this we are letting you know why we shall not attend tomorrow.
The agenda is all about how and when the mandation is implemented, Brackets, Approved suppliers, Signage etc... Not about halting the implementation pending a serious review.
I have declined the invitation to attend and here is my letter explaining why.....
****************
I have seen Helen Chapmans Agenda and it is clear we will not stray from this, there is nothing in this agenda that will satisfy my requirements to know how the issues of ignoring common law will be addressed.
In fact I am looking at an agenda of implementation timescales this was NOT what we agreed we required from TfL.
I will not be party to the implementation of something that I believe is not lawful and is not in the interests of the trade.
I must decline the invitation to attend this meeting as I cannot reconcile the agenda with my beliefs that this is not in the interests of the trade and will not give this my blessing by attendance.
You are surely not surprised at this stance? I have made it more than clear from the very outset that we cannot do this without the whole trade in agreement. This consultation was flawed from the start and skewed against our interests, I call for TfL to stop the implementation of this and go back to the trade and seek a mandate from the trade by conducting a proper consultation whereby every driver is written to with a return envelope and the responses collated by an independant arbiter.
I have stated this before and I will state this again, you will never put this issue to bed unless you do this.
If this is done and we are given a mandate by the drivers in a democratic way, then I will do all I can to assist in the implementation, if the drivers object then as driver representatives we have a duty to challenge this legally.
No one has spoken at all about the legality of this, you can't ignore this issue forever, it will come back and bite you.
I shall not attend and neither will any representative of the UCG attend a meeting to assist in the introduction of this process.
Len Martin
Editorial Comment :
This issue needs to be discussed fully by all concerned. If Chapman refuses to do this properly, then all others orgs should boycott the meeting as well.
This is a major issue that can't be sorted out over a quick cup of tea and a biscuit.
We've seen this tactic before when Helen Chapman thought she may be put on the spot.
Remember the Taxi Trade Forum at Palestra, where we were told the time allowed for the meeting had to be cut short as the cleaners had to come in and clean the room.
Helen and her team left promptly but we stayed behind for over an hour and a half....and no cleaners turned up.
Just another example of woeful inadequacies from the LTPH general manager.
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Taxi Drivers Successfully Flash Demo The London Transport Awards.
Londons Taxi Drivers Successfully Mounted A Flash Demo At Last Nights The London Transport Awards.
Drivers were showing their anger at TfL's refusal to recognise and enforce certain parts of the private hire act 1998.
The police have continued to be aggressive in their negotiations with trade orgs wanting to demonstrate, threatening the organisers with arrest and issuing section 12 public order restrictions. In one case a demo in Victoria street by peaceful cabbies was limited to 30 minutes while a few days later marchers demonstrating on behalf of certain band terrorist organisations were allowed to demonstrate for many hours through Central London.
It is felt by the rank and file that the time for sticking to the rules and informing the police is over. Drivers have stated their preference for off the cuff flash demos. Last night, drivers proved how effective and disruptive this type of demo can be.
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Thursday, 3 March 2016
New update from Action For Cabbies - Black Cabbies v TfL .... What Next?
Many supporters of the campaign keep asking the one question that seems to be on everyone’s lips ‘What if we don’t reach £600k’, which we’ve always answered and maintain, when the campaign closes (14th March 2016) and if the target of £600k hasn’t been reached, any monies pledged will not be taken from the pledgers account.
Whilst our position hasn’t changed we’ve be urged by many of you to continue working proactively for the trade. To this end and rather than Action-for-Cabbies deciding, we would like you to decide what you want us to do next.
AskPOB have once again kindly agreed to conduct a survey to gauge what you think we should do, so please read and completed the one question one answer survey by 8.00pm on Sunday 6th March 2016.
We will publish the results of the AskPOB survey on Monday 7th March 2016, and depending on what you want Action-for-Cabbies to do next, we’ll either formulate an action plan or close the current campaign on the 14th March 2016 without any monies being taken from pledgers accounts.
Thank you and please remember ‘we are stronger together’.
Action-for-Cabbies
Survey link:
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