As a Hard As They've Tried To Replace Us With A One Tier System, We Are still Here.

                     Andrea Clarke                                   Howard Carter 

This year has seen unprecedented support from TfL towards third party companies, one of which has had a dramatic economical effects on our trade and other licensed Taxi trades around the country. 

The biggest threat our trade has ever faced, has enjoyed a free hand to run riot over regulation and legislation laid down by Parliament. 

New regulations have been bought in but many in the trade feel rules are being changed to facilitate an interested party at the detriment of established Taxi and Private Hire drivers of many years standing.

It's been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that regulations are being contravened, instead of enforcement followed by revocation (as promised by Sadiq Khan when campaigning for the job as Mayor), TfL and the Mayor's office, have resorted to actually changing regulations, watering down guidelines and even blatantly ignored current legislation.

From one TfL Managing Director, we've had the "Dear Jo" Email's, the covert un-minuted  coffee house meetings, multiple lies (on-off insurance, Uber met all requirements when first licensed, Uber has a pre booking landline), told directly to the transport committee of the GLA....and this man unbelievably, still has a job at TfL?

When fake medicals and fake topographical tests came to light in the Sun News paper, TfL said they would no be taking direct action but would be more vigilant in 3 years time when certain PH driver's licenses were up for renewal. 

TfL's legal team, seem gutless to take on a large Private Hire operator whose philosophy is "it's easier to seek forgiveness than permission" but so far, they've got away with every rule they've broken and haven't had to seek forgiveness once. What message does this put out?

Funny thing is, this company state quite openly they are not a private hire operator but a tech company and its their drivers who act as private hire operators. And yet TfL have chosen to licence the company as such and not the drivers.

Confused.....it gets much worse!

TfL director of legal Andrea Clarke and general counsel Howard Carter, last reviewed their advisory panel in 2012 appointing 11 new firms, including Dentons, Trowers & Hamlins and Lewis Silkin to a roster which also includes Berwin Leighton Paisner, Eversheds, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith Freehills, K&L Gates and Gowling WLG. 

They now have a 200-strong legal team, comprising of 90 lawyers who handle TfL's core commercial work for operations which includes the capital that gets invested into the Underground, as well as diverting legal resource towards the office of the Mayor of London, the British Transport Police, the London Legacy Development Corporation. 

Firms on the payroll also advise the greater London authority, which also comes under the remit of TfL. (So no conflict of interest there then!!!

When an employee from the Diamond chauffeurs was caught blatantly on touting outside a bar in Cornhill, by senior TfL staff members, their operator licenses were revoked, but they immediately appealed. TfL's legal team embarrassingly lost in the high court and decided to just leave it at that. 

     Touting on the pavement outside Tiger Tiger

Diamond can be found today openly touting on pavements outside a number of London venues, left alone by TfLTPH enforcement. Many smaller PH firms now use this case as a precedent in defence when caught openly breaking the terms of their licence variation outside clubs and bars.

Read the case for yourself >Click Here<

TfL's legal team waited some twelve years to get (in their words) "a water tight case". 

But after losing the appeal, they've now been labeled "The Quality Street Gang"  by the Taxi trade. 

Trade org reps who attended the hearing, said they couldn't believe the weakness of the case bought by TfL, in light of the evidence that was available to them.

Observers said it was exactly the same with Uber's "is it a meter or is it just a smart phone?" case. 

The buck stops with Clarke and Carter , who head up "TfL’s Legal’s" team. 

Un-phased by the crippling affect of their woefully inadequate performance in general, TfL now operate a more laid back approach to PH licensing. In doing so, churn out somewhere in the region of 600 new PH licenses every week, allegedly to keep uber supplied with a steady flow of new drivers.

Issues such as the ease in which Uber became licensed without a landline, the Meter Case, on-off insurance policies, RD2.com's acquisition of PH operators licence and multiple licence variations (satellite offices), without the requirement of being in business for the minimum period of 12 months, fake medicals, fake topographical test's....All now swept under the carpet.

So far, there's been a lot of shouting for Demo's, but not one of our trade orgs have challenged the real problem of TfL's conflict of interest with interested third party companies.

 

Sad news recently that multiple Taxi drivers have attempted suicide after losing their homes, the breakdown of marriage, their families lives shattered by debt.

It also appears our largest trade org has no viable plan to challenge these serious issues in the coming year. If they have, they don't seem to be letting on.

So perhaps it's time for the drivers to finally cross the line in the sand and take action for themselves.

The infighting and fragmentation has to stop and everyone has to come together under the one flag. Forget the colour of the lanyard and just fight for the badge that hangs from it.

Our enemies predicted we would be gone by this Christmas, but we are still in there punching our weight.

 

2017 has to be the year the drivers fought back.

If you don't get into the ring, you can't win the fight.

If you don't fight back now, TfL will destroy our trade and replace us with a one tier system, as per their agenda. 

 

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Update On The Card Payment Fitment Situation From Helen Chapman.

We've just received this statement from Helen Chapman regarding the London Taxi payment by card update

30 Dec 2016

It remains the case that from 1 January all taxis must be fitted with an approved device in the passenger compartment of the taxi. 

We understand through discussions with suppliers that some of them aren’t currently able to meet demand but other approved suppliers do have the stock and capacity to do this.

Vehicles being inspected at one of our inspection centres or on street after 1 January without an approved device fitted in the passenger compartment of the taxi will be dealt with on a case by case basis. 

If the vehicle owner is able to demonstrate they have made significant efforts to be compliant with the Cab Order then this will be taken into consideration. Given the extended notice period vehicle owners have had to prepare for the mandate (since February 2016) we don’t feel it is appropriate to formally extend the deadline further.

Helen Chapman

Editorial Comment :

This isn't what's been said by Darren Crowson.

In fact the sentence: 

"If the vehicle owner is able to demonstrate they have made significant efforts to be compliant with the Cab Order then this will be taken into consideration" 

sounds more like a threat and is most certainly open to abuse from COs, as we've already seen from them at ranks, station and airport. 

What is significant efforts....will we need a video on our phone begging our respective suppliers to fit a unit and them saying sorry we ain't got none left!

Helen upto now a letter from the supplier has been good enough, please explain what's wrong with this......now you want us to prove we've made significant effort.... But you don't say just what significant effort is.

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An Open Letter To Deputy Mayor Val Shawcross......From Sean Paul Day.

CITATION: City of Toronto v. Uber Canada Inc. et al., 2015 ONSC 3572 COURT FILE NO.: CV-14-516288  DATE: 20150703

Dear Val Shawcross

Re: the above

On the 3/ 07/ 2015, Über Technologies inc. admitted under oath that from the point where a passenger determines to find a car (and driver) to the point where the passenger is in the car they (Über) are not party to the procedure. 

A rudimentary description follows that software is downloaded in advance of the intended is activated by the passenger at the time and place of his/ her choosing.  The server then relays messages between the passenger and prospective drivers using their respective versions of the App. The driver himself then directly makes the booking.  Accordingly, none of the respondents can be described as meeting statutory regulations of either a Taxi or PHV/D business model, as set forth and arbitrated by Transport for London (TFL).

TfL Operator License terms state that a Private Hire Booking can only be accepted by a licensed operator at their registered operating centre. A driver is permitted to hold an operators license but a moving vehicle cannot be considered as a registered operating centre.

The conclusion therefore is that Über are operating outside the terms of their operators license, and because the sequence of the booking procedure is referenced regularly by TfL, the primary assumption is either Uber  are guilty of misapplication or TFL are abusing procedure by allowing Uber to operate by their own self- determined parameters. 

Although TfL are steadfast in not discussing individual circumstances that might effect their PHO license ,  I would assert that the licensing criteria, and any change thereof , is solely the province of TfL. The Operator merely obliges the criteria, or has that now changed? Any alteration made specifically to this criterion constitutes a fundamental change in the way PH are pre-booked, and I don't recall it's inclusion as part of the lengthy and thorough PH consultation? 

For reasons pertaining to safety, the remit of TfL has a concomitant responsibility to ensure the London's taxi industry, both driver and vehicle,  meet stringent licensing requirements. For the most part this has worked well, therefore I trust you will look in to this issue as the potential consequences related to further indistinction between taxis and PH is not to be welcomed. 

Regards

Sean Paul Day

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Are You Going To Sit Back And Let Them Take Your Trade Away ? Or Will You Fight.

I hope everyone enjoyed Christmas, I did, but most of all I enjoyed having a complete break from all things cab related for a few days. 

Having to come back has made me realise just how detrimental it is to my well being and I'd imagine the same for most of us. Today's my first day back and I have to say I'm dreading it. The thoughts of what's in store for me today makes me feel sick and after 23 years I should be taking it in my stride, but after the last few years of TFL's and establishment efforts to eliminate us from London's landscape I've realised I've had enough.

But rather than give up and go, it's made me even more determined to fight the bastards responsible for planting these feelings to begin with. They want me to have these thoughts but although I can't help feeling that way I refuse to succumb to them.

I also believe they're responsible for what's happening at the airport. They've orchestrated the ill feeling by allowing the influx of Somalians cab drivers who've decided to do things there own way instead of playing by the rules that have been in place for years. It's worked a treat because it's put cab drivers against cab drivers instead of those drivers recognising TFL's tactics and dealing with the problem. 

It's created disharmony which has been exploited by politically minded members of the trade who can't see the reality of an obvious TFL plan that's so specific to the "devide and rule" ethic it's tailor made for them.

Moving on, we have a war on our hands starting next week that will define our future more than anything that's gone before it and four months to fight it. We need to start the new year with a different mindset than we've had up to now. It must be one of total, complete and relentless determination to resist any attempt to ruining our lives, which WILL happen after Uber's license is renewed. Once Uber is relicensed, competition like Lyft will soon follow along with many others resulting in the London Cab trade disappearing.

The first demonstration planned for January 12th must send a clear message to the authorities that we've had enough and will stand for TFL no more. Anyone who can't be bothered to attend or be part of it can have no future opinion as they've contributed nothing. I'm not interested in whether demos have worked in the past as they've never been more important than this one and the only reason they haven't worked is because the trade's riddled with dogs who are only too willing to let others fight there fight for them. 

Near full attendance at half the demos in the past would have been enough to easily achieve our aims and secure a future for us all, so those drivers who are happy behaving this way are partly responsible for where we are today. This is the one that shows our determination to stand firm and fight for our jobs because, make no mistake, that's exactly what this fight's all about.

There is no more time for in house squabbling or any form of disharmony either, we simply don't have enough of it so if anyone has plans to feed any more of it, you're part of the problem so wise up and get on side and quickly.

I'm a member of UCG but I'm a member of the cab trade first and that being the case my allegiance is with the trade as a whole. I don't care who leads us to a brighter future so long as the sun comes out sometime. Having said that I recognise that, in my view, we have only two orgs who can make that happen. UCG and LCDC are led by the only two men I have confidence in so they both have my backing. 

Everyone knows my thoughts regarding Mac and LTDA so I won't bore you with them again suffice to say you can rest assured Mac and Co will be ok regardless of what happens to us.

The time for letting other people fight the most necessary fight in our history has gone. Everyone, and that means every cab driver, cab garage, the WCHCD, everyone attached in some way to this trade must involve themselves in this fight as no lesser effort will do.

THIS IS THE START OF THE FIGHT FOR OUR LIVES.

We should have been gone by now but we're still here much to our enemies annoyance, what a shame.

We've shown a resilience and blunt refusing to yield to any bullying that should have broken us by now, and we've made life very difficult and uncomfortable for those responsible for the hardships caused by TFL. But with the latest revelation of depression and attempted suicides within the trade, the stakes have become much higher. 

It's no longer about an occupation, it's about people's lives. 

Lives that have become blighted by TFL's actions and that simply can't be tolerated.

Those who are complicit must not be forgotten either but dealt with at a later date, but for now we must concentrate on the most immediate and obvious threat which is TFL.

Start 2017 with a renewed vigour and determination that'll see us through to victory and be proud of yourself for doing it. There's no pride in giving up or letting other people fight your fight. 

This is a photo of London in the future if we give up, there's no cab in this pic, just a piece of filth stealing our job because someone high up in society decided to make it possible for him to do so because it provides him with a healthy dividend on a regular basis.

How do you feel about that?

The clock's ticking.

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AND NOW, WE HAVE TFLTPH'S ON-OFF CC FITMENT DEADLINE (LEON STYLE)

 

This afternoon we heard on the RMT Twitter account, that Darren Crowson of LTPH has confirmed drivers who are not fitted with CC terminals and printers by the 31st December deadline, will need to carry a letter confirming a future fitting and will need to be in possession of a handheld device to meet the current licensing conditions and conditions of fitness.

Apparently, all test centres will be informed of the extension and any driver who encountered a problem should contact their respective org as soon as possible. 

We've also been informed that the extension will be reviewed again at the end of January 2017.

However, TfLTPH's Twitter account apparently has no knowledge of this new extension and has put out this tweet in reply to our asking them to confirm the situation. 

Clear as mud, confused....you will be !

Typical example of TfL's one hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing.

More information as and when it becomes available.

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Major changes coming to cycle route interchange at Blackfriars next month, for five years of works.

Tideway is building a new 25km-long sewer under the Thames, as London's sewage is now at capacity. The construction site by Victoria Embankment at Blackfriars will impact drivers, cyclists and pedestrians from January 2017 until around 2021. 

Here's how your journey could be affected.

Cycling

The works affect the East-West (CS3) and North-South (CS6) cycle superhighways from 23 January 2017. After this date:

The layout shown above will be in effect throughout the works

You'll still have segregated two-way cycle lanes on the Victoria Embankment slip-road. This will link East-West and North-South

Check availability of Santander Cycles using the online docking station map, or visit our cycling section for full information on cycling in London.

Driving

The changes to the Cycle Superhighways will mean that on the Victoria Embankment slip road, westbound traffic will be diverted from Monday 2 January 2017.

A signed diversion route will be in place. For westbound access to Victoria Embankment:

Travelling north on Blackfriars Road: use Stamford Street, IMAX roundabout, Waterloo Bridge, Strand, Arundel Street and Temple Place

Travelling south on New Bridge Street: use Fleet Street, Strand, Arundel Street and Temple Place

Full closures Mon 2 - Mon 23 Jan 2017

The Victoria Embankment slip road will be fully closed to prepare for the new layout on:

Monday 2 to Friday 20 January 2017: each night 21:00-05:00

Saturday 21 January 05:00 to Monday 23 January 2017: 05:00

Westbound traffic will be diverted along Fleet Street, Strand, Arundel Street and Temple Place. Eastbound traffic will be diverted along Puddle Dock Lane and Queen Victoria Street.

Traffic in the area

Throughout the works, roads in the surrounding area will be busier than usual. Please plan ahead and allow extra time for your journey.

For the latest information on how roads are operating, see TfL traffic status updates page or follow @TfLTrafficNews on Twitter.

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Uber Freight Just Launched and Trucking Will Never Be the Same

Uber has launched a website for a service called Uber Freight. 

Little has been revealed about the company’s expansion from ride-hailing, but if the announcements it’s made over the last year are any indicator, chances are good that Uber Freight is meant to prepare the world for autonomous delivery trucks. So taxi drivers leaving the trade to go back to truck driving.....think again, you could be looking for another new job next year too.

Uber acquired a startup called Otto, which planned to bring the first self-driving trucks to market, in August. Since then the company has used its trucks to deliver 50,000 cans of beerand hundreds of Christmas trees in San Francisco.

This new service won’t use those trucks, at least not at the beginning. Instead it will function much like Uber’s existing platform: Some people will sign up to drive items across the country, and others will join so they can send packages without having to sign a contract with established shipping companies. The service will likely bring “surge pricing” to trucking, too.

Uber Freight could also help Otto’s trucks by using data gathered from drivers on the platform. This would allow the self-driving vehicles to learn from experienced people while regulators figure out how to govern autonomous trucks and the technology catches up to all of the promises made by its creators. Why put off entering a whole new market — shipping and commuting don’t tend to overlap — when the company could just use human drivers until its semi-trucks are ready?

It turns out that Otto had similar plans. Business Insider reported in October that the startup eventually wanted to introduce a platform like Uber’s. The acquisition didn’t just give Otto access to more resources or help Uber work on self-driving vehicles; it let the companies work together instead of trying to compete with each other. (I suspect the more business-inclined would call this “synergy.”)

Uber Freight’s launch coincides with growing interest in trucking from many tech companies. Nikola Motor Company wants to use tech to make trucking more environmentally friendly and appealing to millennials; Tesla’s working on self-driving trucks; the list could go on.

But it will be interesting to see where Uber lands on the driver problem. Nikola has been clear in its commitment to making good drivers happy, while Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that automating jobs like truck-driving could lead to universal basic income. Uber Freight lands in the middle — it needs human drivers now, but it’s likely to switch to autonomous trucks as soon as mechanically possible.

Uber said it’s going to wait until the new year to elaborate on how the system works. “We don’t have any new information to share at the moment,” a spokesperson said, “but hope to in the new year so please do stay in touch.” It looks like the future of trucking — or at least one potential future — is going to take a little while longer to make its debut.

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