You Can Buy Diesel/Petrol From Any Garage In UK, But You Won't Get This With Electric Charging.

Garden Bridge Trust refuses to hand over meeting records

Critics say the charity behind the aborted Garden Bridge has ‘gone rogue’ after it refused to provide its public sector sponsor Transport for London with records of its key decisions despite the loss of close to £50 million of taxpayers’ money 

The AJ revealed earlier this month that TfL had called upon the Garden Bridge Trust to produce copies of the minutes of its board meetings.

As well as funding and helping to establish the trust in late 2013, TfL oversees the charity and had the right to attend these meetings.

However, following pressure from London Assembly’s oversight committee, TfL’s commissioner Mike Brown admitted before Christmas that it had failed to keep copies of the minutes.

The oversight committee is continuing to investigate the scandal of the £200m Heatherwick-designed bridge amid continuing questions about how an estimated £46.4 million could have been spent on the project without construction being started.

In a letter dated January 9, replying to the request from TfL’s director of city planning Alex Williams, the trust’s executive director Bee Emmott (pictured) said the organisation did not consider that it was required to produce the minutes.

While the Garden Bridge’s 2015 deed of grant sets out TfL’s right to inspect copies of the trust’s records of the project’s progress along with income and expenditure, Emmott argued that this was never intended to include the ‘dealings of the trust’.

In the letter, she wrote: ‘As you know, we have been through an investigation by the Charity Commission, and have given them everything that they have asked for and been given a clean bill of health; and we have been through the Hodge Review, and given her everything that she had asked for – and we feel that there has to be a limit.

The trust’s refusal to provide copies of the minutes is astonishing. It begs the question of what they are trying to hide

‘The time taken up by these exercises was both costly and a distraction from the primary business of the trust, and we do not feel it is right to add to that burden, on a purely speculative basis, at a time when the trust’s now very limited resources need to concentrate on closing down operations in a business-like way.’

Emmott - who worked at the bridge’s designer Heatherwick Studio before joining the Garden Bridge Trust - added that the trust had concerns about commercial confidentiality and was not covered by Freedom of Information laws.

She added: ‘As you know, TfL have been invited to trust board meetings and have attended the great majority of them, and have therefore been able to observe all dealings of the trust.’

TfL’s legal chief Howard Carter has now responded to Emmott to insist that the minutes be produced, demanding that she respond within 10 days.

‘I see no reason why the term “project records” would not encompass something as significant as board minutes, which are, clearly, the primary record for all significant decisions that were made in respect of the project,’ Carter wrote in his letter of January 22. ‘I am sure that on further consideration the trustees will accept that it is right and proper that its decision-making is entirely transparent to the public.’

The project is dead – I cannot see how concerns about ‘commercial confidentiality’ can apply in this instance

London Assembly and oversight committee member Tom Copley, who has been calling for the minutes to be published for several months, said TfL might now need to consider legal action to force the trust’s hand.

‘Arrogance and hubris have been the hallmark of the Garden Bridge Trust’s attitude to scrutiny and challenge over the years since its unfortunate inception,’ he said.

‘But even by their standards, the trust’s refusal to provide TfL with copies of the minutes of their board meetings is astonishing. It begs the question of what they are trying to hide – not just from the public but from the organisation that bankrolled them with millions of pounds of taxpayer cash.

‘The fact this project was set up at arms-length from TfL despite the level of public money being spent on it has led to problems with transparency and accountability from the very beginning.

‘Given the trust is winding up and the project is dead I cannot see how concerns about “commercial confidentiality” can apply in this instance. The trust may want the bridge to die as it lived – shrouded in secrecy – but taxpayers deserve to know what decisions were taken by those responsible for the loss of their money.’

Dan Anderson, a tourist attractions expert at consultant Fourth Street who has closely followed the Garden Bridge saga, said TfL and the trust seemed to be trying to top each other in terms of ‘outrageous’ behaviour.

‘TfL put £46 million into this project – they should have some proper documents somewhere,’ he said. ‘And now it appears that the Garden Bridge Trust has gone rogue and won’t provide them. How on earth did we get to this place?’

The Garden Bridge Trust declined to comment.

Vince Cable: TfL chief should face inquiry over £7m Garden Bridge grant

Transport for London boss Mike Brown should face investigation after overseeing a 2016 decision to plough millions of pounds of public money into the Garden Bridge, apparently in contravention of its own rules, Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable has said

Amid continuing scrutiny over how an estimated £46.4 million was spent on the aborted project, Mike Brown last week confirmed that TfL had made a crucial judgement call in deciding to sign off a £7 million payment to the Garden Bridge Trust when the latter was poised to sign its construction contract with Bouygues in early 2016.

Brown, who has been TfL commissioner since September 2015, made the admission in a newly published letter to the chair of the London Assembly’s oversight committee. Len Duvall. In it he acknowledged that TfL had concluded that the trust had met all six conditions set out in the funding agreement between the two organisations.

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London Taxi Radio TV Exclusive : Readdressing The Balance

On Friday afternoon, the Independent Taxi Alliance called the fifth in its series of protests, on behalf of the London Taxi trade. The venue, Aldwych and the Strand.

The police blocked all approaches to normal traffic but Taxis were allowed through to join the colleagues.
The Taxis soon encircled the location and were left unhindered to continue their three hour protestation. 

Weary of the constant misrepresentation of our grievances, 'London Taxi Radio TV' sent along three presenters plus cameraman, to film tangential and record exactly what was said to a news team from London Live Satellite TV channel, who had called earlier to arrange an interview.

Below is the must watch account of what was explained to the presenter plus what the channel the actually put out.

  

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LCDC members vote to ban Gett from advertising in their in house paper “The Badge”

You may have seen on Twitter last night, that the London Cab Drivers Club members have decided NOT to advertise the on line app GETT in the Badge anymore.

The reason for the ban is that GETT have now confirmed, they will be fitting 500 London taxis with mapping cameras to gain Data.

This Data, can then be sold to anyone they like (including UBER?) and be used in autonomous vehicles.

Just think about this.... they can and will sell the Knowledge we earned through sweat & toil over many years on our scooters. 

The club made this statement today:

We, like you are just taxi drivers and cannot tell people what to do.  But I explained to GETT today, we feel their move is just a Bridge to far and we will no longer be accepting advertising from them.

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No More Secret Deals: All Meetings With TfL Must Be Minuted: PlusStatement From ITA.

Last week, there was an all trade meeting with TfL commissioner Mike Brown.

First item on the agenda was a short speech from Mike Brown telling the org/union leaders that there would be no discussion on Uber.

At this point the group should have got up en masse and walked out the meeting.

The trade have been having these meetings with the TfL  commissioner for over 5 years...although few and far between with Mike Brown who refused meetings for 8 months last year.

What has been achieved from these secret squirrel, un-minuted,  confidential meetings.... I’ll tell you....  ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

And the reason the orgs won’t make a fuss is that they’ve all signed a good behaviour clause in order to attend.

So why do they go.... possibly because it makes these expensive no marks feel important. 

TfL have put strings on our org leaders and dangle them around like puppets.

Gone is the militancy, gone is the fire in the belly, gone is the Dunkirk spirit and soon gone will be their memberships.

Rank and file drivers are starting to sit up and realise, their orgs are not fighting for them...they’ve become benign collaborators.

With the emergence of driver led groups such as the Independent Taxi Alliance (ITA), Drivers are waking up to the fact that they are being ripped off by the orgs and their subs (in certain cases) are financing life stiles that rank and file drivers could never aspire to. 

It’s easy when you have employed status, large salaries, luxury company cars, fabulous offices, to say “let’s sit back and see what happens....wait and see... don’t protest”.  And yet, what do the trade as a whole get back for its money, a lanyard, a sticker, and if your lucky...a diary.

One org has formed an enterprise company where it’s written into their constitution they can still get paid even if deselected in an election, or retired.

The political alliances of our Unions will not see them take issue against a labour Mayor. What good is that to our trade?

60% of the trade do not belong to any trade org and to be totally honest, looking at the representation offered, who can blame them.

Of the 40%, most will say, the only reason they subscribe to an org is for legal cover... this can be obtained privately at a considerable saving.

Our trade media are very careful what they say in their respective publications, for fear of upsetting their advertisers. Many drivers never read the trade press for this reason and again, who can blame them. 

Some Good News Though.

I heard last week that one org will not be advertising certain trade apps in any of its future publications... and about time too. This is to be applauded and should be emulated throughout all trade media, published and social. 

For years, our trade under poor leadership, has looked to fight the wrong criminals, the wrong enemy. 

The truth is, we should have been fighting the enemy within. The ones who sold us down the river for a seat at the fold up table. 

Militant groups like the RMT and then the UCG were formed in stark defiance of the old guard United Trade Group (UTG) who had signed up to John Mason’s one-sided engagement policy. 

Yet under the new Mayor, they too signed a hamstringing engagement policy with its good behaviour clause. 

The trade is being led down the wrong valley again by woefully inadequate leadership, like the heroic light brigade at Balaclava, massacred, victims of extreme poor generals.

We lost that battle, but we didn’t lose the war because we then sent in the heavy brigade

That’s what the ITA are offering the trade, a heavy brigade.

Have we learned from history?

Who would have thought ten years ago that today we would be totally outnumbered by one PH company, surrounded like the troops at Rorke’s drift

John ‘the cabby’ Kennedy warned us what was happening, when he was chair of the RMT.

But no one listened and he left the battlefield.

Semtex warned us that men were coming to kill us.

He also warned us about the enemy within.

But no one listened and he too left.

The ITA are now telling us, we don’t need these expensive un-achieving orgs, we’ve got nothing to lose and now is the time for drivers to fight back.

They've got a very good bass section mind, but they got no top tenors for sure.

This time drivers are listening, and starting to take notice. Every protest draws more and more combatants ready to fight for their job.

Our band of brothers gets bigger week by week. 

No surrender, Stronger Together!

This post is dedicated to the memory of Frederick Hitch VC and Hackney Carriage Driver

(29 November 1856 – 6 January 1913) 

Recipient of the Victoria Cross for his actions at the Battle of Rorke's Drift. 

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT FROM THE ITA:

Everytime TfL and another complicit mayor makes a decision that is unjust and affects our trade, we must make TfL and the mayor pay, and inform the media of wrongdoings. A single protest has no real effect. We cannot sit on our hands and hope bad people do right by us.

If you're asking if Mike Brown rang me at home that night, the answer is no, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Protests are an important 'part' of the process, but don’t think for one minute TfL didn't feel the punch this week.

We will win or die trying. If we die, we'll take some of them with us

• ALL MEETINGS MUST BE MINUTED! 

•  WE ALL MUST KNOW WHAT TFL ARE SAYING, AND WHAT INDIVIDUALS ARE PUTTING THEIR NAME TOO! 

• NO MORE SECRETS FROM DRIVERS! 

•  ALL 23K DRIVERS ARE AFFECTED BY WHAT GOES ON IN THESE MEETINGS. MEMBERS OR NOT, THEY SHOULD BE INFORMED! 

•  NO MORE TFL SECRETS!

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What The Press Said: London’s Black Cabs Descend On Aldwych For Latest Demo

ITA Statement After Five Days Of Protests

The ITA’s goal, was to get our plight media coverage. Five days - everyday made national press, TV and radio. In answer to the Mayor of London and TfL's misinformation to the media, that they have no choice in allowing Uber to continue to trade, although deemed "not fit and proper". Also to hurt our nemesis, (TfL), by stopping/slowing buses. 

 At the all trade meeting with Mike Brown on Tuesday, our Orgs were fobbed off with "cannot talk about Uber license". 

This situation has been stage managed by TfL and aided by the Mayor. Uber should have had its license rightly revoked. It's a facade.

TfL claim they have to let Uber continue to operate while the appeal runs its course, this is not true. Under the Act of 1998 sec 26(2) they can revoke Uber’s licence in the same fashion they revoked Sean Stockings’ licence. Sean was thrown out of work for seven months while his appeal was taking place. 

Every time TfL and another complicit Mayor makes a decision that is unjust and affects our trade, we must make TfL and the mayor pay, and inform the media of wrongdoings. 

A single protest has no real effect. We cannot sit on our hands and hope bad people do right by us.

Our next targets may not be in the form of week long protests. They might be state visits. Every function Sadiq Khan or Theresa May attends. They will be high profile. 

 Otherwise how do we make the world aware that TfL are selling off our lives to the highest bidder?

Our ultimate aim is to force Sadiq Khan to call on this Government for a transparent public inquiry into TfL's unhealthy relationship with Uber. We want all the old faces dragged back to be examined under oath. "Not only must Justice be done; it must also be seen to be done."

We will never give up! 

Those who give up, achieve nothing! 

We're in this for the long hall.

Everyday our friends are gathering evidence. At every opportunity we will strike to make the public and media aware of the amount of corruption that has led to TfL's criminal acts.

What our detractors fail to realise is we sacrificed our living to protest.  The leaflets, our placards, everything is paid by us. We don't collect subs. We don't get paid. 

We suffer for our cause.

We can't make drivers fight for their jobs, but collaboration with TfL is not an option.

The LCDC and GMB supported the protests, and the man whom is likely to lead the RMT branch was there everyday. 

No Sections are in place to stop an Org wishing its participating members well, or stopping an Org leader from joining our protest as an individual cab driver.

TfL know exactly who we are. 

It's an open secret, we spoke openly to Chapman and Blake last year. 

 

Too many leaders accommodating TfL. Giving TfL an easy time. 

Meetings merely gathering points where Org reps are told what to go back and tell their members.

 We need a few to stand and say 

"No! No this isn't happening! 

This is unacceptable”

We will keep on protesting against injustice.

There's a reason 60% of the trade are not allied to an Org or Union. They feel disenfranchised. They see prospective leaders having cosy chats and appeasing TfL. 

How many of the 40% who are in an Org, are in it just for the (fragile) legal cover?

The fight for our jobs goes on.

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT :

   

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