Alex Doodle Says A Big Thank You For The Return Of Freedom And Dignity

Hello all, well wheelchair arrived I don't think I've ever had such a big smile on my face ever, it's everything this wheelchair brings. 

Honestly thank you, I had a little go with the guy, he's fixed the alarm for when locked outside. 

I'm just charging it some more and a friend I've only seen once in a year is meeting me in the pub at the top of my road on his way home from work to celebrate and give a real test drive. I know "no drink driving" so I will get to try

out for a little run and he will take more photos.

I just couldn't wait to share with you all. 

I hope this week hasn't been as quiet as they often can be.

I'm viewing a couple of flats over next two days thanks to homeswapper website. Again thank you to everyone for supporting me and helping me gain some freedom, I look forward to having a piggy back.

Just so you know my conditions mean public transport would make me sicker so all you Taxi drivers are stuck with me, stronger together. 

Just discovering tears of joy x thank you. 

It's still trying times with social services and the council so thank you for not only brightening my day, but transforming my life my freedom and well my dignity xx

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Open Letter To MP Wes Streeting .....From Steve Kenton.

 

Wes, if this tweet is accurate (needs to be confirmed) then this represents a 341.5% increase on the previous years published figures regarding sexual assaults in PHVs. This accounts to TEN RAPES OR SEXUAL ASSAULTS PER WEEK. 

In any other industry, if figures like THAT were becoming apparent then that industry would be ripped apart until it had its house in order. 

In fact, I cannot think of one single industry nationwide that has a sexual assault figure this high.....and this is just confined to London.

If this alleged figure is 100% accurate and if TFL are aware of it and do nothing and then hide behind an alleged  manipulation of figures in relation to not recording assaults as assaults by PHV drivers if the victim has been touted......regardless of whether the PHV driver has a roundal or not, then TFL are actively complicit in perpetuating this epidemic. 

The PHV industry needs cleaning up NOW. not tomorrow,  not next week or next month but NOW. These victims are daughters, mothers and wives......and this may not be just confined to women, as men are being attacked as well.

Its about time TFL were made to take responsibility because in this instance they are the root of this problem. 

If you issue 115000 PHV licenses then statistically you WILL get 10 or 20 bad apples......if you dont do proper background checks,  full documentation checks, making sure that those documents aren't fake or fraudulently obtained (medical certificates and letters of good conduct)  and issue licenses to those who have serious mental health issues or have multiple criminal convictions (the Leytonstone attacker to name but one) then you WILL have a massive problem.

Wes, I left a voicemail message last week at your office to try to set up a meeting over this issue. Hopefully you will be able to help eradicate this problem or at least bring it to the fore. 

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Ever Wondered Why The Statistics On Minicab Related Sexual Assaults, Including Rapes, Was Taking So Long To Make Public ?

Ever wondered why the minicab related sexual assault and rape statistics were taking so long to collate ?

It is our opinion at Taxi Leaks that TfL are trying to water down the effect of the statistic by removing any driver who wasn't actual King signed on to an operator or app at he time of the attach 

i.e. The driver was illegally touting outside a club or bar 

We believe this has been made perfectly clear in this letter from Neil Hasset, customer correspondence manager for surface operations TfL.

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Ever Wondered Why The CSH Lanes Were So Wide?

Defra has begun a consultation on soecial zones in Birmingham, Derby, Leeds, Nottingham and Southampton. 

Special lanes could be created (hold it, isn't that what we've already got with the CSH ?) exclusively for small electric cars giving them priority at traffic lights and the right to go against the flow on one-way streets.

(Isn't that what Uber already do?)

The proposals are part of a drive to create “clean-air zones” in five cities to combat air pollution, which has been linked to 40,000 deaths per year.

There's been a lot of concern from businesses in London, devastated by the utter congestion that's been caused by segregated cycle lanes. 

It wouldn't take too much more of an investment to convert them for use by small slimed downed 4 seater, low speed electric vehicle access, that could pass, side by side along the lanes

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has begun a consultation on the special zones in Birmingham, Derby, Leeds, Nottingham and Southampton, where high levels of nitrogen dioxide are associated with diesel vehicles. 

The zones are due to be in place by 2020.

Still want to invest £46k in a new TX4 euro 6 Taxi, or £60k for a TX5 to sit in the middle of the road, stuck in traffic?

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The end of the annoying paper receipt? Tesco trials contactless system that will send a receipt to your phone instead

Rummaging through your handbag or down the back of the sofa for a lost store receipt could soon be a thing of the past.

Tesco is testing a contactless system which dispenses with paper receipts, and instead sends a record of your purchase to your smartphone.

After customers have paid for items at the checkout, they tap their debit or credit card on a separate terminal at the till, which sends a digital receipt to a pre-installed phone app. A shortened paper receipt will also be printed out.

But for those who prefer to stick to traditional receipts, the supermarket stresses it is merely giving shoppers the option of going paperless.

Tesco is testing a contactless system which dispenses with paper receipts, and instead sends a record of your purchase to your smartphone

Tesco is the first major retailer to trial the system. It is being tested at the self-service tills at two stores in Harlow, Essex, but it could be rolled out more widely if the three-month trial, which finishes next month, proves successful.

Tesco, Britain’s biggest grocer, said the system is designed to make it easier for shoppers to keep a record of their payments, as paper receipts can be lost or torn. And it said there is an added environmental impact, as it will save paper.

Earlier this year, shoppers complained that they were blocked from returning a faulty or unwanted item because their paper receipt had faded. 

ONLINE BOOM IS KILLING OUR HIGH STREET STORES 

The boom in online shopping is slowly killing off the High Street, a report has claimed.

The number of shops opening in Britain has slumped to a five-year low as consumers increasingly use ‘click and collect services’, said financial services firm PwC.

It found that 15 shops are closing every day, with 2,656 shutting in the first half of 2016 – but only 2,153 opening. Meanwhile there are now more than 22,200 click and collect services across 130 of the nation’s largest retailers.

The service, where shoppers buy online and collect from places such as the Post Office, has reduced the number of shops needed, particularly among clothing retailers.

Some receipts are generated by thermal printers using temperature-sensitive paper that is chemically unstable.

While this saves retailers money because the printers do not require ink, it means receipts can quickly fade if exposed to light and warmth, including body heat.

Tesco has teamed up with IT company Tag Retail Systems for its latest venture. The firm’s ‘Tap&Tag’ terminal provides customers with digital receipts through a smartphone app.

Earlier this year, shoppers complained that they were blocked from returning a faulty or unwanted item because their paper receipt had faded

It is the latest attempt by the grocer to make shoppers’ experience at the till more digital. Tesco launched its PayQwiq ‘digital wallet’ app this year, which holds shoppers’ card details.

In 600 stores, shoppers can scan their items at the checkout and pay using the app on their smartphone as part of a pilot scheme.

The rise of card payments and loyalty cards has allowed retailers to collect a treasure trove of information on their customers, to target them with loyalty incentives and special offers.

But Tesco last night insisted the launch of digital receipts would not provide it with a load of new data on its customers

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Pearl Harboured- Never Again!

Make no bones about it, the licensed taxi trade was hijacked, not by a cab company, but by financiers- the global kind-  of the likes we have never seen before. 

It mattered not that the new product didn’t meet the conditions of fitness or the driver come remotely close to acquiring the required standard necessary to work the ‘on demand’ market, TfL was intent on facilitating the government bidding and roll it out anyway. 

Stringent licensing conditions set in place to honour safety, liberty, and equality, meant our trade had never had to communicate the benefits and safeguards of using a licensed taxi. It also suffered from fragmentation and had no one to speak with a unified voice on its behalf. 

Not unlike the cross org work ethic employed by The Mayfair Mob or the principles of DDD, really hope that the team at Taxiapp can bring many fractions together and encourage everyone to get involved with their respective trade association or union. 

Members of taxiapp are aware that we need to be in long match conditioning, and that each and everyone of us has a role to play. One thing is for sure, we will go through hell and high water to make sure we do win back all that is rightfully ours. 

Never again will we soporifically trust our government, or  it’s regulators to insulate us from the free market’s rapacious risks. As with all extreme capitalists, their only concern is the bottom line. Their aim simply was to remove a state licensed product- traditionally based on socio-economics of supply and demand- and replace it with a corporate monopoly with no social concept whatsoever. Never again will we be caught sleeping at the wheel. 

To allow it would be something akin to a game of monopoly where  one person owns everything and everybody else (us)  trips around the board getting punished as we go. Shat we experienced was the systematic attempted takeover of a regulated trade. 

At times it felt like everything- including the kitchen sink-  was thrown at us. But you know what, we are still here, despite not having  any marketing, despite not having any PR or advertising links. We are here because we offer  a solid product that is vibrant, valid, and required by London and Londoners. 

Because of that, and because of you the drivers, the drivers that are seen every where doing what it takes for the trade,  the ones that refuse to be identified for all eternity by the cardinal sin committed by the 3 Amigo’s, are the ones that will never suffer the tiredness of defeat. 

For that- and I know I can speak on behalf of the whole team at Taxiapp- we are beyond grateful, we are truly humbled. Thank You 

Forward Facing Only 

Sean Paul Day

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One Taxi Trade, One Message...We Call On Government To Set Up An Enquiry Into TfL

Every driver needs to support this demo. 

There can be no fence sitting. No egos, no tribal mentality. If you want to carry on being a licensed Taxi Driver, then you need to turn up.

TfL have tried desperately to divide the trade at every opportunity. The implementation of the Credit Card Mandate was no more than smoke and mirrors, designed purely to keep us at each other's throats.

• TfL waited 4 years to go to court over Uber driver insurance. 

• They lied to the GLA

• They lied to the Taxi trade. 

• They coached Uber how to get round legislation

• They relaxed regulations. 

• Compliance has been a white wash.

While new regulations were bought in which take even more of your income, Uber have been given a free hand to run riot.

They've been aloud to operated from unlicensed premises, they've lied about having a landline, admitted they don't do pre bookings....in fact it's now come out under oath in the Toronto verdict, that it's the driver who takes the booking in their vehicle. A total disregard of the Private Hire Act 1998. 

 TfL have aloud all this to go on. 

The GLA made promises 

The new Mayor made promises 

All promises have been broken

It's clear TfL have no intention of changing Uber's modus operandi. 

We've seen drivers licensed with fake medicals, fake topographical passes, no UK driving licence, no enhanced DBS checks, plus now we've been told TfL refusing to publicise the results of multiple FOI requests, for full minicab related sexual assault (including rapes) statistics because they say it's not in the public interest.

The United Cabbies Group have called on the trade (drivers, orgs and unions) to attend a mass protest, to be held on the 8th of November, around Trafalgar Square and along Whitehall, at 2pm.

Permission has been granted for a letter to be delivered to the Prime Minister, calling on the government to set up an enquiry into TfL.

No one is fighting your corner for you.

It's time to turn up and fight....or sit back and watch your trade die. 

TIME FOR TALKING HAS RUN OUT.

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