BREAKING NEWS..... GEORGE OSBORNE NEW EVENING STANDARD EDITOR

Mother, 25, suffers black eye in ‘racist assault’ by Asian Uber driver who ‘called her a "white b***h" and said her mixed-race baby daughter’s father "must be a slave"

An Uber driver has been suspended after it was alleged that he assaulted a passenger and racially abused her one-year-old daughter.

Annastazia Merrett said she was hit twice by the driver when she was dropped off in Elephant and Castle.

She said the ‘Asian’ man threw keys in the face of my daughter and referred to her father as a slave.

Annastazia said that she was left with a black eye following the attack and that she hit him back in ‘self defence’.

The most horrific thing is that the police just let him get back in the car and drive off to collect his next customer. What if he does worse to someone else?

‘I was trying to get Savannah’s baby seat out of the car and unlock the heavy gate at the same time so I asked him politely for a hand.

‘When I dropped my keys he picked them up and threw them in my daughter’s face. He called me a “white b*tch” and said Savannah’s dad must be ‘a slave’.

‘What kind of man does that? 

Like any mother who had seen what had just happened to my daughter I moved towards him and he took a swipe at me.

Annastazia said: ‘He tried to tell me it wasn’t necessary and I told him it was against the law for her not to use it. My child’s safety is more important than him trying to save time.

‘He kept saying to me “I don’t listen to a woman” and “I tell a woman what to do, not the other way round’. His views were disgusting.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘Police were called at 8.21pm on Saturday, March 11, to reports of an assault in south-east London.

‘The officers at the scene used their discretion and concluded that there were not enough grounds to arrest either party and a community resolution was agreed by all.

‘The following day the woman attended a south London police station and said she was not happy with the resolution.

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Lady passenger "why I'll never use Uber again"

 In the early hours of 16th March 2017. I drove a fare from the West End to Clapham.  Nothing unusual in that. During the trip we never spoke. At journeys end the young lady thanked me and said how safe and secure she felt travelling in London Taxis.

She then recounted her last ever experience useing Uber. I'd like to say how astounding her revelations were, but in truth i'd heard it all before. From men as well as women.

She told me, wherever Uber lurked, she was worried for the safety of women.

I then asked her if I could record her recollection of her final ghastly Uber travail.

The Brave lady was not only happy to comply to my request, but offered her name and email address in case the authenticity of her message was ever doubted.

So it was deemed last week that Uber have no need for a landline. Yet in times of anxiety the public have more chance of connecting with the leadership of North Korea, then getting immediate response and help from Uber Support.

Authorities take note. Some Uber drivers are taking advantage of those that are vulnerable. They do it because they know they can get away it. Possessing the home addresses and mobile numbers of those  humiliated could well be an 'intimidating factor'!!!

It's well documented how thousands of PH drivers struggle with the English language. I truly believe, as well, they have little understanding of the concept of etiquette.

 

Perhaps TfL could remind the PH fraternity of the saying that has served us well since 'time in memorial'.

WHEN IN ROME DO AS THE ROMANS! 

           (translated) 

When in the UK, Stop taking liberties

    

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Tony Casey Gives Advice On Badge And Bill Checks In Letter To Taxi Leaks

Never show your badge/bill to any compliance officer who says he is from Transport for London.

They will show you their deputy badge which are available on ebay almost the same for less than a fiver including a leather wallet.

EVERY compliance officer has a warrant type card, the same as a policeman.

ASK to see it clearly and use your phone to make a clear photo of it, the full name of the TFL staff member,only then comply with their request but never sign anything.

If possibly film the whole compliance check.

Remember the Head of the compliance training team made a false complaint to the City
Police eighteen months ago at the Sugar Quay (Shine Charity walk)that I had been drinking.I stopped drinking 40 years ago.

His boss Garret Emmerson had to apologise in writing to me after a letter was sent from Grant Davis of the LCDC on my behalf making an official complaint. 

Tony Casey 

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Open Letter To TfL's Director Of Service Operations Peter Blake, In Regards To The Sean Stockings Affaire.

Taxi Leaks has received an open letter to TfL's Director of Service Operations Peter Blake, in regards to the Sean Stockings revocation. 

The letter comes from a long standing correspondent who feels that in the light of what has happened to Mr Stocking for airing a grievance in public, his letter should be published anonymously. 

As the author is known to us, we have agreed to his terms of publication. 

 Dear Mr Blake

I refer to your letter dated 3rd March to Sean Stockings which does not appear to contain a rider 'private and confidential' and has thus been reprinted in the March edition of 'The Badge'. This response takes the form of an open reply and will no doubt find it's way to you in due course

You list numerous misdemeanours by Mr Stockings relating to an incident in a restaurant and you conclude that these constitute justification for the revocation of his taxi drivers licence however you fail to mention or seemingly take into account the degree of contributory provocation on the part Leon Daniels the recipient of Sean's verbal abuse.

Daniels is well known to the taxi trade as a principle architect of the Uber scandal and has become a focus of attention to the taxi trade impoverished by the back door deregulation so aggressively pursued by him and others at TfLTPH.

The extent to which TfLTPH have so alienated the body of drivers it is charged with regulating is without precedent in the writer's near 40 years experience of driving a cab in London.

Indeed it is hard to imagine any parallels to a situation in which a regulator has so completely proved to be not 'a safe pair of hands', TfLTPH appear remote, out of touch and in complete denial of the severity of the crisis they have created in the taxi trade and the hubris that now surrounds virtually every utterance from Palestra has reached a megalomania of 'Trumpian' proportions

The long standing 'quid pro quo' whereby candidates acquiring a satisfactory standard of knowledge are granted in return the sole right to ply for hire has been so completely undermined by TfLTPH's licensing of Uber that the only word that adequately describes the mood of the taxi trade is BETRAYAL.

I feel betrayed, Sean Stockings feels betrayed - we all feel betrayed by having to daily and hourly witness members of the public waving at cars in front of us to gain the attention of drivers who have sent their registration details using mobile phones whilst on the move which is itself most likely illegal and a topic for another conversation.

We are all very angry at this blatant 'plying for hire' for that surely is what it is - forget the weasel words, smoke and mirrors obfuscation and lame legalistic  justifications about 'bookings' - you have deliberately licensed 100,000 plus inadequates to do our jobs for us.

Far from being the villain of the piece Stockings should be commended for acting with considerable restraint, he was simply venting a frustration that all cab drivers presently feel and did not use foul language nor offer Daniels physical threats as indeed one can imagine more radical temperaments might have done, Leon should count himself lucky that he did not end up with a bowl of Vichyssoise on his head,

No taxi driver should be treated in such a cavalier manner by a kangaroo court bent on victimisation - a warning maybe or suspension for airing grievances in public is the maximum sanction Sean should have to endure - revocation is the term that should now be applied to TfLTPH's tenure as the malignant despots they have become.

Yours reluctantly

Anonymous

Now listen to the ease at which Nick Ferrari points out the woeful inadequacies of TfL's Director of Service Operations Peter Blake, as regulator of the Private hire industry in London.  

   

As Mr Farrari was airing LBC's grievance against TfL in public, will Peter Black now call for their broadcasting licence to be revoked...? 

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Touts Caught Like Rabbits In The Headlights, By Driver Led Flash Demo At St Pancras.... By Jim Thomas

There's a fine line between having a secret, last minute protest....and having a flop on your hands.

But last night, rank and file drivers pulled off a last minute flash demo at St Pancras drop off on Pancras Road, Kings Cross. 

Since the week long demos organised by DDD and MM last year, Camden Council have been playing fair, keeping the drop off sections clear most of the day. TfL are supposed to police the set-down area in the evenings, but we've been seeing the touts double and triple parked at night - it's got so bad, we can't even drop our passengers off. Sunday evenings are atrocious. 

Illegally parked, the touts sit there waiting for the ping of the app they used to visually ply for immediate hire. 

Over the past few days, plans for the demo were hatched within certain chat rooms and spread throughout the trade by word of mouth. Drivers met at a pre-arranged assembly point and just before 8pm, the shout went out on main Twitter and other social media platforms. 

Soon, the area became gridlocked, completely taking the touts by surprise, trapping them kerbside, where they had to sit until the demo concluded. 

Bemused Prius drivers who were unable to turn left or right from Euston Road drove round the block (York Way and Goods away) only to find Pancras Road blockaded from Camley Street.

Keep an eye out for more of the same in the very near future.

TfL compliance have for many months, turned a blind eye to what goes on at the St Pancras drop off bays, choosing instead to target Taxis legally sitting on the rank opposite.

Their main concern being aggressive Badge and Bill checks on perfectly legal Licensed Taxis. 

Amazingly, as the demo kicked off, there were six (6) compliance officers at Kings Cross. 

Taxi Leaks roving reporter said as soon as they saw what was occurring, they removed their identifying HiVis jackets and disappeared into the Station, as if they had been given the nod not to get involved and to have it on their toes. 

This woefully inadequate TfL administration are refusing to protect unsuspecting members of the public, from unbooked minicab touts. 

St Pancras is an international terminus and should be given the same security attention as any airport. 

It's obvious to the trade that the harassment being dished out to the Taxi drivers, has been ordered by senior management from the TfLTPH directorate and is even more evidence of their bias towards us.

    

Weekends are worse at St Pancras, no wardens, no compliance.... 

Editorial Comment : 

Well done to all the drivers who turned up last night.

 If asked to sign a blank screen after being B/B don't!

It's just for their performance figures, so they can say what a good job they're doing and how much we appreciate it.

Another one for the boycott list:

As big business lines up to take part in our demise, we need to add a new name to the ever increasing list.

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My email to APPG... by Paul van Nuland

Dear sir/madam

with regards to the APPG inquiry in to the taxi trade and the future, I feel that the feeling of, and the actual demise lays squarely at the feet of the regulating authority. whilst only being a licensed taxi driver a short while, I have worked in other fields where regulatory authority was weak and many things were ‘let go’ until it was too late (remember the LIBOR scandal and the sub prime crisis both a result of, at the time, weak regulation).

Well, as i see it the taxi trade is currently resembling the general public who have suffered through the aforementioned scandals/crisis. We have a regulator who doesn’t regulate, apart from heavy handedness towards the licensed taxi trade.

How can it be right senior members of our regulator have vested interests in other forms of public transport (namely private bus companies)?

How can it be that a current board member had huge interest in credit card payment systems and shortly after the compulsory mandate joins TFL’s board? and how is it that individual self employed drivers were told which system they had to install and pay transaction fees way above market rate? As a regulator they should ensure drivers are fit and proper and offer the facilities anything beyond is, in my opinion, outside the boundaries of their role as regulator.

There is talk that plying for hire needs to be defined, well it has been defined many many years ago, NO PRIVATE HIRE CAN BE SEEN TO BE AVAILABLE FOR HIRE, NOR CAN IT BE PARKED UP NEAR ANY VENUE WHERE THE PUBLIC MAY THINK IT IS AVAILABLE FOR HIRE. Apps are basically eyes, apps showing available private hire in a certain area are in fact plying that car for hire through their app, or the driver is plying for hire using the platform whichever way you wish to look at it, but whatever way you look at it, IT IS ILLEGAL.

there needs, with immediate effect, a total cap on the number of private hire on the streets, various reasons, but mainly London is choking to death through the congestion, and increasing the traffic by up to 600 vehicles every week obviously doesn’t help the matter, also London is beyond saturation point it will damage the economy if all these drivers can’t earn a wage and therefore start claiming benefits, coupled with our regulator licencing companies that avoid VAT and Tax, well you don’t need to be a mathematician to work it out.

Also cross border hiring needs to stop, drivers working outside their licensing area it not safe for the public whatsoever.

The criteria for private hire drivers needs to be raised, minimum 3 years residence in the U.K, thus enabling the licensing authority to obtain a full DBS certificate, full U.K driving licence to be held and an advanced driving test passed.

we seem to be in a situation where our regulator wishes to lower the standard to suit the masses rather than make the rest of the industry raise their standards to that of the worlds best taxi drivers, who are loved and revered around the world, but not by its own regulator it would seem.

As an integral part of Londons transport system licensed london taxis should be granted access to all bus lanes, this may in some way help reduce congestion, in my opinion they are failing as a credible regulating authority and if the Mayor cannot make the changes that are required, then the TPH trade needs to have its own autonomous regulator. 

apologies for the length but as you must be aware by now there are many many issues affecting the taxi trade

yours sincerely

Paul van Nuland

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