Use it or lose it: Dozens of Glasgow minicab drivers licenses suspended for NOT living or working there

Dozens of Glasgow Private Hire drivers have their licences suspended for not living there

Licensing bosses swung the axe on a list of cabbies whose registered addresses are outside of the city.

For 19 of the drivers, their time on the road was effectively ended as the suspensions go up to their licence expiry dates.

Manchester, London, Rotherham and Bolton were all listed as addresses, with many of the cabbies having never used their permit.

Ibniamin Khan, was the only one who was given a two-week penalty after he failed to use his private hire car for seven months when he was living in Yorkshire and Germany.

Alex Wilson, chair of the licensing committee told him: “We gave you a licence in 2017 and you’ve not used it.

“If you had read the terms and conditions of the licence you would know that you should have surrendered your licence.

“You are supposed to do that if you’ve not used it within any three-month period.

“You should never have applied for a licence if you had no intention of using it.”

But Mr Khan said: “I haven’t used my licence because I was looking for a car.

“My brother was then involved in a crash and I moved over to Germany to be with him for several months.

“I have now got a car and have moved to Glasgow. I moved here because I want to work here.”

All of those whose licences were suspended were called to appear in front of the committee.

The drivers who had their permits suspended until the end of their licence expiry will have to wait to apply for a new licence if they want to operate in Glasgow.

Source : EveningTimes.co.uk

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT :

Well done to the licence regulators in Glasgow, who have realised what’s been  happening with their registered private hire drivers, and stepped in to take action to stop this practise. 

The minicab drivers will now have to wait until their current PH licence expires before they can reapply ((if they wish to work again but only in Glasgow) 

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Sajid Javid Has Phone Stolen By Moped Thieves, As He Calls For A Taxi At Euston.

Sajid Javid said he was lucky not to have been stabbed or beaten up after moped thieves stole his phone.

He had reached for his mobile to call a taxi outside Euston station in north London, when criminals appeared ‘in a flash’ and grabbed it. 

London cabby Peter Said "if he had used the Taxi rank, he would still have his phone....

‘It was brand new. Before I knew what was happening, it had gone. They just rode up, grabbed it and zoomed off,’ the Home Secretary said.

‘I was angry and upset but thought myself lucky not to have been stabbed or beaten up like many other victims who fall prey to these vicious criminals.’

Michael McIntyre was also targeted by moped thieves for his Rolex watch.

Mr Javid said: ‘It happened in a flash. I was walking out of Euston station and reached for my phone to call a taxi.’

He spoke about the incident after Michael McIntyre was robbed of his watch by moped-riding thieves.

The comedian was on the school run in his Range Rover in north London when thugs smashed the windows before stealing the Rolex.

Sajid Javid, who is in charge of the nation’s policing and security, said the incident happened during his previous role as Communities Secretary.

The revelation comes amid concerns of a wave of violent crime in some parts of the country, particularly in London and other big cities.

Mr Javid, who has four children, admitted he worries about them if they are out late and his parental concern drives him to tackle the problem.

‘Our streets should be safe at all times, you shouldn’t have to worry about things like knife or other crime,’ he said.

Theresa May has acknowledged concerns about moped gangs, but insisted police were being given the powers they need to crack down on crime.

Earlier this month the Prime Minister was challenged about the Government’s response to criminals using mopeds to carry out robberies and other crimes.

She said former home secretary Amber Rudd held talks with police to make sure they had the powers they needed to be able to chase moped-riding criminals.

‘This issue of moped crime is one that is of concern for people,’ the PM said.

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Union wins first stage of High Court challenge over Deliveroo riders

CMT Problem Sorted, Try This Configuration Check Or Change To Landscape Unit.

Wednesday night, something weird happened to my CTM tablet...As I past Half Moon Street on Piccadilly, the unit switched to 'signed out' mode. I rebooted and it appeared to be OK. 

But later that night, as I again past Half Moon Street, it signed off for a second time. I asked on Twitter if anyone else had trouble in this location but no one replied. 

On Thursday the United became very unstable and kept crashing. This time after asking on Twitter, I received quite a few replies from drivers saying they were experiencing similar problems. 

So when I git up on Friday, I took myself over to Kendal Avenue, to report the problems I was experiencing.

I spoke to Jason who told me there was a problem with the older portrait style tablets, as Google had recently made an update to their maps which was memory hungry. This was causing problems with the older units. He asked me if a wanted a different mapping system loaded or....a landscape Unit which comes without maps. I opted to the latter as I have an iPhone and can access Google maps on that. 

The problem is now sorted but I must say I was very impressed at the service from CTM, who couldn't do enough to get me back on the road again. The fitters in the work shop even worked through their lunch brake (although I did say I didn't mind waiting).

If you are experiencing similar problems, before you make your way to CMT,  there is a fix you can try yourself:

I have been asked to post this config check below, to see if that helps...it might just save you a trip to the work shop!

 

• Menu>configuration>about>config check in bottom right hand corner. It should now say "refreshing". 

CMT are trying a different mapping version to see if that stops the unit crashing. 

Please let them know at @cmt_uk_ltd if this has helped. 

Thanks!

While I was their, I asked Jason for an update on the Arro app that works with the unit. He said they have had to concentrated on updating the tip option software on all their units, so had delayed the launch. He said at present about 12 jobs a day are being dispatched and everything is running smoothly. They intend to do a large media launch within the next few weeks. 

The ARRO app extremley popular in the USA and Canada.

Apparently, there are still quite a few drivers who haven't had the software update, if you are one of these drivers, you should try to get it done as soon as possible. 

Jason also told me that the new units have a tracker system embedded, and they have recently been able to trace and return a stolen taxi to a very happy owner driver.

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TfLTPH Says You Can Fly Your Flag During The World Cup.

There’s been a lot of news, most hyped up PR or fake, about whether or not we can fly the fag of any particular country, (including the St George Cross) on our Taxis during the World Cup. 

This was the headline in yesterday’s Daily Mail. 

"Now taxi drivers are told they can't display England flags during World Cup as council joins Royal Mail in banning them amid fears they could distract other motorists".

We asked TfL for an update on this issue and have now received clear and concise information.

We asked @TfLTPH:

can I fly the England flag on my taxi during the World Cup 

And they replied :

You can. Just make sure that it is secure, doesn't obstruct the windscreen or windows and is not in the passenger area.

They were also asked this by another driver:

as u allow all kinds of marches with all kinds of flags every weekend..can I put a st George's cross in my back window to support my team in the world cup.thanks in advance

And they gave this advice:

Flags must be secure, and not obstruct the windscreen or windows. They must not be in the passenger area.

So... as long as it’s secure and doesn’t obstruct the windows and is not physically in the passenger compartment, you can display the flag of St George on your Taxi. 

But we must stress this is London's regulator TfL. There are one or two councils around the UK that have banned the flag of St George on Taxis and Private Hire vehicles. 

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Safety In Black Cabs

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The TfL/Gett Email Paradox. They Can't Answer, Otherwise They Compromise Uber's 5 Year Operation.

    Gareth a Thomas MP.                   Caroline Pidgeon AM 

Approximately four weeks ago, on the 18/05/2018, I sent an email to Graham Roberts (TfL) asking two questions. I believed at that time as I do no, there was no way he could give a truthful answer, as it would incriminate TfL in a conspiracy of bias against the London Taxi trade. 

My suspicion has now come to be fruition, as I have had no reply, even after resending the email twice (29/05/2018... 07/06/2018). In all three emails, I also copied in my MP Gareth Thomas and London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon.

The email, to TfL suggested:

According to the abstract of law, all Private Hire work must be dispatched by a private Hire operator and cannot be dispatched by an unlicensed operation. We know as fact that Gett do not hold a PH licence for their Gett a Taxi app although they have another company One Transport that does. Gett have had a recent promotion, where Privat hire vehicles could be booked by customers on the Gett Taxi app.

I went on to ask the question:

By dispatching work through their Black Taxi only smart phone app, directly to Private Hire drivers, driving TfL licensed Private Hire Vehicles (Porsches), are they in contravention of the Private Hire Vehicles Act 1998?

If Graham Robinson answered in the affirmative, then all jobs dispatched in this manner are/were illegal, then this surely compromised the Porsche drivers PH hire and reward insurance, making every journey undertaken, illegal. 

Many complaints have been made to his department, so I asked Mr Robinson why had TfL allowed this operation to continue knowing full well that the jobs being undertaken were in contravention of the 1998 Act....but Graham hasn't answered and to be fair he can't answer!!!

TfL couldn't stop Gett dispatching Private Hire work without a licence because that's exactly what Uber have been doing for the five years (2012-2017) and are still doing today....with TfL's full blessing!!!

     Italy Showing London The Way Forwad 

Under Peter Hendy and now Mike Brown TfL have knowingly let Uber dispatch illegal jobs through an unlicensed Dutch company, for five years. The public have been using a service that is in contravention of any H&R insurance, yet TfL's directors have covered Uber's back (and on multiple occasions).

Now that Uber have confessed they were acting illegally all along and after making sweeping changes to their modus operandi, they are begging to be forgiven (in their usual manner of its easier to ask forgiveness than permission). 

By answering the email, TFL's Graham Robinson would have compromised TFL's past performance, also confirming the bias and lies from their senior employees.

I have now written to my MP and various London Assembly Members asking them to take up this issue with TFL's Mike Brown.

 

I will post updates as and when I get replies back.  

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