The Casey Column
By
Wayne Casey (LL SC)
The views expressed in this column may not be those of the National Taxi Association
“A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.”
Theodore Roosevelt
Equality, Taxis & the Pope
By the time this issue of taxitalk hits the streets the quality bill will be heading back from the House of Lords to the House of Commons for the governments final seal of approval.
I wonder how many of you are aware of the Equality bill, I wonder how many of you are interested in its possible repercussions?
Certainly the Roman Catholic Church are aware of the Bill, the Holy Father criticised it, which is a rare occurrence indeed, especially coming from a body that believes homosexuality is wrong (or is it just homosexual acts.....no Erasure in catholic heaven?) and have Priests that have taken the love of children bit out of the bible to a whole new, Gary Glitter type of level, even a practicing atheist such as myself was fairly surprised.
What will the equality bill mean to you? Well, an awful lot actually. It would almost certainly appear to mean that any newly licensed Hackney Carriage will have to be wheelchair accessible. No big shakes? It would also appear that section 16 of the 1985 transport act (the bit that currently stops nationwide deregulation) will not apply if the person applying for a license wishes to license a WAV.
At the time of writing there also seems to be a rather large grey area about what happens when you wish to upgrade your saloon hackney carriage.
If you can recall last year we had a consultation on wheelchair accessible taxis, the impact assessment in the equality bill mentions this, yet strangely, no part of the consultation seemed to mention the equality bill. Do you not find that strange? Here’s a WAV consultation and by the way the results will have an impact on next years equality bill?
At the time of writing there are many ‘if’, ‘but’ and ‘maybes’, yet it is abundantly clear, from the speed the equality bill has gone through Parliament, its not going to be good for the cab trade, perhaps this is the reason almost all of the national bodies and trade unions have remained tight lipped on the issue?
One thing is practically certain, the bill, like many other bills, was designed with the greatest intent, equality for all, however, in the quest for equality for a minority the fear is that a majority will suffer.
Ranking Issues
A couple of months ago I mentioned a growing phenomenon around the country of taxis being targeted by local authorities for serious offences such as not standing for hire on hackney carriage stands. Invariably this occurs in areas where local authorities have licensed scores of additional Hackney Carriages and provided very few ranks spaces for them to ply their trade.
I mentioned the use of CCTV to bring forth evidence against the drivers concerned. I have even mentioned the carbon footprint and environmental issues of taxis plying for hire around Town and City Centres, whilst looking for available rank space.
I don't know if any of you took any notice of my warnings, indeed I suspect most of you probably nodded your heads in agreement, then did precisely nothing.
It is of course easy to think these nasty things won’t happen to you. In Carlisle for example, proposed changes to the Station Forecourt will make the current rank virtually redundant as the new entrance and exit to the Rail Station will be at the rear of building, maybe even on rail property. I wonder if the good cab drivers of Carlisle are prepared to pay to stand awaiting passengers, this will almost certainly occur if the rank is on Network Rail land.
Not just Carlisle but on the Wirral. The Wirral Waters scheme will have a major effect on the shopping centres in Birkenhead, little wonder Warner Estates are a tad concerned. However, glancing through the plan whilst there seems to be a pick up and set down area, there is suspiciously no mention of taxi ranks. If this Peel Holdings project is anything like the other areas owned by Peel holdings, most notably, John Lennon airport and the Trafford Centre, I think you Hackney folks will find yourselves having to dig very deep into your pockets.
It would appear to be a natural progression to go from the above ranking story to a story about two places almost 400 miles apart......
Well not quite two cities, Carlisle has been a City for the best part of 1000 years, whereas Tendring is a district where the largest town is a seaside resort called Clacton on Sea, Roy Hudd appeared there in July 2007.
Both areas, in terms of things taxi are quite similar, both have been deregulated for a period of time, both have similar numbers of taxis, both have similar numbers of cab ranks and both have recently agreed to ballot Hackney Proprietors in respect of the need for a survey, true democracy in action.
At the time of writing Carlisle’s ballot results are not known, but the one in Tendring is.
In a report to Tendring council during December 2009 it was stated that out of 293 ballots sent out the council had received 173 replies, some 120 people decided not to answer (although the GMB union have suggested no response indicated approval for a survey).
Out of the 173 replies, 81 were against a survey, 79 were in favour of a survey and 13 replied but didn’t tick a box!
Comments on the ballot papers were mixed to say the least;
“If the decision is made to go ahead with the survey I will take no part in this matter and strongly object to this happening”.
“I don’t particularly want the survey done, therefore do not wish to be charged for it”.
“I do not think I, or any driver, should bear the cost of the survey”.
“Any survey should be paid for by those licence holders that vote for the survey to be carried out. Why should costs be imposed on any holder that has not asked for the survey and will obviously vote NO”.
“I have eleven plates and three of those never go on a rank so should these be included in the overall cost”?
Obviously in view of the ballot results Tendring council declined to have a survey at that point, promising to revisit the subject in two years time.
In respect of the comments I would point to the obvious ignorance in some of them, however, what makes the ballot results very strange are the events of the previous 12 months. You see, the council decided to operate a “3 strikes and your out” rule, effectively if a driver is found guilty of an offence he will be given an ‘informal warning’, then a face to face warning backed up and finally a licensing committee appearance. Last year at least two drivers were suspended for over-ranking. By all accounts one was suspended for 28 days and another for 3 months.
The trade has complained about a lack of rank spaces, coupled with too many taxis. Yet the results of the ballot suggest a percentage of the trade, whilst bothered about lack of rank spaces and the possibility of being caught on camera over-ranking, are possibly window licking imbeciles.
It is difficult to be overly critical of the councils involved, both, in terms of a ballot, gave the trade a straightforward choice, they let the trade know the costs and the fact the costs would, as per best practice guidance, be paid for via increased license fees.
Amongst the comments from proprietors I’ve heard in Carlisle are
“£30 quid on top of the license fee.....I’m not gonna pay that” as well as
“I have a saloon hackney and our numbers wont increase”. The thought doesn’t seem to occur elsewhere in the country councils are clamping down on taxis over ranking and parking illegally.
In Carlisle the station cab rank has approximately 10 legitimate rank spaces, yet during certain periods there are up to an additional 20 taxis waiting to get on the rank, it’s a similar story elsewhere in the City. Whilst I am not suggesting there maybe an immediate change of heart by the City council in terms of over ranking, I tend to believe we are merely a contributory negligence claim away from this attitude changing.
It’s all happening in Southampton
For some reason we can’t seem to keep Southampton out of taxi news of late.
First there was the compulsory cameras in taxis, which actually caught possibly the most stupid cab driver on earth, Elyas Haidari, who was caught verbally abusing two pensioners. How silly was this guy? Surely he was aware the whole incident would have been caught on the camera in the taxi he was driving?
Secondly Southampton’s Daily Echo newspaper reported a Court Case where 52 year old taxi driver Mr Lance Bradley was cleared of raping a 19 year old student but admitted having sex with her. His union, ‘Unite’, gave Mr Bradley their full backing to return to work. Whether he does or not has yet to be decided by Southampton City Council. The union also called for a ‘code of conduct’, which presumably will have a section about having sex with passengers.
Finally, there has been much hullaballoo in the same place about some cab drivers displaying George Cross stickers in there vehicles bearing the words “English Speaking Driver”. The drivers apparently are fed up with passenger complaints suggesting some cab drivers in Southampton have a degree of difficulty in speaking the Queen’s English.
I put a spell on you
I am fast coming to the opinion that we have witchcraft at work in taxi licensing departments.
Like witches (and quoted from wiki so it must be right), licensing officers seemingly have witch like powers and use such powers “in order to inflict harm or damage upon members of a community or their property”. So there you have it, they are all obviously witches.
Unfortunately these witches do not have brooms, although use of a broom could be handy in order to avoid that pesky rush hour traffic, indeed, if you notice one flying to work on a morning or next time your in your LO’s office, taxitalk would be delighted to hear from you.
(Pictured; a witch yesterday)
I think I have suggested before that some licensing officers do actually seem to have influence over licensing committees, indeed, it could be suggested that this influence is positive proof of a witches spell being cast, obviously, I have very little evidence of the spell casting. But we are all aware of councillors who have been on licensing committees for fast approaching 80 odd years, is it a mere coincidence that witches are able to raise the dead?
Some of you maybe slightly skeptical about this, yet in the last few months in South Africa the government was called upon to ban Witchcraft. If your thinking there’s no such thing, then why would a province of South Africa actually bother to ban something that didn’t exist? That’s like banning Sea monsters.
As many of you will know, Britain had Witchcraft acts, these were repealed in 1951, yet as late as 1944 the act was used to convict witches......or spiritualists as they now prefer to be called. The last ‘witch’ wasn’t burned at the stake, but fined £5 and bound over to keep the peace!
In July 2005 three people were jailed for between four and 10 years over the torture of an eight-year-old girl they accused of being a witch.
Repealing the witchcraft laws was obviously a mistake, witches are now coming out, last year for example Witches coven leader Sandra Davis, 61, high priestess of the Crystal Cauldron group, was banned from using church premises for a Halloween ball, apparently the Catholic church don't tolerate pagans. I very much doubt Sandra would have been so forthright in her views if the witchcraft act was still in situ.
Login
Register
FAQ
