Courtesy of
http://www.taxitalk.co.uk
The Casey Column
By
Wayne Casey (LL SC)
The views expressed in this column are very probably not those of the National Taxi Association
NTA Annual General Meeting & Conference
The Annual General Meeting and Conference of the National Taxi Association is to take place in Gateshead on 27th and 28th October, it would appear the NTA are edging closer and closer to the North Shields ferry terminal and a one-way ticket to a Amsterdam conference!
More seriously, in view of the seriousness of at least two current consultations, I would advise the brains amongst you, to pay the money and attend, you can even buy me a Guinness.
The above aside, this would be a perfect opportunity to have a little tirade.
It has always been my opinion that those drivers who ‘choose’ not to be involved in their local association are simple-minded, in general, you deserve everything you get, because you are presumably either selfish or just plain dumb, decrying anyone who takes an interest in the occupation that gives YOU a living.
You have a massive conspiracy theory going around in your head, or perhaps you’re overly influenced by the lyrics of the ‘Goombay dance bands’ classic track ‘Seven Tears’, perhaps - like me - you are haunted by the lead singer’s frizzy hair? adding weight to my theory that you’re a complete imbecile.
You see, in my opinion ‘choosing’ not to have a say in your future, is a little like ‘choosing’ not to use toilet paper, sure you may feel good, but around you is a distinctly poohy smell. I for example, know there are far more intelligent people out there driving cabs, - hang on, change that - I am yet to be convinced there are more intelligent people out there driving cabs than me. (Sound’s a whole lot better)
Personally, I wouldn’t waste paragraph inches on you, however, it is the considered opinion of our beloved editorial team that we have been put on this planet, (presuming we aren’t all spiralling down a black hole by this point), to educate the masses.
If you’re still reading by this point I will go on. The trade need national and local associations, representing the common consensus of those in the industry. On a local level people are needed to represent the trade as a profession, you need fare increases, you need ranks, you need representation in local transport plans and on various committees.
To think otherwise, and as pointed out above, you are either insane and in need of physiological help, or perhaps, just plain stupid.
On a National basis the trade needs a strong voice to represent itself nationally, and for those who don’t believe me, you should perhaps look at a current consultation document outlining possible new procedures for making and enforcing byelaws. Now without shouting too loudly about it, the NTA are consultees, each member on the NTA email list got a full copy of the consultation as soon as it arrived. The NTA, through its regions, and god forbid, even me, will give advice and assistance on route, should a member association need it. But the main point is, we want your area to be members (obviously) but also to be able to stand on your own two feet.
For further details on the NTA and conference go to
www.national-taxi-association.co.uk or telephone 01228 598740
I did once write a rather decent article titled ‘break glass in case of an emergency’ , personally I would have much preferred to have been involved in the lyrics behind OMD’s classic ‘Sailing On The Seven Seas’, however, I wasn’t born with that talent. But the point is by the time many non-members ask for help, they are often so far down the road, reversing costs an awful lot of money.
With all due respect to the other bodies out there I will say, don’t join them, join us, we’ve got cookies!
Manchester Airport
A friend of mine was telling me the system for taxis has changed at Manchester Airport, they have moved from a flat fee of approximately £300 per year to £1.60 per job, in terms of cost, it’s going to cost my mate an extra £1100 per year to work the airport.
The main movers behind the barrier fee were allegedly the union called ‘Unite’, an apt choice of words considering the lynch mob’s apparently looking for union reps at the start of September. Their wish, presumably, was to follow the example set by John Lennon Airport, a barrier where cabs put money in and get through. Seemingly the logic was that the incumbent flat fee denied union members the chance to do ‘one-off’ fares before returning to the City. The problem now, is anybody who wants to work there must have an electric reader fitted and have prepaid credit on the machine. It has been suggested by regular airport drivers that the new system is too much trouble for them (the union members who wanted access) and the take up has been low.
When the idea was first floated by the airport, they apparently quoted the Heathrow model. A great idea if they also adopted Heathrow practices i.e. taxi desks, tout squads, policing of touts and, the main one, the removal of ‘Airportcarz’ whom appear to act with impunity.
A question asked by one insider was ‘Why on earth should the taxi trade pay over a million pounds a year for sharing space with buses allegedly touting for hire?’ The airport income from the taxi trade is expected to go from £135,000 per year to well over a million pounds.
The Hackney cab committee at the airport has approached Manchester council's licensing committee, to ask permission to pass the charges on to customers. The committee has so far only allowed a 40p increase, although this may have changed by the time this article hits the streets.
The airport apparently uses 60p of the £1.60 charge to pay for 16 taxi marshals who communicate between the terminals and the taxi headquarters in the feeder park about how many taxis are needed. However, reports from drivers suggest the marshals are as much use as ‘a one legged man in an arse kicking contest’, often leaving their posts unattended.
The airport stated:
"Manchester Airport employs 16 taxi marshals across its three terminals to help passengers wishing to use taxis to travel to and from the airport. It is our understanding that a breakdown in communications earlier today between the Hackney carriage drivers and Manchester Airport's taxi marshals has led to a disruption to their service. This dispute does not affect the services provided by any other taxi companies including Airportcarz and passengers are still able to travel to and from the airport using other taxi firms during this time. We are currently working closely with representatives of the Hackney cab committee to better understand the issue and are confident it will be resolved to everyone's satisfaction in the very near future."
I think all readers are aware of a degree of animosity between the HC trade and ‘Airportcarz’ (by ‘animosity’ I mean the same kind of animosity currently displayed between Georgia and Russia), I don’t know if Manchester Airport has a PR department but presumably mentioning ‘Airportcarz are still running’ in a press release wasn’t possibly the best tactical manoeuvre made that day, indeed, this possibly suggests someone in the PR department suffers from pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) and has the communication skills of a goldfish who’s just realised his mate isn’t called Bob.
A Bridge Too Far
I like war films. It’s not exactly politically correct, but I like them all the same. ‘The Battle of the Bulge’, ‘The Longest Day’, ‘Where Eagles Dare’, and ‘A Bridge Too Far’ the film based upon ‘Operation Market Garden’ and its failure. The plan was to drop Airborne Forces to drop behind German lines in Holland and secure a number of bridges, they key one being the bridge across the Rhine at Arnhem. The plan was devised by British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
The battle is of particular significance to Cumbria, the 1st (Airlanding) Battalion Border Regiment made up part of the 1st Airborne Division, landing by Glider and courageously fighting in the battle, Arnhem is included in the regiment’s battle honours. The role of the 1st Battalion Border Regiment was to secure Landing and Drop Zone areas to the west of Oosterbeek.
Records show the 1st Battalion had 41 officers and 754 other ranks involved in the Battle. The roll call afterwards listed only 9 officers and 241 other ranks. It was presumed, all the rest were either dead, wounded, missing or had been taken prisoner. The Battalion had a higher casualty rate of dead and wounded than any other Battalion in the 1st Airborne Division.
It was interesting to read the recent story about ‘Culloden’ in the magazine. I am a little surprised the editor chose Culloden as a base for an article, with a subsequent tour of a wet and soggy Scottish moor, presumably full of them damned midges!
Surely a battlefield tour of the various islands of the West Indies would have been of more benefit to the readership, of course if the editor is looking for volunteers?
That aside, the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1702 and amalgamated with the 55th (Westmorland) Regiment of Foot, fought in the battle the were commanded by Lt Col Charles Jeffreys and in the order of battle were in the front line. The regiment had one person killed and two injured during the battle. In footballing terms it was Scotland 1 – 1250 Carlisle, an overwhelming victory for the visitors, who despite early domination secured the victory in style.
In 1959 the 1st Battalion King's Own Royal Regiment was amalgamated with the 1st Battalion The Border Regiment to form The Kings Own Royal Border Regiment (KORB). In November 2005 the government announced the restructuring of the infantry, the KORB was amalgamated with the Kings regiment and Queens Lancashire Regiment forming the Duke of Lancaster’s regiment. The Glider earned in the WW2 was awarded as an honour to the KORBR is worn on the sleeve of No. 1 and No. 2 dress.
Sports Section
At the time of writing Carlisle United are top of the league, Newcastle United are again in turmoil (again), our Olympians have returned from Beijing with lots and lots of medals, Man City are now the worlds richest club and British tennis player Andy Murray is about to play in his first grand slam tennis final. Fair enough he was beaten and reverts to being Scottish, but that is the way of the world.
The Scots / England thing has been making the news today, particularly with reference to young master Murray. The general tone was that a good number of Scots didn’t believe the English were as supportive of Murray as they should be. Obviously some of the English don’t know how this thing works, whilst the Scots can dislike the English, the English are not allowed to dislike Scots. Whilst the Scots can root for Paraguay when England play at football, the English on no accounts must root for Macedonia or Iceland when the Scots are involved.
I actually quite like the Scots writers in this magazine, Bob McCullough and Jack Clyde have both bought me drink, indeed, Jack went to the length of keeping a supply of Newcastle Brown Ale in his fridge for me.
Indeed, I have a long history of liking Scottish persons.
For example, I like Archie Gemmill. He scored one of the greatest goals ever in a World Cup, it was almost as good as Gazza’s in Euro 96’. Being quite bald, I like Steven Pressley’s hairstyle. I also quite liked the Glaswegian alcoholic I picked up from a rank in Carlisle today, he didn’t score a goal in a world cup, but he was a good tipper. Fair enough, if I actually known he’d stabbed his brother in law six times before going to Prison, I wouldn’t have asked why on earth he was allowed south of Hadrian’s Wall.
Rank out of order
I seem to be getting more and more tabloid with my subheadings.
My friends in Canterbury recently told me of a strange almost unholy occurrence in his ‘manor’ at the time of the Lambeth Conference (it’s a big party involving vicars), the following was sent to me by Brian Stew, Chairman of the Canterbury District Taxi Association.
Every ten years the world’s Bishops and wives attend what is known as the ‘Lambeth conference’ in Canterbury. They stay in various parts of the city but mainly on the University campus. Traditionally the Taxi trade ferried the Bishops to and from the meetings in the Cathedral grounds.
This year however it was more like the Circus came to town (not being unkind in any way to the Church of England)
Canterbury District Taxi Association received, communication by email from its licensing officer two weeks before it began; its opening paragraph “We have been to a meeting.” That is; the Licensing officers and the ultimatum was that the rank was to be closed for the duration of the conference or for two hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. “Which do you prefer”! The second option including both of our busiest times. Oh I forgot! How remiss of me, by the way there will be no alternative ranks provided. This meant that 22 Taxis were expected to book their holidays for that two weeks, whilst the coaches did the work. Our objective was to protect the Status quo.
Having no joy from Licensing office or Highways we turned to the press and local TV. We explained at length exactly what was occurring; then on the big day as you can imagine tempers were a wee bit high.
The Council put out the cones, the Cabbies moved them…the police being in the middle tried to move us off; but no joy. Threats were made on both sides. The Licensing office sent down one of their Rottweiler’s…again no joy. He told us we were being inflexible. 30 minutes later a Police inspector spoke to me and within 3 minutes discussion some common sense prevailed! After all the shenanigans and 8 months worth of meetings, the rank was not actually needed for setting down or picking Bishops up, all they required was 2 spaces at the end of the rank to enable the coaches to clear the corner: Police overruled councils continued demands for the rank to be closed and after a couple of days the police did not even bother to come to the rank…the cabbies worked through the entire Lambeth conference with no problems.
The support of press, TV and most of all, from our travelling public was overwhelming. The ‘Lambeth conference’ was a complete success.
So the circus left town…but I am sorry to say the clowns were left behind!
Decisions made on our behalf which lead to any loss of earnings are morally wrong! It is also an insult to our trade that these faceless and unelected officials can decide our futures without having the decency to consult with any of us at their numerous meetings.
Till next month
Wayne Casey
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