Taxi Driver Online

Network Private Hire has increased its share of council work Glasgow City Council has given more work to a controversial private taxi firm, despite being in the process of trying to ban it.

BBC Scotland has learned that Network Private Hire has successfully increased its share of a contract ferrying disabled children to and from school.

In April, the council denied Network an operators licence after police argued it had links to organised crime.

The company is appealing the decision and is entitled to continue trading.

Glasgow Council has streamlined the amount of school runs it funds from 2000 to 1400, and invited taxi firms to bid for the work.

Glasgow Taxis, the main hackney operator who had the majority of the contract until now, is the biggest loser, being outbid on about 60% of its original share.

'Increased share'

Network and several other taxi firms including Southside cars will pick up a significant amount of the work.

Network was already on the council's list of preferred suppliers before the licensing board's decision to deny its operators licence. But the decision to award extra work to the company took place recently.

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council confirmed that Network had increased its share, but refused to say by how much.

The spokesman said: "Network Private Hire has a contract to provide taxis for council business which predates the recent decision of the Licensing Committee to refuse a licence for their booking office.

"This decision is now subject to appeal and therefore Network Private Hire is legally entitled to continue trading while that appeal is pending."

Network's licence was denied after police lodged objections linking the firm's handyman James Baxter to allegations of a shooting incident and witness intimidation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-g ... t-11032459

I thought Dundee council was bad at making decisions but this story really is unbelievable

Spoke to a well known Taxi Trade fella from Glasgow today Tone, he says, it's the quietest day he's saw in 20 years of being in the Trade and, war was inevtivable

If that's the only link why don't they just sack the handyman

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

THE HERALD


A taxi firm police say is linked with organised crime has secured council business to ferry vulnerable children to Glasgow schools.

Network Private Hire is one of several companies cashing in as Glasgow City Council officials shun traditional but expensive black cabs as they try to cut the cost of school runs.

The company, along with rivals Glasgow Private Hire and Hampden Cars, has picked up thousands of new daily fares so far this week.

Furious chiefs at Glasgow Taxis – the umbrella company for the city’s driver-owned hackney cabs – believe they have been priced out of what was once one of their steadiest sources of income.

Some drivers are particularly angry about work going to Network – especially as the new business comes just weeks after the company, based in the Springburn area of the city, failed in its bid to secure a licence under a new regime introduced to squeeze organised criminals out of the taxi trade. Network is appealing that decision.

Robert Dunabie, secretary of Glasgow Taxis, said he believed black cabs had lost about 60% of their schools and social work business from the council. He added: “That could amount to around £1 million a year. People will lose their jobs.

“This is all about saving money, because the quality of the service we provide is much higher than the private hire firms.”

The Herald understands that the switch from black cabs to private hire firms began with the new term on Monday. Black cabs can charge considerably more than their private rivals.

Council officials have also slashed the number of runs they carry out as they desperately try to save money ahead of what are expected to be historic cutbacks.

Sources said children and their escorts were being asked to share taxis more often, doubling up on journeys to save fares.

Last year there were about 2000 “standing runs” in Glasgow. The Herald understands that so far this year the figure has been reduced to about 1400.

Network, which is one of the biggest private hire firms in Scotland, yesterday said it was not in a position to take advantage of new work from the council.

A spokesman for the company said: “Network is doing very little of this as we are over- committed in other sectors. But we are happy and always have been happy to work with the city council, who, along with other customers, wants to deal with an efficient, cost-effective and honest organisation.”

One of the reasons Network is so busy is that it currently has a £2m contract to take patients to and from Glasgow hospitals. It received that work despite tough competition from Glasgow Taxis, the traditional provider to the NHS, and an unprecedented intervention by Strathclyde Chief Constable Stephen House. Police said they were disappointed by the NHS decision to award the contract.

The company has said it was victimised by the police because of former associates of the business when it was under different ownership.

A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: “The huge financial challenges facing the council means we must spend the public’s money with the greatest possible care.

“The use of taxis has been thoroughly examined and we have found we can reduce by 30% the number of trips to be made on a regular basis to support those with educational or social work needs.

“Thanks also to a clear and comprehensive analysis of the regular runs, we have been able to pursue the most competitive price in relation to those runs.”


http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home ... -1.1049358

This is all bollocks. If the company was engaged in any criminal activity it would already be out of business.

But the cops have no proof, and shouldn't be issuing statements until they have.

This is the cops operating above their powers.

network should be suing the cops.

Saturday I saw a cabbie drop off on zig zag lines in the Grassmarket. The cops were beside themselves with glee notching up another heinous criminal act on their belts.

Now that's their style.

Zig zags are there for a reason JT. If a cabby is stupid enough to break the law, he/she will be punished, if caught, and to do it in front of the plod, how stupid can they be. It wasn't you by any chance?

By all accounts loads of taxi drivers are going to leave the trade.

One wonders what they will do with their plates.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home ... -1.1049800

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IDFIMH

Is that Company the old Glasgow Private Hire??

They obviously turned up at the destinations to confirm what they already suspected

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

I think that the company still had some taxis going to these schools and it would be these that saw the PH vehicles.

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Grandad,

So .

Nope it wasn't me. Are you disappointed?

But all this proves is that the cops are scum.

Now let's consider zig zags?

They are there because of what precisely?

Oh, yes, they are there because motorists need visibility of the crossing? And pedestrians need to be visible?

So, you would expect a standard to exist? At 30 mph, there should be a set length of zig zag lines to satisfy the safety requirements?

But there isn't. Zig Zags come in all lengths. Irrespective of the vision required of the crossing.

Some crossings don't even have zig zags, like Home Street.

Some are short. Some are long.

In essence the planners make it up. And the scumbag cops just view them as a means to put another notch on their arrest belt.

What the planners have done is turn one of the busiest pick up streets in the town into a no pick up zone. A crossing with zig zags in front of one of the main hotels? Are planners deliberately drumming up business for cops with nothing better to do?

Yet, how many times have we seen these scumbag cops parking on a zig zag to buy their lunchbox. Raeburn Place being a case in point. OK for them, buy they don't have to obey the same rules as the rest of us mere mortals?

And, like Saturday, if zig zag lines are so sacrosanct, so essential for public safety, why do the scumbag cops park in front of the alleged miscreant, with their lights flashing, while they book the miscreant? For 10 mins or more.

Lights or not, their parked vehicle obscures the crossing and is a danger to the public. The same danger as supposeldy caused by the guy they are booking.

It's a ruse. It's bollocks.

Aren't the cops just scum? They won't miss a trick to book a cabby. Different when they want our help. We should all be photographing their misdemeanours and reporting them.

BTW Once again the trade does nothing. Just puts up with it. Takes it up the choccy.



All busytodaycabby can do is .... bury hois head in the sand.

It's a little extreme to be calling them scum, jasbar. However, whilst I may disagree with you on many things, it's difficult to argue with what you're pointing out regarding police double standards...or indeed with your point in your last post regarding the trade's apathy.

I believe that, on a weekly basis, we all witness such double standards and poor levels of driving from police "expert drivers" and when combined with the apparent lack of understanding/appreciation from them of the needs of the taxi trade, or the service we provide...well...a lack of respect for the police is possibly to be expected.

That said, if "we" are aware of the rules...and how they may be being enforced (fairly or unfairly or harshly)...then we need to accept a level of responsibility also...and avoid making it easy for them.

Anyway...back to disagreeing with you...