Taxi Driver Online

Londoners should boycott Addison Lee cabs


By asking his drivers to ignore the law and use bus lanes, John Griffin is putting cyclists at risk. His move should not be tolerated


The London-based minicab company Addison Lee must have one happy PR agency this week, having achieved many column inches in the press. The widespread media coverage follows its pugnacious owner's call to action to its 3,500 strong army of drivers to break the capital's bus-lane law by using it to speed ahead of the rest of the traffic, in a move that will clog up the lanes and defy their very purpose.


The firm's owner, John Griffin, is a deep-pocketed donor to the Conservative party. His contributions have been rewarded by invitations to parties where David Cameron was present, as well as meetings with many of the Conservative ministers, including transport minister Philip Hammond. He has also contributed to Boris Johnson's mayoral campaign.


Griffin is complaining that his firm is being discriminated against over black cabs, who can use the bus lanes. His campaign for his drivers to use the bus lanes reeks of publicity grabbing, although the PR firm he uses has unwisely highlighted the entrepreneur's environmentally friendly credentials, demonstrated while appearing as The Secret Millionaire. He perhaps should have stopped to think about the thousands of cyclists who rely on the bus lanes for their safety before making his anti-environment, anti-cyclist tirade this week, which now reeks of hypocrisy and blatant self-interest in what is nothing more than a bid to prioritise the maximising of his already overflowing coffers over that of the city's cyclists.


The danger to cyclists, and his disdain of us, was reinforced when he wrote in his free passenger magazine Add Lib that cyclists need to "pay up and be trained" if they're to join "the gang" of other road users, otherwise the death and accident figures of cyclists will increase. Griffin implies that cab drivers cannot be held responsible for knocking a cyclist over, blaming road congestion.


I am in the process of setting up an e-petition calling for Transport for London (TfL) to revoke Addison Lee's license to operate as soon as possible; his anti-cyclist comments, as well as urging his drivers to break the law, is enough proof that he is an unfit operator who poses a widespread danger. If, however, TfL do not revoke his license, as they are reported to be threatening, Londoners should do the only responsible thing and boycott the use of Addison Lee minicabs; this includes those corporate accounts, which are said to make up roughly half of his customer base. The companies who use the firm cannot claim to be conscious of their employees safety, or their own corporate social responsibility programmes that often encourage cycling, if they continue to use the firm while Griffin wages this campaign.


Griffin is also overlooking the fact that many of London's cyclists are also his passengers, and his blatant disregard for them could hit his beloved profit margins far harder than his drivers not being able to use the bus lanes. "I am ready to rock," the 69-year-old told the Guardian this week. "We have been treated so badly for so long …" It is cyclists who are only just emerging as a group with a voice who have been treated so badly for so long – and this threatens them far more. Instead, Griffin should show us his commitment to the citizens of London by educating the drivers to read up on the injury profile of cyclists; it makes for grim reading. It also undermines the various capital cycling campaigns and aims of events such as next week's Big Ride and the cycling-keen Tory mayor's own objectives.


Cyclists in the blogosphere are already worrying about the prospect of not having the relative safety of the bus lanes, such as this blogger, who says: "I can't think of a single thing that would put me off cycling more than sharing bus lanes with London's minicab fleet." As a cyclist myself, I too can think of nothing worse and have decided not to cycle in central London until Griffin decides, or is forced to behave within the law – just like the rest of us.

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Updated: Climatecars drives into Addison Lee boycott row


Green car specialist Climatecars says low emissions vehicles should get licence to use London bus lanes, but greentomatocars disagrees


Specialist green cab provider Climatecars has waded into the battle over whether private car hire drivers should be allowed to join black cabs in London's bus lanes, after Addison Lee's chairman instructed his 3,500 minicab drivers to break the law and use bus lanes.

Nicko Williamson, managing director of Climatecars, today said the rules governing bus lanes should be relaxed, but only to allow low emission cars to use the capital's restricted lanes.

Williamson's comments came after John Griffin, founder and chairman Addison Lee, the UK's largest minicab firm, yesterday issued a letter to his 3,500 minicab drivers, instructing them to use bus lanes and promising to indemnify them from any fines they may receive as a result.

Addison Lee claims it is unfair that Transport for London (TfL) permits its 24,000 licenced black taxi cabs to use bus lanes, but not the 60,000 licenced private hire cars.

"The current Bus Lane legislation is anticompetitive and unfairly discriminates against the millions of passengers that use Addison Lee," he wrote. "Minicabs perform the same function as Black Taxis and are licensed by the same authority, so there is no reason that they should be penalised due to outdated legislation."

But Griffin's instruction prompted TfL to threaten legal action, calling his letter irresponsible, because it jeapordised London's public transport system which carries six million passengers per day. It argued allowing the 60,000 licenced private hire vehicles to use London's bus lane would cause insurmountable congestion.

The row escalated today after cycling campaigners seized on an article written by Griffin in which he claimed cyclists should be made to pay road tax and blamed inexperienced cyclists for causing accidents.

"These cyclists are throwing themselves onto some of the most congested spaces in the world. They leap onto a vehicle which offers them no protection except a plastic padded hat," he wrote in the April edition of the company's magazine.

"The rest of us occupying this roadspace have to undergo extensive training. We are sitting inside a protected space with impact bars and airbags and paying extortionate amounts of taxes... It is time for us to say to cyclists 'You want to join our gang, get trained and pay up'."

His comments prompted outrage, with campaigners and politicians calling for a boycott of Addison Lee.

Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott tweeted that he had cancelled his Addison Lee account. Green Party London Mayoral candidate Jenny Jones, who has campaigned heavily for cycle safety, also pledged to boycott the taxi firm.

Despite the boycott, Climatecars' Williamson said the company had not yet seen a surge of bookings from Addison Lee defectors, but he added the firm "was always eager to welcome new members".

He added that he would not instruct his drivers to drive in bus lanes, but instead urged TfL to develop a two tiered licensing system for private hire vehicles, recognising the difference between the 30,000 different types of private hire cars on the road.

"The operators who pass the criteria for the higher tier, up to certain predetermined standards, should be able to use the bus lanes," he said. "This could be linked to vehicle quality, driver experience, CO2 emissions of vehicles or any number of factors."

The top-tier licence could be more expensive to compensate TFL for the extra work, he added

Williamson told BusinessGreen he had proposed a two-tiered licencing system to TfL in the past and he hoped the recent row would renew the debate.

"Our idea is a meritocratic system, where the efforts of private hire companies with high standards are recognised. This would be a fairer system for London and better for the customer, as they will have a clearer idea of the type of operator they are choosing for their trips," he added.

But Jonny Goldstone, managing director of greentomatocars, said Climatecars' proposal was unfeasible. The company also said that when surveyed, the majority of its key clients disagreed with Griffin's stance.

"The majority of respondents to our survey would like to see bus lanes reserved for buses and cyclists only, despite the fact that they themselves would benefit from our minicabs accessing them," said Goldstone.

"At greentomatocars we are instructing our drivers not to use the bus lanes - in fact, we are looking to give them more training on how to drive more safely and pay special attention to the growing number of cyclists on London's roads."

However he added it would welcome any general move to ensure regulation of the London private hire and taxi market did not unfairly discriminate.

Greentomatocars added that it recorded its busiest week in its six-year history this week, and was launching a recruitment drive to cope with demand. But it was reluctant to attribute the surge in demand to the Addison Lee row.

"Our service has been growing in popularity for some time, due to our company ethos, competitive pricing and the fact that we now have the second largest fleet in London after Addison Lee," a spokesman told BusinessGreen.

"Increases in sales in the minicab industry generally come from business accounts, and most would not be able to switch companies so quickly."

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Then electric cars, then electric vans, then hybrid cars, then . . .


Would Durham PH like access as well just in case they happen to be visiting one year?!