Taxi Driver Online

Cabbies halt go-slow protests in Birmingham - for peace talks

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/m ... s-16218379

But a warning that protests will resume if talks fail


Image: Birmingham Mail

Black cab drivers have halted go-slow protests in Birmingham in order to have peace talks with the city council over the Clean Air Zone.

Raja Amin, president of the the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) Union Midlands regional council, confirmed they had postponed demonstrations after arranging to meet with licensing chiefs on Tuesday morning.

However he warned if the negotiations were unsuccessful they will resume their action targeting the afternoon rush hours later that day and for the next two weeks .

Mr Amin also said relations between drivers and the police had also improved after the union had issued a statement claiming officers were 'harassing' their members and threatening them with points to their licence during one particular demonstration last week.

He added: "We received complaints about the conduct of officers on one of the first protest days.

"But since then police have been very professional with us and we have withdrawn our dispute with them."

West Midlands Police also addressed the complaints.

Chief Inspector Paul Ditta, from Birmingham Police, said: "We have dedicated resources to assist the free flow of city centre traffic during the recent taxi driver demonstrations.

"We have tried to minimise disruption to all commuters while respecting the right to peaceful protest.

"This has required regular engagement, and sometimes robust conversations, with participants to ensure these go-ahead without traffic offences being committed."


Image: Birmingham Mail

(The rest of this article should be pretty familiar to regular readers.)

Cabbies launched go-slow demonstrations in Birmingham last week after the council approved a new emissions policy for Hackney carriage and private hire drivers.

Essentially, the proposals meant that their vehicles would have to adhere to age restrictions instead of the Euro 4 (petrol) and Euro 6 (diesel) vehicle standards applying to everyone else.

While from 2021 all newly licensed taxis will have to be ultra low emission, after the date was brought forward from 2026.

As part of its Clean Air Zone business case accepted by the Government the council has also secured £15m worth of funding to support black cab and private hire drivers, including money to operate a Hackney carriage leasing scheme and sums to help drivers replace or upgrade their vehicles.

Hundreds of existing black cabs stand to be hit by the daily £8 Clean Air Zone charge from January 2020 with drivers arguing their livelihoods are at risk.

Despite a number of changes to the emissions policy made following a consultation, the RMT claimed their concerns have not been listened to and that they have been 'steamrolled'.

They have made a number of demands, including reverting back to the 2026 date for newly licensed vehicles, an exemption from the Clean Air Zone, and more money towards replacing or upgrading vehicles.

So far the council has remained firm on its policy.

Last week Cllr Waseem Zaffar, cabinet member for transport and environment, urged cabbies to stop the protests arguing that they were three times more likely to be harmed by pollution than the average person.

He said the public were being 'unreasonably affected' by the demonstrations and emphasised that the council had worked hard to secure 'a very good package' for the drivers.

Cllr Zaffar reiterated the case that the council is under pressure from the Government to reduce pollution levels with the 'public health crisis' contributing to hundreds of premature deaths a year in Birmingham.

I'm not sure if the council have any flexibility on this.

Once they have taken the money from central government their hands are, IMO, tied.

_________________
IDFIMH

Taxi drivers plan more go-slow protests in city centre from TODAY and for 'foreseeable future'

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/m ... o-16237365

Black cab drivers plan more protests after claiming council scrapped Clean Air Zone talks


Image: Birmingham Mail

Black cab drivers are staging new go-slow protests from today and "for the foreseeable future" after claiming the council scrapped Clean Air Zone 'peace talks'.

The cabbbies halted demonstrations last week in order to hold discussions with the council's licensing chiefs.

But a statement from the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) Union today confirmed the demonstrations would restart - with the first one taking place today (Tuesday) between 3pm and 6pm.

There will then be a demonstration every day at the same time until at least Friday May 17.

The RMT union claims talks with city licensing chiefs had broken down forcing further action to be taken.

The statement said: "RMT taxi drivers will be protesting again in Birmingham today and for the foreseeable future after the Council scrapped planned talks aimed at reaching a solution to the long going row over the bulldozing through of policies that would decimate the licensed taxi trade in the City and the standards of living of those involved in it.

"For the last two weeks, RMT members who are taxi drivers in Birmingham have been engaged in protest action in an attempt to persuade the City Council to re-open talks on how the financial impact of the councils policies could be mitigated so that the taxi drivers would not be plunged into greater financial hardship.

"On 2nd May 2019 the RMT Midlands Regional Council President received a communication from Councillor Barbara Dring indicating she would be prepared to meet with the taxi drivers for further discussions at 9am on Tuesday 7th May 2019 - this was on the basis the taxi drivers suspended their protests which they duly did.

"However, just 24 hours later RMT’s Regional President Raja Amin received a further email from Emma Rohomon - the acting head of licensing at Birmingham City Council advising that no changes could be made to anything and that no one from the council would be attending any meetings – affectively wrecking todays talks before they even started."


Image: Birmingham Mail

(Rest of article is just the usual stuff)

Cabbies launched go-slow demonstrations in Birmingham two weeks ago after the council approved a new emissions policy for Hackney carriage and private hire drivers.

Essentially, the proposals meant that their vehicles would have to adhere to age restrictions instead of the Euro 4 (petrol) and Euro 6 (diesel) vehicle standards applying to everyone else.

While from 2021 all newly licensed taxis will have to be ultra low emission, after the date was brought forward from 2026.

As part of its Clean Air Zone business case accepted by the Government the council has also secured £15m worth of funding to support black cab and private hire drivers, including money to operate a Hackney carriage leasing scheme and sums to help drivers replace or upgrade their vehicles.

Hundreds of existing black cabs stand to be hit by the daily £8 Clean Air Zone charge from January 2020 with drivers arguing their livelihoods are at risk.

Despite a number of changes to the emissions policy made following a consultation, the RMT claimed their concerns have not been listened to and that they have been 'steamrolled'.

They have made a number of demands, including reverting back to the 2026 date for newly licensed vehicles, an exemption from the Clean Air Zone , and more money towards replacing or upgrading vehicles.

So far the council has remained firm on its policy.

Birmingham City Council has been contacted for comment.