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Black cab drivers fear for livelihoods
THE LIVELIHOODS of Redbridge black cab drivers are being threatened by a flood of crippling' penalty charge notices.
So say cabbies, Kevin Vyner and Mark Thurbin, who claim they have picked up so many £60 fines for minor road traffic offences that they finish each working day not certain whether they have made any money at all.
Mr Vyner, of Wensleydale Avenue, Clayhall, who has driven a taxi for more than six years, said he would never have entered the industry if he had known about the conditions cabbies now face.
He said: "I have picked up at least ten penalty charge notices over the past year, and the rate at which I am receiving them is shooting up.
"There are absolutely no safety or road traffic benefits to these fines, they are just blatant revenue gathering techniques by local councils.
"We can't even pull over to pick up fares any more because there are parking attendants and cameras everywhere, ready to pounce."
Mr Thurbin, of Malborough Drive, Clayhall, is so concerned about the financial impact of the fines, that he and his father, who is also a cabby, have set up a special fund to pay them off.
Ilford North MP, Lee Scott, has slammed local councils in London for imposing the arbitrary' charges on cab drivers.
He said: "Black cab drivers already face enough costs with rising fuel prices and the Congestion Charge, and these arbitrary fines are just an unnecessary extra problem for them."
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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin
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