Taxi Driver Online

Taken from The BBC website.

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But the Transport and General Workers' Union (T&G), which represents thousands of taxi drivers, poured cold water on the OFT's recommendation.

"Just increasing the number of cabs won't benefit either the consumer or the drivers... What will be better for consumers is more robust regulation to outlaw the 'cowboy cabs' to ensure a safe and quality service," Graham Stevenson, T&G spokesman said.
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Clearly when the OFT give chapter and verse, pouring scorn over the voices of the past, it still takes the scare-mongers a little longer for the FACTS to sink in.

The OFT have spent the last year or so, a thousand page report (with the annexes), and yet this idiot from the T&G, has digested it all in the space of an hour or two.

Clearly Mr Idiot has missed the bits about the current system leading to customers waiting too long, having less choice, and being less safe.

He obviously missed the customer survey, which conclude that we lose thousands of customers a year. He has missed the bits about how more customers use taxis following de-limitation.

But the spokesman from the T&G doesn't want to hear the truth, he only wants to partake in scare-mongering, and if truth be told, that's all their good at.

Yes sussex I agree, on Saturday night I got it bad, but you cannot blame people as some had been waiting on the rank for, wait for it, one and a half hours, great come out the club at 3am people still on the ranks at 5am
but the same people who do not want more plates on are all lying in bed.
It's a joke and this should have been done years ago in my opinion.

Mr Guest, I couldn't agree more.

However I'm up for a good debate on the pro and cons of the OFT report, but all I've seen from some, is rubbish scare-mongering.

Lets debate what is actually in the report, not what some think is in it.

Taken from the Guardian.

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Taxi drivers' representatives warned that the liberalisation could force many drivers to take second jobs. Dennis Conyon, the chairman of the National Taxi Association, said: "How can a man make a living? This could well turn the industry into a part-time scenario."

Mr Conyon, who drives a taxi in Maidstone, Kent, said that although there were often queues when the pubs closed, cabs in provincial towns and cities often sat idle during the day. He added: "It's always been our opinion that local authorities are best to look after the interests of consumers."

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They can make a living Mr Conyon, by gaining the extra customers that the report has shown happens, following de-limitation.

Why would thousands more people come into our trade, if they are going to earn f*** all?

Read the report, it says that they HC/PH fleets remains static, they are facts Mr Conyon. It says that latent demand has been under estimated, and our trade has lost custom because of quotas.

As for councils being the best to look after consumers, well I beg to differ on that, but anyway if you read the report, you will see that councils are still being kept in charge, and are to be given some more guidelines from the DOT.

Of course everyone will be able to earn a living, if we all started doing 18 hour days, 7 days a week the average P/H driver now driving his WAV around would be able to make maybe even a little more than he did before. But lets not forget the extra cost of the vehicle and insurance.

You see its a well known fact that the busiest times for BOTH H/C and P/H is at a weekend, and normally at night. Does no-one understand that if the ranks are busy then so should the P/H offices. Unfortunatly everyone fails to understand that the majority of people travelling INTO the town book their journey's through a P/H operator and it is ONLY because of that same firms un-reliability that the feel they cannot be relied upon to be there to pick them up if they make an advanced booking for the return journey.

So why is this, could it be because the P/H drivers are to busy ilegally plying for hire, or they pick up the first person to come to their car leaving stranded their legitimate fare or is it because they are doing the same as the guest poster claims the H/C driver is doing, away home to bed.

You see its the shortcomings of BOTH trades that creates "un-met demand" and not what type of licence anyone drives under.

Maybe we will get someone from the T&G on a forum such as this to debate "why a union looks after its members" as a memebr of the T&G I'm glad they made a immediate response to the completely useless OFT report, remember gentlemen much that was anticipated to come out of this report failed to materialise and the comments from the T&G illustrate exactly how little it recommends in the way of change.

You seem to think that everyone will come into this trade and put up with working all these extra hours. They wont, they will either not come in, or pop in, have a look and p*** off.

As I said why would someone invest in the HC/PH business, to work more hours than they do at present?

If it was only PH that picked up phone work, then your second paragraph would be valid, alas it is not on both counts.

If PH drivers are acting illegally, then the OFT report is correct.

Their remedy, which I agree with, is to make all those currently acting outside of the law HC if they wish.

If they wish to remain PH, then the report says enforcement action needs to be taken.

That would be very nice, but from experience highly un-likely.

Yes, most of us agree that apart from quotas the OFT report is very limited in scope, and, while there's probably little point in speculating, I outlined my reasoning on this in reply to your other recent post.

Even on quotas the report is limited in scope - nothing about councillors holding plates under quotas for example, about double standards from self-interested unions, how the 'unmet demand' test can be manipulated to serve plate holders at the expense of the public, and nothing about illegalities and scams like illegal plate hiring and corporate licenses in Scotland in particular.

Yes, it would be change to have someone from the T&G on to discuss these things Mick, bring em on!!

Dusty

Who's this Mick bloke then, why is he being credited with words written under Albert Higgingbottom.

I asked "Maybe we will get someone from the T&G on a forum such as this to debate "why a union looks after its members", a couple of you asked for someone to come on and defend their stance of looking after their members, what do you expect them to do, if you were a member of an organisation which allowed what YOU considered detrimental change how long would YOU remain a member.

I will make some enquiries, and then perhaps someone from each of the National groups will join in an on-line debate, doubt that it will happen on here if I arrange it though Dusty.

Nobody has to arrange anything to post on TDO, apart from logging onto the site.

However it would be nice to hear the views of our 'leaders', as the press call them.

Alex

It's not even necessary to 'log on' to post.

Good that, innit?

Dusty

Quite, Mick!

It was so obviously you that I took your pseudonym to be like Claude's or Wharfie/Paddington Bill - obviously just a moniker and not intended to hide your identity.

If it was then please remember that pseudonyms are allowed merely to enable the poster to remain anonymous, not to post under several different identities for surreptitious reasons - although of course it could be perfectly bona fides to use another identity to post a viewpoint that you have good reasons not to want associated with your usual one.

One or two people have been posting under more than one identity - this has gone uncommented on because they may have good reasons for this that may not be immediately obvious.

But anyone doing this please do it sensibly, and not just to play silly beggars.

Dusty

Ouch!

Obviously it's up to whoever where it takes place, but if you want the fullest exposure and a proper debate then I would suggest that here is the most obvious place at the moment.

No offence, but the only forums with any kind of traffic at the moment seem to be on here and the Yahoo successor and since it's London-oriented and could hardly be described as open then I fail to see how you should be so adamant that it should not take place on here?

Please explain.

Dusty