Taxi Driver Online

Hi All
Due to the highly questionable performance of our Licensing Authority, we are considering forming an association to, at the very least have a collective voice and if we are lucky, challenge and contest some of the decisions and get some accountability from the LO.

Anyone out there with experience of this, good bad or indifferent, all advice welcome

I think forming an association is a good move.

But do you need a national association like the NTA, or a union like the GMB or Unite to make your association a success?

If you do, google them and choose who you think is best. If your council is a Labour-controlled council I would consider joining a union.

The question I always ask is who knows your trade better than you, or your colleagues?

So maybe just get organised locally and ask for a meeting with the chair of licensing and go from there.

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IDFIMH

When I formed the drivers association here the first thing the Council demanded was a copy of the association constitution.

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Grandad,

And I would have told them to go f*** themselves, followed by a number of FoI’s in relation to when the 1976 was approved, copy of the minutes and when every part of the council I.e parish councils agreed to it and copies of those minutes.

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IDFIMH

If a member of the public wishes to attend a councillors surgery to lobby them, or seek advice, are they required to fill in or present bureaucratic forms before they can speak to them?

Does it require said bureaucratic forms to be completed before a licensing officer will address a genuine concern from a member of the trade?

One of biggest problem this trade has is a lack of participation in the consultation process, and sticking pointless hurdles in the way is utter madness, and as someone said recently, shame on them for doing so.

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IDFIMH

Actually I sent them a copy of a certain taxi association constitution. As for the rest of your post I have already been down to the library and looked through the local paper archives for 6 months before they adopted the 1976 act to 6 months after the date and there was not a mention in the public notices at all. I asked them the question regarding parish Councils and I got the standard reply that our Council use " sorry all the records were destroyed in the fire".I haven't yet bothered to contact any of the parish Councils to get their records checked but I know there will be nothing in any of their minutes.

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Grandad,

We don't really have surgeries anymore. If a member of the public wishes to speak to a Councilor they just ring them up or email them. The other option is public question time at full Council meetings where you submit a written question before the deadline for your Councils rules and the portfolio holder of committee chair answers the question. At our Council if your question is accepted you can attend the meeting and ask your question in person and then you are able to ask a supplementary question provided that the supplementary question is to do with the original question or the answer given to that question.

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Grandad,

Maybe that's how Glasgow City Council should have responded when they said they didn't keep records of driver and vehicle numbers prior to 2022

High-profile fires in public buildings have become a bit of a political issue in Glasgow in recent years. On the other hand, I doubt if licensing records have been involved

This is all beginning to look like a real ball ache, is there a simpler or more informal way of getting our collective voice heard?

One issue is the need for a constitution
Said constitution will most likely require a membership, requiring records, requiring personal details, requiring GDPR adherence, probably requiring registration with the data commissioners office, requiring fees, requiring bank accounts, requiring membership fees, requiring, requiring, requiring, and on and on it bloody well goes.

Why do we have to dance to their tune in order to have a voice?

How about just voicing our issues in the press?
It seems to be the one all powerful institution these days that can bring about change!

Putting your head above the parapet is a potential minefield, whichever way you go about it

Noticed this on Twitter from TaxiPoint's Perry Richardson, written in the context of the confusion about taxi and private hire terminology.





https://twitter.com/PS_Richardson/statu ... 0801821698

I'm not holding my breath

You don’t need a formal association, the more rules you have the more arse ache you will get.

Just be a spokesperson for the views of the trade, or the views of the fellas you work with.

Everyone is entitled to their views, even cab drivers.

I would email the chair of licensing requesting a meeting to discuss taxi matters. Tell them that drivers feel they haven’t got a voice and you and a few colleagues would like to meet with him to try and change that.

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IDFIMH