Taxi Driver Online

You will be pleased to know Diz was still servicing the Nobu rank amongst others well into the wee hours, like myself and most probably Jim.

We are all in this GBC, like i said before, put the trade union bickering on the back boil for now and lets fight the scabs TOGETHER.

Dizzy was there, not sure about Jim.

I know it's difficult to get to some of the ranks but the nature of the job means that there will always be someone nearby to one of the ranks and it's educating these guys that there is quality work to be had there. The number of empty taxis that drove past me and Lee the other night when there were only the two of us on the rank defies logic! They seemingly would rather drive around empty than give it 5 minutes on the ranks. This is where the trade publications should be helping; print details of the ranks in town, approx times of kicking out and encourage drivers to put on when they see the rank empty. How many drivers know there is a rank outside tiger tiger ? Not many because A) it isn't marked out and B) no one has bothered to tell them!

I don't dispute the ranks committee played their part, and well done for that but it grates when i see them turn up and claim sole credit; i haven't seen them there at any other time this year though have frequently seen the likes of Peter Rose and occasionally Grant Davies. No matter, let them have their glory if that's what they seek, the important thing for me is that the rank is there and we have an official place to work from.

Guess we may be seeing you outside NOBU or TIGER TIGER then!

Well once we sort this Twitter thing out tomorrow, I'll be fully informed of what's going on.

You've just to get me and technology working together in harmony.

From this weeks Taxi.


I wrote a few issues back about people attempting to re-write
history. I’ve been around the game long enough to realise that
a lot of the revisionism is unintentional and embellishment is
inevitable when stories are told and re-told.

I also know that much of it is a deliberate distortion of previous
events, mostly done by people pursuing political or personal
agendas or by others with egos to massage.
Whatever the reason it’s very rare that you actually witness the truth being distorted quite as intentionally as I did last Thursday.

I was out in the evening, it was unbelievably quiet, and despite the
Christmas lights and the horrendous traffic I was struggling to get a job. It
was all getting a bit depressing and all I could see were lines and lines of
empty cabs everywhere I went.

In desperation I thought I would have a look at the new, much fought
over rank outside Nobu in Berkley Street and try my luck there. I was
surprised how quickly it was running and even though I had just managed
to squeeze on the back as the fifth cab I was very soon second.
It was then that I saw a bloke in a ‘high vis’ vest taking pictures and
chatting to the driver on point.

As I sat there wondering what was going on, the driver behind me came up for a chat and told me that he had already done a local, but because it
was running, he had come back and that the ‘Marshal’ had said it was
going to be busy all night! Marshal? What Marshal?
It was then that I saw that the bloke in the ‘high vis’ had RMT emblazoned on his back!

Now I am totally up to speed on the history of this and the other night
club ranks that have recently been introduced and nowhere at any time
where the RMT involved in any way shape or form, so what was the bloke in the vest doing?

Not being the shy retiring type I got out of the cab and asked him why he was there and what he was up to, but for some reason he didn’t seem to want to talk to me.

Not wanting him to be lonely ( ) I parked up the cab and
donned my very yellow LTDA coat and joined him on the pavement, but
not until after I had phoned the ranks reps at the LCDC and Unite who
together with the LTDA had secured the rank in the first place.

The new ranks are a prime example of the results that can be achieved
when the main trade groups work together, so for someone from the
RMT to turn up and try and claim the credit is more than a bit cheeky.

The evening then started to descend into something resembling a Carry On film because very soon there were more Marshals in Berkley
Street than Dodge City!
The posse comprised of me in my LTDA coat, the RMT bloke in his orange vest and the LCDC rep and Unite Marshal also suitably liveried.

Then, just when I thought we had every angle covered, another bloke
from an internet site turned up wearing his vest emblazoned with an
acronym I couldn’t even work out. (Now who was that!! )

By now we must have been registering as a new reflective source on Google Earth!

Eventually, to complete the round up, the Old Bill turned up, also smartly
dressed in ‘high vis’! It really was a sight to see. The yellow coats and the
hire signs on the cabs were bright enough to rival the nearby Christmas
lights!

It was all quite good natured and most people saw the funny side but it
does go to show how easily history could be re-written.
The truth about the new night ranks is quite simple.

The work went quiet last year and I and many other drivers started to
create our own ranks outside various clubs and bars where touts or some
dubious car firm were making themselves busy.

Very quickly we realised that excellent work emanated from these
venues and as word spread around the trade more and more drivers
started to do the same thing.

The Ranks Committee, made up of LTDA, LCDC and Unite, responded quickly and requested official ranks at many of the clubs and bars which drivers were working. Westminster Council was keen to assist the Safer Travel at Night initiative and saw these ranks as a good way of combating the touts who are responsible for so many attacks on vulnerable women.

With the support and assistance of the PCO and the police the ranks
were approved and installed. That’s it, there’s no more to it, the RMT were
never involved other than gate crashing the opening night dressed in
a ‘high vis’ vest and armed with a camera!

Trade Topics

I’m not much of a fan of the various internet sites and chat rooms
revolving around the trade, mainly because most of them are
dominated by a few loonies who spend hours typing messages to
other loonies and anoraks.
There are a few exceptions and one of the
most popular and amusing sites is the Nissen Hut which can be found
at www.thenissenhut.blogspot. com.

Why not give it a visit.









The whole paper can be found by clicking on the taxi newspaper link under my posts.

Quite a few of those "loonies" are fully paid up members of the LTDA.



Steve was directly introduced to dizzy and they both had a chat for about 5 minutes about the rank etc; no animosity, just 2 cabbies chatting. So why take a cheap shot at the person when it's impossible for him to reply ? That has dissapointed me to be honest. I credited Steve with more respect and diplomacy than that! He then suggests a look at nissen hit - an internet forum more loonies in anoraks ? Incidentally, the site has copied my logo without permission and put a derogatory comment above it. Why ? I don't consider myself a loonie. I try and be fair to all concerned who visit the site and attempt to remain focused on the trade and not petty squabbling.

The last few editions of TAXI have been focused on taking shots at the RMT. I don't know and don't particularly care why but they are wasting my subs on printing leaflets to do this when that money could be better spent on printing leaflets discussing our merits and hand them out to Joe-public............perhaps dispel some of the fallacies that are spread by the likes of John Griffin and his ilk regards our tariff etc.

If i meet Steve which i'm sure to do i'll explain my disappointment in him for what he's printed.............if you're on here Steve - sorry fella, you got this one wrong mate. I'll defend your right to freedom of speech but can't condone attacks on fellow cabbies - we get enough of that from outsiders!

Be lucky.

How very dare he.

_________________
IDFIMH

I'm sure Steve was trying to take the humorous angle with the above article.

The RMT has been slagging them off since their inception earlier this year, and because (rightly or wrongly) the LTDA print some things the RMT don't like, it seems that's not on, but the RMT are allowed a free reign in slagging everyone else off in order to scare people into joining the Socialist revolutionary front.

If they dish it out, they have to take it back, without silly threats of legal action, which of course we're still waiting on months down the line.

I personally think the RMT would be better getting shot of around 3 individuals who purport to be leaders, when in fact they are in it for their own socialist agendas, just like Ken Livingstone.

Look what happened to him.

I thought you'd left the LTDA?

Ring any bells?

But the best bit about Steve's article . . it's got the fantasist from Sudbury Hill screaming blue murder in his Nissan Hut.

Does he 'follow' you home too Jim?

Well, in your tiny mind anyway.

From Callsign, the inhouse publication of DAC.


Call Sign closed the article by adding: "Are you reading this at the PCO? We need a rank at Nobu…"

Well now that demand is on the verge of becoming reality – although it has become more apparent as time goes by that Nobu do not want it – obviously preferring a car service where, according to rumour, the drivers pay for the privilege of being there! The official taxi rank has now been applied for, but amazingly there have been 47 objections to Westminster, five of which came from solicitors representing Nobu!

In return, the LTDA have employed their own solicitors to counter the objections and are hopeful that by the time of this issue’s publication (November 1) or very soon after, an official rank will be placed outside the Berkeley Street restaurant. (It's now there as we all know)

Natalia told Call Sign: "If it happens, I will be delighted. My only fear is that when it does appear, it may be busier on the streets and no one will want to cover places like Nobu and Smiths. We have had such a battle to get to this position, I just hope that we all put ourselves out to make sure we don’t let ourselves down and cover the work. If we don’t, then I’m sure that Nobu will try to get the rank cancelled and bring their little friends back to the fold."


(My fears as well)

mine and many of my colleagues fear that to...........we've all worked had to provide a service not just here but at many other establishments and once the work levels increase it will get harder to provide that service........all i will say is that i and many of the guys i know will try our hardest to be there when we can.

On a down side, the Dover st rank is still being used by a select group of cabbies as there own pick'n'choose spot. They hang it up outside mahikis and interview potential customers as to where they are going. Interestingly a Guildford for example ends up in the back of one of their taxis whilst a Portman Sq gets put into a passing taxi

Sometimes you feel you have to rid your own trade of the crap before you begin to take on the others!

GBC, can you tell me how many members the LTDA lost because of McNamara's stupidity?

we are all doomed ,Dundee has caught this disease and we are all fecked

Steves done more for this trade through demo's, press chats, and meetings with those that matter than we'd ever do in a lifetime.

Apart from the 8 out of trade members that spend every woken hour on hand held computers twittering, very few to my knowledge so far.
Most folks saw the article as it was, a bit of humour. I'm one of the people he refers to am I not? A forum anorak, and proud.

As I keep saying, and you keep hinting otherwise, our LTDA membership numbers have remained pretty steady at around 8500 - 8700.

You know drivers leave and join different organisations every day of the week, new drivers join the trade, drivers retire, drivers get pee'd off because the world doesn't go their way, drivers get pee'd off over the GMB 'partnership', drivers get pee'd off because Barry Hooper is rude on the phone.

That's life, the trade goes on.

The LTDA needs to pull it's socks up in relation to some issues, The LCDC need's to expand it's idea's other than Grants take on life, The Unite crew needs to stop resisting alternative vehicles, and The RMT needs to look carefully at who's holding the tiller, and how much influence those particular individuals politics are guiding them opposed to what their members want.

And Jim Thomas? . . well I'm lost for words!