Taxi Driver Online

Radio ads banned for depicting foreign minicab drivers as 'underhand'

The advertising regulator has banned a London radio campaign by the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association for depicting foreign minicab drivers as "underhand and unreliable" and black cabs as the only trustworthy form of transport.

Two LTDA radio ads aired on London radio station LBC and in each case featured scenarios where minicabs were unable to find their way to a destination.

In the first of the ads, made by Tyga Marketing, the driver of a cab appeared to be of eastern European descent. The minicab driver gets lost while using a satnav system and says he has not done the Knowledge, the test that all black cab drivers must pass to get a licence.

In the second ad a couple miss their flight and receive a rebuke from an airline worker that they should have taken a black cab. "Next time use a real cab," is the tagline at the end of both ads.

The Advertising Standards Authority received four complaints. Chauffeur Select and one other complainant, a cab driver, objected that the ads were "misleading and denigratory towards all public carriage organisations" because they "implied that non-LTDA members were incompetent and unreliable".

Two other complainants objected that the portrayal of the driver in the first ad was racist and offensive because it implied that eastern European drivers were "unreliable and underhand characters".

In its ruling banning the ads, the ASA said the character with a foreign accent was portrayed as someone who "was an unreliable driver who had little regard for the needs of his passengers".

"We noted that we had not seen any evidence which suggested that foreign drivers were unable to carry out the duties of a licensed taxi driver effectively," the regulator added. "Because [the] ad reinforced a negative stereotype of foreign drivers as being unreliable and underhand, we concluded it had the potential to cause serious offence to some listeners."

The ASA said non-black-cab drivers did not need to be members of the LTDA to have a valid licence from the PCO, yet the ads made specific reference to only relying on black cabs.

"[The ASA] considered that those references suggested there was a difference between black cabs and minicabs, irrespective of licensing, and that only black cabs were reliable. We concluded the ads were denigratory towards PCO-licensed minicabs," the regulator added.

The LTDA said the ad was intended to discourage people from using cabs not licensed by the Public Carriage Office.

Initiatives backed by the Metropolitan police and Transport for London to identify unlicensed cabs in recent years had revealed that "in excess of 95% of unlicensed drivers who were arrested, originated from overseas and many were illegal immigrants", the LTDA added.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/ma ... cab-banned

The pretend London taxis brigade always complain about any advert the LTDA put out.

Never mind, the adverts been played for the period we wanted, the message got out.

Always use a real London taxi.

If the ASA want proof that minicabs don't have a clue where they are going without playing with a little sat nav, try hiring them for a week, then try to speak to the driver in english and see how long the conversation lasts.

http://www.ltda.co.uk/popup-radio.htm

The ad's.

True, every one of them.

My sympathy goes out to you.... Hackney drivers here of foreign persausion use sat navs as they somehow managed to fool licensing here that they have a knowledge of the area. When asked by one, after a punter got in his cab wanting a particular hotel, the Saloon Hackney driver didn't know where it was, the punter didn't have an address!! It ended up with the punter going with me and the "foreign" driver getting abusive after I got the fare......
The punter confessed to me that he felt the driver shouldn't be licensed and had found the same problem in your manor with non black cabs!!

these radio adds are so true. minicab drivers dont know there way about for sh#t

If they don't know the job and the routes they deserve to be hung out ot dry.

Nothing wrong with a little radio advert or two to warn the vulnerable public of the scourge of unlicensed drivers & vehicles.

After all, the LTDA are just highlighting a big problem, which the PCO should be very please has been brought out in the open & broadcast to the travelling & visiting public in London.

_________________
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Brummie Cabbie.

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It was a whole 4 complaints from Minicab drivers that prompted the ASA to get involved.

We always get complaints from a few, the Met Police advert was our all time great. They went mad over that one, but it still stayed up for the duration.

http://www.ltda.co.uk/smile_big.htm

More advertising will follow, we're not put off by 4 complaints.

Shame the (alledged) 2nd largest London trade body doesn't do the same.