Well lets examine this reply Mark.
You are working Brighton? no point denying it if you were going to after all you are one of the B&H PH association voices aren't you.
Lets look at Brighton, as Mark says his manor is very well run, and the reason for it? because Streamline took hold of the whole thing many years ago, their offices rival many call centre's in the country, you can get anything and everything you need from Streamline, from a business card to Insurance etc, now Streamline is a Hack company, but it also runs the PH as well, so you have a safe zone of knowing a rogue PHD won't get to work in Brighton again if he's found touting etc, this keeps the touting problem down as there is nowhere to go should you blot your book.
Now for the location, Brighton is London on Sea, the wealth accumulates there, there are poor folks also, but a lot of London money is spent there, so by Marks' own words Brighton is a very professional place for taxis, taxis that are regulated and hold good value, supported by a PH that knows it's a PHC and is also held accountable for bad practice, now as far as I know this model works very well in Brighton so why would anyone need to change things.
Now as said before, what works in one place doesn't always in another, so is it fair that one model is applied to all regardless of local condition's?
How would the Brighton trade feel if I decide to come down and set up a new PH office, only my PH office is full of recruits who are going to charge the customer £4 for what is a £6 fare right now, yes that's right I will move straight in and undercut the whole accepted system, word will go round and I will draw cars away to join me once they hear my drivers are taking 3X what they are, of course I'm not going to do that because it goes against my beliefs on how to do things, I believe in service, but I also believe in a proper rate for that service, cheap tatty cars with a 1999 fare scale doesn't appeal at all, but this could all happen in Brighton, and then you will know what other parts of the country face and how it impacts on the drivers.
So lets imagine Brighton de-regulate, all of a sudden all those PHC switch to Hacks, you now don't have enough rank space and the fighting about whose first etc starts, cars degrade due to lack of funds to repair and replace, and eventually anyone who had an idea who made it how it is today walks away and you are left with a rabble that doesn't know much about much.
And finally, as you are deeply pro PH Mark, what right does anyone from a PH background have to have a say on Hacks are run, we are two different things, I don't get to have a say on what PH is allowed to do, so why should PH have any say on my future, to me it's like the bloke from Bovril telling the bloke from Marmite what he should be doing.
The fact that you lot can't is your problem not society's.
Not so, the problem is with the council, for a long time they were testing foreign drivers with an interpreter sitting in, drivers that don't follow any rules and especially PH ones who seem to think they are Hacks and it's their right to sit outside pubs and clubs without a booking, and the one primary reason isn't a lack of cabs, it's one is 33% cheaper than the other if you actually get an honest driver, in a deprived area where unemployment is rife people will chance it to save a quid fifty, I know none of this is going to change your mind because that is impossible to do, that is well proven, but always remember, what goes around, comes around, and one day the bad news may come through your door, then you will know how others feel when others have been allowed to mess with their lives and income's, not a nice place to be I can assure you, wait until the foreign legion finds you and they will, then you'll know what competing with a workforce that does 18 hour days and tells their family back home how good it is and they must come, and I don't mean the Asians either, and you can only keep them out for so long, they are industrious and if they smell money they will arrive I assure you.
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