Taxi Driver Online

Amazing. Passed fit to operate a taxi driver's licence in Edinburgh. No test of driving skill, nor any psychological assessment, I'm fit to kill. And the doc's recommendation will be that I am fit to be licensed to kill.

The irony of the parallel between today's jape and the slave masters checking the teeth of slaves to ensure their fitness to be exploited, was not lost on me.

Peed in a bottle. No diabetes. Though even if I had it would not debar me from driving. So, why is this even in the test?

Blood pressure. A1. Seems venting steam on the forums keeps the blood pressure down. Quality.

Shoes off, step on the scales. Back against the bar, height taken. So what! BMI is horrendous. But I'm not the fattest most lethargic tw*t in the trade. Fail me on this and half the bar stewards in the trade are redundant. So, this is a game then? OK!

Do you use your glasses for driving? Yup, sure do. Then please remove them and read from the chart.

Er! Really? Why? If I use them for work, why are you testing me without them? It's what we do Mr Jasbar. Ever asked why, I wonder? But this jobsworth has never even asked the question has she?

So, you've ticked a long list of yes/no questions, who could possibly know you've told the truth? I did of course. Because guys on this site know I only ever tell it how it is. That's why I'm unpopular. Aaahhhh!!! Puir wee dear I hear you extoll

Anyway, sidelined to await the doc.

"This your first licence application Mr Jasbar?"

Jeeze, is this guy for real?

Nope I said I've been driving for nigh on 20 years.

"It's just that you've said that you're unemployed?"

Yup I told him. It's because I'm persona non grata. I've had the temerity to express my political opinions, I've asked for something which 75% of the rest of the nation already have, and I'm excluded by the trade. And the council has encouraged them by restricting taxis. Which empowers them to deny me my right to work. By denying me unfettered access to the tools of my trade I am now unable to do the work I am trained to do. Not because I'm not trained to do it, nor fit to do it, and I'm available to do it, but because they're denying me my right to do it.

What followed was an interesting interlude of going through a variety of movement exercises to show that the bones were still functioning. A combination of Mr Bean and MARCEL MARCEAU came amusingly to mind. T*ts bared so this medical voyeur could listen to my heart and check it was still working. That I was standing before him, and still successfully breathing apparently not sufficient proof that it was still functioning.

Curiously he seemed somewhat bemused when I offered that the trade may well find it somewhat amazing that he managed to find a heart to monitor in the first place.

Jasbar. You're fit. I know he meant this serf was fit to drive a taxi for the slave masters in Edinburgh, but my mind was more preoccupied with the fitness of the ... perhaps I shouldn't go there.

So, I burst out into the open air, the council can't deny the licence because I'm not fit enough to be a taxi slave. They'll have to do better than that. Hoist by their own petard comes to mind.

Anyway, what occurs to me as I sit at the bus stop, there was no attempt to determine whether I was a sex maniac, or psychologically fit to drive.

After all the trade is full of nutters you wouldn't want to drive your old Mum. The lunatic Dougie for example. But this test of fitness doesn't touch that base.

So, I'm fit to kill a passenger or another member of the public that tries to claim my rightful road space. But the lunatics get to work while I'm denied. And should it happen, the council can claim they ticked a box, claim they protected the public.

But the game of fitness means nothing if the council's policy is to deny those who speak their mind, who articulate their political views, in a way they dislike because there is no other means open for them to do so, access to the means to work.

I'm unlucky. I'm fit to kill, and they will licence me to kill, but they won't allow me to do so by denying me unfettered access to the tools of my trade.

_________________
Skull, "You are a police inspector, aren't you?"
Cab Inspector Smith, "Yes."
Skull, "So, are you going to tell Mr Taylor what his rights are?"
Smith, "And ... What rights?"

You do make me larf y'know,

Unfettered entry, the only person denying you is you Jas, or do you expect the LL to give you a free house just cos you desire one?

C'mon mon, your bitterness is greater than a sour lemon.

you couldn't resist could you. It had to be you

The point you miss is that the council's policy is now directly in the frame. In the supposed best small country in the world my exclusion from the taxi trade highlights that we have a bitter society of twisted and warped self centred politicians who put their own interests before those they are supposed to serve.

This policy to restrict has now been shown not only to be discriminatory, but also to fundamentally breach an individuals right to express political opinion. And this my dear Doom, is contrary to everything they would have us believe.

Now their dilemma is that if they do nothing, then our supposed inclusive and equal society is proved little more than a fraud, the stakeholders don't really have a stake. And if they do take the appropriate action to avoid this, then the irony for the trade is that by excluding me they will have brought about the end of the protection of their vested interest they have long sought to avoid.



The only question that remains is whether the capitulation happens quietly, with the council apparently in some control of its own affairs, the political illusion maintained, or whether it is dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century by another judge showing how it has got it wrong.

And a decision a judge will be happy to take because it will be argued that the political process has consistently excluded me by refusing me access to the process, while callously disregarding the political argument I have consistently made. All the secret HCLCG meetings, hidden away from the gaze of the public and the trade, the dogmatic refusal to address matters raised, the callous disregard by successive RC committees for the plight of those their policies have damaged, and the deliberate empowerment of key powers within the trade to damage individual interests prove that this matter should be decided judicially. The RC committees and the council are no longer fit and proper to administer the council's licensing policy in the interests of the whole community.

The positive thing now is that the public purse will be defending me against the council and the public purse. Equality of arms.

What was it Corporal Jones said? Oh yes. "They don't like it up 'em Captain."

Do you get it now Doom? Really? Do you?



BTW I'm not denying me anything. A job appears on my horizon I'll take it. Got one available have you?

_________________
Skull, "You are a police inspector, aren't you?"
Cab Inspector Smith, "Yes."
Skull, "So, are you going to tell Mr Taylor what his rights are?"
Smith, "And ... What rights?"

I was sceptical of medicals for this very reason - if you did have a serious condition that would prevent getting a licence you're not going to say anything are you.

I questioned the doctor doing my medical on this point and he told me that, as a doctor, he can tell if you're lying and would investigate further. For example if you said you didn't use drugs but had needle marks or dark circles round the eyes he'd test further for the presence of drugs. If you said you did'nt have a drink problem he'd notice an enlarged liver during the physical exam. He told me it wasn't just the yes/no answers he was looking for but the way I answered them, did I hesitate on a question or answer it too fast and did I have a reasonable excuse if asked about a particular symptom (why do you have dark circles under your eyes, why are you shaking ?).

I thought medicals were a bit pointless when they seemed to be no more than a listen to the heart and a blood pressure check but now I realise there's much more to them.

OK I can go with that. But there's no assessment of mental fitness. Which means that a licence can be granted, the driver can be "medically" fit, but can be so deranged that he can go off and cause the death of another.

And it doesn't have to be be a member of the public. It could be another road user, or another numpty hire car driver, or an intrusive cab office inspector (just joking - honest lol).

Fact is that this is all flawed. it's designed to allow the council to tick a box. Public safety. Except it does nothing to ensure public safety. Nor is the council even interested in public safety or the last thing it would do would be to restrict taxis and force the public to wait at a taxi rank with an alcohol and drug fuelled public, or walk the streets, or accept a lift from a dubious acquaintance, or even accept a lift from a complete stranger posing as a hire car. Clearly the vested interest is more important than the public on any of these counts.

So the point about these medicals is that they are pointless. END OF.

_________________
Skull, "You are a police inspector, aren't you?"
Cab Inspector Smith, "Yes."
Skull, "So, are you going to tell Mr Taylor what his rights are?"
Smith, "And ... What rights?"

Not entirely pointless, you get a health check from a doctor every few years who might just pick up that heart defect, diabetes or other serious illness, which has to be a good thing. Although personally if I had the choice of paying to have a taxi medical I'd probably choose not to, but if it was free then why not.

I agree it won't check your mental status but how could you check anyway ? Short of several sessions with a shrink I doubt it would even be practical. And looking back at recent mass murderers no-one really classed them as being nutters or 'a bit strange' before their crimes. Would a psychiatrist have been able to detect the potential of Shipman or the Soham murderers to commit their crimes ?

[quote="Jasbar"] Peed in a bottle. No diabetes. Though even if I had it would not debar me from driving. So, why is this even in the test?
















quote]Its to get the point across, that they really are taking the pi$$.