GBC wrote:
wee eddie wrote:
I am in an Unrestricted Area.
When the Clubs come out, there will always be insufficient Taxis to handle the rush. Regardless of the number of Plates available.
So I repeat what I said with a difference. You're talking emotional tosh, in an attempt to justify your argument.
If it is any consolation, I agree with you.
Restriction is wrong, but then De-Restriction leads to a plethora of vehicles and no-one gets sufficient business to survive in the luxury to which they have become accustomed!
I think that there is no correct solution.
Maybe London has it right. Make the entry qualification so hard that only a few have the memory to pass.
I hate to urinate on Jims fire, but there's also a lack of taxis in London after Midnight within this perfect taxi business model.
Drivers don't want drunks in their taxis, its really that simple, rented, owned or otherwise.
Days are more popular as punters are pleasant, nights are more financialy lucrative but you have to deal with the mongs.
You're not "urinating on Jim's fire", just not understanding what we've always said.
De-restriction is not the panacea for all customer problems in getting a cab when they need one. It may well be always be difficult, for the reasons you've outlined. But those reasons require different solutions, many of which we've also offered solutions to.
What we've always said is that no council can claim to be protecting public safety unless and until they've done everything they possibly can to protect public safety. Artificially restricting the availability of taxis to protect their own and the few in the trade's interests falls well below this benchmark.
This is the point that will be made to the next victim of the taxi licence restriction. We will be doing everything possible to ensure that our council pays for their abuse of power at the expense of an innocent public. We don't want it to happen, but if and when it does, we are ready to inflict the maximum damage to the council generally and the individuals within it.
For me, taxi licence restriction goes beyond the taxi trade. It speaks volumes about the way our council works. It's supposed to be democratically accountable. It is quite onviously NOT.
Ask any council why they restrict taxis they won't tell you. They'll tell you there is a policy to restrict in place, but they won't tell you why.
The reason is because this simple question strikes at the very heart of the arrogant way councils conduct themselves. Politicians do not like having to explain themselves, because to do so curtails their abuse of their power.
Like the "fit and proper" phrase they use to stiff licence holders. There is no definition. This is deliberate. because to define it would curtail their broad brush power. As things stand, they can decide whatever they like. They can treat two cases the same, quite differently. They can use the lack of definition to abuse those who disagree with them. And this is why we should all speak out about their abuse. Because it flies in the face of every democratic ideal we're supposed to have in our country. The way Edinburgh's council has conducted itself over the years embodies the same secretive and totalitarian actions that any fascist power would have been proud of. But not what we believe should be the case in our allegedly "democratic" Britain.
Politicians at local level are unaccountable. The system serves to protect councillors abusing their power.
If Hillsborough showed us anything, it confirms this. The system there rapidly conspired to protect itself and those who serve it.
For me, the current argument about taxi licence restriction in Edinburgh isn't about acquiring a licence, the game's knackered anyway. It's about the legacy of a political system which is failing. And always has failed. And it's about wresting power away from those who readily abuse it. Our councillors.
And they know this. Which is why reason and logic is not deciding the fight. It's stoic entrenchment by morally bankrupt politicians resisting the loss of the power they relish abusing which is delaying the inevitable.
But politicians should listen. If history tells us anything, it's failure by our elected representatives to listen which has always led directly to civil strife in our land.
And, with the backdrop of government's economic failure, such unrest seems ever more likely.
BTW I had a couple in the car last night from Stranraer. just an ordinary couple. I spoke of my disatisfaction with government, national and local, and pointed to the fact that I would never vote again. They wholeheartedly agreed. There is a strong undercurrent of disdain for our politicians.
They would do well to listen.
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Or does New York have it wrong and Jasbar is right, fecking hell call mayor Bloomberg Jasber is typing up an e-mail 
