LongshanksED wrote:
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/4886840/Rivals-say-tycoons-airport-deal-breaks-strict-taxi-rules.html
Rivals say tycoon’s airport deal breaks strict taxi rules 
Big bucks ... Stevie Malcolm owns £9million home
A TYCOON dubbed the Fat Controller is locked in a legal war over a goldmine taxi contract.
Mega-rich Stevie Malcolm — a pal of dead gangster Tam ‘The Licensee’ McGraw — will net a reported £30MILLION over five years to pick up passengers at Edinburgh Airport.
Rivals claim the set-up flouts strict taxi rules because Malcolm’s fleet — which the public are NOT allowed to hail — will be queuing up at a rank outside the terminal as if they are black cabs.
But his firm has hatched a plan where a “marshal” with an iPad stands next to the rank to key in passengers’ names and destinations before pointing them to a cab.
A source said: “They think this satisfies the law for private hire customers booking in advance.
“But Malcolm’s rivals say they are having none of it and have launched a legal fight to argue the set-up is contrary to the Civic Government (Scotland) Act.
“They say that however you couch it, passengers will still be coming out of the airport terminal, seeing a queue of private hire cars, and jumping in to one, as if they were taxis.”
Malcolm’s firm, Edinburgh City Private Hire, starts the contract tomorrow. But it has only been granted a TEMPORARY licence while Edinburgh Council considers an objection by the city’s largest black cab firm, Central Taxis.
The local authority will rule on the objection later this month.

Edinburgh Airport
Hail storm ... rank at Edinburgh Airport
Edinburgh’s lucrative airport deal was awarded to a partnership between ECPH and black cab firm City Cabs.
The consortium will get exclusive access to a lane outside the terminal — with City Cabs’ black cabs queuing on one side, and ECPH private hires on the other.
Airport bosses say marshals will offer passengers a choice between the two, and key their name and destination into the iPad, or similar gadget, regardless of what kind of vehicle they want to take.
But critics warn that visitors might be unsure of the difference between the two.
They say they could be unaware that private hire cars are NOT allowed to use Edinburgh’s bus and taxi lanes.
Drivers also do NOT have to take a test about street and place names — unlike black cab drivers.Malcolm, 49, is squeaky clean and pals say he is a shrewd businessman who has built up a fortune from taxis and tanning salons. But the tycoon — who has a £9MILLION home — has murky links in his background.
Malcolm is known to have been a pal of late Glasgow crimelord McGraw. He’s also a business partner of the dead gangster’s widow Margaret, 61, in another of his firms — Glasgow Private Hire.
And Malcolm’s co-director in ECPH, Allan Gibson, 52, was a director of controversial Glasgow firm Network Private Hire between 1999 and 2007.
That company was feared to have links to hoods and was raided by cops before being given a clean bill of health.
Last night, Central Taxis declined to comment.
An airport spokesman said the idea was to give passengers choice, and said they were sure the set-up was “entirely lawful”.
A lawyer for Malcolm’s firm last night said: “ECPH are not in contravention of any legislation governing private hire vehicles at Edinburgh Airport.”
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http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/fe ... z2QQNWbzfevideo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6voHeEa3ig