Taxi Driver Online

Just received via a third party some information gleaned under the Freedom of Information Act about the subsidies paid to CT groups over the last 5 years.

Over £47m in subsidies, grants, vehicle purchase etc., and over £117m awarded to CT groups in transport contracts!

There's approximately 110,000 section 19 and 22 permits issued (for over 8 seat vehicles) compared to approx. 95,000 psv Operator Licence discs.

If anyone wants to see how big Hackney community Transport is, I'll happily forward that as a pm. HCT now has an annual turnover in excess of £120m (not for profit ).

Latest news on this is that the matter has been under further discussion with the EC Commissioners.

The complainants have been asked to prioritise their concerns and it is proposed that the issue of the section 19 and 22 licences is the top priority. By deeming s19 and s22 incompatible with free competition, especially when it comes to the complete lack of proper driver licencing and training, the lack of class 6 style checks and maintenance for their vehcles, and the lack of requirement for Driver and Operator CPCs, this give communinty transport groups unfair advantage over legitimate bus and taxi operators.

The question of voluntary car drivers is likely to be second on the list.

The matter of unfair government subsidy to CT groups has been listed for further investigation and discussion with the EU.

the expected "good news" my contact was hoping for in May has not materialised yet, but with the above items still on the boil, we'll have to wait a bit longer.

i wouldnt hold your breath mate

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

The holding-of-breath may have been worth the wait, here's a copy of the latest update from Martin Allen:

Just to inform you all that we had our second telephone conference on Friday the 19th of July with the EU, they have informed us they will be writing to the UK government setting out our priority for the investigation by the EU, they informed us on Friday that the state aid investigation will take place,( this is fantastic news) also at our last conference we was informed that the state aid department and DG Competition for transport department as said there is a clear infringement of EU law regarding the 2 tier licence system i.e. section 19/22 and 10B in Northern Ireland this is still in the hands of the DG Transport department and the main EU transport department, so all looks very good at the moment, they also confirmed that any company offering goods and services on a given market is a commercial undertaking no matter what its legal status is, so they will have to comply to the access to the profession and the drivers CPC, the EU are also aware that the DFT are protecting them, the next meeting is planned for the end of September, there is a lot happening at the moment but can't say too much in email.



I would like to give a big thanks to you all for your help and the moneys you have donated to the fund.





Kind regards,


Martin Allen

My bold and underlined text is good news regarding the "voluntary sector" "hospital transport" type operations!

That fella has really done well.

I really haven't a clue how or where this will end up, but the fella, with the support of others, has defo fronted up.

And for that he should be congratulated.

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IDFIMH

I'll be sending him a contribution to his legal costs which I understand have run into tens of thousands so far.

From other evidence I've seen it appears the DfT are complicit in continuing the lie about CT groups not needing driver CPCs not volunteer hospital cars needing to be licenced as ph or hacks!

Won't all this be worthless if you leave the EU?

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

We won't be leaving the EU anytime soon.

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Grandad,

Are you saying the Tories are bullshitting?

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http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

As mentioned that wont be happening for a few years.

And if that's a price we pay for leaving, then so be it.

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IDFIMH

No, even if the Tories win the next election the referendum is not likely to be in the first couple of years of the next parliament. So I would say that it would be 2017 at the earliest. Then, assuming that any vote was to leave the EU, it would probably take another few years to complete the withdrawal. However, I don't think that any vote would be to leave.

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Grandad,

There's an article about voluntary drivers in the August edition of PHM&Taxi magazine.

We all know they wont win, its who follows on that we have to worry about

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most