Taxi Driver Online

Is this letter supposed to be in response to the democratic decision made by councillors, or is it a cry of desperation?

I take it the letter writer doesn't subscribe to your view that council's know best? Did you not impress on him that the TGWU and the NTA recommend this policy? If he thinks the policy is wrong then perhaps he should ask these two organisations to reconsider?

Could it be that you are from this region?

I read the Swindon committee report and it couldn't be faulted. It was factual and what's more it rebutted "All the misrepresentations" put forward by those people who had a vested interest in retaining numbers.

I'm sorry if the letter writer feels aggrieved at the council decision but he should have known that since 1986 the Government's intentions were that quantity control of numbers should be removed.

I can understand his disquiet at the council decision but you have to remember that the council is taking charge of its own policy, they prefer to do what is best for the public of Swindon and not wait until the courts or Government do it for them.

Regards

JD

JD wrote

"I'm sorry if the letter writer feels aggrieved at the council decision but he should have known that since 1986 the Government's intentions were that quantity control of numbers should be removed"

A few points come to mind here JD

How should he have known that it was the Governments intention to lift quantity controls?

Why did it take 19 years and a change of Government to implement the previous Administrations desire to remove quantity controls?

Would the Councils then be liable for not implementing the Governments intentions/policy/law.

But listening to what they have said, and by looking at what they have done.

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IDFIMH

It would have been done all those years ago, but the Thatcher government bottled it.

But the drip drip effect, of a few councils a year de-limiting, has since turned into a down pour.

The fact that councils will have to do a proper survey every three years and justify their policy, and if the government's new draft proposals are adopted, then soon it there will be only a few left.

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IDFIMH

At the moment the gov are letting councils decide for themselves, albeit they are putting some very large obstacles in front of councils that wish to keep quotas.

But time and time again I read that in a couple of years time the gov will decide if they need to legislate.

And with fewer and fewer councils restricting, then the gov's task will be a lot easier.

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IDFIMH

Have they not already Legislated then, JD said that since 1986 it has been their intention to remove quantity controls, would they not have to Legislate for that.

Not to end quotas per say, just to make it harder and harder to keep taxi quotas.

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IDFIMH

P.S why did Thatchers Mob bottle it, they never bottled it with the Miners, shipbuilders, steel workers and everyone else?

So this has been done, or is being done without the relevant legislation having been passed through Parliament.

Because some mush put in an amendment right at the end.

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IDFIMH

They don't need legislation to make things harder, just guidance.

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IDFIMH

Why would he not have known?

It just so happens that when Mr Waddell entered the Swindon taxi trade in 1993 there was a Government Green paper published in October of that very same year. Now unless Mr Waddell walks around with his eyes shut and his ears closed he couldn't conceivable not have known. I assume that Mr Waddell didn't just appear on the scene with his own cab and plate and started plying for hire on the streets of Swindon. He first has to obtain a Hackney carriage driver's license and then obtain a Hackney carriage proprietor's license. In which ever order he did that is immaterial because he still had to approach the council for a plate. Now when he did approach the council for a plate what do you think they told him?

Do you think they said "here you are Mr Waddell, one nice new proprietors license just for you"? Or do you think they told him that Swindon council has a limit on numbers and he would have to join the waiting list?

I think the latter might have been the most likely scenario don't you? In that case do you not think Mr Waddell might have asked himself the question what gives the council the right to limit numbers? Do you think a man of Mr Waddles intelligence would not have inquired as to why they limit numbers and under what authority they have the right to do that? Presuming he bought his plate do you think that he parted with thousands of pounds without knowing what he was getting into and the reasons why he had to part with thousands of pounds?

I'm afraid your question falls way short of your usual standard and is not worthy of what we have come to expect but "perhaps you can tell me why he shouldn't have known" considering "I have given you the reasons" why he should have known?

Regards

JD

I never knew I had "usual standards" anyhow the point I am trying to make is that if , as you say the Government had intended to remove quantity controls and had passed Legislation? in 1986 ( I do not know about this, perhaps you could explain why or what it was in 1986?) why was there still a limit on numbers in 1993?

So my point remains the same, why were councils still limiting numbers in 1993 or indeed from 1986, why has it taken 19 years?

What is the specific Legislation and when was it passed?

What was the amendment?

Section 16 of the 1985 Transport Act.

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IDFIMH