Taxi permits dished out ‘like sweeties’CABBIES across Britain will protest today over a “Wild West” licensing system that is taking passengers and drivers alike for a ride.
Government deregulation of the private hire trade has created an unsafe free-for-all with Transport for London dishing out licences “like sweeties” to drivers as far away as York and Cardiff to line its pockets, warned drivers’ union GMB yesterday.
TfL even issued licences to two Uber drivers banned by Southend Council and jailed for their criminal driving, allowing them to continue plying their dubious trade.
Drivers in the Essex seaside town will join their colleagues in London, Reading, Sheffield, Cardiff, York, Oxford, Liverpool and Bristol in standing up to the louche licensors.
Uber is operating in areas like Reading and Hatfield despite having no licence to do so with a “disastrous effect on enforcement and safety,” warned the union.
GMB national officer for taxi and professional drivers Mick Rix said the law had now become “unworkable,” with firms like Uber operating with impunity.
“Some [authorities] like TfL make money and hand out licences like sweeties to anyone and anybody.
“The hackney and private hire trade was once the envy of many countries, with good safe standards, where people trusted the driver of the cab.
“When licensing authorities hand out licences with no proper checks, then they are as bad as the most unscrupulous operators … who are only interested in turning a quick buck and are not interested in the welfare of the customer.
“We warned the government that its deregulation would bring about a race to the bottom.
“That race to the bottom has arrived.”
source:
http://www.tringtoday.co.uk/news/propos ... -1-7843726
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