Taxi Driver Online

Where lies the blame for hiring a so-called illegal Taxi? It seems that not a day goes by without a new headline in a national or provincial newspaper highlighting the fact that an illegal Taxi driver has committed a crime of one kind or another. Are Taxis really that hard to distinguish? Or is it the fact that some people who want to get from A to B don't really care what they travel in as long as they get there.

Could it be that public awareness distinguishing the attributes of a Taxi, is lacking? Should licensing authorities do more to make the public aware of what is and what isn't a Taxi? Perhaps the solution is a one tier Taxi system of the kind advocated in Ulster? Should private hire licensing be abolished and every licensed vehicle become a public Taxi?

Is it a fact that any person can use their unlicensed personal vehicle and masquerade it and themselves as Private hire? The same could be said of using their vehicle as a Taxi but there is one noticeable distinction between the two and that is the Hire sign. This begs the question, if all licensed vehicles could display a hire sign, would the public be any the wiser of what constitutes a vehicle for hire?

I'm not advocating one solution or another but when I read through all these news reports of incidents involving bogus Taxi Drivers I often wonder why a member of the public "women in particular" would want to place themselves in this potentially vulnerable situation? I suppose at the time of jumping into an unlicensed vehicle these individuals may not be aware of any potential danger but sadly to their cost many have found out all to late that their actions were naive to say the least and unfortunately, fatal in the extreme.

In over 70% of authorities in England and Wales there are no restrictions on Taxi license applications so if the subject of de-restriction could be set aside for a moment then perhaps we could consider the needs of the more vulnerable elements in our society and that includes women.

Some may think and rightly so that each individual is responsible for their own actions and that any decision to embark on a journey in an unlicensed vehicle is a decision of their own choosing. When you consider the last sentence you no doubt come to the conclusion that it applies to almost everything we do in life. Being accountable for ones own actions is one of the basic principles of common law. That is why we get punished when we choose actions that are incompatible with the principles of a decent society. There are many people especially women who have been punished for not going against the principles of society but by placing their trust in others expecting them to be a part of that decent society.

Where does all this lead us? I suspect it leads us to the fact that although the actions of others might not concern you or I, they will certainly concern those in power who are entrusted to safeguard and uphold the principles of society? Therefore Government and local authorities will always have one eye on the safety of the public no matter what the situation, event, or social activity taking place. Taxi licensing is without doubt one of those public concerns.

Many outside the Taxi trade who have a conscience will be wondering what can be done to stem the ever increasing incidents attributed to so called bogus Taxis? There will also be many inside the trade with the same sentiments. When you look at how long it took London to license private hire vehicles you might think that the sentiment towards safety of women was lacking in both the political arena and in the London cab trade. It is understandable why London Cab drivers would want to outlaw so-called mini cabs rather than have them licensed but what about politicians? Was there really any need for politicians to turn their back on licensing these vehicles which operate in their won back yard? Is there really any reason why the 1998 London Private hire Act couldn't have been implemented thirty years ago? Has the act really made any difference to the way London Hackney drivers operate?

London is a prime example of week politicians lacking the political will to make change for the good of society. Many local authorities throughout the UK still mirror the past complacency of London.

Having witnessed the licensing changes to Private hire vehicles, drivers and operators it really does make you wonder what all the fuss was about? Legitimacy was probably the overriding fear of the London cab Trade in licensing private hire vehicles and that is why they were always against licensing and in favour of abolishment.

One would hope that the licensing of London mini cab drivers would help stem the crime rate they were allegedly associated? Public figures for London demonstrate that incidents involving women in unlicensed vehicles driven by unlicensed drivers, was common place. One hopes that since London private hire licensing became compulsory that these incidents are now less frequent.

Incidents involving women will never be eradicated in London or anywhere else simply because there are men out there who just cannot control their sexual urges. When confronted with a situation where a woman appears vulnerable the tempted driver may try and exploit that situation to his own advantage. In many cases he will completely disregard the pleadings of the passenger and abandon all disregard for his actions and the consequences that follow.

A great deal is said about illegal immigrants and certain sections of society being the main protagonists of sexual assaults on women but even though statistics of this nature must exist, I have yet to see them published. Especially in a way that would give us an insight into which ethnic section of society was most likely to commit such offences? The only people who would frown on such information being released are those politically correct people who prefer to bury sensitive information at the expense of the next vulnerable victim.

The problems associated with safety could be greatly reduced overnight if those in power had the will to do something about it but sadly they don't. Perhaps it will be another thirty years before politicians wake up and realise how wrong they were in not protecting the most vulnerable in our society.

Although I started this post by asking who was to blame for getting into an illegal Taxi? Statistics dictate that within a matter of days another woman will become the victim of a bogus Taxi driver, perhaps even a licensed P/H stroke Taxi Driver. The next time this happens, spare a thought for the poor victim and their family and remember where to place at least part of the blame?

Regards

JD

I think a bit more uniformity and clarity around the country would be a start, instead of the current mishmash. Sorry to sound like a stuck record about this aspect of regulation, but I think its the root of a lot of the industry's problems.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

I agree JD, the london cab trade in my opinion are indirectly to blame for many nasty attacks by un-licensed drivers.

But it suited their aims to be able to tar us all with the rapist brush.

Ollie

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Happy to be legit.

I blame the women for getting in the cars.
They should fine the people who use touts £1000, watch how quickly it stops .
I get women outside my office all the time getting into touts cars, and when you tell them they are touts, they say "we don't care, we want to get home".
This may sound callous, but I have no sympathy for a women who gets attacked by tout.

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stressed controller!!!

That's a fair comment and one of the reasons I opened my post asking the question "Where lies the blame" but is there a way touts can be completely eradicated? Is it not the fault of politicians that Touts are allowed to ply their trade with impunity in London? Is it not politicians that make the rules by which we play? If these people can pass legislation to regulate the Taxi and P/H trades surely they can pass legislation that will rid the country of touts?

Regards

JD

To put it bluntly;
The reason we have touts in london is because 99% of the touts are from the ethnic minorities and the police can't do anything because they get accussed of being racist.

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stressed controller!!!

I don't suppose its down to the fact they can't do anything about it because they can, maybe they don't want to do anything about it? Maybe its a case of them not doing enough on a regular basis. We need strong legislation to deter this activity. I was under the impression the touts squads in London were quite active?

Regards

JD

With the police it's often a case of "flavour of the week" If a serious offence occurs after a fare is picked up by a tout there will be a clampdown if drug pushers are the current target they'll get hit and the touts left alone

Well you would have a hard job tarring us with that name, considering it was your side of the trade that was responsible both pre and post licensing.

But you already know that.

Perhaps you could post some litrature on who and what organisation within the London taxi trade opposed licensing of the dark side?

I see a great deal of posts on here claiming 'the London trade' opposed it, I can't recall any official body opposing anything over the last two decades, and individual drivers views have little impact on the process as can be demonstated with every ever issue or concern we raise, which are ignored by those in power whether it be TFL or as it was TO9 of the MET POLICE.

I don't regard the comments from the Parliament web pages when the bill was in its prelimenary stages about 'the London trade don't support it' as being any more concrete than what is written here, i'm still waiting on the evidence or the submissions that were made, perhaps you could post the relevant information Mr D?

How far back do you want me go? I suppose you've heard of Harry Feigen ex general secretary of the LTDA and now deceased. Are you saying he campaigned for the "seperate licensing" of minicabs on behalf of his members?

Were you present at the meeting arranged by Westminster council to license minicabs, held at Marylebone town hall in August 1992? Maybe you could tell us what took place there?



Not so long ago didn't I post extracts from the minutes of the 1994 Transport select committee highlighting the opposition to the seperate licensing of London minicabs?

Do I have to start a complete new thread highlighting the evidence that the London Taxi trade was completely against the seperate licensing of minicabs just to prove that you are in self-denial of the facts?

I think you just want to see me work.

I have a good idea, you post evidence that the London Taxi trade did want seperate licensing of minicabs and I'll reciprocate with overwhelming evidence that proves otherwise.

You mentioned two decades, which takes us back to 1986, you can exclude 1998 because by then the Bill was making its way through Parliament and the London Cab trade had already resigned themselves to their fait accompli.

I look forward to your evidence that the London cab trade wanted seperate licensing of minicabs, i'm sure it will make interesting reading.

I'll start a brand new thread and hopefully by the time its done and dusted at least one of us will be a lot wiser.

Regards

JD

I don't recall Harry Feigan campaigning either for licensing nor campaigning against some form of licensing regime.
He was never going to speak out in support of the Minicab trade, but on the other hand I can't remember him leading any form of 'ban, don't license' style campaign.





Nope, but the meeting was meant to encourage other London councils to come on board and formulate some form of licensing system, however the other London boroughs got cold feet due to the costs and work involved and the idea faded away.

Again, I can't recall any official delegation going along to scuper the plan from the Taxi trade?

I can't recall saying there was ever a campaign by the Taxi trade to license the opposition? My point was that there was'nt any official campaign or groups who opposed the licensing.

No one is claiming that many individuals within the Taxi trade were quite happy to see the opposition remain unlicensed, my point as you know was directed at the comments which seem to suggest there was a trade body, or a collective group of people who activley opposed the licensing process.

Of that group I can fing no trace.

Probably, unfortunately the 'find all posts by' seems to have been disabled on your username.

Please pop a post link in and i'll have a look when I get back from St Peters town next weekend.