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Courtesy 'Upfront' Magazine
The Cumbrian Way
The views expressed in this column are not very likely to be the views of the National Taxi Association!
‘I am playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order’
Eric Morecambe
Bewilderment is a good word, so are incredulity, amazement, wonder. All four words could be used to describe my growing feeling that a business, during the 21st Century can be effectively (or ineffectively) governed by people who don’t really understand it. For the most part the licensed trade is run by complete rank amateurs, and I mean no disrespect in that.
For example, the licensing department in any area has a plethora of things to run, indeed they have recently taken on the mantle of drinks licensing, this is in amongst zoo licensing, sex shops (no connection, well I hope not), street trading, charities, gambling, caravan sites and acupuncture. All this means taxi and PH licensing may take up only a proportion of your LO’s time.
The question really needs asked if the trades deserve this kind of lack of attention. Is it truly fair? Are we getting good value for money? Are licenses issued with duty of care? More importantly, with ever increasing workloads are the public being properly protected?
Further to this, we have councillors on committees. For the most part, they come from all parts of society, housewives, butchers, bakers and shop assistants. Indeed, their prior knowledge of the taxi and private hire trades can basically be summed up as once they actually hired a taxi or saw one on the television!
Throughout the UK, the taxi and PH business is what can only be described as a multi million pound business. It is essential to certain sections of society, an ‘integral link’ in the public transport system.
Yet, as previously stated, it is run (albeit to the best of their abilities), by complete amateurs who have no actual knowledge of the job itself.
Perhaps this is typical of this country. I mean we have a great past history of having quaint little institutions. Whereas the Americans for example would spend many millions of pounds investing and spending money developing Jet Engines, that isnt the British way, we think its far better to leave it to a bloke who works in the shed in his back garden.
It seems complete madness.
As I have stated before in other trade journals, I cannot imagine a company such as Tesco or Asda permitting a housewife to run their logistics department, a housewife who meets her fellow housewives on a monthly basis, to discuss how many cans of soup need taken to the Aberdeen store, in between knitting woollen pullovers.
So far as disciplining drivers is concerned, we have the same housewives being responsible. Whereas in a normal job, if your bosses suspended you without pay for two weeks you’d have some kind of recourse through ACAS or similar. In our trade you have a bunch of amateurs telling you off for going through a red light or speed camera, and you’ll get your name in the local paper with a record your council will keep for the rest of your life.
This industry is actually quite complex. I mean even those of us who have been involved in it most of our lives still don’t really comprehend some of the law. So what chance has a licensing officer who has responsibility for not only taxis and private hire, but also a multitude of other licensing matters? Indeed, what chance has a councillor?
At this point you start to cringe as any taxi driver sitting on a taxi rank will tell you, or indeed any PH driver waiting for a radio job on a cold and frosty January morning will advise. There’s a distinct equilibrium (that’s a great word that means balance) that means the difference between too many vehicles and not enough. Not enough means waiting passengers, too many means waiting taxis and private hire.
Speaking with a colleague only this week he told me it was quiet on the ranks, but he’d make up the shortfall with working an additional few hours. The local authority doesn’t seem to grasp that this is what we do, we work longer hours when times are quiet.
When a local authority consider numbers of taxis, they don’t seem able to comprehend if they actually make a bad decision the results are irreversible. It’s not as if they can take licenses off people.
There is no physical proof either way that deregulation actually solves anything.
Indeed, perhaps someone somewhere should actually look into it and see what the actual as opposed to the perceived benefits are, because that would be a lot more use than completely ruining something people know little about.
Further to this, perhaps the same study should look into rank spaces. It seems absurd that a council can issue 1000 hackney licenses and then not provide anywhere for them to stand for hire.
I was recently advised by one cab driver that he believed competition was good and that he had conservative free market principles, he therefore didn’t see why plates needed capped. If that’s his belief then fine, yet we are still under a perhaps faltering misimpression that we are a service, free market principles and service are two opposites that can never seemingly attract.
A service is being available even in times of low demand, a free market operates to demand, indeed, I would argue if we were a totally free market then we should be able to charge accordingly. Further to this, in a completely free deregulated market the vendor (which in the case of us is taxis) should be controlled by the demands of the passenger, we develop and improve because the market demands it.
It just goes to show how much the government and local authorities believe in free market principles, when they still require control of the licenses.
On January 1st I went into work to do the accounts. I was faced by an operator who had two vehicles working out of a 40-vehicle fleet. The self-employed drivers quite naturally worked the busy New Year’s Eve, which in owner-driver heaven is understandable supply and demand the free market principle. Yet, the service offered the next day was appalling, it wasn’t so much a service as a damage limitation exercise.
Finally, and just to worry the hell out of you all over there in the North East. As you will be aware, there seems to be a significant number of taxis licensed in Eden (Penrith) District being used over there. Last week the local authority in Penrith decided a person with six penalty points, two convictions for common assault (in December 04) and a serious allegation against him by a licensing officer from Carlisle was fit and proper enough to be licensed. Sleep well.
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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin
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