jimbo wrote:
Why did it take THIRTEEN YEARS to contest this "Illegal condition"?
Obviously those hackney carriage drivers and saloon car owners had no proper guidance. They were up against councillors, the licensing department, the local TOA, the TGWU, the GMBU and every other outfit that turned a blind eye to the illegal activity in Carlisle. I think the only place this could have happened and perpetuated for so long was in Carlisle.
No other authority in the whole of the United Kingdom was stupid enough come up with such a blatant discriminatory condition such as the one in Carlisle. Perhpas we should welcome Carlisle council, their licensing department, their legal department and the local TOA, into the real world of taxi licensing and equality of trade.
I suppose Carlisle is a valuable lesson learned for quite a few people. The only people to come out of this pitiful saga with any credit is the judiciary, the guy who appealed against the illegal condition and his supporters. The rest of them are all discredited, they include Councillors for discriminating against the majority of the Taxi trade and perpetuating this illegal condition for 13 years, Carlisle legal department for being inept, Carlisle licensing department for acquiescing to the illegal condition when it was first introduced and for the last 13 years, and last but not least every organisation and trade magazine who for the last 13 years could have exposed or at least voiced concerns over the illegal condition but didn't?
We all know that Councillors think they are a law unto themselves and basically they are, unless of course you have deep pockets to take them on. At least in this instance thanks to a carlisle man with balls they finally got a swift dose of reality that will hopefully remind them that they are not above the law.
Lets not forget it was only a few weeks ago that these councillors voted to continue this illegal condition even after it was spelt out to them that the condition was illegal, how's that for blatant arrogance?
All these so called organisation's that say they represent the taxi trade were pretty silent when it came to supporting the excluded majority of the Carlisle Taxi Trade who were prevented from plying for hire on the Cities busiest taxi rank, or from even picking up within a 50 metre radius. Contrast that with the furore over the exclusion of Watford cab drivers from watford station rank and the support they got from the TGWU, Taxi Talk magazine and practically every other Taxi entity in the United Kingdom? However, as long as the illegal condition in Carlisle suited those that implemented it and those that gained from its exclusivity, there was never any urgency to expose its illegality.
I don't think you will see Mr Wayne Casey standing up at this years NTA AGM telling everyone he finally got rid of the illegal condition imposed by Carlisle councillors some 13 years ago and supported by his local TOA do you? He might get up and say some interfering so and so from Manchester has deprived us of a cosy little illegal arrangement we had with the local council that gave some of us exclusivity to the busiest rank in Town for the last 13 years?
I'm afraid these people who talk about representing the Taxi trade but only represent the interest of themselves and their limited membership besides making me puke are in many cases to be treated with nothing more than contempt.
Regards
JD
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