Taxi Driver Online

Perhaps TODA should march on Mansfield

Could do.

do those PHV get to charge a call out charge like they do at edinburgh airport?

Well if I was running it they would.

It's must have cost a bob or two to get the station contract, and the punters are the only way to get that bob or two back.

So perhaps they have adjusted their meters to a different tariff, or they just add a small booking fee to each job.

_________________
IDFIMH

You silly arse. Is not a taxi defined by law. All you back door parasites do public hire. That is so in London at any rate. And in London people know the difference between PH and and taxis.

Claude

Clod, sorry Claude

How do people in London know what a PH is they have only just been licensed there. The public don't care, that is the point. They want cheap and reliable is all that matters not the license. Pull your head out from your ass and realise your monopoly has gone, along with your credability.

As each year goes by, more and more of the London Black cab firms are either adding PH to their circuits, or sharing contracts with them.

The customers want both, and the difference between HC and PH is getting decidedly blurred.

_________________
IDFIMH

I would agree Claude, they do know the difference, perhaps that is why a great many people in and around London prefer to use a P/H vehicle rather than a black Cab?

Best wishes

John Davies
Manchester

I wasn't going to reply to this post because I thought it said everything there was to say about Nigel Martin lol.

However, seeing as how Nigel likes a good read with unbiased content, such as Cab Trade News Perhaps I should remind him of what CTN won't be saying in any article they write about Watford Station.

From the very start, the Watford Station dispute has been under the direction and guidance of the TGWU, in my opinion and probably that of many other people they are solely to blame for what has transpired in Watford.

Mr Sarder the TGWU rep in Watford seems a very nice person but he should have familiarised himself with the law as it is applied to Railways, especially in relation to Standing and plying for hire on Railway property.

He should have also familiarised himself with the way the Railways do business with regard to contracts. However, the most damaging aspect of all this and I want you all to know it because you won't read it in any Cab Trade News magazine. Is that the person who has been advising Mr Sarder all through this dispute is one "Peter Kavanagh" the Same Mr Kavanagh who appeared at the select committee hearing and eloquently showed us what a great line in bullshit he has to offer.

Part of Mr Kavanaghs brief at the TGWU is to organise demonstrations, he organised the bus workers demonstration in London last year and the Croydon tram strike in 2002. I am not condemning him for organising strikes or demonstrations; I'm condemning him because he should have told those Hackney carriage drivers in Watford, what the bottom line was if an agreement wasn't reached with silverlink.

Instead, Kavanagh trumped out the same old line that it is TGWU policy to make all Transport terminals free access to Cabs and public Transport. That’s a fine sentiment, something with which we would all agree but in the real world Mr Kavanagh we have to work with reality and the reality is, we don’t have a law that says we can go and park our azzes on someone’s private land and ply for hire.

So, because of the stupidity and arrogance of one man, the drivers in Watford are up the swanee without a fackin paddle.

That’s what you won't read in Cab Trade News. Up here, we call it accountability. The sad part about this sorry saga is that Mr Sarder was and still is in daily contact with Mr Kavanagh. Mr Sardar got the impression from Mr Kavanagh that the TGWU are not prepared to take Silverlink to court, so the only tool left available to the Watford driver’s is by way of demonstration, something Mr Kavanagh excels at.

Now that we all know the background and the truth about Watford station, let us await the publication of CTN and see what a truly unbiased Trade Union mouthpiece can do with the truth.

Best wishes

John Davies
Manchester.

john
all very well telling us the facts but you got one very wrong, Nigel Martin, is in fact the very famous and heard on radio throught the land and local news sheets Nigel Merchant, how on gods earth could you get that wrong?

and how do you know the T and G didnt in fact tell the drivers the bottom line?

I bet behind closed doors that the drivers were told EVERYTHING.
some times little things break the camels back and perhaps, just perhaps this was one that did.

The train companies are taking the [edited by admin], surely we can all aggree on that?
they should never have got the stations from railtrack in the first place, stations have nothing to do with running trains.

after all when a tender is won by a bus company the station isnt thrown in isit?

please take care with our Nige, hes a rebel without a cause.

I have always thought that poor leadership is telling the lads what they want to hear, not the truth.

Flag-waving gets you nowhere.

Both the T&G and Mr Kavanagh excel at both.

But John is right, in the next edition of CTN, you wont see 'T&G f*** it up at Watford', or 'T&G stupidity, opens all railway stations to PH'.

The T&G have marched the lads to the top of the hill, and left them high and dry.

_________________
IDFIMH

It's easy to forget something or someone who has no relevance.

How do I know? I'll tell you how I know, "Mr Sardar "told me out off of his own mouth" is that good enough for you?

There may be an element of truth in that but if they are taking the [edited by admin] they are doing it legally.

It also depends on whose point of view you're looking at. If I ran a Train Station and a bunch of Cab drivers came to me and said You have to use us for all your credit work I would tell them to go and fack themselves.

If I hadn't been paid rent for parking on my land for three years I would also go and tell them to go fack themselves. Lets get it right the drivers in Watford were wrong from the start, very wrong indeed and like I said, Mr Sarwar is a very nice chap but its no good being a very nice chap and knowing sweet FA about the law. I’m sorry to say that Mr Sarwar sadly fails in that department. Dereliction of duty springs to mind if I was a driver down there in Watford I would want an investigation as to why after three years negotiating with Silverlink, it has come to this.


Best wishes

John Davies
Manchester.

John,
the stations are not the operators land and was paid for by public subscription.

its ok getting the maximum income from stations, but in a good buisness the passenger should be put first (incidentaly its where we fall down time and time again as an industry)

the train companies should welcome taxis with open arms as an immidiate service.

taxis feed stations and trains and should be given facilities for this.

an integrated transport system? the train companies are failing the system.

though Warford? all thats been done is to highlight worst practice both sides have let down the poor downtrodden passenger once again.

Whats the matter Mr Davis you and Sussex got no legal aid papers to fill
in?

Silverlink lease the land from Network Rail. Silverlink administer and operate the land as they see fit. I don't see your point about the land being paid for by public subscription, I'm sorry.



I don't think there is any doubt that we both agree passengers should come first. The point is we don't run Watford station. What we want and what Silverlink want are totally incompatible. The reality is, and we here in Manchester discovered this a long time ago, is that you can't throw you're weight around if your opponent is holding all the cards.

The point you made about free availability is an honest one and something, which I concur with, but we have not had any movement or advancement on those points so far. I have my doubts that we ever will, the reason being is that you have to take into account the legal consideration that applies to private property. Even if there was legislation that said all passenger terminals have to supply free Taxi facilities for passengers, I'm quite sure such legislation wouldn't go as far as to exclude facilities for private hire vehicles, whether it be freephones or restricted parking areas. Owners of Airports and Railways wouldn't allow themselves to be put in that straight Jacket.

Best wishes

John Davies
Manchester