The independent voice of the London Cab Driver’s Club Issue 179 May 2010

Protect your badge and bill with LCDC legal cover contact The LCDC for details - 0207 394 5553

“You’ve got nothing to lose except your bill”

NEWS

INSIDE

NEWS

PAGE 4

GeorgeOsbornehas a cuppaand a chat

NEWS

PAGE 5

The Cannonat theairport

P.C.O thechoice isyours

PAGE 9

PAGE 3

NEWS

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Unit 17 Period Works1 Lammas Road, Leyton E10 7QT020 8558 9945

2 Issue 179 - May 2010

As you have seen from our frontpage, we at the London CabDrivers Club firmly believe thatdue to the policies beingImplemented by the PCO underthe guidance of TFL, if allowed tocontinue, will lead to the demise ofthe licensed taxi trade in the not todistant future, and therefore ademonstration has been called.

Unrestricted licensing of private hiredrivers (currently there are some 60,000)at a time when the country is in a deeprecession is totally irresponsible. Whatwe are witnessing at the moment, Ibelieve is de-regulation through the backdoor.

I have noticed that at night when I amat work nearly every other car in traffic isa licensed private hire vehicle.

We have witnessed the explosion ofprivate hire drivers being licensed workhand in hand with the epidemic rise ofsatellite offices, thus allowing the everincreasing number of licensed P.H driv-ers to congregate at the many bars,clubs, and restaurants in the Capital ille-gally plying for hire.

I understand that we do have a enforce-ment department but it is blatantly obvi-ous to us all that the number of officersfall far too short to make any difference,and when the PCO`s very own compli-ance unit of 24 officers only work days,and nights are voluntary, then that alonespeaks volumes.

In fairness to Mr. Mason, the current

head of the PCO, he has inherited mostof these policies when he took over fromEd Thompson, and to his credit, hasbeen out with the LCDC several times tosee the resulting chaos these policieshave caused our trade. At the lastinstance a few weeks ago both myselfand Mr. Mason were touted blatantly inShaftesbury Avenue by the mini caboperator that works from the sweet shopnear Wardour St. I am afraid to say thathe is still operating.

When the Head of the PCO is toutedand nothing is done, then surely Mr.Mason, you can see our frustration andfear of our future.

Only this week, the LCDC ViceChairman was waiting inside theShoreditch house venue waiting to meeta friend. Whilst waiting in the receptionhe witnessed the doorman ask customers as they left if they required a"TAXI SERVICE " they said yes, and wasthen given a raffle ticket and taken outside and put inside a minicab that wasparked outside, how can we competewith this Mr. Mason ?

Unfortunately for Mr. Mason he is having to serve two masters, us and theprivate hire, it is in his power to decidewhether he wants London to continue tohave a world class taxi service or end uplike New York and other major cities inthe World.?

It seems to me that the licensed taxitrade has already been given our P45 bythe PCO; it is just the date of departurethat needs to be filled in.

P.C.O The choice is yoursIssue 179 - May 2010 3

Published by The London Cab Driver’s Club Ltd.

Unit A 303.2, Tower Bridge Business ComplexTower Point, 100 Clements RoadSouthwark, London SE16 4DG

Telephone: 020 7232 0676

E-mail for membership enquires:E-mail: thelcdc@aol.com

Web: lcdcorg.wordpress.com

Editor: Grant Davis

The Badge is distributed free to the LicencedLondon Cab Trade.

For advertising enquires please contact the officeon

020 7394 5553 or E-mail: thelcdc@aol.com

All advertising in The Badge is accepted underour terms and conditions. These are available

at the LCDC office.

Before entering into any commitment, financial or otherwise, always remember to seek

professional advice.

The views expressed in this publication are notnecessarily those fo the Editor or of the

Management Committee of the London Cab Driver’s Club.

Contributions for publication are welcomed and should be sent to the Editor at the

above address.

The London Cab Driver’s Club Ltd.

What we arewitnessing at the

moment, I believe isde-regulationthrough the back.

‘‘‘‘

HATDU - Still alive & kicking at Heathrow

Shadow Chancellor George Osborneasks L.C.D.C members for advice

Contrary to rumours that havebeen spread by certain personswith a vested financial interest,HATDU is still representing itsmembers' interests at Heathrow.

HATDU is recognised byHAL/BAA/Ferrovial and TFL/PCO andas such has attended meetings withboth. HATDU was formed in 2008 byHALT members disgruntled with thelack of transparency and democracywithin that Society. The HALT

Committee have now formed a LimitedCompany by Guarantee named HALTSand some have become Directors.They claim they will become moretransparent & democratic but HATDUremains sceptical as the personnelremains almost the same, and HALThas yet to be legally dissolved.

HATDU will continue to monitor andreport on this situation even if we arenot members of HALTS. Whilst wehave no objection to funding the wages

of ex cab drivers manning the taxidesks we do object to paying the exor-bitant wages/stand down to the unelect-ed Directors of HALTS, most of whomstill drive cabs and we have asked BAAfor a separate till in the CabIn for nonHALTS members. This request wasrefused.

After a long period of financial uncer-tainty due to the c/card crunch and overenthusiastic distribution of machines,HATDU has completely restructured its

c/card system and drivers can now,thanks to the staff, obtain payment fromMonday - Friday at the till in the can-teen at Heathrow. We believe this ispreferable to waiting 5-8 days formoney to be paid into a bank account,and wish to thank all those drivers whostayed loyal throughout this period.

HATDU is the only Heathrow basedSociety solely for CabTag holders witha democratically elected Committee.

Eddie Symes [Chairman]. April 2010.

4 Issue 179 - May 2010

George Osborne The ShadowChancellor recently met upwith members of the LondonCab Driver’s Clubat The Temple Shelter for acup of tea, a bacon roll andsome advice (only joking). We discussed with him manytrade related topics and problems we are facing suchas fuel duty and also the situation regarding the highroad tax that owners of newtaxis are having to pay. Youcan watch the whole interviewon The Sun newspaper website.www.thesun.co.uk

L.C.D.C members Enzo, Vincent, L.C.D.C secretary Daryl Cox, Steve Clark and Chairman Grant Davis

Issue 179 - May 2010 5

When the volcano in Iceland wasspewing out its toxic clouds ofash on the evening of Tuesdaythe 20th of April, well over a hundred Heathrow drivers spentat least ten hours waiting for passengers. Drivers had beenadvised that unscheduled flightswould be coming in at all hoursof the night.

At about six o'clock on Wednesdaymorning, drivers who had hung aroundall night waiting for any sign of arrivingpassengers were in for a big surprise.At about seven o'clock, passengers offa flight from Bahrain came out to theterminal 4 rank looking for cabs. Butinstead of the passengers being takencare of by drivers who had spent thewhole night waiting in the feeder park,they were scooped up by a gang of taximarshals who mysteriously appearedon the rank. How the marshals foundout about the Bahrain flight and wherethey had been dwelling up prior to arriv-ing at terminal 4 is any body's guess.The most likely explanation is that themarshals were in phone contact withNSL staff working in the feeder parkCab-In. This incident is just anotherinstance of appalling behaviour by themarshals. The useless self-servingtrade reps who back the marshalsseem to enjoy knowing that the mar-shals are saying "f**k you" to all thedrivers in the feeder park. Probablythese useless reps like to remind therest of us that they alone have thepower to decide what taxi marshals canand can't do.

The LCDC has told BAA that it wantsto examine copies of the contracts thatBAA has made with HALTS and NSLthe company that manages the TaxiSystem. Literally, millions of pounds ofdriver's money are changing handsunder the terms of these two contractsand BAA is claiming that drivers are notpaying enough gate money to coverBAA's costs of running the System. TheLCDC has told BAA in plain languagethat it's impossible for the LCDC to takepart in a final discussion on the gatemoney without access to documents

showing how BAA spends the gatemoney. It's worth remembering thatunder the Airports Act, BAA isn't sup-posed to be running the Taxi System asa profit making business. If NSL areprofiting from their contract with BAA,then the taxi trade needs to ask whyNSL is allowed to make the profit thatthe Airport Act forbids BAA to make.HALTS directors are now picking up76p per entry to the feeder park, whichmeans HALTS is getting a hefty 14 %of the gate money. The LCDC believesHALTS should be financially self-suffi-cient and left by BAA to fend for itselfjust as any other taxi trade businesshas to do. The LCDC wants to see thefacts and figures on HALTS in blackand white and BAA has also been toldby the LCDC that all meetings held todiscuss large sums of money or impor-tant legal issues need to be recordedby a qualified minute taker. Traditionallythe taxi trade has meekly acceptedwhatever BAA puts on the table regard-ing Taxi System costs, but the tradehas got to start asking BAA a lot morequestions. All the facts on where thefeeder park revenue is going need tobe put on the table. I suspect that LTDAand Unite reps at Heathrow find all theterms and conditions of BAA's taxitrade contracts too complicated forthem to unravel. But the LCDC wantsto discuss these contracts and is notprepared to allow BAA and Colin Evans& Co to have a monopoly on access toall the financial paperwork.

Earlier this year BAA conducted ananalysis of facts and figures relating tofeeder park throughput and it becameapparent that there are about six hun-dred drivers who form the backbone ofthe Taxi System. Not surprisingly, bychecking the log-book of drivers whosemovements in the System are recordedmanually in the Cab-In, it can be seenthat 10% of Heathrow's 600 regularsare drivers who don't go through thefeeder parks. It has to be said that thelog book shows Danny Freeman'sbranch of Unite as being the tradeorganisation with the highest number ofmembers who by-pass the feederparks.

Just over two months ago I had aninteresting confrontation with JennyCroft the NSL manager who attendstaxi trade meetings. At a meeting withBAA Jenny Croft insisted that I couldnot possibly provide evidence ofinstances of drivers being allowed toby-pass the two feeder parks unlessthe drivers in question were either repsor marshals. NSL hasn't said anymoreabout these unidentified feeder-parkdodgers and I didn't expect them to.But the next time a senior NSL manag-er tries to belittle me in front of BAA byclaiming that NSL staff don't do very bigfavours for certain drivers, NSL is goingto be severely embarrassed.

I believe there is more of a grain oftruth in the allegation that there areclear links between taxi marshals, andHALTS's fixed-price fares. BAA's inten-tion is to get a percentage share of allfares leaving Heathrow and HALTS'stask is to become Heathrow's dominantcredit card business. HALTS in turnneeds the taxi marshals to boost thenumber of credit card terminals thatHALTS issues. Personally, I predict thatHALTS will flounder in the same way asthe HALT cooperative floundereddespite regular injections of hundredsof thousands of hundreds of thousandsof pounds in cash contributed byHeathrow drivers. The failed HALTexecutives who have become directorsof HALTS and are now claiming thatthe original HALT cooperative no longer'provides any useful function'. I think itwould be fair to add that HALT execu-tives didn't ever perform any usefulfunction either. The only skills that ex-HALT 'businessmen' will have acquired

over the years, is the knack of dodgingthe feeder parks and scrounging unau-thorised expenses for the hours theyspend nattering in their Heathrowoffice. Maybe it's too early to judgewhether or not HALTS will survive atHeathrow but if the financial history ofthe original HALT cooperative is any-thing to go by, the future for HALTSlooks rather bleak. The auditors whoexamined the HALT cooperative'sbooks in 2009 made the followingstatement in a financial report onHALT's credit card processing business: " We were unable to complete ourwork as there were problems with thereconciliation and recording of finan-cial information in connection with theprocessing of credit card reimburse-ments and the location and recover-ability of credit card terminals".

According to the April 14 issue ofTaxi Globe, Unite's Heathrow branchand HALTS directors are workingtogether to supply drivers withHALTS's credit card terminals. Unitealso recruits taxi marshals and sup-plies them to BAA as unpaid securityguards. I can't help wishing thatUnite's Heathrow branch would stoptrying to be a business and start fight-ing for drivers' rights.

Finally, we now know from the Sunnewspaper about the deal struck inlate April between Addison-Lee andBAA. Surely Colin Evans & Co shouldhave been kept informed about thisdeal by their BAA colleagues. It looksvery much as though the real decisionmakers in BAA don't give a monkey'sabout Colin & Co or anybody else inthe London taxi trade.

Airport mattersBY: PETER “THE CANNON”LCDC AIRPORT REP

6 Issue 179 - May 2010

22 illegal cab drivers arrestedover the Easter WeekendThe Cab Enforcement Unit (CEU)targeted touting hotspots during anundercover operation in centralLondon.

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)CEU, part of the Transport for London(TfL) funded Safer Transport Command(STC), made 22 arrests during a series ofovernight covert operations betweenFriday 2 and Monday 5 April 2010.

The CEU plain clothes officers caughttouts red handed while acquiring valuableintelligence in known hotspot locationsincluding the West End, Haymarket andMayfair.

Both overt and covert cab enforcementoperations are carried out on a regularbasis in line with existing intelligence ontouting behaviour. The Unit also cooper-ates with clubs to crack down on toutswho operate in these areas and worksclosely with TfL's Taxi & Private Hire com-pliance and licensing teams. This is doneto ensure compliance with regulations aremet and to enhance the safety of the trav-elling public.

Since 2003, the Safer TransportCommand has arrested more than 5,500illegal cab drivers and has doubled thenumber of dedicated cab enforcement

officers in the Capital to 68.Steve Burton, Director of Community

Safety Enforcement and Policing, said:"Touts not only undermine the legitimatetaxi and private hire trade but can alsopose a serious threat to Londoners whouse them.

"These positive results show that wecontinue to clamp down on illegal cabdrivers and touts should be reminded thatthe Safer Transport Command is outthere and will use all the necessary tac-tics to catch them."

Chief Superintendent Royle, SaferTransport Command said: "We are work-

ing together with our policing partners tokeep London moving safely by drivingdown crime and the fear of crime evenfurther.

"This excellent result impacted upon ille-gal cabs and touts operating in the areaand sent out a clear message that theirpresence will not be tolerated.

"The safety of the public is paramountand I would advise everyone not to getinto any vehicle that they have notbooked and always use a licensed taxi orbook a minicab through a reputablelicensed company."

As you may be aware, TfL isexploring the options available tointroduce a clearly visible badgeidentifier to show the areas inwhich a driver can ply for hire.

The initial proposal was for a "greenbadge identifier" that could be imple-mented quickly and efficiently at mini-mum cost. However, we have receivednumerous responses from the trade inrelation to this matter and we under-stand that the general feeling is thatyellow badges are also required. Weare therefore working to find a solutionthat seeks to address the requirementsfor All London drivers and for Suburbandrivers. Detailed designs have not yetbeen worked up as we are assessingthe options available to determine the

most appropriate and cost-effectiveway of achieving this objective. One ofthe suggestions that seems to be pop-ular with the taxi trade is to have thegreen and yellow disks that contain thebadge number and, in the case of sub-urban drivers, also contain the sectornumbers for which the driver is entitledto ply for hire.

I am aware that any solution will needto take into account that the identifierswill need to be easily transferrablebetween taxis.

One of the many benefits of such ascheme is that it will allow complianceactivity to be more effective which, wehope, will free the resources for otherenforcement tasks such as the vitalactivity of preventing touts and illegal

cabbing.Concern has been expressed from

several drivers that implementing aform of badge identifiers will causeconflict and, being mindful of this, anyinitiative implemented will be done sowith clear guidelines that drivers areentitled to be outside their own areaproviding they are not plying for hire.

Green and yellow I.D discs on the menu

“Since the club’s proposals were accepted by the P.C.Oregarding identification discs, I have been contacted bymany suburban drivers who agree with the scheme. They have all expressed a need for their sectors to be highlighted on their discs.” - Grant Davis

Issue 179 - May 2010 7

8 Issue 179 - May 2010

TONY MC.

Some time ago a fully partitioned,fully (PCO) licensed PH vehiclewas spotted and photographed inthe Finchley Rd, NW3. The LCDChave since made enquiries at thePublic Carriage Office and aspromised, we now have an updateon this vehicle, plus a commentfrom the licensing authority thePCO.

The London Cab Drivers Club has nowreceived information that the Private Hirevehicle in question is a FIAT TW 200TAXI that incidentally is licensed as aHackney Carriage in most boroughs out-side London! This vehicle has beenapproved and licensed by the PublicCarriage Office (PCO) as a PH vehicle.On closer examination the FIAT TW 200has almost identical interior design asboth the TX4 LTI taxi and the MercedesVito taxi; all that differentiates this vehiclefrom the licensed Hackney Carriage ver-sion is the “For Hire” sign and plate onthe back are missing. My main concern isif the (PCO) let this be the norm and

open the flood gates, what happens ifAddison lee buy 2000 of these vehicles inblack, and let’s not forget the touts. I thinkthis would not only confuse the Public,but would almost definitely increase therisk factor to public safety that needs tobe eradicated!

We have raised our concerns with the(PCO) and they have issued this state-ment as follows:

‘TfL have not formally announced anychanges with regards to the use of drivershields for Private Hire vehicles. We fullyunderstand the relevant regulations withregards to private hire vehicles and main-taining the distinction between vehiclesused as taxis and for private hire’.

The club have asked for a meeting todiscuss this matter further and we willkeep you informed.

Issue 179 - May 2010 9

NOTICE OF LCDCAGM

TO BE HELD ONTUESDAY 18TH MAY 2010

@ 7.00PMAT THE LINCOLN HALL

THE BISCUIT FACTORY100 CLEMENTS ROAD

SE16 4DGJohn Mason and Helen Chapman

will be in attendance for a Q&A session with members

PCO License Fiat TW200 for private hireuse in London!

The Secretary of State shall granta a London PHV licence for a vehi-cle if he is satisfied-(a) that the vehicle-(1) is suitable in type, size and

design for use as a private hire vehicle-(2) Is safe, comfortable and in a

suitable mechanical condition forthat use; and(3) IS NOT OF SUCH A DESIGN

AND APPEARANCE AS WOULDLEAD ANY PERSON TO BELIEVETHAT THE VEHICLE IS A LONDONCABChapter 34 of the 1998 Private

Hire Vehicles (London) Act) clear-ly states:Take a close look at section (3)Surely minicabs installed with

partitions are clearly contraveningthe act.The Public Carriage Office (PCO)

has seen fit to license PH vehicleswith partitions installed, also vehi-cles that resemble licensed taxisin appearance. They have beeneither neglectful. Or, are interpret-ing the law the way they see fit!

L.C.D.C SAYSThe PPCO kkeep rreiterating tthere

are mmany tthings tthat ddifferentiate aalicensed ttaxi ffrom mmini-ccab. TTake fforinstance tthe ""for hhire ssign", oor ttherear llicense pplate. TThese aand mmanyother tthings aare ppresent oon aalicensed ttaxi, bbut nnot oon aa mmini-ccab.All tthis ttells uus iis wwhat mmost ppeoplealready kknow; llicensed ttaxis hhavecertain aattributes tthat mmini-ccabs ddonot, aand tthere iis aa vvery ggood rrea-son:The 11998 PPH aact mmakes iit cclear

there mmust bbe aa cclear ddistinctionbetween llicensed ttaxis aand pprivatehire vvehicles. TThere iis nnothingambiguous aabout cchapter 334 oof tthe1998 PPH aact 11, 22, 33 aabove.However, iit ddoes aappear tthat tthePCO hhave bbeen aadding aamend-ments tto tthe vvehicle iinspectionmanual iin aan aattempt tto ccircumnavi-gate tthe current llegislation!

See section 13 of the manual to see the amendment that has been

created to allow PH vehicles tobe modified to come closer toresembling a London taxi, aidingPH to move closer and encroachinto an area outside of the origi-nal legislation!

L.C.D.C SAYSWe nnow hhave tthe MMercedes VVito

taxi. VVersions oof tthis vvehicle aareavailable tto bboth tthe llicensed ttaxitrade aand PPH. LLate aat nnight oor tto aanunsuspecting ttourist, oor eeven ssome-one mmore vvulnerable; aa vversion oofthis vvehicle ffitted wwith aa ppartitioncould eeasily bbe mmistaken ffor aalicensed ttaxi!Private hhire, aas hhas bbeen eempha-

sised mmany ttimes iin tthe ppast, ddo nnotdo tthe ssame ttype oof wwork aaslicensed ttaxis. LLicensed ttaxis aandtheir ddrivers aare ttrained aandequipped wwith aa vvehicle tto sservicethe ggeneral ppublic wwith iinstanta-neous ttransportation.

Private hire are not, and neverhave been. The 1998 PH act(London) provides all of the neces-sary legislation and regulations,and if adhered to, PH would not befacing the current problems theyhave today! PH of its own accordhas decided to encroach into a ter-ritory their vehicles were nevermeant to be equipped for by eitherdesign or purpose!

L.C.D.C SAYSThe PPCO aare aa llicensing aauthority,

responsible ffor mmaintaining rrequiredstandards aas llaid oout bby llegislationand llaw! IIt sseems ssome ssee tthem-selves aas mmini bbarristers aand aa llawunto tthemselves; tthey hhave pperson-al aagendas, aand fforget wwhat ttheyare aactually tthere tto ddo.

It might be a good idea for thePCO to add to their list of cours-es; one to familiarise themselveswith the legislation they are there toenforce as the licensing authority!

Have the P.C.O circumnavigated the 1998 private hire act legistlation?

10 Issue 179 - May 2010

ALAN’S ANGLE

In the run up to the 2012 Olympics weare going to see lots of new hotelsopening in London. The question is,which hotels will welcome us to rankon their forecourts?

Just recently we have had a few newhotels open, one is the Pestana Hotel inQueenstown Rd. I was given the hotelmanager's number from a member, asthe manager was asking the driver howhe could go about getting a rankappointed because he wanted taxis toservice the hotel. I've looked into it andfound out the hotel was situated on pri-vate property and

it would be down to the hotel to get therank painted in. Last week he phonedme to tell me a 3-cab rank is in placeand would I let the taxi trade know. Ihave also asked if he could get a flash-ing light installed out on Queenstown Rdto alert drivers, as it seems the staffdon't want to go out onto the street and

hail a passing Taxi, which there is normally good supply of on QueenstownRd.

He sounded very keen for taxis to workthe hotel and didn't want to use privatehire drivers but might be forced to ifthere was no taxis available .This is a 4star hotel with a lot of business-classpeople staying during the week, and theatre-goers on weekend breaks. Butthe more I look into it the more I worrythis hotel might just hand our work overto the PH trade. It seems after beingdirected to a website this hotel is runninga shuttle cab to Sloane Sq, VictoriaStation or Kings Rd for £5 pound a pas-senger, a max of 7 passengers. That's£35 pound for a five minute journey thatprobably don't go no more than 5 to 7pounds in a taxi, and they call us expensive!

But the rank is there and it's down tous to service it and give the public the

option of taking a taxi. Hopefully they willknow the hotel is trying to rip them off!

And then we get the opening of thePark Plaza Westminster in the middle ofAddington St Circus with offers of teaand bacon rolls to all cabbies when theyopened. But they have forget to put arank on their forecourt, so it seems thatthey are putting the good work into

PHV and only hailing a taxi when theyhave got a local that needs covering.When I phoned the manager to ask ifthere was a problem with why a rankhadn't been appointed I was told that nocars were allowed on the forecourt.When the planning application was putforward, It was stated that no vehiclescould park on the forecourt. Funny thatthere always seems to be Private HireVehicles and coaches parked there…I've asked the manager to have anotherlook into getting a rank appointed. AndI've also requested that the ranks com-

mittee send him a letter requesting thathe tries to get a taxi rank put down sowe can give his customers a choice.

The manager has just now got back intouch and asked for a meeting with theranks committee to look at the possibilityof getting a rank now appointed at thePark Plaza.

I will keep you updated with theoutcome of any meetings.

P.S. Don't hold your breath!

This month's rank is the 5-cab rankin Russell Street, Covent Garden.

This rank suffers from all sorts of abuse,from touts in the evening to rickshaws trying to drum up business for their socalled novelty rides around Covent Garden.

This is what they claimed when they firststarted out, now they have spread theirwings to most parts of the West End. Also,the cab drivers that will fill this rank up allthe way to the point, with no regards tothe drivers that do want to work this rank.I know they are probably off to get food ora toilet break and this just shows you howshort we are of rest ranks in London. Thisrank is due to be turned into a rest rankwith the front two taxis left for us to workand the back 3 turned into rest bays witha max 1 hour wait.

This rank does occasionally get someattention from TAG (Twitter ActionGroup) who will keep returning to milkthe rank and not allow any touts to profitfrom our work.

And just to keep you updated on lastmonth's rank, which was the CharingCross Road rank, that only operated from11pm til 3am. Martin Low (CityCommissioner Of Transportation), hasagreed to extend the hours of this rank to10pm til 5pm.

It would be a help if the rank was keptfree from the TOUTS who operate out ofthe kiosk near this rank. Also the optionof a rank near Bear St is being also lookedinto.

Help support theRussell Street rank

Abacus... just doesn’t add up

Hotel ranks... hit and miss

We have just last week lost another rank in the City althoughthis one won't be missed. The wellsituated rank in Cornhill that whatso far away from the door atAbacus it might have well been inGdansk.

This rank has never worked from dayone even with TFL Marshalls running therank it was too far away and pointing inthe wrong direction. But don't get yourhopes up of the rank being moved up tothe door because the Corporation see itas a major task of re-siting bus stops

to allow us getting the rank in.Well I hope Mr Simmons from Planning

studies the picture; he will see there isnothing from stopping us having a rankhere.

And the situation between the toutsand Us is becoming a right pain to thepolice as they are called out nightly tomove the touts on that hang up aroundthe block.

But the most confusing scenario hap-pened the other night when the PCOwas there with the City Of London Policeand moved on the taxis that were wait-ing for jobs, but allowed the touts to stay,stating they are working for the satelliteoffice. This can only be seen as rankingand waiting to be hired. They are notpre-booked and are illegally parked ondouble yellows.

The police can issue PCNs to cars asthis statement from the City Of London's

own website states: "The City of LondonPolice may observe a contraventionwhich they consider should be enforced.In these circumstances, the PoliceOfficer will prepare a witness statementwhich will be passed to the City ofLondon for enforcement. A PCN willthen be issued to registered keeper ofthe vehicle. Photographs of the vehiclecommitting the contravention will not beavailable in these circumstances".

Then, if this the case, why are thepolice turning a blind eye to the parkingoffences that take place in Cornhill? TheCorporation will not even attend a ranksmeeting to hear our proposals for more

rank space in the City. I also have a email from the police

saying: "The Commissioner of Police forthe City of London would considerauthorising any Taxi Rank that the Cityof London Corporation proposed". Sowhy are the Corporation Of London turning a blind eye to all TOUTING in theSquare Mile? I bet if there was a sand-wich bar or toilet in Cornhill there wouldbe cameras everywhere, as you cannoteven fart in Smithfield without receivinga PCN: Please do not park in any of theloading bays as the cameras are working overtime issuing PCNs! They must be on for a good bonus…

Issue 179 - May 2010 11

12 Issue 179 - May 2010

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Issue 179 - May 2010 13

The surface transport panel and the rickshawsBY: MICKY W

The Surface Transport Panel isan un-elected body, drawn fromthe board of TFL and invited byThe Mayor. It reports to the boardof TFL on transport matters andits findings are very influentialwith the board. Taxi, Private Hire(PH) and rickshaws fall within thePanel's sphere of influence.

The board has deliberated on manyaspects of our trade over the last yearbut I would like to concentrate here onrickshaws. During the second half oflast year the Panel was asked to con-sider four options with regard to thefuture of rickshaws and these optionswere as follows:

1/ Maintain the current position i.e. noaction.

2/ Completely ban rickshaws.3/ TFL bring in a licensing regime.4/ Pressure on government for legisla-

tion to regulate rickshaws.Obviously, we as a trade would like to

see the second option of banning to beadopted but as you are probablyalready aware, The Mayor's favouredoptions are 3 and 4, licensing.

It will come as no surprise to learn

that The Panel decided to recommendsupporting Westminster Council's vol-untary registration scheme for rick-shaws. It also recommended that TfLpromote effective enforcement of mov-ing traffic and parking offences.

I'm not going into the details ofWestminster's scheme here because itis old news but the Panel's decisionraises some questions that demandanswers. The Panel consists of eightmembers. Among them are our owntrade rep, PH's rep and an officer ofUnite the Union. Although panel mem-bers have to declare any interests, asthe courts and TFL have decided thatrickshaws cannot be treated as part ofthe taxi industry, there should be noconflict in these reps voting on the rec-ommendation, which I assume tookplace.

Only five members turned up for thismeeting - the taxi rep, PH rep, two oth-ers and the chairman. They would haveseen the agenda for the meeting inadvance. Presumably the taxi and PHreps would have opted for banning rick-shaws. It shouldn't have taken muchpersuasion to make sure that the Uniterep turned up and supported them.After all, Unite represent cab drivers.We need to know why the recommen-

dation was not to ban rickshaws.Anyhow, the recommendation has

been made. The second part of therecommendation - moving and station-ary traffic offences - is not new andThe Met Police are already able to nickrickshaws under the MetropolitanPolice Act, 1839. However, as it seemsthat most of London's 900 rickshawsare parked illegally, on and off thepavement outside the theatres atchuck-out time, it appears there is nowill amongst London's finest to nickthem.

The first part of the recommendationis worrying. In conversations with oneof the leading lights in one of our fore-most trade associations, I was giventhe impression that this organisationhas given tacit support toWestminster's plans. The reasonsgiven are that it will allow rickshaws tobe nicked and it will show the authori-ties that voluntary licensing does notwork. This is nonsense. In the firstplace, the voluntary scheme is notrequired to allow them to be nicked, asI have explained above.

The idea that the voluntary schemewill fail is a good thing is also non-sense. TFL would not be allowed toapply for legislation allowing them to

licence rickshaws before exploring allvoluntary avenues. So, Westminsterbecomes a stalking horse in TheMayor's plan to license rickshaws.They need the voluntary scheme to failso they can apply for legislation. Yet, atrade leader is giving qualified supportfor this scheme, in the hope that it willfail. He thinks they will then be banned,rather than the reality that it will lay theground for licensing rickshaws. It's nowonder that PH licensing went so badlywrong.

In conclusion, we need our trade repon the Surface Transport Panel toexplain how this recommendation gotpassed. Next, we need all trade organ-isations to publicly oppose theWestminster Voluntary RegistrationScheme for rickshaws.

14 Issue 179 - May 2010

TheMarksman

By the time this issue has hitthe streets, we will know justhow our selections( Canford cliffs 2,000 Guineas ) and ( Special Duty 1,000 Guineas ) havefared. Hopefully, some of you willhave already drawn your winnings!As the flat season gets into gear, Ihave selected my five to follow list.Some of you may already be familiarwith my tips, but I have struck a cou-ple of dark horses which I hope willbe profitable.

1. WORKFORCETrained by Sir Michael StouteThis colt has only had the one startbut won his Goodwood maiden byseven lengths. The colt has beenworking very well, and this could wellbe a Derby horseODDS AT TIME OF PRINT 12/1

2. HIBAAYEBTrained by Saeed Bin ZondaI was very impressed by this fillywhen she won the Group One filliesmile at AscotShe has a staying pedigree and ismy tip for the Oaks.CURRENT ODDS 20/1

3.STEINBECKTrained by Adian O`BrianAfter an impressive win in May, hewas then off the track for some fivemonths with injury. He came backand ran fourth in the DewhurstStakes.This is a colt full of class, andalthough he will miss the English2,000 Guineas owing to a slight set-back, he will be ready for the Irish2,000 Guineas and could very easilyprogress into a top miler.ODDS NOT AVAILABLE

4. FINJAANTrained by Marcus TregoningThis is my idea of the sprinter to fol-low. Following on from finishing ninthin the 2,000 Guineas this horse clear-ly found a mile too far. He won theBetfair Cup after, but found the softgoing totally against him in theHaydock Sprit Cup.Top class sprinter over six furlongsbut MUST have fast ground.

5.CANFORD CLIFFSTrained by Richard HanlonProduced a stunning performancewhen winning the Coventry Stakes(at Royal Ascot ) by six lengths.Finished only third to Arcano in thePrix Morny. I really like this colt andhope that when you read this hewould have already won the 2,000Guineas.

We don't normally cover greyhounds,but with the Greyhound Derby start-ing on the 30th April, this is most cer-tainly the biggest competition in theGreyhound calendar. Lining up forthe first round my three selectionsare:

1. TULLERMURRY ACT 25/12. MOSEDO BLUE 25/13.TYBUR BUCKO 50/1

Hopefully these will all have progressed into the second round bythe time this edition of the Badge ispublished. Word has it that theChairman of the Club, who I know iscanny with his money, fanciesWESTMEAD GRANT at 33/1.Be Lucky, and don't give those awfulbookie chappies any of your hardearned cash!

Bonjour,And a warm hello

to all you lovely cab-bies out there in theMetropolis. I mustsay that it is anabsolute delight toput these articles in the Badge for you all. Ihave the most fantastic conversations inthe back of taxis, and every one has sto-ries of their favourite fighters to talk andreminisce about along the journey!...Greatstuff.

I also hope that you enjoy my boxingshow on Radio London 94.9fm everyThursday night from 7pm, as I knowplenty of ex-fighters call in for a chatincluding my old sparring partner fromFitzroy Lodge days, and the Chairman ofthe LCDC Grant Davis, he always was aslippery so and so!

I have an amateur section on my showwith Ron Boddie, but I have spoken toGrant and he agrees that because somany cabbies are involved with the ama-teur game, I would like all cabbies to sendin details of all up and coming showsinvolving boxing clubs in the capital and wewill publish these in the Badge. Amateurboxing is so important, and we must do allwe can to help support it.

Poor Carl Frooch, I really thought hecould pull it off and destroy Mikkel Kessler,I know it was in the Dane`s backyard, butCarl is a great fighter who can bang as well

as box fantastically well. I have no prob-lem in thinking he will be back and beatArthur Abrahams in his next fight.

Amir Khan has a hard one also coming upagainst Paul Malignaggi in New York onMay 15th. I know his trainer Freddie Roachsays that Amir will KO him in three rounds,but away from home, as Carl found out, isa different kettle of fish.

10% OF 10% FORALL TAXI DRIVERS

I have just finished watching a great filmcalled 10%. A film made in black and whitewhich tells the story of James J Braddockand his fight with Joe Louis. Directed byAdam Ross ( brother of Jonathan ) andstarring East End actor Tony Longhurst, itdelivers a punch, and addresses theunique transaction between the managersof both fighters. Quite unbelievable. I thinkif you are a fight fan then this is a goodone to get.

To recieve a special 10% discount onthe film please email:

tenpercent@hotmail.co.uk and quote Badge special offer.

I hope all you amateur coaches start tosend in the dates of your shows so we canprint them in the Badge, and look forwardto speaking to you on my Thursday nightshow.

Adios Buncey

TEN PERCENT

Issue 179 - May 2010 15

Introducing the penultimate issueof 'Around the Grounds' beforethe climax of what has been anunforgettable season in moreways than one. With 1 gameremaining and most questionsstill unanswered apart form thechampionship teams who allplayed their final fixture recently.However after many twists andturns throughout the year thedefinitive results will be discov-ered during the outcome ofmatches forthcoming in May. My final prediction of the campaign

is looking at what I believe theresults will be in the last matchesfor the premier league, league 1and league 2 sides. I would alsolike to thank all the readers for thisseason, and mention to look for-ward towards my World Cup 2010special issues and of course nextmonths evaluation of the finalgames, where I will also overviewall results from my previous predictions throughout the year.

ARSENAL(Arsenal 3-1 Fulham) Just as we believed Arsenal hadbattled back into the race for thetitle, once again the Gunners cameunstuck in the conclusion of theyear and for the sixth year runningremain trophy-less. In terms of thepremier league, defeats to archrivals Tottenham, Wigan andBlackburn ended their hopes ofbeing crowned champions and alsoin April were beat 4-1 in the 2nd legof their champions league tie withBarcelona to confirm another disappointing season for ArseneWenger's side.

CHELSEA(Chelsea 1-0 Wigan)April saw vital victories edge TheBlues closer to premier league titleglory. These included a 2-1 win overfellow title hopefuls Man Utd, a 7-0triumph over Stoke and also most

recently a 2-0 victory overLiverpool. However, a defeat toTottenham in between has seen therace for the title go all the waydown to the final fixture.Furthermore during this monthChelsea progressed into the final ofThe FA Cup thanks to a 3-0 winagainst Aston Villa to set up a finaltie with Portsmouth.

TOTTENHAM (Burnley 0-2 Tottenham)Still battling for the fourth and finalChampions league spot, Spurs losttwo and won two from their fixturesin April. The two victories comingagainst rivalry opposition in Arsenaland Chelsea. Although these twodefeats leave the race in the bal-ance and to be decided in the finalgame and also their game in hand,ironically coming againstManchester City who ware Spursmain opposition for Fourth Place. Inaddition they lost out in the semi-final of The FA Cup to Portsmouth.

FULHAM (Arsenal 3-1 Fulham) An historic campaign for Fulham goteven better throughout April. RoyHodgson's men excelled into thefinal of the Europa League, afterprogressing with wins in the previ-ous rounds over Wolfsburg andHamburg. They now await AtleticoMadrid in the final. The cottagersalso remained unbeaten in theleague this month apart from a late2-1 defeat to Everton.

WEST HAM (West Ham 1-1 Man City) The Hammers secured survivalfrom relegation during the month ofApril. This was confirmed followinga dramatic 3-2 win against Wigan,

via a Scott Parker strike. With theirsafety assured most of the newsand speculation coming out ofUpton Park recently is based onnext season and whetherGianfranco Zola will still be incharge at the beginning of the nextcampaign, sure to be an interestingsummer for West Ham.

QPRFinishing the campaign in 13th position, Neil Warnock seemed tohave done what he had to do whentaking over as manager that beingstaying in the championship.Finalising the season in defeat tothe league winners Newcastle. .

CHARLTON (Oldham 0-2Charlton) Phil Parkinson's side

still have an opportunity of advanc-ing into the Championship throughthat much-wanted 2nd automaticplace, despite a few indifferentresults including a 1-1 draw away toExeter and losses to Southamptonand Norwich. Regardless a lastgasp own goal from Richard Nayloragainst Leeds leave Charlton withstill a chance.

CRYSTAL PALACEOnly losing one gamein April to QPR, how-ever at the same timeonly winning onematch from the

month against Preston due to beingheld to a number of draws at thehands of Middlesbrough, Derby andWest Brom, saw Palace having tocompete until the final day withSheffield Wednesday who theyplayed in a game which saw thewinner remaining in theChampionship. The game finishedin an epic 2-2 draw, this was goodenough for Paul Hart's cash-strapped Eagles and thereforeCrystal Palace have survived rele-gation despite a 10 point deductionvia administration this year. .

MILLWALL(Millwall 3-2Swindon) The LionsKicked off Aprilin a surprise

1-1 draw with fellow LondonersBrentford, after a continuous run ofgood results previous to that.Furthermore in the month they wonthree, lost one and drew another.Even though they slipped upagainst Tranmere most recently,Millwall are still involved in the bat-tle for 2nd place and face similarhopefuls Swindon in an eagerlyawaited tie.

BRENTFORD(Brentford 1-0Hartlepool) Brentford remainedunbeaten throughoutthe month, althoughthis mainly consisted

of draws with only 2 victoriesagainst Huddersfield and Tranmere.Moving into this month of May, TheBees lately lost away to Swindon,despite this they seem to haveguaranteed a top-half finish thisseason.

BARNET (Barnet 1-2Rochdale) A disappointingsequence of resultsfor Barnet, with a

single victory from 7 games and afurther loss in a crucial relegationthreatened match with Grimsby putsthem in danger of demotion havingto face already promoted Rochdaleon the final day. Also during thismonth, Barnet decided their manag-er Ian Hendon leaving questions oftiming with only two games left atthe time.

LEYTON ORIENT(Colchester 3-0Leyton Orient)Although it seemsunlikely it is still

possible Orient can go down fromLeague 1. Only winning 2 gamesfrom the month of April hasn'thelped although they enjoyed a surprise 2-1 win over league leaders Norwich.

AROUND THE GROUNDS WITHBILLY NICKSON

16 Issue 179 - May 2010

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Issue 179 - May 2010 17

Leroy Reid & Co is a firm of Chartered Certified Accountants andRegistered Auditors established on 1st May 1982 providing Taxation,Audit and Bookkeeping and Accountancy Services to the LicensedLondon Taxi Drivers, small and medium size businesses and charities.We are committed to putting your interests first, hence our MissionStatement:

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strictest of confidence.

Call 0207 394 5553

18 Issue 179 - May 2010

Issue 179 - May 2010 19

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20 Issue 179 - May 2010