N wseA Publication of Radio Taxis Group No.5 Summer 2012

FROM THE DESK OFGEOFFREY RIESEL:

THE LAW IS THE LAW.Licensed taxi drivers often complain aboutthe encroachment of minicabs in our capitalcity. And frankly, taxi executives such as

myself are not all that different. There are far too manyinadequate standard minicabs in London and because they(the drivers) have had almost no training, they present adisservice to the public who have every right to demand safe,reliable and professional personal transport.

This took a new twist in recent weeks as London’s largest minicabcompany, Addison Lee, decided to directly flaunt the law.In essence, Addison Lee’s chairman, John Griffin, told his drivers touse the restricted bus lanes. That caused uproar among the publicand the licensing authorities. Indeed it is believed some clients leftAddison Lee as a result, even though after TfL took them to courtand ordered them to desist, the company now says that it hasreversed its recommendation to drivers, telling them not to use thelanes pending a judicial review.

One could argue that sometimes onerous laws might in a few cases,justify civil disobedience to get them changed, this is surely not thecase here. London taxi drivers take a Public Service Vehicle driverstest before driving a London taxi, as well as the famous four yearstudy of the Knowledge of London (thus safely sharing the buslanes with buses and cyclists) while Private Hire drivers can gain alicence in a few weeks without ever having driven on UK roadsbefore. Only London Taxis are all wheelchair accessible and onlyLondon taxis are allowed to be street hailed, immediately availableto the public for hire, which is among the reasons why a taxi maydrive in the bus lane and not a Private Hire vehicle. A private hiring

is just that, the concession fornot having a fully traineddriver is that the client pre-arranges a pick up (which iswhere the name Private Hirecomes from), a Private Hirevehicle may never by law beimmediately available on thestreet for hire as this willimmediately invalidate hisinsurance.

Ultimately the way to try to change laws is through the judicialsystem. Nobody has the right to wantonly break it.

Addison Lee claimed in a press release that the Black Cab industry,which can use the bus lanes, has an unfair competitive edge overminicabs. In terms of street hailed taxis, Private Hire does a verydifferent job.

If the subject is however about unfair competition then one mightask why does the law allow a mini cab driver to get behind the wheelof a vehicle which carries members of the public with only minimaltraining and minimal background checks compared to theprofessional licensed London taxi driver, who has often spentupwards of four years on the “The Knowledge” learning every inchof London’s complex street system and passing an enhancedcriminal record background check as well as a PSV driving test.Not quite a level playing field?

Life in one of the most populous cities in the world can be difficult,certainly. We all know that traffic is an issue. But flaunting the law isnot the way to solve issues or the way to garner public support.In fact, I would argue that Addison Lee’s defiance of the law also ledto unsuspecting drivers of private cars to follow the minicabs intothe bus lanes, further causing problems on our streets.

I look forward to hearing the results of the judicial review sparkedby Addison Lee’s petulant actions, as there are 23,000 London taxisusing the bus lanes and around 60 – 80,000 mini cabs in London.It would certainly cause a problem and slow down public transport.No matter the outcome, the choice for reliable and professionalservice – inside or outside of London’s bus lanes – remains in thecapable hands of our thousands of licensed taxi drivers.

Sincerely,

Geoffrey RieselChairman & CEO, Radio Taxis Group.

“I look forward to hearing theresults of the judicial

review sparked by Addison Lee’spetulant actions.”

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OLYMPICS

UPDATE

THIS YEAR’S OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC GAMESwill be a sight to behold and London is in full swing ofpreparation. This is a great honour for our city, not tomention a welcome economic boost for so many of ourbusinesses. This is certainly true at Radio Taxis and ofour online transport management subsidiary, OneTransport, which has won several new contractsincluding LOCOG to help managing to move peoplebetween locations before, after, and during the games.

While the outcome of the Games themselves isanybody’s guess, one gold medal one can predict is thatLondon will take first place in issues of traffic. There isjust no getting around the fact that we will all have toexercise a little patience and plan to navigate around ourstreets as we gladly welcome millions of visitors. Here isa list of some major road closures that will affectLondon travel:

� From 18th June onward The Mall and Horse GuardsRoad will be closed.

� From 25th June Constitution Hill, Birdcage Walkand Whitehall will be closed except for buses.

� On 26th July, London hosts the Olympic Torchevent, with local closures in place.

� Hyde Park will be closed from morning to mid-afternoon on 4th and 7th August for Triathlonevents.

� Whitehall will temporarily re-open on 10th August.

� Birdcage Walk and Constitution Hill willtemporarily re-open on 15th August.

� Constitution Hill, Birdcage Walk and Whitehall willclose again for the Paralympic Games from 25thAugust to 12th September.

� The Mall will remain closed until the end ofSeptember.

Despite traffic concerns, we’re all very excited forthe coming Games. We’re even counting down tothe Olympics – literally! So why not check out our veryown Olympic Countdown Clock online now at:www.radiotaxis.com/london-olympics-201

WE WANT TO REMIND ALL OF OUR ACCOUNTcustomers that a booking with Radio Taxis isin the palm of your hand and at the pushof a button – with our new “App” calledTaxiConnect.

The number of TaxiConnect users is increasing steadilyand we’re pleased to report that those who are using itare in fact relying on it more and more frequently as theconvenient way to book a cab. This is yet another waythat Radio Taxis is constantly working to improve ourservice. Life can be complicated enough – so we aretrying to make it easier with tools like this!

If you haven’t already, tryTaxiConnect today. You must be anaccount customer to use it, butonce you are set up on it, you’llfind out how breathtakinglysimple it really is to book a cab.To get started, simply go towww.TaxiConnect.co.uk, savethe shortcut icon, and followthe simple set-up commands.

It’s a taxi in your pocket, in your hand, and at your door,whenever you need one!

RadioTaxis

RTG “App” for CustomersGrows in Popularity

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N wseTHE RTG NEWS PRODUCTION TEAM IS:Geoffrey Riesel – Managing Editor

Penny Cuckston – Administration

Doug Canning, DC-Graphics – Design, typesetting & layout

Peter Gibson, Alan Franks, Gordon Brown – Contributors

Design: © 2012 / DC-Graphics / Barnet / Herts

T: 0208 440 1155 / W: dc-graphics.co.uk

Content: © 2012 / Radio Taxis Group Ltd / Lennox Road

London / N4 3TX

The information and images contained inthis Newsletter are subject to copyright.Unauthorised use, disclosure or copyingwithout prior written permission isstrictly prohibited.