As most of the Hacks on North Tyneside may know, There has recently been an unmet demand survey here in North Tyneside. Total waste of money as you only need to have a drive around and take a look to see that there is NO Demand! let alone an unmet one.
Along with this survey there has been a questionaire circulated to all Hacks & Private Hire,though what a Hackney Carriage unmet demand survey has to do with Private Hire I don’t know but somebody will probably inform me!
This questionaire has to be returned to Halcrow (the company conducting the survey) by the 24 november 2008. As of today most Hacks have not even received it though most Private hire operators have. When we spoke with Halcrow they were bemused as they had entrusted North Tyneside Council with the task of posting said questionaires out (which clears things up somewhat). Below is a letter Admin has received from an irate hackney Carriage proprietor which just about sums up the feelings of the Hackney Carriage trade:
North Tyneside Council have done it again.
Recently North Tyneside Council commissioned a company called Halcrow to
conduct a Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Trade Survey for unmet demand
for Hackney Carriages. Why the Private Hire were asked about Hackney
Carriages is beyond me, as we all know that the Private Hire Industry would
love to force all Hackney Carriages to work from a Private Hire Operation
and pay them Operator Licence Holders vast sums of money in rent through
there CASHCOW OPERATIONS.
The problem I have with this questionaire,(issued apparently as seperate
thought to the survey) is its timing because you see the envelope that I
recieved my questionaire in arrived at about 1300 hours on 22 November 2008
and the date franked on the envelope was 21 November 2008. This may sound
like good service from the Post Office until I point out that the
questionaire had a return by date of 24 November 2008 to the Halcrow Group
Limited, Freepost NEA5594, Leeds, LS6 2YY, if it was to be included in the
responces to the questionaires findings and there was no mention in the
envelope with the questionaire of any extention to the deadline date being
later than 24 November 2008 printed on the front & back pages of the
questionaire.
My next collection from my local Post Office Red Mailbox is 24 November 2008
at 12.45 hours, meaning even if I filled it in and tried to post it on
Monday 24 November 2008 it would not reach Halcrow until 25 November 2008 at
the earliest & that is after the closing deadline stated on the questionaire
of the 24 November 2008.
North Tyneside Council are obviously of the belief that if they send it out
before 24 November 2008 they have done their job, just like Robert Mugabee
believes he held a free and open election earlier this year and then refused
to declare the result properly as he possibly would not have liked the
result answer.
I say it is about time North Tyneside Council admitted how much this survey
and questionaire cost the council and the Department Head Council Employee,
who did not get these questionaires out on time should be brought to account
for their failings and made REDUNDANT just like all the other poor people
that are going to be forced onto the dole by their companies mistakes in the
free market place, but this is not the way apparently in the protected
Government Department job for life brigade that Council Policy seems to be
about, because some poor office temp will probably get the blame to save
this overpaid useless idiots employment with North Tyneside Council because
they are in the FUNNY HANDSHAKE BRIGADE.
SCREW THE HACKNEY PROPRIETOR IS THE CLEAR MESSAGE HERE FROM NORTH TYNESIDE
COUNCIL AS THE COUNCILLORS WILL SAY THEY WERE NEVER MADE AWARE OF THIS
QUESTIONAIRE BLUNDER THAT COULD TOTALLY SCREW THE HACKNEY PROPRIETOR & AGAIN
THE COUNCIL EMPLOYEE KEEPS THEIR COSY LITTLE JOB FOR LIFE WITH ITS WAGE &
PENSION RIGHTS.
I Couldn’t have said it better myself!
UPDATE FROM TAXI LICENSING (North Tyneside)
“Please advise your members – we believe some of the Halcrow house-hold survey letters (not the demand survey) were not received by some sections of the trade until recently thereby missing the deadline for return: therefore the date the surveys have to be returned to us by has been extended to Monday 8th December 2008. Further copies are available from the licensing office if anyone want one.”
{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
Time and time again on the site people are asking/demanding to know how much money the LA are wasting, its easy to find out with a simple freedom of information request.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@SC, What’s the relevance of your Comment to the post you commented on? Don’t you think if the Council spends £15 to £20,000 pounds on a Survey,out of the fees we all pay,that they should conduct themselves properly i.e spend that money wisely and get everything done in a timely manner?
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@admin, the relevance is to the statement “I say it is about time North Tyneside Council admitted how much this survey
and questionaire cost the council and the Department Head Council Employee” My point was it is very easy to find out how much this survey cost the council/tax payer.
Yes I agree that the council should be held account able for every thing that it dose, which is why I have already do the FOI request on this issue and a few more that might be of interest to a few on here
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@SC, Fair Comment but we already know what a survey costs,but what is the point of a survey and what do Private Hire have to do with any unmet Hackney Demand? if there were any unmet demand it would be because all the guys that wanted Hacks last time, cause they thought the grass was greener,were away working from Private Hire offices!
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@admin, I am guessing, but I’d imagine judging by the questions that they are asking, they are trying to gauge if they were to release more hack plates, would it mean more “new drivers” on the streets or would the PH drivers switch to hacks? and ultimately would the public benefit from any increase in hacks on the street or would most new plate end up working from an office for the majority of their working week?
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Tradewe believe some of the Halcrow house-hold survey letters (not the demand survey) were not received by some sections of the trade until recently thereby missing the deadline for return: therefore the date the surveys have to be returned to us by has been extended to Monday 8th December 2008. Further copies are available from the licensing office if anyone want one.”
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
admin, was it not forced upon the government by the Ofice of Fair Trading, for any LA that restricts licences to conduct a survey every three years. I know we can all see it’s not required (when there in newcastle), but I am of the belief in order to cap plates they HAVE to have an unmet demand survey to justify this.
also admin, the first survey in newcastle only asked proprietors, but the second also seen letters go to hackney carriadge drivers. i also believe that is was the Office of Fair Trading that requested Hackney DRIVERS also be asked. So perhaps the OFT are trying to add pressure to LA’s by asking that they also take into account the PH trades opinions now aswel.
perhaps NT licencing could clarify this.
One further point, do the OFT not relise what the trade has been like for the past few years, and the only thing that keeps us going is the thought ‘it cant get any worse’, dont the know that we are walking into possibly the worst recession that this country has seen in years? No, because if they get there wish, and the trade is ruined, they simply go whoops, and move onto something else.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Andy Warhol, You are correct! But my point is that if they are going to do these surveys do not be half hearted about it. On our survey, one of the ’surveyors’ was found to be asleep in his car whilst supposedly watching the Taxi Rank in Tynemouth Front street. The questionaires,due back in Leeds by Mon 24 nov are still being sent out. Although Licensing has now been onto the site to say that the deadline has been extended to 08 Dec. Whilst we know that there cannot possibly be an unmet demand,the fact is a survey has been commissioned and if it is carried out in a slipshod way who knows how many plates could be issued. The last survey by NT came out as ‘No significant unmet demand’ and yet 40 licences were issued mainly on Fiat Doblos. Those 40 new plates made quite a dent in a NT Hacks living I can tell you. I don’t want it to happen again otherwise we’ll all be paying Ian Shanks every monday morning!
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
below is a request we have sent to NORTH TYNESIDE COUNCIL and we have received the answer below !! which STUNS me that this is practice and if its true in this council and others i think we all had stop kicking BERWICK !!!
I have contacted the licensing office this morning to make enquiries on behalf of a driver on home to school transport, my driver wanted to know what guidelines are in place to protect drivers who may be asked to carry young children without an escort.
Christine has advised me that there is no legislation to insist that an escort is present, however escorts are sometimes used depending on the specific needs of children in a home to school scenario. It was pointed out that all drivers are CRB checked and should be “fit and proper people” to carry children “in most cases!” I was advised to seek further advice from Tracey Bradbury in the Home to school department.
I did contact Tracey in home to school transport and was advised that there are drivers that are “unfit to carry children” but Alan Newton would make the department aware of any “unfit drivers”
I have asked both Christine and Tracey what was meant by “in most cases” the answer is that apparently there are drivers licensed by North Tyneside Council that are NOT fit to carry children !! but the home to school, transport department are made aware of these drivers.
How does this action help the public or the operator? Hypothetically if Blueline were to take on a driver that is not fit to carry children, how would we know?? Then if that driver was sent to carry children and an incident occurred I’m guessing it would be Blueline in the papers and not North Tyneside Council.
Please advise us what criteria would make a driver fit to hold a license to drive a taxi, but unfit to carry children and what the council are doing to protect the operator and the general public in cases where the driver is deemed unfit.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Ian Shanks, its shocking i agree with you Ian, if you can’t be ‘trusted’ to carry school children and are on a ‘list’ then you can’t be trusted to carry the general public.
Likewise i know of a driver, not at Blueline butin North Tyneside who got caught driving a NT car without a badge, got fined etc but is now driving for the same company with a Berwick plate, why don’t the councils talk to each other?
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Ian Shanks, I’d tell the press that the council has drivers that are unfit to carry children, but are classed as fit to carry the public.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@SC, Yes Ian and tell the press that most of the EU drivers work at blue line and it cause they dont have a CRB from birth and thats why they cant pick up kids on school runs ( only rite )
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@foxy gingerballs, your bus is leaving!
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
If a taxi driver dont trust himself to be in a car with kids on his owen he is in the rite job ????
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@foxy gingerballs, not fit to carry children??? eh??? badge back please.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@central parked, Have you not been told about talking with your mouth full Mr £2 blow job central parked up dogging man ?? i would have a kid in my car before i took some pissed up woman and anyone who even thinks about messing with kids or dose not wanna be in the car on his owen with a kid is in the wrong job one of the toomanytaxidrivers toomany.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@foxy gingerballs,
Whilst I agree with what you say,there is another side to that arguement.
Personally,I would prefer to have an escort with young kids,so as to remove any possibility of accusations being made,whether founded or not,just for my own safety.
We all know how rumours and false allergations can spread.It`s not a question of `trust` these days i`m afraid,its more a question of being able to prove your own innocence.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@john, maybe cctv in cars is the answer?
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
It’s gone a bit quiet on here hasn’t it? Is that because all the idiots don’t want to register?
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Mark,
the idiots were putting people off so i hope you right !!!
maybe we can get good debate going with sensible and constructive comments from those that do contribute to this site !!
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
I heard a whisper that a berwick hack driver working at a large north tyneside private hire office went to renew his plate and got knocked back has any one else heard this ? I also picked a lad up on friday night who went to apply for a berwick hack badge only to be told he could only work in berwick . Is this the start of the shite hitting the fan ?
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@derwentside hack,
i am being told the council can not do any thing with new applications or renewals unless they have a policy in place and at this time the policy is being worked on and needs to go before committee !! so drivers can continue to driver on their old plates and have a letter of consent from the council to that affect.
i don’t think that the judgement affects the issue of badges, but not sure of that. but would assume the driver of a berwick car must work wherever the car is allowed to work !
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@ian shanks,
“would assume the driver of a berwick car must work wherever the car is allowed to work !”
should this not be ‘the driver of a berwick car must work first and formost within the boundries of his LA’
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@derwentside hack,
the easiest way to find out is to ring Berwick yourself and tell them that you would like an application for a hackney carriadge plate, and that you will be working from an office in newcastle, see what they say, and mystery solved. you very rarely get any good second hand information in this trade!
on a final note derwentside hack, you dont hounestly believe that the out of town scenario was ghoing to be allowed to continue do you?
The simple fact that someone goes to one LA to work in another shows that there is something amiss (lack of knowledge/flimper/CRB issues)
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@Andy Warhol, Well mr warhol i done as you suggested and was told they are not issuing hack plates untill they have a policy in place which comes in force on the 15th of december.I was told to ring back after this date.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade
@derwentside hack,
mystery solved …
… and they would have gotten away with it, if it wasnt for you pesky kids!
be sure to ring back on after the 15th, and post up here what they have told you.
The views expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the views of TooManyTaxis or the general U.K. Hackney Carriage Trade