UITA : A Driving Force in Newcastle

I was invited,along with some other North Tyne Hacks, to attend a meeting of the UITA in Newcastle tonight.

The meeting in my view was a good one with a reasonable turnout and a lot of good comments. There was a genuine feeling of unity amongst the drivers with the usual misgivings about the Council and it’s policies. I found a lot of parallels with our own situation in North Tyneside, in particular problems wiith Private Hire and out of town plates,lack of enforcement etc.

It’s evident that there are problems throughout the Taxi Trade. The majority of these problems are down to a gross lack of professional care from the people that take our money. Taxi drivers,in whatever guise, do their job,they convey the travelling public from A to B ,they pay their fees and do everything that is required by the authorities in order to carry out their jobs as Taxi Drivers. There has to be some reciprocation. Taxi drivers are not just a cash machine for the use of the Councils,they have a duty to organise & enforce,not just sit back and take the money. Like us they have to provide a service for the money they receive and that service goes something like this: They should Licence Hackney Carriages and provide Rank spaces for those Hackney Carriages in order for them to carry out their job in such a manner to benefit the public, They should provide adequate enforcement to deter non Hackney Carriages from interfering with the smooth operation of Hackney Carriages,again to benefit the public. Non of this is happening and in effect by not taking their own job seriously they are not only doing the taxi Trade a disservice but also the general public. The average punter must be confused.They no longer know what a Taxi is! There are cars parked all over the place purporting to be Taxis when they are not! People are charged different prices for the same journeys,they find themselves in a car where the driver has no idea where they are going and keeps asking for the ‘Postcode’  When I started Taxiing there where no ‘Sat Navs’ just the A to Z in the quiet times I read the A to Z and learnt my way around. There wasn’t Hundreds of Taxis and you were kept busy,you made a decent living and provided a 1st class service because you knew the quickest route to the destination, you didn’t sit around for hours waiting for a fare and soon got to know your way around better than any ‘Sat Nav’ . You weren’t hassled by the police or traffic wardens because you never sat still long enough.

It strikes me that there’s something a bit naughty about issuing Hundreds of taxi licences then painting double yellow lines all over the place and fining Taxi drivers for sitting in the City that issued their licence but did not provide enough Ranks to enable them to sit without fear of prosecution whilst executing their duties as a Licenced Taxi driver. I don’t know about Newcastle but my byelaws state that ‘if a Rank is full I should proceed to the next available Rank’ Well I think the City of Newcastle upon Tyne would Grind to a halt if every Taxi driver obeyed that rule in order not to be fined for sitting on double yellow lines.

In every walk of life there has to be give & take! it strikes me that the Councils just want to Take!

Anyway that’s my Rant out of the way.     In order to comment on this site readers will need to register. Registration is simple and above all totally anonymous if you wish. No personal details are shared but I will say this  NUMPTYS WILL BE DELETED!