Streets of Gold:Part 2

The taxi trade is not viewed, by a Local authority, in the same way as a major bus company. We are not allotted the time for discussion on matters transport related and perhaps we should be as a major player in the public transport sector. We are not spoken to or listened to in the same way as a big wig from a big company. We contribute a lot of money to the Local authority coffers but it is taken for granted. In short no one takes the Taxi trade seriously. For example this site is a news conduit for the Taxi trade yet requests for press releases from my own Local authority are totally ignored. There is a lot we are seemingly kept in the dark about, I know there are prosecutions of Taxi & Private Hire drivers for various misdemeanours yet it’s kept quiet to a large extent. The task of enforcement could be greatly enhanced if the trade at large knew that people were being brought to book for flimping, for driving without insurance, for driving without an in date badge! There are many drivers who think they can get away with flimping, both Hacks & Private hire, because they never hear of any prosecutions or at the very least they seem few and far between, so what the hell it’s a small risk to break the rules now and then.

It’s crap on the streets at the moment, due partly to the recession we are currently experiencing but due to a larger extent to a lack of forward planning by those that control our business. By this I mean the wholesale issue of licences with no forethought, no negotiation, no consultation, with the interested parties namely the men and women who work in the industry. Yes they pay lipservice, say what we want to hear etc. They judge us unintelligent, if we were educated we would be in a better job wouldn’t we? Maybe that’s a bit harsh but sometimes that’s how they make us feel, why else would they keep chipping away at our livelihood by issuing new licences when there are Taxis sitting about all over town, why would they then start issuing parking tickets, introducing new fees and raising existing ones.

The licensing officers advise the licensing committes, poorly in my view. Surely a licensing committee should hear from the licensees as any decisions they make must surely impact on existing licence holders. As we have seen over the past ten or so years the majority of decisions on Taxi/Private hire licensing have had a devastating effect on the Hackney carriage trade at least, some of these effects have yet to filter through to private hire but they will. The same law of economics applies to all business, there’s no escaping those laws and if anyone doubts that just keep watching your money bag and your hours.

Due to massive mismanagement of our respective trades we now operate in what could be described as a four  tier system….or….a complete mess! We have saloon Hackney carriages, wheelchair accessible Hackney carriages, Private hire and out of town plated vehicles. The LA’s have spent years trying to educate the public about the difference between Hackney carriages & Private hire to the point of requiring Hacks to be one colour, Black, to have door decals which say Hackney carriage for Hacks or a yellow door decal for Private hire. Advertising has been permitted on both sides of the trade resulting in Private hire looking more like a Taxi than a ‘Taxi’ the private hire companies have been very creative with their livery. When a member of the public sees a private hire car from certain high profile companies, in their mind they are in no doubt that what they are seeing is a Taxi. Private hire companies have been allowed to ‘Zone up’ to make the best use of computer dispatch systems. The zoning policy for North Tyneside stated that each prospective zone should be on land that was granted permission by the landowner and planning permission for this specific use. The reality is that company cars are now parked all over the streets of Tyneside. This is the reason that the slowdown that Hacks are experiencing hasn’t reached private hire yet but it will. There is nowhere else to go. They have grown out of their radio circuits, progressed to computer dispatch and spilled onto the streets, nowhere left to go. Now the work levels out and with the ever increasing issue of licences, private hire cannot be capped, the work has to start to thin out. On top of this we’re in recession. Us Hacks are used to hard times we will probably scrape through. Some of the wheelchair accessibles’ must be feeling the pinch though, with finance payments sometimes as high as £129 per week and office rent on top of that. There are drivers out there who need over £300 per week before they start earning. This is not normal; this is the way people outside the trade have made it. Our business was hijacked years ago by car salesmen, peddlers of NVQ’s, ambitious licensing officers….David Wilson for example he’s an ambitious sort of guy, he has to be admired and will surely be up for promotion and a good pension plan for his excellent work in Berwick. A prime example of someone who just appeared and hi-jacked the Taxi trade, to what ends I don’t know but I do know the result…a right royal mess!

The streets are not paved with Gold…Come into this messed up business if you wish but do not kid yourself that your driving licence and a badge off the Council will solve all your problems for less than 80 hours a week to get what you have been accustomed to!

Tagged as: big wig, bus company, coffers, driving without insurance, extent, forethought, interested parties, livelyhood, local authority, men and women, misdemeanors, negotiation, parking tickets, private hire, prosecutions, public transport, recession, taxi trade, taxis, transport sector