Source: The London Daily News By John Kennedy
Don’t be fooled by the title of this article, taxi touting is committed in the main by unlicensed and licensed mini cab drivers. The Public Carriage Office recently sent letters to all taxi-cab and mini cab drivers, in fact the letter was seen by many in the London taxi trade as a insult. However when placed in the context of political correctness and the modern era of civil servants who just can’t perform the very simplest of tasks I personally think letters like this will continue to hit the doormats of people like you and me.
Just visit any venue in central London and you will on exit be “touted” by a person with a clipboard asking where you wish to go, cars or should I say mini-cabs ranked up illegally, sometimes parked illegally on the public highway oh and sometimes ranked on taxi-cab stands. Yet the Metropolitan Police, local councils and the Public Carriage office do very little to enforce the law laid down by Parliament. In fact it feels like the authorities do their level best not to enforce very simple laws, a good example of this is the recent attempted bombings outside Tiger Tiger in London’s Haymarket. The cars were parked illegally amongst mini-cab touts and the powers that be just walk on by because they can’t be bothered or couldn’t give a dam about you and me.
I honestly believe it is wrong to ask me to pay a licence fee to a body that goes out of its way to do very little and fails to bring mini-cab drivers into line with regards to the law, the blight of political correctness clouds the very thinking of those in authority who seem to fail at ever hurdle. If the Public Carriage Office isn’t up to the job individuals should do the decent thing and resign.
Taxi touting must be dealt by the authorities or they will reap a whirlwind of complaints, complaints about them and why they fail to carry out their duties in the correct fashion. It may well be our turn to complain about the very people who allege to uphold the law. For too long we have sat back and allowed those in authority to do nothing and I’m afraid those who seek your subs do very little other than produce trade mags that tell you more about matters in Canada and New York than London.
Change is coming to a rank near you for the economic downturn will concentrate the minds of us all, 2009 will be a year to forget but it will also bring us a opportunity to eradicate the touts throughout London.
