Very Confused!

I am very confused. I will address this to all taxis drivers/solicitors

1. North Tyneside Council is against Berwick Plates yet they give out contracts knowing they will be carried out with Berwick Plates. Can anyone explain this? There are obviously no problems with their CRB checks?

2. If you read the judgement any operator employing foreign plates will be exempt from prosecution. What’s all that about?

3. Berwick Council sent out a newsletter straight away after the judgement stating that they are going to renew their policy. They also state the judgement has no direct impact on Hackney carriage licenses. Berwick Council does not intend to take any action to permanently terminate any current hackney license. I’m sure Berwick Council will give a copy of this newsletter to anyone who asks. Is it a case of those who have them will keep them!
Incidentally my plate is due for renewal the end of November and I have been told it will be reissued with no problem. Very Confusing!
Reading this website there seems to be only one problem in everyone’s mind and that is Ian shanks at Blueline Taxis. The mans family has been is business for over 50 yrs. He obviously knows a little bit about the industry. Am I to understand that the only people that seem to flimp is Berwick Plates working at Blueline Taxis because that is all I read about constantly on this website. I remember the days when North Tyneside Taxis Companies were advertising £6 from Blyth to Whitley bay and at 18:00 at night they were parked in Blyth waiting to see if they were going to get a set fare. I have also seen on many occasions’ the famous Central Taxis (sorry Graham) dropping off in Blyth on a weekend with their top signs lit up which I consider to be an out of town car as they are in the Blyth Valley and flimp. You can also tell when they flimp because they are always doing 20mph going through Blyth at 24:00hrs trying to find where Plessey Rd is. It does not bother us at Blyth or Cramlington as you are probably well aware we have plenty of work. Is this acceptable? Is it also acceptable that Cramlington are flooded with North Tyneside Taxis offering cheap fares from Cramlington shops to anywhere in Cramlington who have purposely set up business in Dudley etc to muscle in on the Blyth Valley? As for the Newcastle hackney carriages at Central Station bleating on about BLT and Berwick Plates they want to ask themselves why they sit there for hour after hour with no work while Blueline Taxis and Central and many more are in and out all day picking up fares while they are doing nothing. Is it because one minute they are charging £23 to the airport and the next minute they are charging £31 to the airport. Is it when they pick up on a weekend and someone asks to go to Ashington they insist on going onto the West Rd up to the A1 and when the customer says “You are going the long way” the reply is “This is the only way I know” and charge you £50 for the privilege and still keeps a straight face. All sensible people that look on this website will know what I am talking about. I have heard these stories over and over again. This could be the reason for Blueline Taxis getting all the work. You are all complaining the Berwick Plates are taking away all your work but we can’t help it if Joe public are phoning private hire companies rather than getting into the famous hackney carriage which incidentally I also own a hackney carriage of my own so see both sides of the story. It is a bit different for those in Northumberland because if anything does go wrong with the Berwick plates I could go and get a private hire plate for my area within hours. Again everyone with a Berwick plate, if they were honest it is because it is very much cheaper, Councils should feel threatened and start to bring their costs down. Are you also aware that the GMB, the National Taxis Association are taking membership from Berwick Plated Taxis working in North Tyneside and Newcastle and accepting them as Hackney Carriages. Very strange! Obviously they must be willing to fight our corner as they are taking our money. If at sometime everyone does loose their Berwick Plates would that mean that everyone including the airport would lose their plates? Those boys could not replace their hackney plates to carry on working there or will they say the airport is private property. If that was the case I can’t wait to see Blueline Taxis sitting at Central Station with the contract signed and delivered by National Express. Could you imagine? Lets face it they do it at the ferry at North Shields. Anyway these are just my opinions I am no lawyer but there is a bigger can of worms to be opened than worrying about Berwick plates if everything is looked at in detail. We better all keep in with Ian Shanks because if he goes another 50 yrs we might have no choice other than to work for him. Incidentally I used to work for Blueline; unfortunately my own circumstances prevent me from working there now but have taxied for many years, as I have stated I just do not have a Berwick Plate. In my opion Blueline is an outstanding Company and very nice people.

Only sensible people to reply please after all we are only just stating our views.