It may not always seem that our Licensing officers here in North Tyneside do very much for their wages but I am in a position to say that they give us a little bit more value for money than the Licensing section in neighboring Newcastle-u-Tyne.
There have been several operations of late by Licensing and prosecutions,warning letters and such abound. I am unable to go into detail as it is ‘ TOP SECRET ‘ and my legal adviser ‘SC’ is probably right and I should keep my mouth shut sometimes,not that I give a shit you understand, but for the sake of my dwindling fortune I will try hard not to get sued. Suffice it to say at last the Hackney trade here is getting a bit of attention. I will reserve judgement as the idea of parking fines has not yet filtered through to NT and I am fully prepared to be down their throats as soon as honest,hard working hacks start to get tickets for over ranking, double parking etc.
Wellington street rank got some attention today ,Sat 07 Feb 09, as Enforcement checked vehicles and badges at that location. A pretendy Copper stayed for a while to advise that this street was not open to private cars and to make sure that only NT Hackney Carriages used the Rank. There wouldn’t be any problems as within minutes the news was broadcast over every Data Head from here to Bangkok but never mind at least they are trying and getting a bit of overtime in which will no doubt ease the pressures of the recession on their salaries. Keep up the good work and don’t allow yourselves to become Tax collectors like your brethren in Newcastle.
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
legal adviser? is this a paying roll
Well done NTC, nice to see some action, maybe my FOI request has highlighted how little has been done over the past few months
@SC,
you get the same rate as me mate.
@Admin,
why does everyone seem to want to have a go at I.S.? love him or hate him thats if you even know him but all he is doing is running a business and by the looks of it he does a good job!
@confuseddotcom, IS has single handedley f”"cked the taxi trade in newcastle. He has made it easy for clueless numpties to enter the taxi trade.When i first started you had to take some sort of test to show you hade a vague idea of where you were going but now you can come from timbucktoo and get a start at blueline.Fair enough he has a very sucessfull buisiness but i would like to know what he is trying to proove.
@derwentside hack, fair enough, you will know better than i do, i just say a sticker on a cab and thought, mmmmm whats that all about?
ive gotta say though there seems a lot of squabbling between yourselves going on, it seems to be quite an aggressive site
@derwentside hack, if you’re a Derwentside hack, what’s it to you what you claim Ian Shanks has done to the Newcastle taxi trade? Maybe by offering good service at a good price, Blue Line has rasied the bar?
@derwentside hack,
i have not brought my business to Derwentside where it seems your plated so what problem have i caused you for you to be concerned ?
or are you a hypocrite by plating Derwentside and working else where
@ian shanks, Have you brought your buisiness to Berwick ?
Derwentsdie Hack ! answer the question i possed to you !
@ian shanks, Yes mr shanks i am licenced through derwentside but i also have a nort tyneside private hire badge and would have no problem obtaining a newcastle hack or private hire badge via a locality test.Now can you return the compliment?
@derwentside hack,
no i don’t have office in Berwick as you well know, but then again do i need to ??? I guess you are working outside the area of Derwentside are you not ???
why do you choose to plate yourself as a Derwentside car,if you have a North Tyneside badge and could get a Newcastle etc etc are you not being a bit of a hypocrite ?????
@ian shanks, Mr shanks i plate my car at derwentside so i can ply for hire in my licencing authority and you and your berwick fleet do the same? Are you not being a hypocrite?
Apoligies for being ignorant if so!, but is there a Newcastle Licensed Blueline Office owned by Ian Shanks??, if there is, that should end some animosity between the Toon Lads and BLT, because BLT can take on NC Private Hire.
To be honest I have’nt read some or all of the threads properly, so I am just asking?
Regards
Stephen
@Stephen (FKA Central Enth.), It’s not Shanksys company it’s a Toon firm renamed Blueline Newcastle probly to get Ian Shanks Back up.
@Bobsa, more like they want to try and get work off the success and hard work of Ian shanks and his family
@SC,
There is a Blueline Taxi firm in Hereford with 50 Cars and one in Liverpool, errr one in Barnsley and one in Leeds also!, that’s just North, so I think “Blueline” as a name is not unique.
There is three Central firms in this area alone, Gateshead, Newcastle and North Shields.
Regards
Stephen
PS Can anyone remember that “name war” up here between two Chippy’s, there was Harry Ramsdens and a asian lad wanting to call his shop after himself Harry Ramaden.
@SC,
dont worry about it to much its in hand !!!
@Stephen, I am well aware that “blue line” is a popular name for a taxi company, I am also aware of companys having the same name (I used to own a company that had a name used by a few other company’s around the country. It be comes an issue when the new company infringes on the other company’s identity i.e. Logo’s,slogans,signs etc. Any body can go to Companies House and register a company name and put an extra bit on in brackets i.e. Blueline taxis (newcastle) and start trading. I knew a guy that start a company call Virgin formations LTD, with in days he had Richard Branson’s legal team on him, but as he did not try to claim to be the brand Virgin, they couldn’t do anything, in the end they bought the company name off him.
Btw, Companies House currently has 40 company’s registered with Blue line in their name and 11 Central taxis
@SC,
Is this new Blueline Newcastle going to charge your rates???, because those Toon Offices like high Rates, and I can’t see that changing, so I don’t think you Guys will be affected.
You Know what our Customers are like at the “NT Big Three”, they nearly want the Taxi for nowt, so they will soon notice a difference in fares.
One of my regulars that I know once jumped in a Central (Newcastle) by mistake, and he charged her £24.00 back to Whitley bay, opposed to our £11 set fare!
@SC,
to clear things up Mr Mckenchnie can not do what he has tried to do, and he is now in posession of a high court injuction for whats known as “passing off”
lets not worry about it anymore !! but thank you for being concerned in the mean time.
@ian shanks, good to hear
@SC,
sorry i could not announce it earlier but legal reasons, you know !!!
@ian shanks, Now it is in the hands of the courts I think you have made a big mistake by announcing it on here. What is wrong with him calling himself Blueline Newcastle? After all he trades in Newcastle with a Newcastle upon tyne operators licence, you trade as Blueline Taxis and operate in Wallsend, North tyneside with a North tyneside operators licence.
Are you now going to spit your dummy out and take out injunctions against all of the other Taxi firms in england who use the name Blueline?
If not then why are you singling out Mr Mckenchnie?
Good luck Mr Mckenchnie, you have a lot of support from your fellow operators and Newcastle hack drivers over this matter.
i would just like to send my good luck messages to mr. Mckenchnie,
i hope he fights this case and wins, and then maybe mr. shanks will know how the NT Hacks & PH, N/cle Hacks & PH feel about ‘passing off’ cause we all know about that dont we?
@andy warhol, don’t worry, mr shanks has a long long history of losing court cases, and dummies!
@daveyspants,
which court cases your referring to ?
lost in high courts 2001 with private hire
won the following year back in high courts with Hackney carriage.
and as far as the Newcastle V Berwick which was not my case but i was a interested party. you could say is still niether won nor lost !!
so what you on about exactly !!