how we all laughed when they claimed that. Recently, some bright Green was quoted as recommending that the residents should be proactive and get their trowels and remove weeds themselves. I actually do this outside my home but I would not expect ninety-year-old Mrs Jones next door to do the same thing.
not properly shut the boot, because without being shut properly the lights don’t work. I stormed back and very calmly asked them to correct their mistake, which they did. Annoyingly it now shows up as a fail online which is not very fair as this was the fault of the compliance test centre.
Great, so all legal now and with the car deep cleaned and polished it’s all set for a Licensing Officer to admire it and give it another year’s licence in two days’ time. However, I get a phone call from my driver the next day on his first day back at work. He had reversed into a van damaging the corner rear bumper that I had brilliantly repaired and also denting a van. I couldn’t complain having recently smashed the rear window but with only one day to go to get the new licence I had to spring into action. So, for the second time within a few days, I had to repair the rear bumper yet again.. and in the dark as well. It wasn’t as good as the first repair but Licensing didn’t notice and I finally got the new licence issued - which brings me onto the next subject.
POTHOLE CITY
The city is run by the Greens, and good for them, although several are stepping down this year to be replaced by fresh Greens, and you always need fresh greens as my mum would say.
Due to very high moral standards of the Greens they no longer allow certain pesticides to be used to keep the street weeds in check. The have also named this as ‘Rewilding’ which probably was used when they also got together to discuss nuclear disarmament at an official council meeting instead of concentrating on local issues. This has resulted in weeds taking over the pavements that resemble an outback bush- like state which damages the integrity of the surfaces. Brexit was partially blamed on this and
PHTM APRIL 2023
However, such neglect is not restricted to weeds but the roads as well which are in a terrible state with a considerable number of deep potholes throughout the city which the council has a duty to repair but has decided to disregard. Maybe they think these are self- healing but praise where praise is due as they haven’t blamed Brexit for this.
Where am I going with this? Well, having got the cab back on the road I then soon lost two relatively new tyres due to the council’s neglect regarding potholes and I am now in the process of claiming for these. You have to provide several documents and even proof of when the vehicle was last serviced, so having provided these I am currently waiting for a response. The point being that the council fully expects the local cab trade to have vehicles that are maintained to a high standard, and quite rightly so. But it goes both ways and we expect the council to also have the same expected high standards for the roads that we use.
I can honestly say without exaggeration that there are roads here which are like driving on cobble stones that shake and bump the cab so much that you feel like grabbing councillors and giving them jack-hammers and a barrow load of tarmac to repair them themselves. Having lost those two tyres, and no doubt my
colleagues will suffer further
unnecessary wear and tear for the councils neglect, I have now got an online local petition going. This is not restricted to local residents and the roads are open to all. So, if you fancy lending a hand then please feel free to sign it, because if there are 1,200 supporters the council has to put this on the agenda at a full council meeting:
https://chng.it/gmDnTW2kGR
But importantly, if you are driving your cabs on badly maintained roads then you should do the same for your area.
So after a month of a smashed window, a busted rear bumper and the loss of two tyres I am hoping for a long, smooth period of just boring taxi driving.
73
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90
