GMB PERSPECTIVE
Forget the Task & Finish AB/BA recom- mendation because it would never have worked and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Taxis is now a dead duck.
Read the May 2019 issue of PHTM which I devoted to and wrote in detail about the merit of having an obligatory ‘IUP’. The only real objection for this would be from the likes of Wolverhampton - can you imagine 11,000 Wolverhampton PHVs being threatened with revocation of the licence for predominantly working outside of the licensing area! No of course not! But with an obligatory ‘IUP’ in place Wolver- hampton Licensing would be compelled to ensure that those 11,000 drivers stayed in Wolverhampton!
I say to the DfT: ‘Shame on you!’ Shame on you for not addressing the major chaos of the abuse of cross-border hir- ing! ‘Shame on you!’ ‘Shame on you!’ It is very clear that the interest of a global company is far more important than that of local licensing control. If this is not the case then immediately update the ‘Statu- tory Taxi & Private Hire Vehicle Standards’ to address the cross-border hiring abuse!
COUNCIL LAND GRABBING UNDER ‘EXPERIMENTAL TRAFFIC ORDERS’
Has your area undergone ‘land grabbing’ under the guise of ‘social distancing mea- sures’?
Well down here Experimental Traffic Orders ‘ETOs’ for road/traffic changes have been flying out of the town hall like bats leaving the belfry. OK slight exagger- ation but you get the point.
The trouble with an ‘ETO’ is that it can be implemented without any consultation as opposed to a standard ‘TRO’. An ‘ETO’ will be looked at in six months time to see if people like it and more than likely even if they don’t like it then it will still be kept in place. This is in effect implementing desired changes by stealth.
I won’t go into a lot of detail but here in the city the council has had a major push for cycles lanes. This has been done under what I consider to be totally illogical rea- sons under Covid-19 and social distancing. But as I stated this land grabbing is via ‘stealth’.
Cycle lanes are good in the right places but we have a council which seems to be hell bent on ‘social engineering’ which by any other description means: ‘Get out of yer car and on yer bike... like it or lump it!’
AUGUST 2020
Well of course this has caused the great division between cyclists and motorists. Now I have to state, and I am pleased to say that I have a balanced perception on cycle lanes because not only am I a motorist but I am also a cyclist. I am also a pedestrian wherever possible. So I feel I can look at all sides.
However some of these so called ‘ETOs’ that have been implemented, pretty much over night, have reduced two lane traffic into single lane traffic, and especially on a main arterial route through the city that has caused utter chaos! The council may think it has done a good job but in reality this has caused major congestion in cer- tain stretches of the road and of course this increases pollution for those poor peo- ple living nearby.
We have also had a lot ‘land grabbing’ of parking bays and we even lost a taxi rank overnight... more on this further down. Again this is all under so called ‘social dis- tancing’ to widen the pavements to keep people apart. Well to a certain extent we can understand this and indeed local coun- cils have been given millions by the government to do this, and of course it is only an ‘experiment’ after all. Isn’t it?
But the big question is what money will be paid to local councils to end these ‘experi- ments’? Believe me when I say these experimental measures are here to stay under land grabbing by stealth.
So, under an ‘ETO’ we lost a taxi rank overnight right next to a supermarket. Well I was on to it straight away stamping my feet and threatening to be sick every- where! However the outcome of this was that I was invited to a special Skype meet- ing by Head of Traffic Management with whom I have conversed several times before and is quite a nice bloke and I have to say there was an apology that we were not alerted to the removal of the rank (which of course I graciously accepted on behalf of the trade) but the outcome has slightly gone in our favour....
Just around the corner in a busy area in Grand Parade there has been a blatant OOT Uber rank which has annoyed the trade for the last two years. Well that is where we are going to have an official taxi rank. So those Uber OOTS can buzz off and sit elsewhere, preferably back in Southampton, Portsmouth, Havant, Chich- ester.... and of course Lewes!
BILKING
I had a rather disturbing phone call from one of the owners of a cab company here
who told me that there has been a big increase in the amount of drivers that are being bilked. We all know that sadly this comes with the job from time to time but the issue here is the apparent lack of inter- est by the police. Every couple of years or so this comes up at the local Taxi Trade Forum and we get promises of action being taken. But as per usual people come and people go and the offence of bilking is quickly forgotten. At one point the council issued a window sticker to the trade with the council and East Sussex Police logos clearly stating that making off without paying is an offence.
I have been told by drivers who have recently been bilked that they were informed that chasing after a non-paying £10 job is not worth the time of the police.
Well I challenge that because it is usually that little scrote that does this who is typ- ically involved in some other criminal activity. Additionally the local taxi trade is generally the first to be called when look- ing out for little old ladies who have escaped their nursing homes and at the worst to look out for lost children. So that ‘Yin and Yang’ comes up again.
Nonetheless I will be making contact with Sussex Police to take this matter further.
THANKS JACKIE
Lastly, here in the city there has been a political turnaround. Where it has previous- ly been Labour-run, the Greens now have overall control. This sadly means that the Licensing Chair Councillor Jackie O’Quinn, who has been in that position since 2016, now has to stand down from that job.
I would like to thank Jackie for her time and interest in the local taxi/private hire trade and who has made every effort to understand how it all works and accepted all the quirks and characters that we are.
Jackie took over the role as Licensing Chair knowing very little about it but soon became very conversant with all the issues. However I am pleased to say that Jackie will still remain on the Licensing Commit- tee in the position of opposition.
We look forward to working with the new Licensing Chair, Councillor Lizzie Deane, who is very experienced herself with taxi/private hire licensing matters.
Andy Peters Secretary GMB Brighton & Hove Taxi Section
andy.peters@
gmbtaxis.org.uk
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