UNITE VIEWPOINT ‘GIZZA JOB’


Once again we welcome a thought-provoking contribu- tion from Sean Ridley of Unite the Union:


As someone once said, here we go again...


I take the title of this month’s article from the early 80’s and Alan Bleasdale’s gritty, quintessentially British TV drama, ’Boys from the Blackstuff’ (ask your Mum).


As we negotiate the lumps and bumps of the ‘Kipper Season’ with the associated sea- sonal dip in trade, sadly this year in a lot of areas it seems to have represented a (hope- fully temporary) complete crash or slowdown of the whole local economy.


We also have the added irritants of ‘Dry Jan- uary’, ‘Veganuary’ and to be patently honest, all sorts of other man-made pap that I don’t completely understand, but which seems to dent our financial income all the same.


In the case of ‘Dry January’ and against the backdrop of one of the worst Christmas periods in living history, I do think that some of the public have a wee bit of a hard neck, as it’s not as if some of them actually indulged in “Wet December”, is it?!


We as a trade nationally are currently in the midst of what can best be described as a ‘perfect storm’ of adverse factors facing us, from the flooding of the local taxi/PHV mar- ket by Uber and other app based disrupters (there are other terms), to the unseasonal crash in takings. To say that most drivers are ‘up against it’ would perhaps be the under- statement of the century.


All that having been said, and as I touched upon in my last column, we are increasingly expected by our local authority de facto ‘gang masters’ to engage in a raft of extra unpaid work!


We are expected to be unpaid police officers, social workers and even in some cases pseu- do babysitters. I’ll say it another way: we used to be charged with the safety of the general public – these days we seem to be routinely held responsible for it, even if it’s not our job.


As already articulated, we as a trade in most areas are struggling to stay afloat financially without local authorities and a slack handful of other multi agencies adding to our con- cerns and responsibilities. I was at a council meeting recently where the local trade was told to be on the lookout for evidence of


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‘harmful relationships’ or domestic abuse and were made aware in no uncertain terms of their responsibility to report the same.


My question here is perhaps extremely sim- plistic: How many other responsibilities can be devolved to the cab trade, and how many other responsibilities must the cab trade take on without any financial reward for the extra workload?


At the tender age of my early 50’s, I do not consider myself old. But I do recall a time when we had a fully functioning social infrastructure in this country; some would call it a civilised society. A time when every- one took responsibility for their individual job(s), without attempting to devolve, offload or shirk any of their responsibilities to others!!! I also recall calling 999 and receiving a police car, ambulance or fire engine within four or five minutes of my call, should the need have arisen.


Did I blink and miss something here? When did the UK dishevel into being a third world country??? But perhaps much more impor- tantly, when did the local cab trade become the ‘go-to’ stabiliser for public resources and services?


When did the cab trade become responsible for bridging the gap(s) in many of the multi- agency failures or inabilities through lack of resources or just downright incompetence? If you think I’m being harsh here, merely examine recent history.


Sadly connected to this, there is also current- ly the truly shocking news story from Greater Manchester, chronicling a catastrophic failure in public services and the licensing regime, to protect vulnerable children in their care both through the shortcomings of the local authority and the police. Some would go fur- ther and call it a dereliction of duty! Although Greater Manchester is currently in the spotlight, this is in no way a problem con- fined to them, or their area!


However, no one is ever held responsible, except of course the cab trade in each and every area! My question is: Why are people


not facing charges of ‘misconduct in a pub- lic office’? Where is the accountability?


Instead of authorities accepting that their conduct and management fell, and time and again falls, well short of what they should be doing and are required to do to protect and support victims - and perhaps more impor- tantly to prevent incidents - time and again, they merely attempt to shirk their responsi- bilities.


Worryingly, this is not ancient history. These failures are recent!!!


What will the cab trade be required to do next: recover stolen bicycles? Arrest shoplifters?? The list could be endless!


At a time when we as a trade are arguably facing the biggest threats to our very sur- vival and in many respects, some would say we are wading through the wreckage of our trade, we need to be allowed to earn a living without inheriting the responsibilities of other “agencies” because they cannot - or choose not to – do their job!!!


To the local authorities and public bodies, some of whom are indeed guilty of these failures in their service, I give the following advice:


should do your job for you, then here’s your ‘NEWSFLASH!’


We don’t need further responsibilities; we already do all of the above, we do it and have done on a daily and nightly basis for many, many, years. All you actively demon- strate to me by thinking otherwise is your abject non-understanding of this industry.


The cab trade in every area is both your friend and your eyes and ears. We happily and regularly report incidents and our con- cerns; the problem is that many public bodies at times choose and have chosen to ignore our reports. I think you’ll find that the history on this speaks for itself.


All you will achieve by continuing to over- burden the cab trade with extraneous responsibilities is to alienate them and make them more inclined to say: Do you know what, we’re not interested!


In short, perhaps you should leave us to drive the cabs and you concentrate on your own job(s)… if only!!! QED.


Drive Carefully.


Article supplied by: Sean Ridley Secretary Unite the Union South East Region (Cab Section)


Sean.Ridley@unitetheunion.org FEBRUARY 2020


If you think that the cab trade


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