Andy Peters Brighton & Hove Cab Trade Association info@bhcta.co.uk www.bhcta.co.uk


LOWEST OF THE LOW


You know that being a cab driver you are regarded as the lowest of the low. And not only that, you must know your place in society.


Despite this, as a cab driver you have to (normally) go through ‘hoops and troughs’ to attain your badge and even revisit some of those hoops and troughs in order to keep your badge.


Now I wouldn’t compare what we do with that of the skilled hands of a surgeon, however, at times we have multiple lives in our hands travelling up to 70 miles per hour whilst looking out for idiots doing 80 miles per hour - so we are in fact professional drivers, but we are still the lowest of the low…. to some people.


Why do I say this? Well, have a look at the unbelievable way that a Brighton & Hove taxi driver was treated one evening: tinyurl.com/driver-abuse1


Please be warned that if you have delicate ears or are of a sensitive disposition then do not watch the video.


What happened was that the driver picked up a young ‘lady’ from a rank and trouble started straight away. Now although all locally licensed vehicles here have local council controlled CCTV (not the Uber out-of-town ones) the driver had the good sense to use his mobile phone to record what was about to happen. This is because if the police were called, he would not have immediate access to the recording,


and in any case anything that 72


happened outside the vehicle would probably not be captured.


If you have watched the video, you will appreciate how much trouble that young ‘lady’ could have caused the driver and what passers-by would have thought, or even worse, how they could have reacted against the driver.


I specifically removed the identification of the driver and the young ‘lady’, but to be honest, I would have really liked to have shown who this person was to shame her as it can only be assumed that she was on something with the appalling way in which she behaved.


But here is the rub. Was she a ‘vulnerable’ person?


This is because we are all now told to look out for vulnerable people….but do people look out for vulnerable taxi drivers?


DRIVER PRAISED


So here we have a better story in which a local professional driver was praised for his speedy actions.


A Streamline driver was quick-witted enough to spot a potential safeguarding issue on his school run. He immediately reported this to the school and to the Streamline Admin department, resulting in swift action being taken by the councils ‘Home To


School Transport’


safeguarding team. HTST stated how impressed both they and the school were with the driver and his prompt actions.


So well done to that driver. MARCH 2023 PHTM


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