ON YOUR BEHALF
which is why, as quoted on Sky News last week by an epidemiologist, “most other countries in the world have made it a mandatory requirement that everyone should where these when in crowded places.”
STILL NOT ENOUGH, I HEAR YOU SAY?
Ok, so we scoured the Facebook groups, WhatsApp groups, Ebay, YouTube and various other sources to see what else could be done to protect our members, and more importantly, boost public confidence in using your vehicles. The obvious answer was a protective screen or “sneeze guard”. After all, we could see them being erected in every other walk of life: corner shops, buses, supermarkets, post offices, even all the news feeds showed NHS staff wearing a plastic screen over the top of their FFP2 face masks.
Makes sense, right? Black cabs and purpose- built hackneys already have them as standard, so why not for private hire and hackney saloons?
We saw some seriously dangerous examples: some using cling film, some using shrink wrap, some using gaffer tape to hold what can only be identified as a shower curtain; or tubing them up and using garden cane or plumber’s plastic pipe to simply wedge a sheet of plastic in place. The only thing that goes through our minds when we see something like that is as many have said openly on the forums “the council will never allow that, you can’t see through it, the insurance would be invalid” and many other valid observations.
So we had to source one that is fit for purpose, and there are a select few out there, they are not all bad, but we have decided that one excels above the others. There is a separate article on this in this month’s PHTM so again, I won’t go into too much detail right now. suffice to say, they are a sneeze guard or spit guard, not an airtight seal, because there is no evidence to suggest that an airtight seal is necessary. Indeed all of the aforementioned examples (shops, nurses, etc) are exactly the same, merely a moisture shield.
The NPHTA has written to every licensing authority in England, Scotland and Wales on the issue of protection screens; you will find our letter in this edition. We have made it clear that the NPHTA and PHTM are campaigning for driver protection in every way possible during this lockdown and well afterwards, as the after-effects won’t go away for a long time. We are asking for reason, sensitivity and care to be taken over every council’s decision whether or not to
MAY 2020
sanction the use of properly manufactured, tested and risk-assessed protection screens in their licensed vehicles.
THAT STILL ISN’T ENOUGH?
Ok, we already had a Facebook page, we have now expanded that to a more community based group which is much more user friendly and easier to communicate with like minded members, spread the word, share links, upload files, videos and all other weird and wonderful things.
www.facebook.com/groups/2111283035518 77/?ref=bookmarks come and join us.
We have written to the head of licensing at TfL and reassured them that since the seats in private hire vehicles are invariably made of cloth or other absorbent materials, and the virus is being spread through moisture droplets, then by the very definition of the word “absorbent” common sense would dictate that they are safe to be used. This is with the proviso of course that other protective measures were taken, including cleaning door handles and other hard surfaces as shown in all the bulletins; wearing masks where possible; and of course following government guidance where possible by asking passengers to sit in the back, preferably on opposite side of the car from the driver.
We simply have to be seen to be supportive of members who - for whatever reason they have - must work. We are of course just as supportive of those who have decided not to work, for health reasons, or confidence reasons. Let’s be honest here, no one needs to justify themselves to us or anyone else. I say that in response to the sheer volume of attacks and counter attacks all over Facebook to those who have chosen one way or the other. Surely it is not a good thing right now to be attacking each other; now more than ever is the time to be supportive.
WORKING TOGETHER THAT’S STILL NOT ENOUGH?
We are extremely pleased to be able to announce that whilst all of this is going on, we have secured partnerships and strengthened relationships with many organisations including Taxi Defence Barristers and Dennings LLP Solicitors who are offering discounts to members for any legal representation.
We have also been working with the likes of Unite the Union, GMB, UPHD, Institute of Licensing, National Taxi Association and many others in order to reinforce a strong voice for the trade and devise a combined
OK OK, we also wrote into DEFRA (in fact that one was sent to various sources including CVRAS, TfL and others) asking them to defer the introduction of any CAZ charging zones. This has now been deferred to early January 2021; I know that was a significant step in the right direction, and in the grand scheme of things it is a way to obtain a little more time to negotiate further.
Continued on page 38 37
and supportive approach. Long may this approach continue. Yes, we don’t always see eye to eye; we may disagree on topics, we may have differing approaches and opinions sometimes, but the key factor is, we work together for the trade as a whole, and are a stronger voice together!!
STILL NOT ENOUGH?? YOU GUYS ARE DEMANDING!!
We contacted most finance companies as an Association to try to get reassurances from them that payment breaks would be offered to those of you with cars on finance. This included Toyota Finance,
Black Horse
Finance, Mercedes Finance, Vauxhall and many others. Some, in fact most, were extremely obliging and understanding (although being on hold on the phone for so long was a nightmare, which is why we did it for you).
WHAT?? MORE
Ok, you see we don’t stop… we have done BBC news interviews; we have written into Sky News and other media outlets to put our points and concerns across. Oddly enough, within three days of sending these in, there were lots of other reports from campaigners for small businesses and the self-employed, including the national Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses, and several interviews all pretty much saying the same things we were saying, the focus being on the “cracks in the support offered” being as big as the Grand Canyon.
On top of that, we keep lobbying MPs in order to get our issues raised in Parliamentary Question Time, as you will have heard repeatedly if you have been watching PQT, where several references were made to the taxi and private hire trade. The NPHTA might not get a direct mention, but let’s be honest, we don’t need recognition, we don’t need glory, we just need results.
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