I did the best I could with the mopping up and managed to lift the carpet to put paper underneath whilst I soaked and mopped it up several times. Of course Dan couldn’t continue working so that was a shorter shift for him. I left it overnight covered with a load of baking soda to soak up what remained.
I called the office and told them not to send a car to that hotel in that woman’s name and was told that another driver had an issue with a woman earlier that day who had urinated in another cab with the driver having a major issue. It appears it was the same woman.
My Easter Monday started with going through the whole rigmarole again and again, but I could not get rid of the stench. The only product I had was the old time mum’s favourite, ‘kill or cure all’, Jeyes Fluid. If you don’t know what that is then I can assure you that once you’ve had a whiff of it you will never forget it - it’s very recognisable! It actually smells quite nice but if you are asthmatic like me, it can take your breath away. However, I thought that it could not be worse than what was in the car and went over the carpet several times with some diluted solution.
It actually worked quite well, although I had to leave the windows open for a few hours, and of course I could not work the cab. The leather seats were given a good clean several times, although not with the Jeyes Fluid in case it caused damage, and it eventually lost that pungent smell. So that’s a tip for you, get a bottle of Jeyes Fluid just in case!
I have to say that the police were good and called Dan the next day as a follow up and also provided a reference number, and it’s presumed the woman got home safe and sound….bless her.
LOW TRAFFIC NEIGHBOURHOODS
LTNs seem to be the pet projects of a lot of councils and the Green-controlled council here is no different....bless them. Having come up with an LTN scheme for a certain section of the city I do have to give them credit for actually consulting with us, although it was just me and another rep on a Teams meeting.
From looking at the plans it was immediately obvious that it had flaws and would cause major
PHTM MAY 2023
issues with traffic having to be directed around the LTN zone with so much limited access. Why it is not blinking obvious to planners and councillors that if you close traffic off in one road it means you triple the traffic in another!
We also raised the issue of higher fares and not being able to safely drop off lone women right on their door steps. Effectively a retrograde step for the Utopia Dream.
Moving on several months, we were presented with a revised plan ahead of others including the residents of the intended LTN zone, and could see that this draft had a lot of changes, but there were still far too much restrictions. Of course, this was obviously the whole plan from the very start with the ultimate goal to get people to get rid of their cars.
It’s called ‘Social Engineering’ - remember that phase and feel free to use it.
However, what evolved was a backlash from people living in these proposed LTNs and a public protest. Although there were residents who were in favour, they were probably not car owners. Not only that but there is also now a split between the parties here, with the once aligned Greens and Reds who worked together to battle the Blues now battling amongst themselves. It’s a real colourful time at the moment with accusations being fired against each other like warships at sea with cannons blasting away! Such is the split that the Reds have at least caused a delay in the LTN plans if not a very
likely complete abandonment at the time of writing this.
In my mind I strongly suspect that this has all happened because of the looming local elections where councillors know that the voters are closely watching their every move.
And talking about the local elections, well, here we go again with new councillors coming in and the possibility of trade friendly councillors moving on so all the training we give them has to be repeated with the newbies to get them up to speed…
..providing they are willing.
Lastly, I would like to give my personal thanks to Green Councillor, Lizzie Deane, who has worked extremely well with the trade and with empathy over the years. Up until recently she was the Chair of Licensing and ensured that a fare review was passed not that long ago.
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