Would these cranky old men shut up!

[Mr. Shaw]

http://www.thelondondailynews.com/no-to-clause-34-but-yes-to-the-3rd-way-p-2546.html

by John Kennedy

What a week for the London taxi trade and what a week for Ltcpr, yes the London Local Authorities and Transport for London (no.2) Bill was up in front of the “opposed bill committee” of the house of Lords and maybe we have at last a glimmer of good news for it was made clear to the committee it is not the intention to license “pedicabs/cycle rickshaws” under section 6 of the “Metropolitan Public Carriage Act of 1869” now if this is to be the case they will not be deemed to be hackney carriages, however I think this may well be the end of any good news for now.

Westminster City Council and Transport for London intend to seek powers to allow them to enforce parking laws and moving traffic offences against the owners of the “pedicabs/rickshaws”, now again this seems a reasonable idea until you read the “uncorrected minutes” of this committee and realise because nobody from the taxi trade petitioned against this clause in the bill, none of the members of this committee heard evidence of rear wheel collapses, accidents, lack of impact protection from side, rear or head on and the complete disregard the riders of these objects have for the roads at present, nor the recent death in the USA which just happened to be on the front page of a edition of taxi newspaper recently.

It is the intention of Westminster City Council and Transport for London to introduce a voluntary scheme which they hope the owners of “pedicabs/rickshaws” will join, the issue of Criminal Record checks was discussed but the act in its present form does not deal with this issue and again it would appear that this could form part of the voluntary code the said authorities wish to set up. On a personal note due to the fact that this trade failed to petition against clause 34 I feel it necessary to say I shall do so and will be asking many of you to join me and support a petition to the house of Commons where this bill will be deposited soon after the proposed amendments have been agreed by all parties concerned and the “opposed bill committee” passes this legislation for a third reading in the house of Lords. Once the bill is deposited in the house of Commons we shall only have a window of ten days to petition Parliament.

We shall oppose this bill and here follow some of the grounds based around public safety ;

(1) The said objects know as “Pedicabs/cycle rickshaws” offer no impact protection from side, rear or head on ( transport research laboratory report commissioned by the LTDA.).

(2) That they offer no facility for disabled passengers and are unable to carry assistance dogs in a safe manner and therefore unable to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act.

(3) That “pedicabs/rickshaws” are not “green” and in fact hold up legitimate public transport and other road users and therefore negate any benefit they may be perceived to have over motorised transport providers and users.

(4) A voluntary code of conduct is unenforceable and workable for example, Transport for London and Westminster City Council fail to deal with the ongoing problem of mini-cab touting and illegally parked cars within the West End of London.

(5) No provision is made within the bill or clause 34 to deal with those operators who do not sign up to voluntary scheme and therefore this clause is impractical and unworkable.

Now I’m sure after the trade organisations see what is going to be proposed they too will petition parliament and say “No to Clause 34” but it will be interesting what sort of reaction we see from our relevant trade bodies and maybe even the new RMT taxi branch. But to sit back and remain silent will only give the impression to members of both houses of parliament that we don’t mind what is being proposed.

I do though believe there is a way forward with this problem, a third way ( not third world ) because maybe if these objects or “pedicabs/cycle rickshaws” were taken off the public highway and placed in a confined area which had easily recognisable boundaries they could provide a service to some people in a safer environment where the chance of impact or serious accident would be greatly reduced. This area in central London could consist of the Royal Parks of Hyde, Regent’s, St James’s and Green, out of these four parks only Hyde as a significant amount of traffic however a pretty decent and wide cycle track is provided.

For the 3rd Way to progress clause 34 of this bill will need to fail or be withdrawn, for this to happen we need to persuade our politicians that to place unsafe objects on the public highway makes a mockery of all the laws they pass to ensure people are not injured or ultimately die on the public highways of this nation.

“No to Clause 34 but Yes to the 3rd Way”.



John Kennedy Ltcpr...

[Mr. Shaw]

Grasping at straws?

by John Kennedy, black cabbie and founder of LTCPR

Yes you and I have made it to April and after one of the worst kipper seasons to date we are well and truly in a recession but like all bad periods in history we are closer to the end. Spring is upon us and with that the soon to be held Chelsea flower show, followed by Queens club and then Wimbledon and let us not forget the Cricket season and the boost to local economies that test match and the twenty twenty version of the game will bring.

But what of the trade have we moved forward this year, well I think we have because many of you have joined LTCPR and others have joined in and campaigned by emailing those in authority and those who negotiate on your behalf. For we have sat on our laurels and in the better days of London’s economy ignored problems that have mushroomed out of control and look where it has left us, up a dead end street with a rank in the wrong position.

We though via the internet have set about a modern revolution where those in authority will be asked to account for their actions or lack of action, where you and I have the power to type and send a question or complaint and expect a reasonable answer within a reasonable amount of time. For the days of been kept in the dark by others are well and truly over, something that all trade organisations would be minded to realise and wake up to.

Let us though take stock of the year so far, the clipboard operator and the illegal ranks of mini-cabs still operate without fear of the slightest bit of action by those in authority. Yet it was reported in taxi newspaper that “all” present at a trade summit agreed that the Police and the Licensing Authority possess the necessary resource to deal with the issues debated.... the meeting was held on the 26th March it is now the 9th of April and only last night clipboard operators were outside Movidas on the pavement in Argyll Street W1 with plenty of illegally ranked mini-cabs.

It seems the director of taxi-cabs and mini-cabs would rather congratulate a trade organisation for producing a DVD than listen to the legitimate complaints which have hit his desk or inbox via email from hard working self employed taxi-cab drivers. The DVD may well be a great watch but the licensing authority already knows what is going on out on the streets and roads of the capital at night. Mr Thompson goes on to tell us that the DVD really brings home the problems we face on a nightly basis. I’m off to buy a video camera maybe you should too and send your DVD’s to our director at the PCO it seems he likes a good movie.

However we need to ask who within transport for London thought it would be a good idea to place mini-cab offices inside nightclubs, bars and hotels?

Who at transport for London believes a PCO notice sent via email will be taken notice of by operators who are touting on the pavement outside various venues?

Why is the trade’s representative on the board of transport for London failing to bring matters to the attention of the Mayor of London?

On the issue of the pedicabs and licensing again Bob Oddy of the LTDA was right to point out that the amended version of the London Local Authorities and Transport for London (no.2) bill does deal with parking and moving traffic offences in relation to pedicabs, however he failed to mention that Westminster City Council wish to create up to 30 bays with the facility to allow up to 50 pedicabs to park (should I utter the work rank) within the west end of London. You should also note laws exist that allow the Police to deal with pedicabs now for it is certainly illegal for a bike to park on or ride on the pavement. So we should ask ourselves why parliamentary time should be wasted on a voluntary scheme that will do nothing to improve the safety of passengers on these death traps but merely give the impression to members of the public that these pedicabs have been approved by somebody in authority.

I have said it publically before and I shall say it again, we at LTCPR shall petition against a voluntary registration scheme for pedicabs and we shall campaign for them to be confined to the Royal Parks and banned from the public highway. The opposed bill committee of the House of Lords have produced a report we shall await its publication and note when a third reading of this bill will take place. I though in the meantime would urge you all to contact your MP once again and remind them of your opposition to this daft and dangerous piece of ill thought out legislation.

You should note if this bill receives a third reading and is then deposited with the house of commons we shall have a ten day window where we can petition against clause 34, if you are a member of the LTDA, LCDC, Unite/TGWU and the RMT you should contact your association or union and ask them if they are to petition against these death traps receiving ranks, sorry parking bays and a form of back licensing by the issue of a meaningless plate.

To all of you fellow drivers and our loyal passengers may I take this opportunity to wish you all a happy Easter, for this trade has had its foundations rocked over the last ten months but we have started the slow road to recovery, we shall build better foundations and slowly but surely repair the damage done by others to the best taxi-cab service in the world. We have a voice, we have the knowledge and we certainly have the intelligence to set our trade on a much better course, one where the passenger and driver come first and with that links with mini-cabs can be broken knowing full well we have nothing to gain by handing our work to private hire other than our own demise.

The future is bright and we shall prevail and prosper