GA wrote:
I have no problem with having more enforcement and I have no problem in paying for adequate enforcement ................... but I doubt that hundreds of enforcement officers would be required ..................... up here when 2 are out then the cowboys get themselves away home and the PH boys are very selective ................ multily that number by 10 and put them on shifts 24hrs a day and enforcement would not just be seen to be working it would be.
Down here if & when the enforcement are out, usually about a dozen times a year on a Friday night & some other sundry times day or night, about a dozen times again throughout the year, what happens is this. They chase PH away from one venue after they have formed a rank, so off PH go to another spot where their company has a ‘contract’. with the pub or club etc. As soon as enforcement move on to the next venue to shoo off PH, they are back to the first venue. And so on, & so on.
It’s a never ending problem & short of posting an enforcement officer outside every venue in the city & suburbs, enforcement will never win. The problem is just too massive. Every licensing committee meeting in Birmingham there are drivers on discipline after being to court and convicted. Here are just some links to the licensing committee agendas in Birmingham, for some months this year. Have a look at how many are being done each month & they are not even scratching the surface;
http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/democracy/ ... ID%3d32650http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/democracy/ ... ID%3d33541http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/democracy/ ... ID%3d34253http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/democracy/ ... ID%3d34812http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/democracy/ ... ID%3d35798The system we have at the moment is just NOT enforceable; it does not work.
One of the better ways, if you can call it that, is what Nottingham did in August 2006. They employed two new enforcement officers, but their terms of reference were that they would ONLY work nights, no day work for them. Perhaps other councils should follow this approach. We have asked our LO to consider it. After all ‘taxi’ work is 24/7/365 & the enforcement must at least match that if it is to have any chance of being successful.
I would imagine PH reading this are having a right chuckle.
GA wrote:
Nationally recognisable YES.
Nationally issued NO.
One size and design for all HC and a different size and design for PH.
One design for drivers badges for HC and a different design for PH.
After the IoL Taxi Reform Questionnaire, I have a feeling that they may be looking closely at what has happened in the Republic if Ireland in recent years. Over there they had 35 licensing areas around the country now they have one for the whole country, including Dublin. There is a subtle difference though. The fares are the same throughout the country, everywhere. The vehicles are licensed for the whole country (which makes sense; I’ll come back to that). The drivers though are only licensed for an area.
When the Irish government brought the new system in, they produced an 18 page booklet to explain to the nation why this had happened.
Taxis were licensed for the whole country for two reasons. Firstly, the taxis could be used on a 24 hour basis in the same or adjacent areas with two drivers licensed by the same or two different areas,. So, Patrick Fitzmichael could us it on days in Dublin & theoretically Michael Fitzpatrick could use it in Cork on nights. That allowed for maximum usage of the taxi. But, with the taxi being licensed for the whole country, the vehicle standard is identical for the whole country. Not a bad thing that, IMO.
I don’t know how they guard against drivers working in the wrong area, i.e. an area they are not licensed for.
GA wrote:
I don't understand how a argument for single tier can be put forward containing continued referance to PH. (generally .............. not specifically Brummie Cabbie)
If you want single tier then it would have to be WAV only ................ everything else suggested here is more complicated than the current system, more open to abuse and harder to enforce.
The IoL questionnaire mentioned colours and liveries in some questions to distinguish taxis from other vehicles. If you had taxis as BLACK ONLY and then added to that a NATIONALLY STANDARDISED LIVERY of the kind that Eurocabs have, thick yellow stripes on both sides with TAXI in yellow as well, then you could use WAVs, big saloons & big MPVs ALL BLACK & ALL WITH THE YELLOW LIVERY.
Not particularly MY cup of tea! But looking at it from the point of view, WILL IT WORK? ….. then perhaps it might. And it would be much more easily enforceable in a one tier system. BUT, if it comes to pass that a one tier system it is, then it better work, & work well.
And as for using saloons the size of a Toyota Avensis; try getting four 20 stone men in one of those & then tell me they will be travelling in comfort. No chance!