Taxi Driver Online

FROM: Jim Taylor

TO: The Chief Constable
Lothians and Borders Police
Headquarters, East Fettes Avenue, Edinburgh

23rd August 2012

Dear Chief Constable

Re:- Officer 11123

I am a taxi driver and refer to an incident involving this officer and myself at 7.22pm tonight at the rear of the temporary taxi rank at the Pleasance Theatre Courtyard in the Pleasance.

Throughout the incident the officer was overbearing, arrogant and intimidating.

In order to disengage my passengers, I pulled past the zig zag lines of the pedestrian crossing and onto the single yellow line and stopped my meter. I was at the rear of the rank, which had a taxi at its head and room for three further vehicles between my vehicle and it.

My passengers had divested themselves of the security of their seat belts and were reaching for the cash to make payment of the fare. One passenger had risen from his seat in order to do this.

I was approached by the officer and commanded to move forward. I explained that I was dropping off. The officer ignored this and commanded me to move forward again. Thinking he had obviously misunderstood I reiterated that I was dropping off.

The officer, clearly in a fit of pique, then walked to the front of my taxi and began recording its details. Returning to my open near side front window he then demanded my name, saying that I could expect a letter from licensing. I gave him my badge from around my neck and he recorded my details. I advised him that I would be making formal complaint.

Meanwhile, my passengers paid me and exited, the comment made to me that the incident was “appalling”.

My complaint is the arrogant and ill-informed actions of this officer, which were entirely unnecessary. I was disengaging properly and legally, in accordance with Road Traffic regulations and licensing conditions.

I had no intent to join the taxi rank, and the officer had no justifiable reason to command me to do so.

Had I automatically responded immediately to his command, I would have placed my passengers at some considerable risk of serious injury. As a public servant charged with protecting the public, he should have seen and understood this. That he didn’t assuredly suggests that he is not fit and proper to be a serving police officer.

Had I responded to his command, I would have been disengaging on a taxi rank, which is contrary to taxi trade etiquette.

Had I moved forward to disengage, it would also have made exiting the rank unnecessarily more difficult, and perilous, because of the congested traffic at the time.

There was ample room on the rank for it to function without my needing to move forward. His command was unwarranted, borne from his officiousness rather than real need.

It is clear that his actions delayed my disengaging of these passengers, exacerbating any situation he was seeking to avoid, he made matters worse.

I deprecate this officer’s actions, and fail to understand what he thought he was trying to achieve, other than simply making a point that he is a cop and I am just a supposedly subservient cabby to be bossed around.

This is not what policing is supposed to be about and is unacceptable to me. For any officer to abuse licensing and use it as a threat to try to intimidate a cabby is reprehensible. And it is not the conduct of an officer representing a police service charged with serving the public rather than the fascist actions of this individual officer.

Finally, all this officer really achieved was to give a bad impression to a group of visitors to the city who must now have a poor opinion of Lothian and Borders Police, and may well carry a bad memory of Edinburgh to those potential visitors to our city with whom they will relate their tale.

I feel sure that you will agree that this officer’s actions fell below the usual standards of Lothian and Borders Police and arrange for a formal written apology to be forwarded to me forthwith.

Yours

Jim Taylor

_________________
Skull, "You are a police inspector, aren't you?"
Cab Inspector Smith, "Yes."
Skull, "So, are you going to tell Mr Taylor what his rights are?"
Smith, "And ... What rights?"

James Taylor

to Donald
Dear Mr Macleod

Please find attached letter of complaint about Lothian and Borders Police officer 11123.

Please forward to whosoever will be sending me the letter of complaint he threatened to have sent to me.

Regards

Jim Taylor
PoliceCompalint23.12.2012.docx PoliceCompalint23.12.2012.docx
16K View as HTML Download

_________________
Skull, "You are a police inspector, aren't you?"
Cab Inspector Smith, "Yes."
Skull, "So, are you going to tell Mr Taylor what his rights are?"
Smith, "And ... What rights?"

Donald Macleod Donald.Macleod@edinburgh.gov.uk

08:33 (5 hours ago)

to me
Dear Mr Taylor,

I will pass your letter to Terry Higgins, the Taxi Complaints Officer, ask him to investigate.

Regards



Donald Macleod
Principal Solicitor (Licensing)
Legal, Risk and Compliance
Corporate Governance
Level G3, 249 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1YJ
Tel 0131 5294304 Fax 0131 529 4207
E-mail donald.macleod@edinburgh.gov.uk

_________________
Skull, "You are a police inspector, aren't you?"
Cab Inspector Smith, "Yes."
Skull, "So, are you going to tell Mr Taylor what his rights are?"
Smith, "And ... What rights?"

Have to say I blame the sheeple in the trade for this incident.

For years you've put up with treatment like this. And cops think you are beneath them, some even believe cabbies are somehow subhuman.

If you'd discovered a backbone you would have demanded respect from both licensing and law enforcement.

You've got to wise up guys.

Now I've no doubt where this is heading. Cops investigating cops doesn't imbue me with any confidence that the matter will be resolved satisfactorily.

Watch this space and let's see what unfolds for Officer Dibble.

Of course, in the time honoured tradition, I'll keep you posted.

_________________
Skull, "You are a police inspector, aren't you?"
Cab Inspector Smith, "Yes."
Skull, "So, are you going to tell Mr Taylor what his rights are?"
Smith, "And ... What rights?"

"Calling all officers, 999 call made, taxi driver being assaulted requesting immediate assistance. Any officers able to respond ? Caller name Mr. Jasbar. Anyone,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,anyone,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,any officers available,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,is this microphone working ?"

Already been done. If you might remember I had the instance where the cops watched a fare walk away from the taxi without paying. They allowed the guy to steal from me. And then when I wanted his details to pursue him for the fare, they wouldn't tell me. They allowed the thief to be protected by Data protection. Had he been a scruff from a sink estate would he have been accorded the same protection? That's the measure of policing in Edinburgh.

So I already have a jaundiced view of cops.

The cops are selective when it comes to assisting cabbies. This is appalling and there is no consistency. What is worse is that the council does nothing, just takes a backseat and lets everyone flounder at the sharp end. Then when they react and fall foul of the rules, councillors stiff him because they can.

And if you think what happened is acceptable, or even funny, then YOU are the problem.

BTW The fare story is in the book.

_________________
Skull, "You are a police inspector, aren't you?"
Cab Inspector Smith, "Yes."
Skull, "So, are you going to tell Mr Taylor what his rights are?"
Smith, "And ... What rights?"

Last week I was exposed to a claim by another driver that I had caused damage to his vehicle.

He called the police, and for some reason I can't explain, they turned out, despite the fact that no one was injured, the cars were not blocking the thoroughfare and it was simple exchange of details for insurance purposes.

As it happens I couldn't possible have caused the damage alleged, and the police found no marks on my vehicle to do so. Assessment of the situation shows that the damage couldn't have been cause by my vehicle without significant other damage being caused, which it wasn't.

Truth is, this was just another example of a fly guy seeing an opportunity to stick a cabby in for damage to his vehicle caused previously.

I was breathalysed and found to have an alcohol level of ZERO.

The point about this is that the two officers who attended were paragons of their profession. They were calm, courteous and efficiently managed the situation. So they had to call for extra Breathalyser tubes, but they appeared timeously and the whole situation was dealt with professionally.

I suspect that the individual making the claim should be charged with attempted fraud, if for no other reason than to deter others from making vexatious claims.

The point here is that this is how a Police service should operate. the Officers conducted themselves in a way of service, and help. It was a pleasant encounter.

This experience is what made Officer Dibble so reprehensible an unacceptable. It was he who was out of step. It was he whose conduct fell below the standard of the other officers. It was he whose actions stimulated the complaint.

_________________
Skull, "You are a police inspector, aren't you?"
Cab Inspector Smith, "Yes."
Skull, "So, are you going to tell Mr Taylor what his rights are?"
Smith, "And ... What rights?"

Dear Mr Taylor,

I refer to your email dated 24 August 2012 with attached correspondence dated 23 August 2012 to Donald Macleod. Please note that this complaint does not fall within the remit of the Cab Inspector. I note that your correspondence is addressed to the Chief Constable, Lothian & Borders Police and that is appropriate given your complaint concerns a police officer.

I hope this is of some assistance to you.

Yours sincerely


Terry Higgins
Senior Legal Support Officer

Terry Higgins l Licensing Department l City Chambers Business Centre G3 l 249 High Street l Edinburgh EH1 1YJ l Telephone 0131 529 4250 l Fax 0131 529 4207 l Email: terence.higgins@edinburgh.gov.uk

_________________
Skull, "You are a police inspector, aren't you?"
Cab Inspector Smith, "Yes."
Skull, "So, are you going to tell Mr Taylor what his rights are?"
Smith, "And ... What rights?"

Er, what part of this was misunderstood. The letter was passed to the licensing officer for information. because Officer Dibble threatened me with a letter from licensing.

The information was sent through Donald Macleod for information.

I'd like to klnow why no action has been forthcoming from licensing in this matter.

if complaint was made about me to them, why haven't they taken action.

If no complaint was made about me by Officer Dibble, then this proves beyond doubt he was seeking to intimidate me. Which is NOT what serving police officers should be doing.

The system is getting its knickers in a twist.

_________________
Skull, "You are a police inspector, aren't you?"
Cab Inspector Smith, "Yes."
Skull, "So, are you going to tell Mr Taylor what his rights are?"
Smith, "And ... What rights?"