Taxi Driver Online

Just a thought...How many ex Cab/P.H drivers work for the OFT?
Ged

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taxi driver @manchester airport

the way the report was balls'd up possibly all of them

Captain Cab

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

I like to stick up for Bryan Roland whenever possible cos I am a leech.

I do have to say I disagree with his desire to keep District council's controlling the industry. Mind you he does get hired as an advisor by quite a few a year.

BR and I disagreed big time over the PCO being the right body to control PH in London and he lost the support of a lot of members in London because of his wish to see the industry controlled seperately by God knows how many Boroughs instead of a single body.

And by the way Gateshead. Been up your way this week. Those Dean Taxis have amazing new data units in don't they. All I could see all over town was Dean cars, Hacks and PH. You should work for them mate.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

He may appear as some kind of expert witness, but otherwise your claim is incorrect.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

Another thing I can't fathom about the man is that he is supporting proper signage on London PH, on the grounds of fairness, but then says to a council that wants to treat all cab drivers the same, that they are out of order.

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IDFIMH

well I have got it now, I always thought you were asking for advice, on Gateshead,

you wasnt just running a commentary aboout how you reps were [edited by admin] up.

well Mick, one day you will realise that this land has laws and everything is not open to local determination at all.

until you undestand powers of councils you are certain to fail, again

and again.

no there is not much open to local determination at all these days

and as you said only this week your councillors dont even know regional government exists let alone what it does.

Gateshead have no powers at all, so councillors pretend thier instructors dont exist and you try to convince us on here.

if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

being a rep does not mean anything because, your council means nothing

There is place upon the hill,
It makes us suck a bitter Pill,
Where the commuters live all with cars
and narrow roads leading to poular bars.

There is too many cars these days,
it must reduce they cannot pay,
Gordon has an 11 billion black hole,
how will he fill it to fulfill his role?

11 billion is the full cost,
to bring in funds from congestion host.
a national scheme will come,
to national coffers home,

so why does everbody miss this plain fact,
has our Gordon made early pact,
is this why Tony wants him out,
as all motorists begin to shout.

tax on fuel is to come off,
bollox I hear you scoff,
taxis and buses to have green plates,
we will be equal they are our mates,

so this will be our big time,
to get more passengers on our line,
be warned its now to plan
dont miss this opportunity to our clan.

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Come and go as you will,
but Do so with Paddington Bill

Did I misread it.

I thought the issue was that several councils wanted to group together and run one licencing policy between all of them with uniform rules and fares.

It would be like the five District council's in our area having one countywide licencing body.

Now to me at first inspection that possibly has merits.

But I guess some of you could change my mind especially if they chose rules from another district and not mine.

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A member of the Hire or Reward Industry

I think it's the same council, but it has five different zones within it. It all came about with local government re-organisation in the 70s.

I think our good friend Mr Yorkie is in a similar position, same council but unable to ply his trade throughout the whole of his manor.

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IDFIMH

Since current licensing boundaries generally only relate to the arbitrary boundaries of the relevant licensing authority at a particular point in time, and are only of indirect relevance to taxi and PH licensing, then I can't really see anything wrong with zones, if they assist in regulating the trade to its and the public's advantage.

The problem is that zones are more often used as a means to restrict numbers, not for the greater good.

If zones are wrong in principle then so are any licensing boudaries, and thus we should just have national licenses and not bother with knowledge tests and suchlike, but I know what I would prefer.

For example, in some of the largely rural 'shires' dotted with towns, it would be unreasonable to ask a driver to pass a knowledge test for the whole area, but it would be equally unreasonable to not bother with a knowledge test and let him ply wherever he wants - zones can be used in such an instance.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

I agree with TDO to a certain degree.

Zones were originally put in place to make sure taxis served part of a district.

I cant understand why it is claimed here that it will change fares, as I would have thought under a single authority all zones would have charged the same, but the vehicles were restricted as to where they could operate.

However, the government are not in favour of zoning, the only option the drivers have is to appeal to the secretary of state, bearing in mind they say locals know best, I presume the drivers are doomed to failure.

despite the expert involvement

Captain cab

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Yes, the OFT did an in-depth analysis on the topic, and gave us a whole two pargraphs of its views on it, and the government agreed with it.

One problem they found was cross-border hirings, so why not sort it out?

The other problem was related to restrictions, but they recommended that they go, so what was the problem?

The OFT also wanted proportionate standards, but it would have been interesting to hear how they reconciled this with (for example) the imapact of de-zoning on knowlege tests.

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

In relation to zoning, the OFT report said:

It also prevents the supply of LAs in one LA where quantity controls are in operation from responding to changes in demand throughout the day or over time.

I think I know what they're trying to say, but strictly speaking the sentence is meaningless (like the Chelmsford one the other night ), or am I missing something?

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Taxi Driver Online
www.taxi-driver.co.uk

You made a statement and ended it by adding your own conclusion. If you want to pose a question then pose one, don't [edited by admin] around preaching the Gateshead gospel to the unconverted. I think in that respect, you might only have an audience of one. Need I say his name?

If you want questions asked just say so I'm sure there are enough knowledgeable people in here to advise you in that respect.

JD

I think what should be remembered here is that Mr Roland will fight any corner for whatever reason. Therefore, you can't really blame the man for going in to bat for these cab drivers. From what I can gather he will try and give advise from whatever knowledge he posses whether it be misguided, factual or otherwise.

I don't think it matters that he hasn't held a Hackney license and as far as I know, driven a Private hire vehicle for any length of time. The fact remains he is considered by some to be an expert. I suspect that is because he edits a Private hire Newspaper which regurgitates mostly second hand news and the fact that there are not many other expert witnesses in the trade who have come forward to express their skills.



Mr Roland must have a very week case if he is relying on the five year Transport plans to help him out. With regard to Taxis, only a limited amount of content can be put into Transport plans and none of its constructive.

Brighton Taxi plans are a case in point, Manchester even more so because Manchester didn't even mention Taxis in the last Transport plans. It will be interesting to see what Mr Roland suggests is lacking in the East riding transport plans.

Best wishes

JD