Taxi Driver Online

Birmingham private hire taxi drivers in fresh threat to strike over working conditions

PRIVATE hire taxi drivers in Birmingham are threatening to strike if council bosses fail to act on myriad concerns they have over their working conditions. More than 100 drivers held a peaceful protest outside the city centre’s Millennium Point last night over claims they were being “mistreated and undermined” by Birmingham City Council.

They all signed a petition calling on the council to replace permanent licence stickers they must put on their cars with a version that can be removed at times when the drivers are not working. The petition is set to be put before the council’s next full cabinet meeting tomorrow, along with a list of other worries the drivers claim to have, including hikes in licence fees and issues over enforcement officers carrying out stop-checks on vehicles during peak working times on Friday and Saturday nights.

Tanveer Choudhry, spokesman for the drivers, said: “Around two years ago a private hire meeting was supposed to take place between the drivers and the council, but was cancelled due to over 3,000 drivers turning up and the venue could only hold 500 people. “The drivers were told that the meeting would be rescheduled but it never was.” Mr Choudhry, a former councillor for the city’s Springfield ward and a taxi driver, added: “There issues haven’t gone away.

“They understand that cars must be checked by the council to ensure they are safe for the public to use, but they question why these checks are done on the busiest periods of their working weeks. “The licence stickers on their cars damage the vehicles if they are removed, and when they are trying to enjoy time off with their family they are being constantly asked about their work and if they can take passengers to places.

“Licence fees are increasing at a time when they are already struggling following a recession, which has left them with fewer customers and greater costs due to higher fuel prices. “None of them want to strike but if they’re concerns are not addressed they feel they have no other choice.”

Coun Ayoub Khan, the council’s cabinet member for local services and community safety, who was at the protest, said the council regularly met with various taxi associations in the city to address issues. It is believed none of the drivers at yesterday’s protest are members of these associations. “I appreciate that these drivers have multiple issues and anxieties and I will be asking the council to investigate these as a matter of urgency,” he added.

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IDFIMH

Another thick bunch strikes only hurt your punters they are water off a ducks back to councils Choke the roads around a council building in the half hour before a meeting or drive at 30MPH down the M5

Embarrass the council in front of the electorate or make the councillors lives more difficult that is the only way to get them to listen !

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

I won't be the only one who thinks...

Quote "They all signed a petition calling on the council to replace permanent licence stickers they must put on their cars with a version that can be removed at times when the drivers are not working." End Quote.

Whip off the plate, remove the door signs, let the other half do the shopping in it.

Problem is the rules say only licensed drivers (and mechanics on bona-fide road tests) may drive a licensed vehicle.

ANPR cameras will see the vehicle as taxed and insured, but, if it aint the right driver, it aint insured.

So "Permanently Affixed" is the only way.

Checks are most effective at busy times - so it comes with the territory. Enforcement is, generally, a good thing.

Strike if they want, but I hope the LA don't cave in to them.

I hope they, and the real Taxi Drivers, achieve something on the fees.

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Chris The Fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlyi5mc ... re=related

5,500 PH drivers in Brum and 50 turned up at the well publicised meeting!!



And tomorrow morning from 06.30hrs to 09.30hrs of the Radio WM [95.6FM and online] Breakfast Show with Phil Upton, we will have 3 hours of Private Hire drivers bleating on about all this and that they have nowhere to work in the city now because they are constantly being moved on by enforcement and the poilce.

Anyone would think, that they think they are taxi drivers!!

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

Of course you might have the odd real Taxi driver phoning in to put the public straight.

Ball is firmly in the Taxi drivers of Birminghams court I think.

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Chris The Fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdlyi5mc ... re=related

The problem is when they hopped on that plane from pakistan or Bangladesh they were told England was where they would make their fortune now they are here they expect the rules to be made to suit them and the local drivers to step aside and put themselves out of work so that they can line their pockets and export the cash back home to feed the ever expanding population back home

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

That isn't only the Asian drivers working to that one Edders, there are Eastern Europeans and some British drivers that work the same system.

Some of the things I've noticed are they seem to flood a rank that has for instance a limited amount of foot going through it, so say the rank normally provides 5 jobs each time it's active you will find 15 cars sat there almost to make sure you can't get a taste of it.

There are a lot of things that aren't right right now, I've had stories of Tom Tom's being handed to customers so the customer can input the postcode for the driver, drivers going off route to their house where they jump out mid job and another driver jumps in to complete the job, these are all reasons why I'm hopefully packing in soon, I can't compete with 150 drivers who won't go home nor have a day off, to sum up how I feel right now it's like having offered someone a chip from you dinner and a few days later him and another five members of his family are waiting, I offer the chip and they gobble down my whole fish & chips without any regard for me, pretty soon a tachograph and biometric ignition keys will be required in taxis to attempt to stop long hours and keep the public safe, and another thing for those that think they know, I get so many people now saying thank god your English or it's nice to have an English driver, only yesterday I dropped a woman and her son off and she told me earlier she'd had a non British driver and he just grunted at her all the way and when she didn't tip him he tsk'd and mumbled under his breath, her words were....I think they think we should give them everything and they are always eying me up and down and that she doesn't feel safe to be in a cab alone anymore.


DEATH OF A JOB.

It's all about the stickers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bi ... m-15254252

That said, if it wasn't for that sticker argument I wouldn't be here.

Think how different the taxi world would be, or better for it.

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IDFIMH

Some of the things I've noticed are they seem to flood a rank that has for instance a limited amount of foot going through it, so say the rank normally provides 5 jobs each time it's active you will find 15 cars sat there almost to make sure you can't get a taste of it.

Yes we have that with the train station there are only 2 trains an hour with little or no work available many hours except early evening when the commuters arrive home BUT we have 6 to 8 vehicles camped out down there struggling to earn a living why because other members of their community tell them they must do that to ensure only muslim drivers get work. There are cars out there taking less than £20 a day but it doesn't bother them and when the commuters arrive home in the evening there are drivers stood next to the cars telling them which cars to take

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

T H E S T I C K E R S A R E S T A Y I N G ! ! ! E N D O F ! ! !

Birmingham City Council tells private hire drivers will have to keep displaying stickers around the clock

October 15 2011

Birmingham's licensing chief has told private hire drivers that their cars are ‘always private hire vehicles’ and that permanent stickers are here to stay.

Conservative joint-chairman of the licensing committee Bruce Lines defended the decision to impose semi-permanent markings on minicabs during the City Council’s question time session.

Earlier this week the drivers held a protest at Millennium Point and called for the council to meet with them over fee increases and the fact they cannot remove their hire stickers when off duty. They threatened strike action if the council refused to back down.

Coun Waseem Zaffar (Lab, Lozells and East Handsworth), who represented drivers in talks with the council two years ago, said: “We were promised that the semi-permanent stickers would not damage the vehicles. Now some of the drivers are saying they do damage the vehicles.”

Coun Jerry Evans (Lib Dem, Springfield) handed in a petition from drivers and urged the licensing committee to debate the issue at its next meeting.

But Coun Lines (Con, Bartley Green) replied that the drivers did not have grounds for strike action.

He said: “The semi-permanent stickers were an alternative, a compromise, to the single colour proposal which drivers opposed and followed extensive consultation.

“A private hire vehicle is always a private hire vehicle until the day it is no longer licensed. There is no reason to remove the sticker,” he added.

Two years ago the council proposed introducing a single colour, most likely silver, for all minicabs in a bid to cut the number of unlicensed cars operating.

But drivers complained that the cost of respray, in the middle of a recession, was too great a burden and held a major protest. The licensing committe agreed to back down and offered the stickers as an alternative.

Former councillor and cab driver Tanveer Choudhry said that off duty drivers cannot enjoy time out in the car with the family because they are constantly being asked to take passengers.

Source; http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top- ... -29597838/

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

White British male here. Taxi driver will be a 2nd job for me when my council pull their fingers out of their arse, but thats for another thread. Totally useless they are.

I resent the fact I will have to go to my main job with a Birmingham City Council sticker on my car. I do not want everybody knowing my business at work, and I don't want the gaffers knowing I'm not doing their overtime because I'm doing my own. And I also don't want people ripping my doors off when my kids are in the car. I'd like some downtime. They ain't paying me a retainer, I owe them nothing, I've paid my way. I feel am doing them a public service by letting them use my car to make their city more accessible. I just feel BBC make you feel as if you owe them. Ive got no problem displaying a magnetised sticker while I'm on the job.

I do get why they do it, as many have abused it, but thats not everyone elses problem. BCC are totally behind the times in every department. Why don't they introduce a fingerprint scanner for stop-checks? Feck me, I use one to get into the gym, it's not hard technology to implement is it? A few random stops of taxi drivers will have people thinking twice about letting people work or use their vehicle.


Anyway. Am I wrong? If I am, put me right somebody, as I just can't see the sense to be honest.

Careful you'll end up sounding like me

A ph is always a ph, a taxi is always a taxi.

In my view the trade is best served by those committed to it, not by people using it as a hobby or part time job.

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IDFIMH

AGREE.

The lesson is for you grovellers


If you have a battle you might lose, if you do not have a battle you already have !!

So well done the brummies who dont grovel GET IN THERE

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