Taxi Driver Online

Interesting article this, it tells a tale of sour grapes, exclusion, civil rights and division, all because one man was democratically voted out of his position as chairman of a Taxi association. The last paragraph just about says it all for me.
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May 16, 2005

HEADLINE: Taxi drivers told to stop bickering

WARRING taxi leaders have been told to bury the hatchet after one group vowed to go all the way to the United Nations to retain its status as the official representative of the trade in Bolton.

Charles Oakes chairman of the Bolton Hackney Association is furious that his group is to be replaced by rivals the Bolton Taxi Drivers' Association on the council"s licensing committee.

His group"s year long stay on the committee is to come to an end under rules dictating that the organisation with the largest membership every May is chosen to represent drivers of black cabs for the next 12 months.

According to council figures Mr Oakes' organisation has 11 fewer members than the 69 member-strong Bolton Taxi Drivers" Association.

He now intends to take his fight to the UN Commission for Human Rights claiming that both groups should sit on the committee and that a number of his rival group's members are no longer working as cabbies in Bolton - a claim rubbished by his opposite number Bill Williams.

Cllr Andy Morgan vice-chairman of the licensing committee which considers applications for hackney carriage licences urged the two groups to stop bickering and join together to represent all of the drivers of black cabs in Bolton.

But Mr Oakes said: "Most of the drivers want me to represent them because they know I will stand up for their interests."

"Mr Oakes set up his organisation two years ago when he lost the chairmanship of the Bolton Taxi Drivers Association following a ballot". His new group has represented the trade on the committee since then as it had the largest membership.

But the leader of the Bolton Taxi Driver"s Association Mr Williams said: "When he was on the committee he was happy for only one group to be there. We look forward to representing taxi drivers in Bolton."
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