A Year to Remember 2009.............. By John Kennedy.

Do you remember that show on BBC London 94.9 fm with me and Big George on the 31st of January 2009 when we launched Ltcpr. A lot has changed and we have demonstrated that the pen is certainly mightier than the sword or should I say the keyboard certainly creates a reaction from those in authority for with “carry on the complaining” we at Ltcpr, the Anderson Shelter and the London taxi drivers forum have changed the face of lobbying within the London taxi trade. Let me be brutally honest gone have the days of the top done control by trade bodies and associations who think they know best for with modern forms of communications taxi-cab drivers can discuss debate and then formulate policy or at the least attempt to. For this year 2009 will be remembered for a number of reasons and here follow a few of the most significant that I think we should all remember;

1. The Launch of Ltcpr 31st Jan 2009, we are still here and will be for the foreseeable future, the carry on complaining campaigns are merely on hold pending possible change that may be forthcoming in the New Year.
2. 5th of February 2009 Taxi trade demonstration, over 8,000 taxi-cab drivers turned up yet to date we have only seen the creation of 4 taxi-cab ranks and the closure of the Whitcomb Street mini-cab rank.
3. The launch of the RMT London taxi branch, nobody knew this was coming until that big red banner was hoisted up in Trafalgar Square.
4. The LCDC move to new offices and very nice they are to.
5. Shepherd’s bush rank saved by Ltcpr, LTDF and the Anderson shelter, are the ranks and highways committee asleep?
6. Opposition grows against the closure of Chancery Lane, RMT, Ltcpr, the Anderson shelter plus the LTDF yet again lead a campaign to keep this road open.
7. The growth of the London taxi driver’s forum (LTDF) a place where many go to discuss issues and debate problems online plus arrange pickets, demonstrations.
8. The alarming growth of the Satellite mini-cab office and the obvious failings of two trade bodies (LTDA/UNITE) who had the ear of the previous Mayor and just seem to let this happen with little or no opposition.
9. The “killer on the knowledge” story broke on the 2nd September 2009 the RMT London taxi branch was outside the PCO on the 4th September demonstrating. Other trade organisations appear to be rattled at the speed at which the RMT took to the streets, London’s media pick up the story and it goes national. Within 30 days TFL performed a U-turn only a taxi could do and the RMT call for a public inquiry into management failings at the PCO other trade organisations stay silent on the public inquiry issue.
10. Ed Thompson leaves the PCO, goodbye!
11. John Mason becomes new director of taxis and mini-cabs at the PCO, hello!
12. The LTDA start attacking the RMT and its taxi branch along with the smaller taxi branch of the union UNITE.
13. The RMT London taxi branch goes from strength to strength and quickly becomes the second biggest trade body and the largest trade union within the taxi trade.
14. Thomas the taxi of the now world famous Anderson shelter makes it to page 5 of the London Evening Standard.
15. New emissions proposals pop up again from City Hall.
16. The Mayor of London seeks to remove unnecessary traffic lights on the red route network.
17. The LTDA continue to attack the RMT this time with a front cover designed to worry drivers with talk of limiting hours. The RMT deny any proposals to limit hours has these rules from the Dep’t of Transport only apply to employed drivers, London’s taxi-cab drivers are self-employed!
18. The General Secretary of the LTDA alleges he has been threatened via the front cover of TAXI newspaper, if true this is disgusting and nobody needs to behave in such a pathetic manner.
19. The RMT London taxi branch has more members attending branch meetings than the rest can muster for an AGM.
20. The London Local Authorities and Transport for London (no.2.) bill is stuck in the Lords. John McDonnell MP & lead convenor of the RMT Parliamentary group writes to Mayor of London, TFL and all London MP’s and councils informing them of the need for a public inquiry into the PCO and the opposition to the bill before parliament. Other trade organisations only dream of this kind of input into legislation the RMT yet again leads the way after this bill was first challenged by Ltcpr, LCDC and the LTDF.

I must say though that this year has certainly seen many faces within the taxi trade come to the fore the likes of Eddie Lambert, David Vidgen both whom set up the RMT London taxi branch plus Stan Marut who is doing an excellent job dealing with complaints and policy. George Vyse always at a demo and this year seen on the back of a truck having a debate with a Metropolitan Police officer however one man you may not have heard of that much is a chap called Thomas the taxi who runs the Anderson shelter blog which has changed the face of the taxi trade for good for this man has broken more stories than the Sun and puts many of the taxi trade papers to shame. Without people like Thomas the trade would certainly be in dire straits and it is people like him who show what you can do with a little thought about people other than yourself.

Ltcpr by the way is still here and watching the websites, monitoring the legislation that is before parliament and always on the lookout for any thorny issues that lay ahead but I must be honest now that the RMT have a taxi branch the London taxi trade will have a truly democratic voice that will go from strength to strength. Whilst others may knock the RMT I’m sure they (the RMT) will just get on with dealing with the mess that others have allowed to be created.

Anyway Happy Christmas to you and your family and let us all look forward to a better new year with economic growth on the horizon and with a general election to come who knows what the future holds, but let us never forget those that pay the ultimate price and that is the loss of life whilst on active service abroad. So if you can spare a thought, a prayer for members of Her Majesties Armed Services and their families please do. In the New Year a new trade event will be forming hopefully under the banner of “Help for Heroes” so please keep your eyes and ears open and maybe consider volunteering a few hours or even a day bringing a smile to the face of loved ones and children of the fallen in the recent conflict in Iraq and the present conflict in Afghanistan.
God Bless them all.

Darren Johnson, Green and Foolish ........... by John Kennedy.

Darren Johnson is a member of the Greater London Assembly and presently Leader of this body and after recent days he must be wondering was it really worth that stupid silly drunken tweet or should I say tweets. For the truth is Darren Johnson is a representative of the people and he is just doing what many people have been and continue to do on a daily/nightly basis and that is to get drunk. The issue here isn't Mr Johnson couldn’t find a Taxi-cab (he would have if he wasn't drunk), the issue is Mr Johnson is drunk and London lacks the Police resources to deal with these touts who litter the streets and blight the capital every night of the week but especially around Christmas time.

Darren Johnson though should be setting an example but this incident highlights the fall in standards in public life for both politicians and the wider public, we expect drunken behaviour, we condone touting by illegal and licensed mini-cabs instead of dealing with the real problem and that is the general fall in standards and a return to the days of Hogarth. London is an embarrassment and only a strong Commissioner of Police with the will to deal with this kind of loutish behaviour backed by politicians will ensure we create a better London for our children and teenagers to grow up in. Let me be totally honest here if the leader of the GLA is free to get hammered (probably at our expense), then thinks it is ok to wander the streets twittering for a Taxi-cab,blanking the one he gets offered and picks up an illegal mini-cab instead what hope have we for the young and disillusioned?For Darren Johnson is a well educated man who should be setting an example and not making a mockery of the Mayor’s Cabwise scheme and his office.

Some within the Taxi trade have called for Mr Darren Johnson to resign.I will not be,for if he steps down then so should others, others who are charged with licensing pubs and clubs but fail to deal with the drunks these venues throw out on to the streets most nights, the Police for failing to deal with the illegal cabs and licensed mini-cabs who trawl the streets taking advantage of people who just do what Darren Johnson does and that is get drunk. This incident should wake us all up and we should all strive to pull our socks up and make the effort for a return to a time when we had standards that we were all proud of. In the meantime though the Police need to round these drunks up and process them through the courts, for it is not the job of Taxi-cab drivers to pick up louts and drunks it’s the job of the Police to arrest and the courts to mete out fines that will deter this kind of foolish behaviour.

Darren Johnson is certainly “green” and “foolish” maybe now he might just start to listen a little more and drink a little less, for a publican once told me if you’re going to get drunk stay local that way at least you can crawl home!

Who’s to Blame ?.............. by John Kennedy.

Yet again the issue of sexual assaults and rapes in unlicensed mini-cabs is raised and here we are entering a Christmas period when the demand for late night transport rises but so does the amount of alcohol increase too, but who is actually to blame for the disgusting crime of rape against vulnerable women ? Well the answer is not simple but I know it is not the woman, so we need to look at all the variables that are involved here and analyze what leads to this crime taking place and then seek to find a lasting solution.

The consumption of alcohol in large amounts makes normal sensible people turn into very unreasonable people which in turn causes taxi-cab drivers to legally refuse to carry a passenger who is incoherent and unable to even inform you of the destination they which to travel in. So logic dictates if you can’t tell a taxi-cab driver where you are going or you are so drunk you become abusive it is not unreasonable for a taxi-cab driver to refuse legally that fare. Now because many bars choose to allow people to get intoxicated we need to look again at our licensing laws and review the way councils and the police deal with publicans and managers of bars that continue to serve people who have consumed too much already.

Local councils have in recent years paved over many roads and narrowed many junctions and created bottlenecks this policy coupled illegally parked vehicles stems the flow of traffic and creates traffic problems in the heart of the West End nearly every weekend. If we shut roads how can a taxi-cab get to you, if we create bottlenecks and allow touts to park illegally expect to wait for a taxi-cab or your legitimately booked mini-cab.

Policing in London is odd to say the least with a target driven culture that places priorities on officers and fails to protect the very people it intends to serve. Officers are polite, decent and professional but it appears the management structure fails to deal with the real problems but prefers to ignore certain crimes which just lead to a general lowering of standards. This then becomes the norm and we the public accept what we see because those tasked with dealing with the problem aren’t interested.

So what about solutions well the taxi trade in London has a full role to play here and all taxi-cab drivers must ensure they do their level best to take reasonable people home 24/7 365 days of the year, this can be achieved with a better vision from those presently in charge at transport for London (I exclude the present head of the Public Carriage Office John Mason for he seems a very reasonable person who is at least listening to concerns). The capital needs a strategy to deal with late night bars and the late night economy for drink, drugs and youth will always be a cocktail for disaster and women need to know the dangers they place themselves in so on this count I applaud this present campaign of trying to educate people about their personnel safety. I believe a pulling up of the socks, a raising of the standards is required coupled with a large dose of common sense so here follows my ten point plan to improve all our lives and ensure the many hundreds and thousands of people get home safely and securely all year round;

1. Bottlenecks and unnecessary traffic lights to be removed which will increase throughput of vehicles and improve greatly the availability of taxi-cabs.
2. Better route planning of London’s buses on the busier night’s of the week by keeping buses/coaches out of the actual heart of London.
3. Increased Policing and more proactive use of powers to deal with drink and drug users. Being drunk and disorderly is a criminal offence time to arrest a few people and let Londoners understand this behaviour will not be tolerated anymore.
4. Better placement of night time taxi ranks backed by a TFL/PCO campaign extolling the virtues of working to rank/night time taxi ranks to replace satellite mini-cab offices.
5. Councils to deal more robustly with licensed premises that serve drunks and allow the use of drugs on site.
6. Early morning courts to deal with persistent offenders in entertainment districts.
7. Education programmes to be introduced into schools/colleges/universities about safer sensible drinking habits.
8. Zero tolerance approach to touting and removal of vehicles that persistently offend.
9. More late night coffee bars to be introduced to encourage a cup to sober the odd person up.
10. A coherent sensible approach to town planning that takes into account the night and daytime economy.

These ten points could be a beginning but one thing I do know is we can’t continue like we are in this city sweeping problems under the carpet and then bending rules to deal with problems that could and can be dealt with properly and in an orderly fashion. With the Olympics fast approaching and then the Rugby World Cup we must all strive to make London a safer place to work and play. Here at the RMT we believe in public safety wish a passion and that involves your safety and that of your daughter, son or any other member of your family. It is a disgrace that women are sexually assaulted here in London and that men take advantage of these individuals who happen to be vulnerable at that moment in time, so to answer the question “who’s to blame” ? Well I think we all are for we shouldn’t put up with this behaviour and we shouldn’t tolerate crime of any sort against the person but least of all women.

John Kennedy vice chair of the RMT London taxi branch, founder of Ltcpr.