Well, time to wake up ladies and gentlemen because this trade is in trouble. For far too long we have sat back and allowed those who govern or manage this industry a free reign in the hope and maybe past knowledge that everything would be ok because those kind civil servants loved a cheeky, slightly over opinionated cabby. Those days are well and truly over and it is time for this industry to pull its socks up and get real. Let us take stock where we are as a trade, we have three main driver organisations, sorry, four, the RMT have just set up a branch, three radio circuits (all booking car services), a vehicle manufacturer who may need to seek a bailout like the rest of the automotive industry, a new vehicle that looks ok but is still well overpriced, plus a licensing authority interpreting the 1998 private hire act in such a fashion that we now have lines of illegally ranked mini-cabs parked outside nearly every venue in London. Now just to put the gloom into doom or the icing on the cake we have a recession and if you thought I forgot the cherry well you were mistaken there is a bill before parliament which is seeking to create a voluntary registration scheme for pedicabs/rickshaws which will include parking (ranking) bays.

Now the recession was always going to reduce our incomes and this was always going to have a adverse effect on the balance sheet of LTI’s parent company Manganese Bronze, however more worrying is the actions of the licensing authority for they have greatly reduced the amount of night work available to taxi-cab drivers and this again will compound the sad state of affairs at LTI by reducing further driver income and therefore the opportunity to purchase or rent a new taxi-cab. Now to make matters worse at the beginning of one of the worse recessions most of us will ever see we have legislation passing through parliament which wishes to create a registration scheme for pedicabs/rickshaws to do the work of London taxi-cabs. If clause 34, sections 2-9 of the London Local Authorities and Transport for London (no.2) Bill makes it through parliament you and I will be sitting behind a pedicab/rickshaw very soon.

Now I am still just about on the side of this present Mayor Boris Johnson, for this latest bill before parliament was placed and designed under Livingstone’s watch but I would like this present Mayor to maybe consider the impact that the policies of transport for London and this bill will have on our standard of living, for I will not sit back and watch my industry torn apart by people with other political motives. The time is fast approaching for Ltcpr to get into the mix and ensure we the working taxi-cab driver gets his or her slice of the cake, we maybe be small in numbers right now but we are growing by the day and our voice is far and wide and certainly louder with a clearer concise message than most, we shall never give up the struggle and will always seek to improve the working conditions of the London taxi-cab driver, others sit at tables and stay silent when then should be speaking out on your behalf ask yourself and maybe your association why.

Now we have just had one of the most successful trade demonstrations since the seventies yet it took nearly two weeks to attend talks afterwards because of the actions of one group (and before you even say it, it wasn’t the LCDC delaying talks), but did we actually need talks or a demonstration surely if we are right and justice is to prevail we should seek judicial review of the actions of Transport for London, for mini-cabs are ranking up all over capital and the enforcement/compliance team does not exist in large enough numbers to control the illegal practices of mini-cabs within the capital. This problem will not go away and we at Ltcpr will continue to bring pressure on those in authority until the law of this land is enacted in a sensible but firm fashion.

Hopefully over the next couple of months most of you will meet me on a rank or maybe even at a meeting, you may even have heard me on the Big George show on BBC London 94.9 fm or you can log onto www.ltcpr.blogspot.com and come join the internet revolution…Ltcpr “a different approach”.

John Kennedy is the founder of London taxi-cab public relations.

Editor: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily that of the editor or publisher.

By JOHN KENNEDY