Although we have received a great response to our appeal for drivers, we still welcome more drivers to join us on our forthcoming Taxi ‘Safari Outing to Woburn Safari Park on TUESDAY 19TH MAY 2009. Please come and help us to give 300 ’special needs’ and disadvantaged children a wonderful day out. In case you have any doubts, we welcome all drivers with liveried taxis, coloured taxis and those that have adverts on. This applies to all our outings. As well as giving a great deal of pleasure to so many children, we promise you will have a brilliant and fun-packed day out yourself.

WITHOUT YOU THERE ARE NO OUTINGS SO PLEASE CONTACT OUR DRIVERS’ LIAISON: Susan Angel on 07958 280 881 OR ENTER YOUR DETAILS ON THE VOLUNTEER PAGE OF OUR WEBSITE AT www.ltfuc.org.uk

We look forward to you joining us for a fun day out

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

London’s taxi trade prides itself on being a safe means of transport and this driver has brought disrepute to the trade. Had the case been brought against an illegal minicab driver, the taxi trade press would have been full of reports of the dangers of getting into an unlicensed car, but no-one in the trade would ever have expected this behaviour from a licensed hackney driver.  John Worboys was found guilty of 19 charges, including one count of rape and 4 sexual assaults on a number of women in London. Sentencing will take place at Croydon Crown Court on 21 April. The case has resulted in articles in the press, which meant more victims had come forward and now it is considered that Worboys is one of the most prevalent sex attackers this country has known. A total of 85 women have so far come forward and the police are expecting more allegations following the guilty verdicts at Croydon Crown Court on 13th March 2009. Police report that John Derek Worboys, 51, was a licensed hackney carriage driver of Sovereign Crescent, SE16. During his work as a cab driver, he would sometimes be hailed by the women, and on occasion would approach women and offer to give them lifts, sometimes for free or at a reduced rate. Once in the cab he would strike up a conversation with the women, telling them how he had either won the lottery or had a successful evening at the casino. He would often show a bag containing a quantity of money in the footwell of his driver’s compartment of his cab.

During the conversation he would offer the victim a drink to join him in celebrating his financial windfall. On other occasions he offered his victims what he purported were medicinal tablets if they were complaining of a headache/illness. A short while after either consuming the drink or taking the tablets, the women were rendered helpless, or violently sick. Some victims recalled him climbing into the back of the cab and an assault of a sexual nature taking place. Many have recollection throughout and were not assaulted at all, and others have no recollection. The following morning the victims would wake at their homes. Officers from Sapphire (part of the Safer Travel at Night campaign) linked the methodology of four of the incidents on 7 February 2008 which resulted in an investigation by the Homicide and Serious Crime Command (HSCC), who identified one further assault with the same modus operandi. A media appeal was made on 15 February 2008 when further victims came forward to police. As the press, including editors from the taxi trade attended a press conference to help with an appeal to find the perpetrator of the crimes.

WORBOYS ARRESTED

When police searched Worboys’ home address, a quantity of prescription and non-prescription medication was seized. DI Dave Reid of HSCC, the officer in charge of the investigation said: ‘Worboys was a predatory sexual assailant who used his position of trust as a hackney cab driver to lure women into his cab and assault them. He presented a charming and affable countenance, all the while planning his assault and searching out women to prey on. I want to thank the women who came forward in this enquiry. I have listened to each of them as they have given evidence in court, and been struck by the integrity of every one. What they did was not easy, and I do not underestimate the extra burden they have endured as a result of Worboys’ refusal to accept responsibility for the horrendous acts he committed.

On 7th December 2008 the cab trade lost one of its nicest drivers and a true gent. John Haselton, known by all as Sabu, who was aged 79 sadly passed away.  Sabu had held a clean Cab Licence for 45 years and was one of the old Pont Street faces; you could almost say a ‘fixture’!  In his years of driving a cab there wasn’t a shelter in London he didn’t use.  He loved telling and listening to the stories of shelter life, the wind- up and atmosphere.  When someone was off sick he was always first to start a ‘list’ for them and you would hear his famous war cry “Don’t forget, we got a chick fell out of the nest”. Which meant you had to put your hand in your pocket before leaving !! Sabu and Betty were often seen on the War Disabled and Children’s outings and he particularly loved the Christmas party held for the children at the Grosvenor House by the London Taxidrivers’ Fund for Underprivileged Children.  Sabu was a good friend of the late great Jack Taylor and they are both probably exchanging stories at this very moment! His family requested that instead of flowers, a collection should be made and given to the London Taxidrivers’ Fund for Underprivileged children and a sum of £380.60 was subsequently raised and given to the LTFUC by Sabu’s son David Haselton, who is also a licensed taxi driver.   We thank him most sincerely and we are sure that Sabu would have greatly approved of this kind gesture. The Hon. President, Hon. Chairman and committee of the LTFUC, along with all in the cab trade, send sincere condolences to David and all the family. 

Raymond Levy  (Press Officer – LTFUC)

A group of taxi drivers who have been studying for their Cab Guide Badge recently had a private tour of the Cabinet War Rooms, the bunker from which Churchill and his Cabinet ran the country during the Second World War. The tour allowed them privileged access to the key rooms of the Museum. The group went into the Cabinet Room, which has been perfectly preserved since 1945. It was in the Cabinet Room that Churchill announced ‘This is the room from which I will direct the War.’ Operations Manager, Gerry McCartney, also took the group into the Map Room, which was the central hub of operations throughout the Second World War. In the room they got to see close up the thousands of pin pricks in the maps showing where all the convoys had been as well as the sugar ration discovered hidden away in a drawer when the Cabinet War Rooms were prepared to open to the public in 1984. The group walked down the dimly lit corridors soaking up the atmosphere, imagining the cramped conditions and long hours in which the staff had worked.
Paul Playle from the Education Committee of The Worshipful Company of Hackney Carriage Drivers said: “For a while there was a war on but everyone when emerging into the daylight again must have been appreciative of all who made things happen for the better”. The group were certainly appreciative of Gerry McCartney for such a good tour and Melody Allen of the Museum for organising it.
The Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms is open daily from 9.30am until 6.00pm (last admission 5.00pm) for entry fees or details on booking private
tours visit their website: www.iwm.org.uk/cabinet.
Are you interested in becoming a Tour Guide? For details on the next course contact course co-ordinator Graham Woodhouse on 07968 791 117, or e-mail him on info@cabguide.com for further details.