Dear Sir/Madam
I have been informed that whilst leaving the Palestra building last night several members of TfL staff member was verbally abused by drivers associated with your demonstration.
In one instance a female member of staff who politely declined a leaflet was verbally abused and a comment made regarding her being raped. In another instance a male was abused and a reference was made to his wife or girlfriend being raped.
Such behaviour by licensed London taxi drivers totally disgraceful and unacceptable and demands complete condemnation.
Please be under no doubt that we will not hesitate to take action against any drivers who make such comments to TfL staff or members of the public.
I trust you will publically condemn such unacceptable behaviour.
John Mason
Director – Taxi & Private Hire
Dear Mr Mason
Thank you for your recent email regarding the demonstration outside Palestra.
Without any reservation The United Cabbies Group utterly condemn any inappropriate behaviour or abusive language towards TfL staff or members of the public.
Let us reassure you that our members will be notified that any such behaviour will not be tolerated and will result in expulsion from the UCG.
This response will be published on our website, and can we ask that you forward this on to anyone who received your original email.
We trust that this brings the matter to a close,
Yours sincerely
The United Cabbies Group
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Simco
November 21, 2010 at 6:03 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
It is a surprise to read this letter from John Mason.
“Please be under no doubt that we will not hesitate to take action against any drivers who make such comments to TfL staff or members of the public.”
All the drivers were most polite while giving leaflets to the public and were received gratefully. There was always big surprise and shock at the revelations about the sexual assaults and rapes and the official statistic figures.
Mr. Mason, your attack at the drivers that are helping the vulnerable public to be safe is WRONG.
Yet again you are manipulating the events for the self preservation while the important matters brought to the surface are being given a second place.
Shame on you.
Dave Tee
November 21, 2010 at 8:05 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Dear Mr Mason, I have read your letter/email and agree with it fully. Please, by return, do you condone the action of the satillte office mini cab drivers for the Rape Offiences they commit generally without counterbility??
I look forward to your reply.
Kind Regards
David Triphook Jnr.
PS – Should my daughter ever become one of these victims I will be coming after you directly for failing to protect her legal female right.
steve
November 21, 2010 at 8:43 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
What a terrible thing to happen to these poor souls!
To think just the mere mention of the word can cause such anger among Masons staff.
Well Mr Mason can you imagine what the REAL victims are going through?
Shame on you and your staff!
SteveM
November 21, 2010 at 10:14 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Dear Mr Mason
If any of your staff felt threatened or intimidated then I can only apologise.
These members of your staff felt threatened even though there was an extremely large amount of uniformed Police Officers in attendance.
Every night of the week members of the public are accosted when standing in the street, or when leaving restaurants or clubs by touts aggressively uttering the immortal words ” Taxi, Taxi, these people are not lucky enough to have numerous uniformed Police Officers present to protect them. Perhaps you should now also apologise to these unfortunate people
BARBEL107
November 22, 2010 at 12:25 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
ENFORCE THE LAW
STOP THE RAPES
Jacky
November 22, 2010 at 8:22 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
As someone who was on both demos last week I saw no bad behaviour.
n fact I spoke with the officer in charge and he said this was a very peaceful demo
Vito Man
November 22, 2010 at 2:15 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Come on Mr Mason, who are you trying to kid
This is obviously a ploy by TFL to demonise the UCG, the whole point of this demo was to highlight to the public the dangers of getting into unbooked mini cabs, your message is deliberately wriiten in a way to make it look like UCG members were threatening to rape, when it’s clear that the public were only being given leaflets warning them of TFL’s failings
My guess is the alledged incidents either didn’t happen at all or have been taken out of context, why were no complaints made to the numerous officers in attendance?
How is it that so many Police officers can be found to protect the Palestra building but no Police are seen enforcing the law at night?
TFL were embarrased by the demo in Oxford St and are trying to deflect the attention by making ridiculous accusations
Shame on You!
lapvito
November 23, 2010 at 2:01 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
how many lie is mason going to tell to attack the UCG
all the police i spoke to say how well and peaceful the demo was
even the two who push my cab across oxford circus
Gordon861
November 23, 2010 at 11:23 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I’m sure that if the information in this letter is correct he will be making the CCTV footage of the incident public or handing it onto the police so that the offenders may be identified and delt with correctly.
A warning from your supporters at NTBPT, FILM EVERYTHING, on all our demos now 25% (or more) of the participents are carrying recording equipment. These can range from £30 cheap bodycams to £300 HD helmetcams, whenever anything kicks off there is a very good chance we will get it on film or at least identify the troublemaker afterwards. Even if the picture isn’t great due to the lack of light the audio can also be useful.
Nothing quietens a shouty motorist better than the realisation that he is on film being abusive often in his companies van and so traceable or that the police will have evidence if needed later.
You never know you might even pick up something that will hit the TV News like our run-in with Boris a few months back, which is always good for publicity.