Please feel free to leave us a comment about what issues frustrate you or what you think should be done by the authorities. Are you happy with how your trade organisation are representing you ? if not, tell us what you think they should be doing.
What action do you want to see the UCG take ? Do you feel demos are the way forward or would you prefer to have representatives of the UCG enter into formal dialogue with the relevant authorities ?
Let us know.
The opinions expressed in the comments section are the views of the individual poster and are not necessarily those of the UCG.
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Dave Bowker
September 27, 2010 at 12:29 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I surported your first demo at the aldwych keep up the good work
Lee Osborne
October 6, 2010 at 3:15 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Action needs to be taken regarding the M4 Bus Lane
The CPS have today dropped all cases against Addison Lee for illegally driving in the M4 bus lane, if this goes unchallenged it will open the door to all PHV’s to drive in all bus lanes.
We must stand up and fight this decision by the CPS
Semtex
October 13, 2010 at 10:12 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
May I take this opportunity, to wish the newly formed United Cabbies Group, the very best of luck and strength, in the preservation of our endangered, but Great Trade.
Never in it’s entire existence, has our profession been under so much threat, from the woeful, short-sighted and inexperienced hirearchy, that seem determined to deem us to extinction.
Despite apparent representation from various unions, associations, clubs and groups, over the years, our trade seems to suffer more battering, as new legislation and rules are brought in.
Illegal touting in our metropolis, remains more rife than ever, with the culprits treating the lacklustre enforcement teams with contempt.
Our problems are many, and are gradually strangling our legacy, to legally ply for hire, on the streets and roads of our capital.
Without resistence, our old, traditional and world respected trade, will meet the same fate as the Trafalgar Square Pigeons !
We must not be bullied ! We must fight back and retain our hard earned right to ply our trade, without fear and threat of TFL’s agenda to kill us.
We dont want intergration with the inferior mini cab operations, we are of a different class and standard to them !
Despite the flash titles, despite the new merges, despite the new hard hitting compliance teams and despite the senior appointed officers…….illegal mini cab touting in London, is at an all time high ! This can only demonstrate one thing……that the Enforcement is Useless !
Our trade simply cannot afford to slip another inch, and the members of this newly formed United Cabbies Group, will do their utmost to prevent us slipping any further.
Good luck lads (and lasses ) and way to go ! The trade is screaming for a proper force with no ulterior motive, and God willing, this time we may have found it !
The gloves are off now….lets start some proper punching !
Steve.
john condon
October 14, 2010 at 11:49 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
im concerned about the longterm future of our trade.the unrestricted growth of the private hire is bound to effect us. we have to stand our ground and demand a curb on private hire licenses plus a scrapping of the satelite offices.keep up the good work.happy to be contacted about any action planned.
dannyprid
October 15, 2010 at 10:42 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Great site, this is what the trade needs .
csp
October 25, 2010 at 6:34 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Fantastic website, keep up the good work.
qprjim
October 29, 2010 at 1:20 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I’m pleased and very proud to be associated with the UCG. It is the only group that is trying to pull ALL licensed London taxi drivers together, regardless of the trade group who you have decided to represent yourself or the colour of your badge. Keep fighting the fight, and keep up the good work
Colm Doyle
October 31, 2010 at 11:49 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
The likelyhood of me attending one of your meetings is very slim so I would like to make a few suggestions to you.
Try and get a survey of the travelling public ie 24/7 those that use clubs, pubs, restaurants, hotels, offices workers and mainly people that use or would like to use Taxis.
Ask the following questions.
1. What do you require when you need a Taxi.
2. ” What is a Taxi”
3.Distinguise between a taxi and Private hire,( Dont use the word minicab)
4..How do you book your Taxi or do you need to.
After you do this get all the taxi drivers to ask there neighbours the same questions and when you go to the pub, ask your mates and the landlord the same questions.
you will be amazed by the answer.
Be Lucky
Waine Stapley
November 1, 2010 at 10:03 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I think it is interesting to see that the Rt Hon Phillip Hammond the Secretary of State for Transport, is the MP for Runnymede and Weybridge. I wonder how many of his friends and neighbours he is looking after as opposed to the best solution for transport as a whole.
darren
November 1, 2010 at 6:39 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
join the LONDON TAXI DRIVERS GROUP on facebook
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=8371274791
frankie
November 3, 2010 at 3:10 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
At last!
A long awaited group, that’s trying to unify this great trade!
It’s such a shame that other organisations are too busy bickering & worrying about their cushy little number’s, rather than stand up to the authorities…who seem to be hell bent on finishing us off for good!
Join the UCG now, before it’s too late for all of us!
paul sweeney
November 6, 2010 at 9:03 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
great,brill site excellent work once again mr dizzy, just for the record my m.p tory mr gove refuses to help me with a reply from clown johnson, i have sent my m.p over twenty letters but as you guessed they recieved donations from add scum so that says it all?now i am going to hit the media the labour party etc to ask for their support, any other advice on making a add lee m.p support our trade, if he wont help then that confirms it all?maybe we should highlight this that the tories and clown johnson have been brought by mr vile griffin?
Des O' Halloran
November 10, 2010 at 10:11 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Chaps great web, can I just say on speaking
To a few mates that are green badge holders
and a few today whilst getting my cab serviced
that no-one is aware of next Wednesday
It may be an idea to quickly get the posters up in
Padd / Euston etc, so that cabbies are
Aware with plenty of notice so it gives them
the option to turn up or at least
Think about it. Good luck.
qprjim
November 12, 2010 at 12:44 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
quick reply Des
We started distributing the posters around 6ish last night (for an hour or so) at all the mainline stations. We will also be doing the same around 3ish today/next couple of days at the same stations so keep your eye out and have your sellotape/blutack ready !!
southoftheriver
November 14, 2010 at 12:22 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Great work guys, see you on Wednesday
garys
November 16, 2010 at 3:41 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Iam surprised that the increase in sexual assaults in minicabs has not been reported in the press,????,and there is a case going on at the moment against an addi/lee driver,again no reports of this anywhere,
stephenhdg
November 23, 2010 at 1:31 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
i agree with all the issues listed but i think the no1 issue should be the cap of ph licenses at the rate of 400 a month london will be over run by ph we cant get rid of them but we can at least try to stop them taking over .
editor 2
November 26, 2010 at 8:33 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Stephenhdg
I believe the figure is 700 per month, as per the PH Consultation document
stephenhdg
November 27, 2010 at 10:52 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
yes i know things are worse than i thought if mason says he can not cap licenses were will the trade be i 3years time every other vehicle is a ph hire soon every car will be ph there will be no room for us this is a joke
anthony kirby
April 1, 2011 at 10:21 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
” LANK AT THE BANK ”
As a member of the LCDC i was deeply ashamed at the poor turn out on 30th march, i sat in my cab and watched as mr Davis and the stewards had a friendly chat and did little else, no tooting of horns nothing a real damp suib .
Maybe if he had attended the UCG demos at the aldwych and Oxford circus as i did then he would have seen how a demo should be organized, but i suppose he was to busy HOB NOBBING at the BISCUIT FACTORY !
delboy1
April 3, 2011 at 4:42 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
im really sorry that i missed the bank demo but i think a bit more advertising pls and after reading your first issue im so glad u are fighting for use we do need it trust me we are being sent down the swannie
editor 2
April 4, 2011 at 12:05 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi Derick
The demo at the bank was not organised by the UCG it was organised by the LCDC.
The UCG have always promoted it’s demos well.
Thanks for joining, it’s good to have you on board.
F1Cabbie
April 9, 2011 at 10:28 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
minicabs can not legally take our work . they can not pick up from the street or train station ranks . however there’s nothing stopping us taking their work and hitting them in the pockets . if every cab was fairly new and clean and all 22000 of us were on a radio circuit with one universal telephone number . then we could have a real fight back .
David
April 11, 2011 at 5:06 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
F1 Cabbie, I can see where you are coming from. How can we buy new cabs. Just look at what they now want for the new Merc £42.000 yes that is right £42,000 than you have intrest on top of that. I hope drivers will vote with there feet Just don’t buy it and lets see what the price comes down to. With the cost of repairs to the TX4 you can not afford to let it go out of warranty. The repairs are so costly you need to change evey 3 years. I wonder how much that will be when thsy put the euro5 in.
I agree with what you say about the radio’s but they should be puting one in evey cab no subs. They make enouth on the accounts they could make a small charge for each cash job you do.
Best of luck David
john
November 8, 2011 at 11:50 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I would like to speak to some one at ucg regarding our cabs it would seem that its the LCCompany and TFL who decide what engines and how this cab is made why as the customer we have no say in the matter well this has got to stop Iwould like ae rep from UCG to be in all meetings so as to make sure Lcc do not put in to the cab what they want but what we want and thats not old out of date engines but the latest .
F1Cabbie
April 10, 2011 at 7:40 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Picked up the new United cabbie news great newspaper good to have a real newspaper by working cab drivers . Not out of touch over paid bureaucrats . I am concerned about this minicab consultation. The ltda destroyed our trade by getting minicabs licence . Giving them even more credos concerns me . the younger generation no longer see any difference between them and us . I do not want unskilled rip off mercents being given any more legitimacy . Instead media campaign to inform the public who we are what training we go through . Celebrity and big business indorsements of the traditional world famous London cab and a warning that mini cabs commit sexual assaults .
F1Cabbie
April 11, 2011 at 7:05 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I agree with the no subs pay per job . Com cab are now renting the euro 5 vito ( silver colour ) plus radio all in for £ 280 per week . Only for drivers who have been on the circuit for 3 years . Not sure if new drivers will be allowed in the future or if the same deal will be offered for a tx4 have to wait and see
Be lucky
David
April 13, 2011 at 5:23 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
That’s not a bad deal. About a year go I was paying £240.00 aweek for a 57 reg TX4. The radio circuits will be the only one who could afford £42,000 for a cab. What will the rental company be renting them out for? Even a double team will have to think twice about spending that sort of money.
David
April 12, 2011 at 6:09 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I keep hearing the rumour that the ID stickers have been canceled does any one know if this is a case or not.
editor 2
April 13, 2011 at 4:08 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
According to Helen Chapman in the latest edition of the Badge, the identifiers are still going ahead, however they will not be introduced in April as was the original plan
B.Wood.
April 15, 2011 at 4:46 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Great magazine, great read, and no bulls***, just perfect.
F1Cabbie
April 15, 2011 at 12:35 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
What does it mean to be a London cabbie in 2011 ? Are we the knights of the road ? Do we have the biggest hearts . Can we be called upon in times of trouble to help the rbl with a shuttle service . Do we know what its like to be a londoner do we understand londoners . Yes we do . Do we create suffering for other people like Westminster council or tfl . Let’s makes people feel good about the London cabbie . Let’s make people fall in love with us again . Let’s not play in to the hands of tfl and the mini cab barons by boxing our trade in to a militant corner only to make londoners day even worst . How about a 100 drivers giving 2 hours a month free for positive PR . A free shuttle service from sloane sq station to chelsea flower show . Anything that promotes us in a positive way . One day a month free rides for a deserving group of people or company or charity . Let’s not become as hated as bob crow and the rmt . It didn’t work in the seventies in didn’t work in wapping . . I drive my cab to bring happiness and a first class service with real knowledge to londoners . What do others think ?
Be lucky
F1Cabbie
April 15, 2011 at 12:57 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
We need londoners on our side to stand with us .
Then tfl will have no choice but to back us .
David
April 15, 2011 at 5:22 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I agree we are the best. Why have TFL and the like have such hatered for us. Thay seem to try and make our job harder all the time?
F1Cabbie
April 20, 2011 at 8:31 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Wed 20th , the mail online has a good article on sat nav credating a lost generation and how real knowledge is best .
Be lucky
delboy1
April 25, 2011 at 11:23 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
just a thought to tfl what if 25000 london cabbies where to give back there licenses what would happen to them as the seem to be hell bent on destroying our great trade ?
David
April 26, 2011 at 9:02 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
The orther way is we all take the plates of. Go touting and set our own fares. I bet they would soon find enouth police to nick us, but never have enouth to nick the touts that we see evey night? Just a thought.
Travelgirl
June 3, 2011 at 2:58 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Be realistic, if 25000 cabbies handed their badges back TFL would just hand out another 25000+ private hire licences and allow them to “ply for hire”. There does however need to be unity in the trade for it to survive, whether this happens remains to be seen.
F1Cabbie
April 30, 2011 at 11:34 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Why is there no work ? The royal wedding on Friday up to a million people in London but no work . Bus stops crowded but no work for us . People with money no longer see us as VIP enough for them . Our bread and butter the general public can no longer afford us. We are too expensive . We need to cut our fares by 30% . Have a look around mini cabs have always got people in the back . If we were much cheaper we would be flat out . one out one in . This is the truth of it we are finished with our current overpriced fares . The lack of work proves this . Do you go and buy a suite from savile row or will the m&s do and look just as good .
David
May 1, 2011 at 3:26 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Yes we do need to cut our fares? Just look at what the mini cabs pay for there vehicle and what we have to pay. How can we compete with them? why can’t we have a level playing field. Take a look at the new Vito at £42.000 any driver who goes out and pay that for a cab must have somthing missing. I wounder what they will do if we all stop buying them? What would we be paying for top of the range ford Galaxy you would be doing 40/45 to the gallon. My TX4 does about 23 as I said how can we compete.
The orther night the door man stops me at the Rubens hotel. The door man tells me that the taxi he has book to take some one to Heathrow had let him down. Would I take them for him, well of couse I say yes. Then he says how much will you pay me for it. I told him I would pay him F??? all for it. I ask him was he willing to let them miss there plane becouse you are trying to sell the job. So next time he trys to give the job to Victoria station. tell him to get his mates to do it.. I feel bettwer for that now.
F1Cabbie
May 1, 2011 at 9:35 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I never stop for work from dodgy hotels . I think if people had the choice between us and a minicab we are always going to win if our fares are seen as good value . If I’m lucky I might get one airport a month . I would rather do two a day for 40 pounds each then I think people wouldn’t ever consider a mini cab . Here is the cost for some recent jobs I have done . Hampstead to parsons green 33 pounds
st James to the city 25 pounds swiss cottage to Brent cross 13 pounds . Too much in my opinion . The new East London line crossrail to come Boris bikes freedom passes tube upgrades to come and 65000 mini cabs . People can now get around London very cheaply . Why use us ? We must drop our fares .
42000 pounds for a cab I agree is ridiculous if we were busy all the time that would help . At the moment out of 24 hours we are probably empty for 8 hours . The ltda have been focusing on minicabs for the last 60 years look where that’s got us . The bottom line is money . We have been priced out of the market . Fancy bringing in rate 3 at 8 pm at the begining people who had been using cabs for years gave up over night . Livingstone knew that would be the start of the end for us . Unfortunately the thickos at the ltda fell right in to that one . 30% off the fares is the only way to save us . All trade groups should be pushing tfl for this . The traveling public will no longer pay for Mercedes or lti to continue to rip the driver off . They have said enough is enough . We are not paying .
d Stubbings
May 5, 2011 at 3:55 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Where on gods earth do i start? The new vito at £42,000,is this some sort of sick joke.I thought 30 grand for a new sherbet was bad enough and believe me the tx4 aint that great.This takes the biscuit.Now,my next issue,the obvious im afraid,yes diesel is nearly £1.50 a litre,lets be fair we are not going to get any concessions so how about giving us back our extras? Surely 3.0% payrise and the squirt going up by 12% in the last year we are losing out big time.Next point,in 2012 ,2500 approx london taxis are coming off the road,just in time for the olympics,i can see private hire rubbing their hands in glee.I could go on to richshaws,dodgy hotel doorman ringing the chosen few who now seem to be a section of tx4 london cabbies(yes thats right) who work the mint,the grange in ec3 and others.Why also do we cabbies take so much crap from authorities,imagine the french suffering this,they would strike ASAP,and before i go who gave radio circuits permission to negotiate our pay rise whilst flooding their circuits with cars?
David
May 11, 2011 at 7:22 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
In my view as I have all ready said any one who buys the new Vito at £42.000 has got somthing wroung with them?. It will bre intresting to see what they do when the sales drop like a stone. lets see how much they cut off the price. How will all the drivers fell who have gone out and bought one for £42.000.
Michael Bailey
May 6, 2011 at 1:27 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I see from the pages of the Taxi that they are giving away the crystal glass Taxi once again. I may be prudent to commission a crystal glass bust of a mini cab tout with an LTDA and TFL badge positioned on the lapel so we can all remember with pride the reason why the Licensed Taxi driver in London vanished
B.Wood
May 14, 2011 at 7:52 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
The minicabs want our job, our home, and our lifestyle, and if we do not fight back they will have it.
Forget the UTG they are not here to help, they must support private hire pick up points, since last October when STaN was uncovered they haven’t even challenged it.
We are on our own, and we have to fight back, we know the enemy and how they operate, now is the time to hit back right in the heart of the west end, no prisoners no surrender.
So come on, have we got a minimum of 50 drivers green badge and yellow who will guarantee to be at a designated place at a set time.
All this forum,andeson shelter stuff is fine, but one big smack on the nose is worth a thousand postings.
Actions speak louder than words.
Tucker
May 17, 2011 at 9:14 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
F1 Cabbie reckons we’re driving round empty because we’re too expensive, and goes on to list a few jobs he’s done recently to prove the point.
Well here’s a list of few jobs I’ve done recently… Still think we’re too dear?
Sloane Square to Harvey Nicks £3.20
Waitrose Marleybone to Paddington St £2.60
Hamleys to Savile Row £2.40
Bank St to Marsh Wall £3.20
Camden Station to Camden Lock £2.80
I could go on, but you get the picture. It’s clear to me that people only use us now for the very shortest of hops around town and on these types of journeys we are cheap as chips. Problem is, not enough people realise it.
The way to put bums on seats and thereby increase our takings is to advertise what good value we are on short journeys, then it really would be “one out one in”. But only one org has the funds to do this but for some reason prefer not to.
F1Cabbie
May 21, 2011 at 12:49 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
We are very good value for local jobs . I feel the problem is longer jobs and the worst problem is the waiting on the meter that’s what makes us well over the top . It should only come on if you have been stationary for 90 seconds or more that would help . I use to take cabs now and again now I get the bus with my oyster card I’m not paying 15 to 20 pounds to get home . It not just me who thinks we are two much money everyone who takes a mini cab does everyone who goes to the flyer with a mini cab does . Everything I do in life is about money what supermaket I visit . What flight I am going to book on the internet . What hotel I book , theatre tickets . Everything has to be good value . More and more jobs I do for less then what’s one the meter . Cheaper fares = more business . We do not drive cabs in north koean .you can not bully or force people in to the cab . Every business in London compeats on money . We have to do the same with our competition mini cabs . People only care about money in there pockets . I would rather do four jobs a hour at 7 pounds then 2 jobs at 10 pounds . T he next 5 punters that get in to your cab to go to paddington to go out to the airport tell them you will do it for 40 pounds when I do everyone goes with me . I did 4 the other day .
David
May 21, 2011 at 2:31 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I have just had my cab pass. When I got the cab back I went to work the next day. Could hear a knocking from the engine. The garage I am using think it is in the bottom end of the engine. This has been couse by over reving the engine on the test. They all so have a secound cab with the same problem had no trouble drove out of the test centre and the engine blow up. This seem to be hapening to the older TX4 07. Is it realy nessersy to rev the engine so hard to be blowing the engine.
I rang the LTDA to day as I herd that their have now been sevel cases of this but they did not seem very intrested. I would like any views that any one have on this. For an engine rebuild they are talking about £2.500. for a compleate new lump about £5,700.
After this I will be selling the cab and renting.
F1Cabbie
May 21, 2011 at 8:28 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I think I remember reading a article in one of the papers by lti that garages were reving the engine to clean the smoke and if this was found to be the case the cab would not be fixed under waranty for those cabs still in wanranty .
Also if I may add a some more regarding my previous post about fares . I never charge over what’s on the meter but I do charge less . Two jobs this week one for 18.40 well over the top stuck in traffic I charged 15 and another job local across town stuck in ridiculous traffic 18.80 on the meter I charged 13 . I am fed up off people using my business and getting stung . Only to think twice about using a cab again . Or walking in to the hands of are enemy . I know I am banging on about this and a lot of people will disagree with me but it is my strong opinion that are current meter especially the timed charge part that is responsible for putting bums in to the mini cab seats .
MichaelB
May 25, 2011 at 11:51 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I read with absolute disgust the antics at Kingston station with the blessing of the Met police and the Tfl bunch. How much longer are we as a trade accept what is going on.
It is clear that the powers that be are intent on the total destruction of the licensed taxi trade as we know it. I speak to cab drivers all day trying to get them to understand that we must join together regardless of the organisation that you may or may not belong too.
Take a look at the radio circuits they can already see into the future they all run cars
alongside licensed Taxis. First they came for the ranks and I didn’t speak up Then
they came for the right to ply for hire again I didn’t speak up Then they came for Kingston I didn’t speak up I don’t work Kingston Then they came for me, by that time no one was left to speak up.
Dave
May 26, 2011 at 2:57 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I have been reading the latest issue of United Cabbies News. Can I frist say what a great mag. What a great read about Kingston. I live in Sutton I spoke to a friend of mine on Sutton rank. Thay have ask could we get some mags down for the Sutton boys. Is there some where I can pick some up and I will give them to the Sutton drivers. I could all so drop some of on Wimbledon.
I can see United cabbiesecoming a VERY big force for this trade. We must all stand togreather. I wish those running United cabbies all the very best.
I under stand this all cost money I am willing to put £5.00 a month to wards all the cost involved. WHOS JOINING ME!!!! We have to fright back togreather.
My Self.
May 27, 2011 at 6:38 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Me and Lee met a fellow cab driver in the early hours of the morning around 3.30am whilst distributing the United Cabbies News at the Chelsea Bridge tea stall, thank you Peter and Marco.
Myself and Lee got talking to the fellow cab driver who is called Mo, and he was very impressed with the magazine and Lee’s insight into what’s presently going on in the cab trade, and Mo, subsequently joined the UCG.
A very warm welcome to you Mo, and any other new members.
luke stevens
May 29, 2011 at 8:57 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Why Oh Why have we got a Ticket Inspector Running our Trade. What does he know about Driving Cab…..! A Mass Drive In needed….. or Drive out…All take the same Day Off, day and night Men. But we all know that won’t happen,coz all of the IDIOTS will worry about is thats days/nights takings.Look what happened at the Flyers all them years ago,while they were on Strike, they robbed ‘em. And wasn’t it the GREAT Alf Townsend who wrote in the Trade Press “THE CANCER’S COMING TO TOWN…” The trade won’t stand together……….
F1Cabbie
June 6, 2011 at 1:09 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Put on at the st pancras hotel today ( Mon 6 th June ). While on rank mini cab was on the other side the door man called him over and started to load up luggage . On seeing this I thought here we go loading up for the flyer I got out and opportune ask why he had been called over when I was on rank . He said he didn’t know . I said I was pulling off . I don’t trust this hotel so was not going to hang about . As I pulled of I stopped got out and ask the passager in a nice way excuse me how did you book this mini cab she said with swiss cottlege cars . So I was wrong . I got in the cab . This simple question made the footman see red and as I was drivihng away came runing with pen and paper and radio to the front sercurity to get my number . I stopped and told them this is a free country and one is allowed to ask questions . And why from the start did this hotel hate cabs . I will not be putting on at this hotel again and now have to wait and see if I get sticth up with a complaint . These doorman seem very quick to want to have a rumble . What you have to put up with now is beyond belive .
F1Cabbie
June 6, 2011 at 10:52 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I rang the concierge at st pancras hotel tonight pretending to be a guest wanting a car to the flyer . I was asked if I would like a chauffeur car or a black cab I asked what was the difference . The chauffeur car was pushed on me at £ 110 pounds the black cab £ 70 . We do years on the knowledge and have to beg this hotel to let us in . I will be boycotting this hotel from now on and any cab driver with a ounce of solidarity would do the same .
mick
June 7, 2011 at 4:35 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi,I really hope the UCG will do something to help the yellow badge drivers,all of the surburban ranks are vastly over manned thanks to TfL at a time of the worst economic downturn since the 1930′s.It’s crazy,but when one looks at recent devopments in Kingston,one can see they are trying to kill our trade by stealth,there can be no other reason,Every other city in the UK has a limit on the amount of licences per year,but not London,I propose that UCG produce leafllets for the public that state’s some facts about PH ,that the drivers of PH vehicles do not need a UK driving licence,they have no metered fares,are not tested on there geographical awareness.they have no wheelchair facilities,nor are there any tests on the applicants ability to speak or understand English,
I would also propose that due to TfL’s flooding of surburban ranks that these area’s be expanded ,& that a PH touting hotline to enforcement officals is created,with stiffer penalties
luke stevens
June 8, 2011 at 11:11 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
A MUST, BOB ODDY EXPOSED….Youtube….LTDA Chairman…Just one quote..” Victoria to Waterloo……!”
F1Cabpbie
June 9, 2011 at 3:49 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Just seen the bob oddy you tube clip . Is there a more arrogant patronizing traiter to the cab trade than bob oddy . Every cab driver in London needs to see these clips . I will past in on . Bob oddy has nothing positive to give to the furture of the cab trade in my opinion. I would like to know why every hardworking person who spent years on the knowledge is now a failure because they are just a cab driver . No wonder the trade is where it is . How can any cab driver pay this man subs .
On yet another battle some off the iPhone and android smart phone apps are taxi booking site . One on android may be on iPhone I’m on android is called the London taxi app . However it takes you to a minicab booking site . Also has a picture with a cab with a taxi light .
F1Cabbie
June 10, 2011 at 10:59 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Spoke to a mate last night about the bob oddy clips
. He use to be a ltda member a few years ago just for legal protection . and rang them up to ask about the advance cycle stop line at traffic lights . My mate said to the ltda guy on the end of the phone ” it wasn’t always easy not to pull in to the cycle bit and being done by the camara was out of order . Anyway the ltda guy told him he would have to be more careful and that you cab drivers have had it to easy for to long . When he got off the phone he thought that the ltda had been hijacked by someone and were following there agenda . Also when he did the knowledge in the 80s he used the than ltda college for a couple of months than realized he didn’t need it and just met up with his call over partner anyway when he passed out up the pco there was a ltda guy up there who told him he hadn’t paid his college fees . He told him he hadn’t used the college but the ltda told him it was a contrat. He said he hadn’t sign anything or relized. The ltda guy told him if he didn’t pay up the ltda would make his life very difficult as a cab driver . Being a butter boy he paid up . I asked him if I could post what he had told me and he said yeah definitely.
Ian Learmouth
June 11, 2011 at 2:45 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Is it possible to show a running total of membership numbers ?.Do we know the membership numbers of LTDA,LCDC,RMT. Do they have 5% of members as required by TFl to sit on the Board? .
David
June 13, 2011 at 2:12 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I think they just lie.
Ian
June 15, 2011 at 5:38 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Do you think we should take the lead and show what our membership numbers are ?. We then can show that we are a growing group of cab drivers who should be invited to all talks and have our say. Keeping membership numbers hidden helps no one except TFL who can keeps us out in the cold.
ian knott
June 13, 2011 at 7:59 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
im a member of the ltda,they are just about to have there elections,not one canditate mentions the black cab scabs,we all know them,the ones who think its there right to bypass the ranks to get the best jobs or the yellow badges who come into central London to steal our work,is it because they are fellow cabbies we turn a blind eye to them,i expect mini cabs to try and steal our work,after all they are in competition with us,am i alone in thinking the black cab scabs are worse,the general opinion seems to be it dosent matter if fellow cabbies stitch us up as long as mini cabs dont get the work,as for overpricing, i think if we did a fix price to the airports we could reclaim a lot of work,customers want to know how much it is going to cost them
john
October 25, 2011 at 10:40 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Ian,i agree with u about some yellow badges working in town,but you seem to be under the impresion that there is hundreds of them.The illegals sitting outside clubs and pubs in the west end,they are nicking your work.As for the the green badges bypassing the ranks for the best jobs,if you dont say something to them they will keep on doing this.Do not keep blaming yellow badges for all your misfortunes.
p james
June 13, 2011 at 5:37 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
hello.. i.v been e mailing john mason….for over 10 months…about the touting that goes on at the victoria coach stn…there are 3 cabbies e mailing him about this lot…we watch the miniscabs doing it early mornings….and the pco/tfl..do nothing about it …we have nearly had fist fights with the touts….i have told john mason about it…….but still nothing is done about it..i think he should get back to his last job….working with westminster parking dept…….he is hopeless in the job he is doing with the pco/tfl…….
MichaelB
June 15, 2011 at 2:59 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
This is not an accusation but an observation we as a group of workers believed for to long that we are all individuals and not a collective yes we are all individuals but with a collective aim that aim is to go to work and earn a living thats where the collective intrest comes in.
Over many years conected with the strugles that the working classes have had with the bosses rulers what ever you want to call them they have always played one card that is divide and rule the way that they achieve this is to get us the workers to focus on the wrong issues i.e. war with other representative bodies or people and whilst we are loking south they creep in from the north and decimate the Taxi trade.
We must join together and use our considerable power as a collective it matters not what organisation you bellong to we must unite to save this Trade Kingston is only the tip of the iceburg workers united will never be deafeated. I emplore the young men and women in this trade to come together and work to protect your livelyhoods
B.Wood.
June 23, 2011 at 2:58 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Any chance of forming a S.O.E branch of the UCG, a group of 50 dedicated drivers would be a start.
David
July 3, 2011 at 11:43 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I may be a bit think but what does S.O.E. stand for
David
July 3, 2011 at 11:45 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Out of intrest what is the UCG view on the Y/B G/B stickers that we will soon be puting on the windscreen and back window.
GARYS
August 19, 2011 at 11:19 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
See the word Demo keeps coming up again,Well how about this as a theme.
“WE WANT TO GO BACK UNDER POLICE CONTROL”
It would surely grab attention,as who in thier right mind would be asking for that,The reasons can come out later
Peanut
August 19, 2011 at 11:31 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Have just seen The “Bob Oddy Exposed” clip
No need for name calling, albeit I could think of a few titles that might be appropriate for you Bob. I’m afraid I can no longer give my money to an organisation that doesn’t believe in it’s membership. “you’ve been at the helm too long Bob!”…”GO!”
Dean Savill
August 23, 2011 at 11:21 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi, Im a new reader of United cabbies news and I was reading about the new bribery law. I wanted to let you know on Saturday night (20th august) the cavendish hotel in duke street st James, the doorman stopped me and said he had someone to go to the airport. I said okay then he asked if I could sort him out I told him no and drove off. I think he may of approached another driver just before me. Regards Dean
lee
August 25, 2011 at 11:25 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
dean ,it is well known fact that cavendish is bent the reason you was offered that job was because the taxi he would have ordered was held up and he could not hold them back anymore.totally true
lee
August 25, 2011 at 11:26 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
i am also new and find this pro-active approach refreshing,last night found myself talking to a passenger about it who turns out is a barrister.i will not put on here but you have my contact details if you want to know their advice please feel free to call me or mail me you have my numbers
Bryan
August 28, 2011 at 2:58 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Listened to booboddy exposed. It was like a sad comedy. Oddy has seen it all, done it and knows it all. He’s also earned far too well as market share has been lost to unfair competition. He’s 72 and feels threatened by new kids on the block. New ideas make Oddy redundant and left to a retirement of hanging around the house. Lucky him.
The LTDA election was a sham. Same faces and I only voted for McNamara. No one has told me the result yet. Did I miss it ?
Best Oddy= David Brent moment. “I’ve nailed you, see I’ve nailed you” Don’t dare go and offer constructive ideas to the LTDA Board, you’ll get nailed.
Bryan
August 28, 2011 at 3:14 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Good to read Courtney’s insider account of TFL Political Corruption that has an agenda to give our jobs away.
We’ve got Mayoral and GLA elections next year. We’ll get no help from Ken, Boris or whoever. It’s only our numbers that have kept our taxis working. We’re too big to take on so we’ll suffer death by a thousand cuts.
We should look for a political solution to stop the institutional prejudice that we suffer.
I’d vote ‘Courtney For Mayor. Pick a party that cares for all Londoners and try to get members on the GLA. We all talk a lot so we’d be in the perfect position to spread the good news. Londoners would trust a worker ahead of another self serving political nonentity and we get support at the high table.
Just a thought. Any better ideas ?
SuperCabby
August 31, 2011 at 1:33 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Well I must say that I am totally astounded by the amount of work that has been out into promoting and saving our trade by this group of guys who all give their time free of charge, the time effort and determination shown by these guys is to be applauded.
Congratulations on what seems to be a sucessful scheme at the Cumberland Hotel, I hope that those who dismissed the idea are now lowering their heads in shame as they said it would never work!
I think it is about about time that this trade united and pulled together otherwise we are going to become dinosaurs and I think that the UCG is the group to put your weight behind.
If there is anything I can do to help just shout.
Never before has so much been owed by so many to so few…..The UCG
editor 1
September 1, 2011 at 10:27 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Thanks SuperCabby, it’s nice to know we are appreciated.
The UCG was formed because we feel the established trade orgs have failed us. We are not prepared to just sit there and watch our great trade die.
If we go down, we go down fighting!
And unlike the others we are trying to put more money IN your pocket, not take it out.
Our membership is rising by the day with drivers like yourself who are willing to get stuck in and help.
Together we can and will make a difference.
Steve crossley
August 31, 2011 at 11:28 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Picked up manager of W hotel Josh , said he needs more taxis at his hotel !!!!!!!
editor 1
October 26, 2011 at 11:29 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
As we understand it, the W Hotel in Wardour Street has now closed and all it’s fixtures & fittings have been auctioned off.
Peter Carroll
September 2, 2011 at 11:30 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hello,
Quentin Willson and I are fighting the country’s largest campaign to see fuel duty reduced. We need to secure 100,000 signatures on the Govt ePetition site at http://www.bit.ly/FFUK-Gov to force a major debate in Parliament.
Please could you advise how we could mobilise the London Taxi trade to help us. We currently have 67,000 signatures – we need 100,000!
The easiest way to sign is to visit http://www.fairfueluk.com and click the link to the Govt ePetition.
We also need twitter followers @ fairfueluk
Please help us to help you….
Kind regards
Peter Carroll 07866 800 755
bobby
September 2, 2011 at 3:11 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
i just got a pcn for going down old broad st at 7.44 on 10/08/2011 does anybody know why?tnx.
lee
September 7, 2011 at 5:16 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
mr editor,even though i have been blowing your trumpet to every man and beast.i am findind it very very hard to contact u (frustrating) so i will post on here,i went to southern alarms se1 and was talking about yourselves,please could u contact steve there he wants to advertise in the mag and wants some on his counter .i have txt and left voicemail but now i am hoping the message has got across many thanks
editor 1
September 7, 2011 at 9:18 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Thanks Lee, we shall contact Southern Alarms asap. Our automated text message service does not receive messages, it only broadcasts them, which is why we have not received any. We can only be contacted via this forum, our email address, Twitter, Facebook and the LTDF forum.
Regards UCG Admin.
lee
September 7, 2011 at 2:15 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
mr editor,i read somewhere on here that the st panc hotel is also doing dodgy dealing if this is right then i 4 one will not go in there when flagged down they can get their minicabs to do the locals.could u let me know if this true many thanks,also with regards to the mint hotel fact no 1 there is a green badge driver who has 2 sons yellow badge that are doing their airport work,fact 2 if they are not about and u rank up there the little c u nxt tue i wont call him by his job name comes out and asks yes asks for 25 quid for a airport.i really think in my heart of hearts if u r to succeed in this thing with airport jobs all members should follow suit and when the little one is standing in the middle of the road wanting a taxi 4 his guests to go to a nice restaurant then he should be ignored and maybe a letter sent to all hotel managers explaining what is intended then they might wake up imo
lee
September 7, 2011 at 2:18 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
ps how is it going at the cumberland hotel,pps u r the talk of the airport lol
tony-tmc
September 8, 2011 at 1:11 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Just came across your site and I agree 100% with what you say and are doing, I think most of us do. Not so sure about knocking the LTDA as I am a member and they have been fighting our corner for a long time, however I am sure even they need a jolt every so often and maybe they are getting a bit too cosy with TfL? But, we are all in this together against just about everybody else so we need to stand united. There is certainly a need for you guys and I for one will support a drive in protest if you feel the need to call one.
On a different matter, I am a green badge but I would support a legal framework to allow yellows to work certain streets at certain times ie. Clapham High Street on a Saturday night. It would give them a bit of needed cash and help us win back these steets from the illegal criminal scum who infest it unhindered at present. This would be a win win situation for our trade. Take Putney station, the yellow badges work it, now there are always cabs there, this actually generates work as the public know they will find a cab there and get off there for that reason, you get a lot of good quality work off it now and I come in and out that way and get a lot more jobs than I ever used to, while the minicabs must hate it! Certain other areas could be regenerated to all of our benefit in this way I believe.
Thanks and keep up the good work!
lee
September 8, 2011 at 2:51 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
as per usual rickshaws blocked up covent garden could not move anywhere,when is something going to be done please with these fucking idiots.speaking of idiots addison scab driving towards me last night with passengers on board up a one way street lol you couldnt make it up
lee
September 8, 2011 at 5:09 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
tony i could not agree with u more we have got to stand together not worlds apart,any way i have just phoned to cancel my ltda subs got told by a young lady hold on will put you through to someone ok i says.on comes mr oddy now i have never met him or even seen him come to that and i hope he reads this as it has took me an hour to digest what he said,said i was pissed off and have seen my wages go in a downward spiral and would like something done about minicabs or scabs as i might as well go back to my previous job he asked what that was and i told him answer i got well go back to it then lol,next on agenda what is happening about rickshaws and rapists within answer we were at court we were the only trade body there i asked why it is not in this edition of paper (they couldnt do it in time)but they was there lol.mr oddy everytime i was asked by you a question u cut me short and told me about your meetings with this one and that one 5,10 yrs ago on every subject now personally i dont care if you have had dinner or tea with boris becker or boris johnson and i dont care that you have had a job in the cab trade longer then me and that i am a butterboy i still know right from wrong.and 4 my last rant when i asked what was happening to illegal scabs and what was being done he told me he is not the police (brilliant) i will finish this with saying mr oddy you have been round politicians to long or tried to be ” you ask a question then answer it for me,i am glad you sit in your office and earn a nice few quid and i will say u prob earn more then me and good luck to u
F1cabbie
September 9, 2011 at 3:53 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
That PH consultation in full . We are considering doing somethings but we will end up considering doing nothing .
We are not being allowed in Olympic lanes so as not to upset mini cabs
Kenny Stuart
September 13, 2011 at 11:32 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi guys & gals. Firstly I’d like to congratulate and thank you for the work you have done so far to preserve this great trade of ours. As demonstrating is a powerful and in our case necessary form of action I feel more action is needed to eradicate our streets of the pedicab. I need not tell you what a menace these parasites are and the way they blatently disregard any form of authority or safety for their unsuspecting passengers. Many times I have been verbally abused by them as they freely ply for hire on OUR RANKS! A protest against them maybe a way froward to alert the authorities and the general public as to why they shouldn’t be on our streets. Also, as Parliament had to look at petitions with over 100,000 signatures, would’nt it be a good idea to get one going on their new e-petitions website to get rid of pedicabs? I’m sure with the right promotion we can get the required amount of support to get the polititions to take notice.
Secondly with the Mayor’s clean air strategy for London, I wonder if he’s aware of the way some councils seem to have no idea when planning their road systems. All over town there are hundreds of annoyingly long red lights, banned turns, closed short cuts, unecessary trafficlights etc. As cabbies we are all too familiar with the frustration this causes. As a couple of examples: We used to be able to use Southwarks Bridge to get into the city but since Queen St has been closed all traffic is diverted to London or Blackfriars bridges. How much more pollution does this cause?
How about if Minories was two way from Goodman’s Yard? that would put an end to the traffic jam that bungs up Mansell St every day and idling vehicles emmiting all of that lovely carbon gas into the air.
Lambeth Circus. Traffic lights on a roundabout. Great idea, often a lot of needless traffic on all approaches. But just the other side of Lambeth Bridge an almost identical roundabout and road system but with no traffic lights and guess what…no traffic jams! Need I say more?
Just a couple of ideas and I’m sure that we could come up with hundreds and by making more noise I reckon the authorities will have to start listening.
By the way, do you know if the banned left turn into Queen Victoria St from New Bridge St permanent? If it is, then there’s another classic example of a bad idea. We have to fight to get some of these roads opened up and to get London moving as best as it can as was part of the Mayor’s original campaign promise. I reckon we are the best people to do it.
Thanks for your time, keep up the good work,
Ken
lee
September 13, 2011 at 11:33 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
hi there,can whoever took the photo of the fool outside the cumberland on the first day u know the one with the wide parting who really had a set of hair like an emu,send details to taxi licensing 4th floor 197 blackfriars rd cheers
William farrell
September 20, 2011 at 2:30 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I have recently joined the group as I percieve it to be a progressive and positive team with ability to achieve.
I have read through the various texts and I read and digest a lot of anger, frustration and resentment brought about by incompetent and unwilling personel prepared to address the real issues that effect working cabbies.
I hope that members of this group can stay united, not be divided, and focus on what this trade requires to rise to the top once more.
Too much energy is used on bickering about what everyone else is doing or not doing. This tarde must have a strategy, goals that can be achieved and matters that will be addressed by those who are willing to acknowledg that, we, as a trade are being put through the mill.
Representation by Caroline Pidgeon has gone on record. She has raised issues that Mr Johnson has to come back with answers. I hope that she does not let him off the hook as I am sure, no positive, Peter Hendy and John Mason will discuss the issues over a nice cool drink and update Mr J. accordingly. In other words he will be none the wiser.That is Politics, but MS Pidgeon now has MrJ.. ON THE HOOK AND SHOULD NOT LET HIM OFF UNTIL ALL MATTERS RAISED HAVE BEEN satisfactorily addressed.
I was more, well much more interested by the questions raised by the male gentleman after Ms Pidgeon had finished.He had much nore down to earth concerns about PH Drivers in respect of issues conserning;
Insurance
Vehicles not suitable for purpose
Driving qualifications
Benefit Fraud ie Drivers working illeagally but claiming.
He also raised the matter of the new Police Commissioner and Zero Tolerance.Raised the issue concerning Effective Means to Prosecute for breaches in respect of the above. Again Mr J. was out on a limb, No idea, No answer No comment, No FT.
This is the sort of guy that should be nutured as he is in a position to raise such matters that cause embarresment to the system. He may be prepared to stand our corner, together with Ms Pidgeos.
I raise the second mans questions because I always believe that there is more than one way to skin a cat……
Dont go for the jugalar straight away, but probe slowly and politely.Pitch at the right level and get the facts correct.
Peter Hendy and John Mason have got skeletons in the cupboard…..Addison Lee has skeletons in the cupboard…Mr Oddy has skeletons in the cupboard….
They are letting everyone down……Q. WHY…………
Remember what Courney referred to………does not take much working out guys…
Workers United………
Gud Luc
Clive Jones
September 22, 2011 at 11:35 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi i joined UCG in June M/Ship # 1443
I was driving behind a cab the other day and they had a UCG sticker in the back window, is there any chance of sending me a couple? or let me know how i can get some?
Are there plans in the future to have legal representation for members? Also are there plans to pay subs in the future?
Will there be an update on how the scheme is doing @ the Cumberland?
Regards
editor 1
October 26, 2011 at 11:38 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi Clive, you can get some stickers at the next UCG meeting, or grab some from one of our marshals at the next demo.
The rest of your questions are answered in UCN4,
Regards UCG.
Graham Webb
September 25, 2011 at 11:39 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi all,
After getting the first issue of UCN at Lewisham station, we have had no other copies dropped off to us. Does anyone know how I can get the back issues at all plse.
Thank you
editor 1
October 26, 2011 at 11:42 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi Graham, unfortunately all copies of the UCN 1,2 & 3 are now gone, but you can still read them on our website, just click the ‘Back Issues’ tab.
UCN4 is out now and loads have been distributed to Lewisham.
Regards UCG.
Chris Smith
October 6, 2011 at 7:39 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
This is a warning to all drivers. I believe I am receiving a form of Gang Stalking from Addison Lee. If you do not know what Gang Stalking is – do a google search. There is definitely harrassment towards me which is bringing me to the verge of blowing up and smashing into one of their vehicles which is obviously the intention they wish to see so that it brings the cab trade into a bad light. I certainly will not be giving them the satisfaction by being provoked into losing control but I believe their actions towards me are criminal. I strongly urge any other cab drivers who are experiencing similar issues with Addison Lee to come forward so that we can form a group and ask the police to investigate.
Terry Knight
October 10, 2011 at 4:54 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I would like to commend your members for the free service that thy provide to veterans on Armistice Sunday.
I am General Secretary of an Ex-service Society called Thre ‘Fellowship Of The Services’ and I know how much your kindness is appreciated.
God Bless you and many thanks for the gesture.
Terry Knight
Bryan Wood
October 14, 2011 at 9:42 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Can someone inform me when the members were asked to vote for Jonathan to become spokesman of the UCG?
editor 1
October 14, 2011 at 11:00 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Jonathon was democratically elected by the members at the first UCG meeting.
Why do you ask?
arnie
October 21, 2011 at 11:46 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi
We would be inerested in advertising in your magazine and would be obliged if you could please contact us with details of your rates etc.
Many thanks.
A & S Services (Hoddesdon) Ltd
Tel: 01992 445733
Contact: Arnie
editor 1
October 26, 2011 at 11:49 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi Arnie, thanks for the enquiry, our marketing dept will contact you very soon.
And thanks for choosing United Cabbies News, the trade publication that everybody wants to read.
S.O.E.
October 23, 2011 at 2:36 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Special thanks to Lewisham Tony for distributing issue 4 of the UCG News in Lewisham and surrounding areas.
john reed
October 24, 2011 at 6:24 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Just like to say,i am a surburban driver,About the IDstickers on cabs,i think the trade has more to worry about than this dribble.Could not beat the illegals,pedecabs,so whats the next thing a yellow badge.Lets forget what colour badge we wear,and get on with the important things that are happening in our trade.
rodney
October 25, 2011 at 11:58 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hello I have read your paper and listened to Jonathon in conversation with the once mighty Bob Odd, I also tried to get Bob to put supersides on all ltda cabs with the driver’s consent with adverts saying driver and cab to Heathrow for £40 pound it was roughly at the time.he told me he has had every idea and no cabby would consent as we are all individuals and i wassuggesting old things he had been trying for years.i felt a bit silly at the time and kept my gob shut,but Jonathon is a top guy with fresh ideas. as a very milatant cab driver in the ninties los locas protests and the coach ststion demos to name two i was well up for it but every timethe ltda would take control and all momentum would be lost keep it up guys your getting the old boys like me interested in the trade again cheers Rodthecab
ronald milne
October 26, 2011 at 11:41 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I have just recently joined after reading your magazine and it is great to know that we are starting to fight back, but the thing that riles me with this trade is the scum within where you are sitting on a rank for let’s say 30 minutes, the luggage comes out and one of your very own turns up to take the job going to the airport after being contacted by the door man or consierge.
When challenged you hear the same old stories… “If i dont take it a mini cab will”.
Well I don’t buy that, the real reason it goes in his cab is because he bungs the doorman a tenner. This becomes frustrating seeing the same drivers pulling up at different hotels and taking the cream jobs while genuine taxi drivers get the local jobs.
I believe that if you are prepared to sit on a hotel rank you take the job that comes out good or bad, not to be put into a cab that has done no time on the rank and the only way I can see that we can stop this is by demonstrating outside these hotels and stopping taxis from picking up in rush hour and turn up unannounced, and when the manager invites us in we can inform him how is doorman act.
We all know the hotels, the Athenium, Metropolitan, St Martins Lane, Marriot Grosvenor Sq and many more.
Let the fightback begin within!
M.Robinson
October 26, 2011 at 3:07 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
FIRSTLY I AM AGAINST THE 15YR AGE LIMIT ESPECIALLY IN THESE ECONOMIC TIMES.
DID ODDY OF LTDA OR GRANT DAVIS LCDC CONSULT THEIR MEMBERS?
WHY DIDN’T MASON AND HIS CRONIES NOT TALK TO THE RMT AND UCG OR EVEN WRITE TO ALL DRIVERS AND GARAGES? i WILL TELL YOU WHY BECAUSE MASON WILL ONLY TALK TO YES MEN. ODDY ON £23,500 A YEAR FROM TFL AND DAVIS BECAUSE HE LIKES TO FEEL IMPORTANT. DAVIS IS REALLY MASON”S POODLE.
ALSO WHY WAS LTI, PETER DECOSTA KPM AND OTHERS WHO HAD A VESTED INTEREST, ON THE COMMITTEE DEBATING THE 15YR AGE LIMIT? BECAUSE THEY SELL CABS OR RENT THEM OUT. AS ONE WELL KNOWN PROPRIETER SAID THAT IT WOULD BE GREAT BECAUSE THERE WILL BE A SHORTAGE OF CABS AND HE WILL BE ABLE TO INCREASE RENTS AND IT WILL BE JUST LIKE THE 1960s WHEN EVRERY ONE RENTED.
THE PROPRIETORS MAY PAY £35,000 PER CAB BUT THEY WILL CLAIM BACK £5.833.33 VAT INPUT. SO TAXI WILL ONLY COST £28,166.66. THAT IS IF THEY PAY THE FULL PRICE. WHICH THEY WILL NOT. OF COURSE THE DRIVER WHO RENTS WILL HAVE TO PAY VAT ON HIS RENT. HOWEVER THE PROPRIETOR WILL NOT GIVE A DAMN.
ONLY THE OWNER DRIVER WILL HAVE TO BEAR THE FULL COST.
DO YOU DRIVERS OUT THERE REALISE THAT ABOUT THREE HUNDRED CABS WILL COME OFF THE ROAD EVERY MONTH STARTING JANUARY 1ST 2012?
MASON AND HIS COHORTS ARGUE THAT CABS WILL BE REPLACED. HE OF COURSE LIVES IN CLOUD COOKOO LAND. OLDER DRIVERS WILL N OT BUY NEW CABS AND THEY CERTAINLY WILL BE ABLE TO AFFORD THE INCREASE RENTALS. ALTHOUGH TFL HAVE NOT SO MUCH AS STATED IT, BUT I BELIEVE LIVINGSTONE DID BECAUSE HE SAID THERE WERE TO MANY PENSIONERS AND PART-TIMERS DRIVING.
TX4s ARE EURO 3s AND SO ARE TX1s AND TX2s
MASON AND TFL JUST WANT TO KILL OFF THE CAB TRADE AND IF YOU, THE DRIVER CANNOT SEE IT, THEN SO BE IT. HOWEVER IF YOU DECIDE TO WA iKE UP DO SOMETHING. EG BIG DEMOS EVERY MORNING AND EVENING RUSH HOURS. I FEEL SORRY FOR KNOWLEDGE BOYS TODAY, THEY DO NOT REALISE THE DEATH OF THE CAB TRADE IS ON ITS WAY. IT WILL NOT BE LONG BEFORE THE 15 YEAR AGE LIMIT WILL BE 10YR. SO YOUR £42,000 VITO VAN WILL ONLY LAST TEN YEARS. WILL IT BE WORTH IT.
LASTLY I OBJECT TO THE STICKERS SHOWING GREEN OR YELLOW BADGES AND THEIR BADGE NUMBER ON THE STICKER. I WAS ALWAYS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THE ONLY PEOPLE ALLOWED TO ASK TO SEE OUR BADGES AND BILLS WERE THE POLICE AND PCO. I WONDER WHAT POODLE THOUGHT UP THIS IDEA OF STICKERS? PROBABLY SOME YES MAN. I CERTAINLY DO NOT WANT TO LOOK LIKE BLOODY MINISCAB.
YOURS M.ROBINSON BADGE NO. 950 AND 51YRS.
editor 1
October 27, 2011 at 11:35 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
As we understand it Mike anyone can ask to see your badge, but only a Police or carriage Officer can demand to see your bill.
jarvis
October 27, 2011 at 8:58 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
rather than hindering yellow badge drivers we should let them help us on saturday nights. our trade has to stop treating our job as monday to friday 9 till 5. As for the old guard oddy davis etc. there is a new world order its called ucg. JARVIS GREEN BADGE HOLDER.
sherbert-herbert
October 28, 2011 at 12:30 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
hello to all my fellow cabbies, my first time on this forum so please be gentle!
picked up a really nice woman last night and got chatting about the the usual spill of ‘how was your day/’, ‘what do you do for work?’. she then begins to tell me that she works in the palestra building for the pco and that she and a very large number of others have been given 14 weeks to find a new job! apparentley, all the administration side of the licenced taxi trade and the knowledge of london is being put out to tender to the highest bidder and all without the knowledge of our great mayor boris johnson. she said that this in formation was 100% true but not being made ‘public’ until a suitable bidder has been found. apparently TFL and john mason have had this plan in the pipeline for some time and is another example of mason pulling the wool over boris’ eyes and TFL slowly kicking us to the kerb!!!
i also want echo the thoughts of others that our fares need to be reduced to keep us competetive so we can ccontinue to be seen as the no;1 form of transport in london. i dont want to be seen as a once a week luxury!!! im in the mindset of if i need to work a few extra hrs a week to get that extra few bucks then so be it. everyone is finding things tough at the mo in all sectors of employment but we have an added advantage over most other people in that we can work for longer if need be to make ends meet.
and to all those that are finding things really tough going on days, maybe you might want to consider doing a friday or saturday night once in a while? i do both days and night so i see it from both sides. a major problem of a night is that quite simply there is not enough cabs about so intern makes it a free for all for all the touts. i know that nights is not ideal and people can sometimes be very difficult to deal with after a few bevvies but if you can get it into your head that there is good money to be made and if you earn enough you could take a couple of days off in the week to spend more time with the family. its only for one night, and there are thousands of touts out there knicking ‘your work’ illegally, so get out there in nick it back! a large majority of people out there are only looking for a black cab but get so fed up with waiting that they resort to the scum. if we want to do something about it then we need to take this mode of action and give our lifeblood (the public) what they really want, an affordable, reliable, available, knowledgable, curtious and legal service. work is not just located in the city or west end at the weekend. you’ll find plenty of work in the north, south, east and west of london, just keep your light on and the work will find you, not a tout!!!
be lucky!!!
john murphy
November 6, 2011 at 4:49 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
i could not log in as it did not reconise my email and i can not remember my pass word
editor 1
November 8, 2011 at 4:50 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi John, we are not sure exactly where you are trying to log-in to?
You do not need to log-in to view our website.
Regards
UCG Admin
scotland
November 9, 2011 at 4:48 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I have told the pco about 3 drivers driveing black taxi with out a licence for over a year and they have done nothing.
Dan
November 9, 2011 at 11:31 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
My biggest grief i get with our game and probably many other cabbies is the amount of airport jobs that we have no chance of getting from most hotels, which stops me from ranking. Being point on a hotel should mean point when in reality we are 2nd 3rd in line behind mini cabs ranking round the corner waiting for the doorman to call so they get there bung. You know when a doorman puts a flyer in a black cab he is gutted. The punters all get told we are very expensive. I nicked a job off a doorman out the rubens hotel other morning because he was too slow getting his mate and the punters actually waved me while he was trying to put their arms down! How do we beat this? what chance have we got. Why can’t we do what the cabbies do in new York. i know you guys have started it up at the cumberland. How about we have fixed prices from every post code to win back our work. Its $45 from hotels in new York to the airport and the cabs are getting them and the hotel cars are not. We don’t have to be cheaper just a good reasonable fix so people have a choice because at the moment they get told to
dazzler
November 9, 2011 at 11:47 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
with all the money that ltda take they should employ a person outside bent hotels standing at the front of our ranks holding a sign saying heathrow £45-65 average price. the strand palace concierge desk heathrow 70 city airport 50 this should be illegal. im actually cancelling my ltda membership because they seem to just care about rick shaws its the airport work they should work at. don’t know much about you guys just had magazine put on window screen but its what i want to read and hear. we all must stand shoulder to shoulder as we are the best in the world and everyone is quick to point a finger at us but very slow to praise.
M.Robinsom
November 10, 2011 at 1:50 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
WELL DONE WITH THE ORGANISATION OF YESTERDAY’S DEMO TRAFALGAR SQUARE. WHAT WE NOW NEED IS EVERYDAY DEMO’S MORNING AND EVENING RUSH HOURS, ABOUT 15YR AGE LIMITS, SPECIAL LANES FOR THE OLYMPICS, LACK OF ACTION OVER ILLEGAL TOUTING AND THE STRONG POSSIBILITY OF COMBINING HACKNEY ACTS WITH MINI SCABS OPENING THE COMPLETE DESTRUCTION OF THE CAB TRADE, E.G JOINT TAXI RANKS, ACCESS TO STATIONS AND HEATHROW RANKS, DOING AWAY WITH IDENTIFIERS ON WIND SCREENS AND THE COMPLETE BACKING OF EVERY DRIVER REFUSING TO PUT THEM IN THEIR CABS.. WHAT WOULD THOSE IDIOTS DO AT GADDAFY”S PALESTRA?
WE SHOULD ALSO ARRANGE FOR THOUSANDS OF CYCLISTS TO USE THESE DEDICATED LANES ETC. AGAIN HOW WOULD THE LAW BE ABLE TO BOOK THEM ALL?
WHEN WILL CAB DRIVERS WAKE UP TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLDS BEST TAXI SERVICE,
Mike
November 11, 2011 at 4:43 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Guys here is something else that needs to be addressed.
The PCO under the Met and now TFL are still making cab drivers guilty until proven innocent when there is a complaint from a member of the public. A source inside the PCO tells me that they know most of these complaints are of the vexatious kind.
They then take into account any previous before hearing the drivers representations which goes against all the rules of natural justice and I suspect human rights law as well. It needs a system like the Taxi and Limousine Commission have in New York where the complainant has to attend the office as well as the driver. If they don’t attend the complaint is quashed, the info kept on file for six weeks then removed.
Why should our drivers livelihoods be put at risk just because they accrue complaints for not stopping on yellow lines to allow customers to go to cashpoints, refusing to take scottish notes etc. It needs a change in the system now to stop the PCO complaints department from acting in their own interests (to keep their jobs) at our expense.
john
November 13, 2011 at 8:18 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi all,lets not forget the surburban drivers.All sectors.We need more ranks,we here of new one in the city does TFL and the cab ranks com think london ends 2 miles from charing cross.Most yellow badges will not go to cab demos,because we are looked down on by 70 per cent of green badges.We are fed up being called HALF BADGES,CANARYS,NOT DONE THE FULL KNOWLEDGE.If this bikkering stopped then you will have another 4000 plus drivers on your side,we need your help as the suburbes are slow but surely falling in to the hands of miniscabs.in my sector we have 4 miniscab offices within one mile of our rank,once they kill us off it will be you next.So once again lets help each other and keep this trade going for future cabbies.
tony mac
November 14, 2011 at 12:38 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
People who argue that we should ask for a fare reduction are on a slippery slope. Our fares equate to a tried and tested formula that has been put in place to protect our earnings after years when our fares were stagnating. If we throw that out and start asking for fare reductions our ‘bosses’ at Tfl will think we’re desperate or mad.
Personally I stopped working days (except weekends) because the money wasn’t any good. I work nights because the fares are better and I work most Saturdays till 4 or 5 am because it’s one of the few times people are literally throwing money at you, the touts or anything else that moves to get them home, to the next club or wherever. We could charge double (the touts do) (and the rickshaws) and they wouldn’t care or notice. So even if the fare on a Monday afternoon should go down but on a Saturday night after midnight they should go up to encourage more of us to work these unsociable hours so that people could get home legally and safely and still pay a lot less than the criminals charge them.
bill
November 14, 2011 at 4:41 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Dear chaps,
this is a very radical idea but i think it could solve the pedicab problem.why don’t we produce 20 or more professionally produced pedicabs that are driven by knowledge candidates and backed by us.the people who want to rent the pedicabs have to be registered at a knowledge school and pay a rental fee that goes in to a taxi drivers fund.we can produce are own licences stating that they are official knowledge candidates or cab drivers and therefore have been crb checked.
We then have right on our side.we then [put official pedicabs at every venue that at the moment is being over run with unofficial pedicabs.i feel that if we act now and show that at least we are trying to eradicate the scourge of London .lets be honest they are here to stay so let us the cab driver play them at there own game.i would also like to know why no one ever challenges the pedicab drivers outside hamleys ect are all cabbies complete pussies most of the pedis are probably here illegally so if one or more drivers gets out to challenge them they will probably move on.maybe you can produce stickers to put in cabs so that any cab driver who confronts the pedi’s will know that he will get back up. if he can see like minded cabbies on the rank.one more thing you should send the problem venues a letter advising them that cabbies will disrupt there trade if they do not request the police to move the illegal activities of pedicabs outside there premises.
John McCann
November 16, 2011 at 10:38 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Just wondering if the UCG are going to get a legal team together? If this is already in place please let me know so I can cancel my subscription to the other trade organisation and be in the UCG only.
Kind Regards,
John
editor 1
November 17, 2011 at 10:40 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi John
We are just putting the final touches to the UCG legal scheme, trust me, we are as frustrated as you in the delay, however, we have to make sure that the cover we offer to our members is the best it can possibly be.
Having said that, we are extremely close to finalising a deal and we will be emailing our members to notify them as soon as possible.
Thanks
terry kirby
November 16, 2011 at 10:40 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Have made repeated requests to join, but for some reason, after i have giving my details, i go on to the submit with the cursor,& all i get is a blank screen.
If you send me an email i can give you all my details.
Many thanks Terry Kirby.
editor 1
November 17, 2011 at 10:41 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi Terry
I have just checked our Membership records and you are indeed a member, you will shortly receive a welcome email with your membership number etc, sorry for the delay but we have had a large number of new joiners and we are working our way through them.
Apologies for the delay and thanks for joining
gus
November 20, 2011 at 12:23 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Can you put out any positive news on results that have been gained from the Nov. Demo. What has been the response from Boris and Tfl. Are they yet willing to talk to the UCG ? If not , when is the next Demo scheduled for ?
ronnie scott
December 24, 2011 at 2:20 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
How about sign to put in your cab Black cab drivers against pay increase to show the public we dont support a pay rise 2012 olympic? , As i have had many passengers commenting on this matter.
editor 1
December 24, 2011 at 2:22 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi Ronnie, there is a poster on the inside back cover of UCN5 for you to display on your partition glass.
g. staples
January 2, 2012 at 10:34 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Great energy, great mag. Mr. Connell is as fair in his comment, as he was an examiner. What worries me is, if TFL had total confidence in their staff, why allow KoL students a line of complaint against them. What next ? Examiners with no back bone ? With the greatest respect, beware the trojan horse.
john
January 10, 2012 at 10:14 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi editor,been reading your trade mag with interest,but it seems to to be going the the same way as all the other trade mag trash.There is nothing or hardley anything about yellow badge issues.We are no interest to the other crap mags,please dont let UCG go the same way. We know you represent all of us,green and yellow,KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.
Ron
January 14, 2012 at 6:27 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Concerning the notes sent with the ‘identifier’ cards mentioning the suburban drivers. I personally have no problem with those drivers picking up outside their areas. I think that there is some other motive planned by TFL. If we have to display these cards then all bus drivers should display them and whilst we are about why not tube drivers? Another point is that the card in the passengers area can easilly be stolen.
john
January 19, 2012 at 10:31 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
The [indentifiers] were pushed through the system quickley,by the persistance of small minded ex yellow badges with nothing better to do.Do they think they are better than us now,dont think so.Not all yellow badges nick your work .
john
January 22, 2012 at 10:21 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
UGC we need your help,i am a surburban driver sector 3 that bexley ,greenwich ,lewisham.all this week we have had the police moving us on.We had a rank outside the station but they closed this saying it was for safety reasons but this does not stop british transport police,and railway workers mounting the kerbs to park there.And we cannot load DISABLED passengers and wheelchir users safely because we are in a one way street .The buses say we are holding them up,but there is plenty of room in there stand to park .As from monday we can only park on our old feeder rank with is for ten cabs,we have no taxi signage to let passengers know there are taxis available.As i said before they took our station rank away from us.So much for TFL SAFER TRAVEL AT NIGHT.Are the cab ranks committe asleep,all they are interesed in in is central cab ranks.totally fed up and p….d off
Poundnotepaul
January 24, 2012 at 11:05 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Had my plating appointment at 7am this am.got up at 5am,drove in from Herts to tottenham,cab is a 60 plate and first overhaul.failed on bottom balljoint and steering trackrod not aligned properly so then back to my garage, Luton car and cabs ,( who I thoroughly recommend), then back to tottenham again another £50 retest and then back to Herts for dinner. Apparently a lot of people avoid tottenham and say Hanworth is much better,a bit more lenient.tottenham has a few ex pco’s..
If I wasn’t on dac I would not bother owning my own cab any more,shit build and full of sub standard Chinese parts,an arm and a leg to run…yes it’s a tx4
Bring on the mots…
Poundnotepaul
January 27, 2012 at 1:36 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Well bob oddly has retired,
Any more,he might’ve been fired,
Pissed off a few, got himself in a stew,
Oh well , finally the message got through,
Yes bob a lot are fucked off with you,
Probably got a juicy pension too….
john
January 27, 2012 at 10:28 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Well it looks like the RMT union has made the effort to come to and see whats going on in our sectors,They have done more in one week than all the others put together.And yes i will be joining them.
Danny
January 28, 2012 at 2:05 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Isn’t it about time TFL or the lethargic public carriage officers do something about the illegal hirings taking place every minute over Canary Wharf.While law abiding taxi drivers wait for a job on the official ranks,many cab drivers act no better than the minicabs outside clubs in the west end. They sit outside nearly every building waiting For a job sticking two fingers up at the security that try to move them on,the cabbies who are driving thru after a set down and service the areas away from the ranks and once again the cabbies who wait patiently within the law on the ranks.
Not only are these hirings illegal they park up on zig zags, under signs saying no waiting taxis, in front of bus stops , narrowing the road on a bend,on double yellows.
These are LONDON TAXI DRIVERS if they were mini cabs we would taking photos sending them in to UCG they are no better in fact worse stealing work off they own.
Poundnotepaul
January 29, 2012 at 4:59 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Same as the scum who bung the west end hotel porters and doormen.whilst decent cab drivers are roasting on the ranks,then doing all the shit.
“if I don’t do it the minicabs will”,like that makes it alright, two wrongs don’t make a right!!
I’ve got more respect for the scum minicab drivers,(and that’s saying something),than for black cab drivers who fuck over the other drivers on the ranks.
And there’s the crux of the problem, too many black cab drivers who take such a myopic attitude,can’t see further than that days takings.when somebody tries to rip the arse out of a job instead of being honest and treating people how you’d like your family to be treated in a cab, they lose every other cab driver that potential customer
Work levels are now at an all time low,we are a luxury for a lot of people so it’s imperative that we excel in giving a great service.rant over.
Lenny Etheridge
March 25, 2012 at 12:18 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Totally agree.
I have nothing against Yellow badges. Good luck to them.
But I am glad we are getting rid of Yellow badges who poach Green badge work.
Next we need to get our own house in order and clamp down hard on the scum who feed doorman for that ‘flyer’.
For 26 years they have pissed me off and I have done everything I could do fuck ‘em up.
I inform clients that the doorman (at Strand Palace say) is taking a bung, and standing in the wind and cold, because they (punter) are not worthy of a cab off the rank, and as to why – sending them, with their doorman around to the rank.
I inform clients at The Westbury (after I have dropped off – because I would never rank there) that I refuse to take them as another fare because the hotel staff are corrupt, and as to why – the doorman’s face is a peach..
Minicabs owe us nothing – but cab drivers shafting other cab drivers is incestuously wrong.
And we should be leaning on Boris to enforce against Pedicabs – Open letter to Boris Johnson:
Dear Boris,
Thank you for your letter. It proved to me that you are indeed a man of empty promises. You just paper over broken promises with more promises and buck passing.
You state you can do nothing about Pedicabs. Really?
If a Pedicab has a fare in, they have just broken the law – touting. They have no ranks and no signage.
Let’s take Hamley’s for instance; the Taxi rank is nowhere near the entrance to Hamley’s, whilst Pedicabs rank up illegally, right outside every day of the week.
And theatres, theatres are overrun with Pedicabs during the ‘burst’ – all touting illegally.
Why is it so hard to arrest them? If it were us (Licensed London Taxi drivers) we would be swooped upon by your Police Service before you could say ‘blonde buffoon’.
Police can stop Pedicabs at any time and ask the driver to produce the correct insurance; yet I have never seen a Pedicab stopped for anything at anytime.
What I do see is your ineffectual police officers strolling past rows of black market Pedicabs who are flagrantly touting, every single night.
Every job they steal is a job that should be covered by my trade – and that is a hell of a lot of jobs being siphoned off whilst I am futilely driving around empty at one pound fifty per litre.
I will not be voting for you, that is for sure.
*I posted it on Boris’ Facebook site too.
john
February 7, 2012 at 9:04 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Cancel my membership with imediate affect,we thought you helped yellow badges as well.As of now nothing, all green issues,why take yellow badges on your membership if you are not going to give them any help,the same as the rest just to make up the numbers.
editor 2
February 12, 2012 at 2:18 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi John
The UCG held a members meeting last week, all current members should have received an email advising the details, time and location. The beauty of the UCG is that any member can attend our meetings and any issues that you have can be discussed and debated with other members and a vote can be taken on how to address the issue. We find it a little unfair that you feel the need to criticise the UCG when you have not brought the issue to our attention.
We sincerely hope that you do not feel the need to cancel your membership but if you still feel the same way then please email us with your badge number and details and we will remove you from the membership database.
Regards
United Cabbies Group
john
February 13, 2012 at 7:42 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
To united cabbies group.Sorry for the rant,but its got to the stage where yellow badges have been pushed so far into a corner that we have nowhere to go now,our ranks are so overloaded,as for street work that is non existant.There are 360 cabs in sector 3 ie lewisham with 160 on tfl books.That will leave 520 cabs to sqeeze on 3 working ranks that are ment for a max of 50,one of these ranks is the O2 arena.The reponse we get from tfl is do the green badge,a lot of drivers this is not an option,ie family comitments,over 50 some just dont want to work in the city.I am not criticising the ucg.I have received no text about ugc meetings,i would like to attend to put our issues forward. regards john
editor 2
February 13, 2012 at 9:27 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi John
If you can email your badge number i will check our database to make sure you are listed.
Tony
February 10, 2012 at 9:27 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi guys
I’am a yellow badge driver in East London and have been for 12 years.
All the law abiding cabbies that have not and do not work outside our restrictions have been finding it really hard for the last 7 years, with the intruduction of the window display coming into force, we will not have the Taxi ranks to cope with the onslaught of guys trying to find work.
With TFL ignoring our crys for many years to close the books on East London they have caused an over supply of Taxis, therfore pushing drivers into having to find work in some places where they should not have.
I work from Stratford station, and now Westfields (not the lifeline that we were hoping for) At present the station rank is undergoing an upgrade from 7 places to 14. Given that stratford is such a large transport hub we were hoping that we would get more.
We have not been approached by any trade bodies or TFL for any input what soever, that inclueds the rep from LTDA .
I feel that they have completely ignored us. I just find it difficult to understand why they have not asked the service user or provider for any input.
Can you guys give any help we really need it we are on our feet working 12 to 14 hour shifts try to earn a basic salary.
shawn
February 18, 2012 at 10:35 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
thanks for turning up at the richmond meeting for yellow badges on the 16 feb.
ucg ,it was nice to you there in numbers supporting yellow badges. next time
hopefully there is a better turn out with more yellow badges attending these
meetings as ucg made the effort to support us but alot of yellow badges did not.
Big shout to all who turned up from all the different sectors,we need these meetings to be packed to capacity as this was a bad turn out.RMT was there as
well they gave a good account of themseves at the meeting in supporting yellow
badges.i think in the future it is best to have these meetings on sunday mornings
or afternoons.TO all drivers pass texts on emails etc to pass the word about.
shawn. brent barnet harrow. thanks
john
February 21, 2012 at 12:22 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi shawn,im a yellow badge from bexley greenwich lewisham.All sectors need to to get to these meetings,but as you know a lot of drivers dont bother and think the problems will go away.We need to act now,sunday meetings are a good idea,as most yellow badges work late evenings.Can u let me know on this site as i have received no textsof where and when the meetings are.I know a few drivers who would like to attend. Regards john
shawn
February 23, 2012 at 11:10 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
john next time there is a meeting , it will be on this website asap.
john if you email name and mobile no to LSTA@btinternet.com
they will send you all updates of whats going on.
LSTA is london suburban taxi association.thanks shawn
Delboy1
February 19, 2012 at 9:43 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Is the five star hotel crooked in whitehall plc as I went to work sat and got hailed by the concierge I don’t normaly stop for them as I ain’t the choosin few but he said as he got in I got a good job for you it’s a Heathrow I just looked at him as to say u ain’t getting f–k all from what’s mine anyway and I still gave him the look as he bundled the punter in while he stood there lookin angry as I drove off laughing
john
February 23, 2012 at 10:35 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi all,can anybody confirm the rumour that us yellow badges have heard that mason and his cronies are trying to get rid of our ranks.Another romour is he wants to get rid of yellow badges all together,if this is true why the f… are they still letting them out and not shutting the books.Regards john
shawn
February 24, 2012 at 12:17 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
some food for thought.
TFL should be sorting out discounts for yellow badges with LTI AND MERCEDES
INSTEAD OF PAYING 3O GRAND 25 WOULD BE BETTER. for misleading us about
the job, also put phones on every suburban rank in every sector, this would go some way for their mistakes,they have caused yellow badges.Also think about
letting us use different vehicles in suburbs along as they are all the same colour.
peugeot , ford .toyota, etc . Regards shawn
shawn
February 24, 2012 at 10:28 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
more food for thought.
sometimes i get 3 or 4 jobs in to town a day from my sector.if they use a black cab in and have a good experience they will probably use a a cab to take them home,loose the suburbs, and PHV will be taking jobs in and out off london guarantee.Regards shawn.
john
February 24, 2012 at 11:44 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi shawn,we had a protest in lewisham last night [thursday 23rd] about all the hassel we are getting from tfl and police.We had couple of local papers come down taking photos and an interveiw with our spokesman.The main line station chuck us out ,closing our rank of 15 cabs with no warning,we have no way of loading disabled people safely as we are in a one way street picking up on the right.No help from TFL,there anwser send down compliance teams and spin the cabs.We have totally had enough,so we brought lewisham to a standstill,it was solid in all directions.We will keep doing this untill we are heard.Regards from john and all at lewisham rank.
john
February 24, 2012 at 12:21 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Nearly forgot shawn,a big thankyou to the lone green badge who joined us for our demo.Did not get his name,he was diving a green tx1,if the driver reads this thanks again from all at lewisham rank.
shawn
February 24, 2012 at 10:10 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
john at the richmond meeting UCG said they could get 200 drivers to demo
at any sector if needed in the suburbs,to help us out .hopefully some one from UCG
will get back to you ASAP. STAY STRONG. regards shawn
C.s.mccarthy
February 26, 2012 at 4:02 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Its about time we did something about the price of fuel we can’t keep sustaining these price increases
shawn
February 28, 2012 at 9:38 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
RMT demo @stratford.station st. on29 feb@ 5oclock
on issues that affect both suburban and all london drivers.
please attend, UCG as i am member of both parties.
Regards shawn.
Poundnotepaul
March 9, 2012 at 4:09 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Csmccarthy-did you go to fuel demo to lobby your mp on we’d 7 th?
len jacobs
March 9, 2012 at 12:24 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Are you aware of the monster that has been created by having to have these identifiers on our cabs.I have opted out and not put them up the abuse i`m getting from other drivers for not conforming is frighting,yesterday I dropped a fare off at the novotel pepys st,opposite at the double tree hotel a yellow badge driver set down a job after he had been paid off and leaving the hotel two green badge drivers shouted at the driver fuck off back to your own area to which the yellow badge driver told them where to go which led to a punch up.these identifiers have not solved a problem it has only exasperated it there is a enterprising gentleman who is selling reproduction green badge identifiers to yellow badge drivers so those who want to come into town to work are still doing so.we will have to wait for the law commissions report to get clarification on the ruling on this but the recommendations in the report are so-controversial that they will probably be suppressed until after the Olympics so as to avoid disruption.
well i have got this off my chest now good luck with your campaigning
all the best
len
Bob
March 13, 2012 at 8:32 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Have any off you read the post on the Anderson shelter? Some one has been
putting posts on the site slagging off yb&gb drivers anonymously ,his aim to divide yb&gb drivers and all the different orgs .little did he/ they know there IP address was checked out and guess what It relates to LTDA ltd Woodfield rd..apparently it’s tte same IP address that’s been used for most of the anonymously posted blogs trying to stir up trouble between green badge& yellow badge drives and all organisations
You could not make it up. Coz you don’t have to it looks like its true
Bob
Lenny Etheridge
March 25, 2012 at 11:43 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
How do you get an IP number from a comment on someone else’s blog?
I am far from being a lover of the LTDA, but that cannot be true.
I have held a Green badge for 26 years, and I have never felt akin to the Yellow badge fraternity – neither do I hold them in any form of contempt. They just do a different job to me.
On the subject of coloured display; I think it is a great idea – keeps any interlopers from poaching my work.
There are people I thought were Green, who shared ranks with me, who have turned out to be Yellow. They have now been stopped.
How widespread this interloping spread, no one really knows – and I do not care, it has been put right now, so let it be.
Just one thing needs clarification; there are no Yellow only ranks.
john
April 6, 2012 at 10:35 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi lenny,could you explain why a yellow badge work is different from your work.
john
April 6, 2012 at 10:42 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Sorry to say this lenny but i think you have a lot of contempt for yellow badges.You only have to read your post to see that,
Lenny Etheridge
March 25, 2012 at 11:21 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Open letter to Boris Johnson:
Dear Boris,
Thank you for your letter. It proved to me that you are indeed a man of empty promises. You just paper over broken promises with more promises and buck passing.
You state you can do nothing about Pedicabs. Really?
If a Pedicab has a fare in, they have just broken the law – touting. They have no ranks and no signage.
Let’s take Hamley’s for instance; the Taxi rank is nowhere near the entrance to Hamley’s, whilst Pedicabs rank up illegally, right outside every day of the week.
And theatres, theatres are overrun with Pedicabs during the ‘burst’ – all touting illegally.
Why is it so hard to arrest them? If it were us (Licensed London Taxi drivers) we would be swooped upon by your Police Service before you could say ‘blonde buffoon’.
Police can stop Pedicabs at any time and ask the driver to produce the correct insurance; yet I have never seen a Pedicab stopped for anything at anytime.
What I do see is your ineffectual police officers strolling past rows of black market Pedicabs who are flagrantly touting, every single night.
Every job they steal is a job that should be covered by my trade – and that is a hell of a lot of jobs being siphoned off whilst I am futilely driving around empty at one pound fifty per litre.
I will not be voting for you, that is for sure.
Phil Bowman
March 28, 2012 at 4:18 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
By now I assume we have all received our begging letters from Boris begging indeed for our vote. How he has made concessions with regard the Olympics that panacea for all the country’s ills I fear not.
Now about the pedicabs unfortunately they do exploit a loophole in the current Hackney Carriage laws because they are not mechanically driven there were in fact however some that had small electric motors to help drive the wheels so these were illegal there was a bit of a crackdown on these some years ago.
The reason there has been no push from Boris to bring in laws to outlaw these ramshackle outfits is because Boris is trying to find a way to licence them, alas he is worried to go ahead as he is concerned about repercussions should someone be injured in these deathtraps. I know this because recently I had quite an indepth conversation in my cab with a woman who was in fact one of Boris’ aides at TFL.
Unfortunately a vote for Blue Boris, Red Ken, Pink Paddick or that frustrated hippy that is Jenny Jones will give us the status quo which from where I am sitting is not looking any better for our trade.
Bob
March 28, 2012 at 10:13 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
As i am not an IT expert in fact I’m crap can some-one please explain to Lenny how a
IP address can be traced . Thanks
Bob
March 28, 2012 at 10:24 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Lenny,just a thought, if you log on to The London Taxi Drivers Foram I’m sure some-one on there will be able to answer your post
Have a good evening
Bob
micky
April 2, 2012 at 5:20 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
just a thought…? and i cant spell it right but… buses- boats- plains- and evean miniscabs … like us taxi drivers.. have to have it..?. why not make pedi bikes have it too..im sure it would stop many…what we ALL HAVE TO HAVE IF WE CARRY——- ——–FAIRE PAYING PASSENGERS IS…>>>> public lieberlites insurance…????
can some one look into this ..as i said..just a thought… but one may help us fight back.
micky
Merton & Sutton & Clapham Driver
April 8, 2012 at 1:11 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Come and see the situation in Wimbledon cab rank for yourselves. Oversupply of taxis, empty cabs cruising up and down. More new drivers coming out every month. What has PCO created. 60 minutes is the waiting time on the rank. That is one job in an hour. Long hours, night work, no social life, no time for family. Forget about going on holiday, because you wont afford one. The mini scabs are happy because they take all the work, and nothing is left. They earn more than us black cabbies. Well we shouldn’t be called black cabbies because we earn less than them. The mini scabs are the real black cabbies. We are called the poor cabbies. The situation in Wimbledon has gone from worse to Xtra worse. This is the life of a London cab driver who works from Wimbledon. You work 24/7, and earn peanuts. Not just in the Merton & Sutton sector, but in other sectors like Kingston Richmond and Hounslow, Croydon, Bromley. What is LTDA doing about it? Nothing!!! What will it do in the future? Again Nothing! Because they only care about Green Badges.
Now what will UCG do about it?
Let see
Let the voice of a surburban driver be heard!
John Rowland
April 11, 2012 at 11:45 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I have just finished handing out two boxes of UC News. Although the green on blue nameplate on the front page would work well for a magazine which was only distributed via brightly lit newsagents, it is hard to distinguish the title in poor light. As I walked along Pancras Road at midnight, many drivers queried the name of the magazine, which slowed me down and made it harder to reach the end of the rank before having to race back to my cab. Some of them said that they thought that I was selling the Big Issue, and I have no idea how many of the drivers who refused a copy and waved me away did so because they thought it was the Big Issue. I believe a black on white nameplate or something similar would be more suitable for a publication which is to be handed out in the street at night. Thanks. Keep up the good work.
john
April 12, 2012 at 11:18 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Merton driver,well said.I work bexley greenwich lewisham and it is as bad here as well to many cabs ect.We had a demo a few weeks ago,organised by our selves,we got heard.Then ltda decide they want to get involved writing a small piece in there crap paper sorry corection green badge paper then a local MP wants to but in to get votes as the elections are coming up.What has happened since you ask,nothing at all as allways.Its getting so bad now drivers will take a chance and pick up anybody anywhere who stick there arm up.The surburban badge is not worth a SHIT,so what have they got to loose.
shawn
April 12, 2012 at 10:28 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
TFL are now leeking information to grant davis saying yellow badges have been
caught with moody identifers in the badge new edition of their paper,Helen chapman. mr mason should be using TFL WEBSITE IF DRIVERS HAVE MOODY
IDENTIFERS AND HAVE BEEN CAUGHT, AND NOT USE THE BADGE NEWSPAPER AS THEIR PERSONEL . MESSAGING SERVICE.THAT IS IF THIS
ALLEGATIONS ARE TRUE.AS WE KNOW GRANT DAVIS,THE BADGE, LCDC, NEWSPAPER. AND HIS WEBSITE. BREED HATE TOWARDS YELLOW BADGES.
LIKE BOB ODDY DO NOT BE SURPRISED IF GRANT DAVIS IS ON TFL PAYROLL.
HELEN CHAPMAN AND MASON SHOULD BE MORE PROFESSIONAL AND NOT
HAVE THEIR PHOTOS BESIDE ALLEGATIONS IN THE BADGE NEWSPAPER.
Thanks shawn.
john
April 14, 2012 at 11:46 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Just been given a copy of latest issue of UCG mag,to say the least not a very good read for us yellow badges.For a start no Y/B sitting on your panel of leading members,and how long you have had your badges.Then on another page about a green badge not receiving his identifiers,believing his mates think he is a QUOTE, a rogue yellow badge out of his sector, your not going to get Y/B surport writing this sort of garbage.Every Y/B on our rank pointed these things out in your mag and duly chucked it in the bin.
shawn
April 14, 2012 at 10:28 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
TO THE EDITOR.
let yb have their say in the ucg mag,1 page in every edition or half a page
so we dont feel left out in the cold, there is enough comments on this
website to fill a book.We need yellow badges on your panel to represent
all sectors like john said above.THE WAR IS AGAINST PHVs and TOUTS
NOT YELLOW BADGES.
sheikh rahman
April 15, 2012 at 11:48 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi maybe old news but the director of addison lee wants all his drivers to use bus lane I have a two emails one regarding scabbisson lee sorry I mean addisson lee and the other from Tfl.
Below is the email sent to AL drivers
Dear driver,
The director of Addison Lee plc believes that the current bus lane regulations, which allow London black cabs to use the bus lanes but prohibit private hire from doing so is illegal as it discriminates against private hire operators and drivers who offer a competing taxi service.
John Griffin Chairman, Addison Lee
We also believe that it denies the public freedom of choice as journey times in the bus lanes are much quicker that those outside the lanes.
Our legal advice in this matter is that bus lane requierments are currently being misinterpreted to exclude PHV’s from bus lanes. Such misinterpretation is unlawful in the following respects.
a. It is in breach of European rules relating to the freedom of establishment and freedom to supply services
b. It infringes the general EU principal of equal treatment.
c. It infringes the English common law principles of equality before the law
d.it denies free and fair competition in providing an unfair advantage to one group of commercial operators over others.
Addison lee has sought and been granted a judicial review on this issue which is due to be heard by the end of the year. In the meantime Addison lee believes that we cannot allow our customer to continue to be victims of this unfair discriminatory treatment.
As chairman I can advise you that a lawful interpretation of the bus lane regulations entitles Addison lee drivers with private hire identifies to use all bus lanes in the same way as our competitors. Accordingly you are fully entitles to use the bus lanes.
We can confirm that entry into the bus lanes is not an endorsable offence and that we will indemnify all Addison lee drivers from any fines or other liabilities that may result from using the bus lanes as a result of this advice.
Should any conflict arise between yourself and any black taxi operator please be patient, make a note of any details and use your camera where possible.
Signed
John Griffin
Chairman, Addison Lee PLC
This One Is from pco
PCO notice to all private hire drivers & operators
« Thread Started Today at 8:17pm » [Quote]
Important information for all Private Hire Drivers and Operators
Under current regulations it is illegal for London private hire vehicles (PHVs) to
drive in Bus Lanes operated by Transport for London (TfL) and London Local
Authorities except when picking up and setting down passengers.
On Saturday 14 April it came to our attention that a letter had been issued by a
director of Addison Lee plc to its PHV drivers in which he stated (among other
things) that they were “fully entitled to use the bus lanes” and that he would
indemnify them in respect of fines and other liabilities incurred as a result of
following his advice.
A company owned by Addison Lee has brought legal proceedings arguing that
the current regulations are in breach of European Union law. TfL is contesting
those proceedings. The proceedings have not been determined and there has
been no order by the court suspending the effect of the regulations.
The court will make its decision in due course. As regulatory authority for taxis
and PHVs in London, TfL considers the decision to issue this letter inciting
drivers to break the law now is irresponsible. It has called upon them to rescind
it. It is urgently considering legal and regulatory action against Addison Lee
and will revoke their licence to operate if necessary.
However, quite separately from this action, TfL hereby issues the following
notice to all licensed PHV drivers in London:
Under current regulations, driving a PHV in a Bus Lane, during the
hours when the Bus Lane is operative (and other than to pick up
and set down passengers) is a criminal offence for which PHV
drivers may be personally prosecuted. Those regulations remain
valid until and unless there is a court order suspending their effect.
There has been no such court order. This means that, as a PHV
driver, you must not drive in Bus Lanes other than to pick up and
set down passengers.
If you do so, you will be committing a criminal offence and you will
be personally liable to prosecution, irrespective of any indemnity
which anyone else may purport to give.
TfL has power to suspend or revoke a PHV operator’s or driver’s
licence if it is no longer satisfied that the licence holder is fit to
hold such a licence.
Please take note that: drivers who repeatedly contravene traffic regulations,
including by intentionally driving in Bus Lanes, other than to
pick up or set down passengers, may be considered unfit to
hold a PHV driver’s licence; and operators who encourage such conduct may be considered
unfit to hold a PHV operator’s licence.
TfL requests operators to bring this notice to the attention of all
their PHV drivers.
If you have any questions with regards to the contents of this notice, or you
require advice or guidance then please contact us directly via
tphenquiries@tfl.gov.uk or 0845 602 7000.
We need to do something about as knowing griffin he will try his best to get it his way. Just thought I will give you the heads up.
Bob
April 15, 2012 at 10:35 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
John,have just read your post and carn’t believe just because of a couple of lines
About identifiers and how long the committee have held there badges for ,you have
all binned the United cabbies news . I know a few Y/B who still work town and loads of
G/B who bung the bent hotels , who’s worst ??. And what difference does it make how
long they have held their badges as long as they are fighting for us all Y/B&G/B
Oddy is supposed to have held his for 40 odd years, and look what he has done to this
trade .At least they are very passionate about the trade and doing all they possibly can.Are you and all your colleagues members of a trade org ?? If it is the UCG have
You and they attended any meetings to find out what’s going on ie demo called for by
the RMT and supported by the UCG at Stratford in support of Yellow Badges.Were you
And your colleagues there ?? Supporting your fellow cab drivers be it G/B or Y/B.and if
no Y/B is on the committee so what, I could not give a shit if they were all Y/B on the
committee as long as they are fighting for us all.
That was a rant on behalf of the let’s Work & Stick Together Party .Thank you.
Have a good evening
Bob
john
May 25, 2012 at 2:17 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi bob,firstly i was on stratford demo.Since the introduction of identifiers it has put a divide between g/b and y/b,some say this is not true.But i have been approached twice,once when i picked up on evelyn street deptford outside the black horse pub,he accused me of picking up outside my sector,secondly i picked up a job from lewisham to surry keys station then on to holiday inn coram street WC1,i one driver stuck his finger up at me and told me to stop nicking his work,another driver said he was going to report me from picking up outside my area,little do they know my passenger was so annoyed she wrote down there numbers and will be reportig them in due corse.This has got to stop or the divide goes on. Regards john
H WALL
May 5, 2012 at 11:50 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Dear sir,
Once again a cracking read as always especially the debacle concerning Diamond cars and Oddy’s odbods, it’s no wonder these rats are so blatent with the LTDA on the case. May i say well done and keep up the great work, as the UCG is the only body that really looks after the cab drivers interests. I would like to make a suggestion for the next issue of cabby news concerning the new cab drivers coming into the trade. I have noticed on a nightly basis that more and more drivers are, either through ignorance or blatent disrespect for there fellow cab drivers or perhaps sheer greed are constantly overtaking other cab drivers with there lights on and taking the first job that comes up. I also feel that a lot of these drivers may be ex Addison Lee drivers given there driving habbits, this may be an unpopular thing to say but trust me im not the only one who has made this observation. Im not saying Addison Lee drivers should not join our trade but i do feel very strongly that if you come into a trade, you are morally bound to adhear to all rules both written and unwritten including drivers etiquette. This seems to be new and quite recent and also regualar so perhaps its a result of changes to the knowledge brought in by fools who like nothing more but to interfear in other peoples buisness for the sake of it. perhaps Courtney could find time to impress on his students the importance of this matter as its clear to me in the absance of induction talks the message isn’t getting through.. This behavour needs to be delt with as i feel in time, if it carries on, tempers will flare and division in the trade will be the end result. You and Courtney are constantly championing the cause of solidarity within the trade, so can i suggest a list of do`s and dont`s in your next issue, it might be helpful.
Mr Dean Chamberlain
May 5, 2012 at 11:51 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Dear UCG
I regularly read and enjoy the many articles on things affecting us as a trade and believe you and your members to be the most honest out there. Please can you put my mind at rest about the new Peugeot cab. I have a close relative that works closely in the motor trade and although the vehicle in mention is both very cheap to buy it is also quite cheap in build quality and overall performance. Ok the tx4s don’t have the class in the performance stakes compared with the merc, but they do have the looks and the vehicle feels solid and certainly NOT cheap!! Please can you explain to me why anyone would think this vehicle iconic it is hideous to look at. WHY oh why would Tfl want this to represent our trade. I can fully understand the usefulness of the merc even though to me it’s a minicab! But the Peugeot for me and for many people even outside our trade is a big NO too!
Please tell me this is a big silly rumour – if not we are gonna look like new york soon with no iconic cabs on show!
Kind regards
UCG member
Dean Chamberlain
Phil Bowman
May 10, 2012 at 12:05 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I do hope all those cabbies who voted for the big parties in the recent Mayoral elactions i.e Blue Boris, Red Ken, Pink Paddick or indeed Greenham Common Jenny will be pleased to know that rickshaw deathtraps are very close to being licensed.
It has been on the agenda for sometime for these main parties although there have always been fears about safety and the liabilty of being sued. Now the decision has been proposed by Frances Patterson QC.
Do not expect any opposition from the bumbling Boris.
Gus
June 11, 2012 at 11:53 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I am growing increasingly concerned at the number of cabs I am seeing (usualy in the vicinety of a busy rank used by Yellow Badge Drivers) i.e. the O2, City airport , Putney Station and Clapham Junction, that are missing either the rear or both of their Identifiers, I wonder why this affliction only applies to Yellow Badge Cabs.
I have also been informed by a reliable source that there are both stolen and forged Identifiers being circulated in the trade. What does the UCG have to say regarding thid matter please ?
john
July 18, 2012 at 11:05 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi gus,these identfiers have been out a few months now,can you tell me why you are on a mission to run down Y/B.Is it because you are a ex Y/B or you have nothing better to do.As long as you have yours whats the problem.From a yellow badge.I dont know if this is going to get posted as the editor seems to be deleting Y/B posts.
matt
June 23, 2012 at 1:31 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
now that bishopsgate is being dug up, it is getting ridiculous exiting liverpool street rank, over £5 on meter before turning out due to buses and lorries blocking the junction, wouldnt this be a good place for a box junction and camera, raise some revenue for the council, and allow us to do our job properly.
H Wall
July 18, 2012 at 1:01 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Great job on the demo 17/07 it makes me proud. It was followed by an interview with John Mason on LBC presented by Petrie Hoskyn and what a fantastic job she did, she absolutely ruined him, she spanked his ars like a naughty schoolboy and It was cracking radio. However, this morning Nick Ferrari had Peter Hendy on his show and after arriving late apparently oversleeping he’d prepared himself with the normal diatribe of how a small number of cab drivers were spoiling it for the rest ect, ect….
Could you invite a radio personality on the next demo to see first hand how many drivers make up this so called small number and then ask them to phone Hendy or Mason and over the radio, discribe what he or she sees to them and then ask for a comment. Listening to him this morning he obviously considers us to be insignificant and no longer an “integral part of the transport network” so let’s show him how wrong he is and if nothing else show people through the radio that he is infact misleading the public when he dictribes us as a small number.
terryb
July 20, 2012 at 9:50 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
hi ucg keep up the good work, why not do the next demo at oxford street when that d**k head hendy is driving his bus with the olympic torch on thurs 26th july….maybe then they might get the message when its at a standstill with him the laughing stock of tfl…..
Danny
July 20, 2012 at 2:59 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
(Put a notice like this in your taxi to let all the passengers know that we have been shafted by TFL and the ODA.)
Important Passenger Notice Please Read
Traffic for London and the Olympic Delivery Authority have said that
Taxis are not permitted to enter, Crossover, U-Turn across or pick up/set down passengers in Olympic Games lanes from 6am to midnight.
(Some games lanes are 24 hours)
Taxis have also been excluded from some bus lanes.
TFL (Traffic for London) will give Taxis a £130 fine for any of the above
Journey times and Routes may be longer due to volume of traffic, limited route options, banned turns, closed roads and Games lane restrictions.
As a result fares may be higher than normal
Please accept my apologies for any delays.
Normal taxi service will resume as soon as
the Olympics have finished.
Thank you for using this London Taxi
Taxis are governed by TFL (Traffic for London) but obviously not
valued by TFL as a integral means of transport throughout the Olympics.
Please address all complaints to: johnmason@tfl.gov.uk
Turnaround
July 24, 2012 at 12:40 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Well done to all the cabbies that showed up today at Tower bridge you all deserve an olympic gold. As a long standing member of the LCDC I’m still passionate about the cab trade and have attended many a meeting at the cock tavern with the UCG, like many of you I don’t normally work mondays but still found the time to support the trade that I’m proud to be apart of, The driver that went off the bridge pulled out in front of my cab on tower bridge road at about 15:20 tooting his horn like crazy and said he was gonna park his cab and dive in the thames ( he displayed no identifiers but had pictures of laurel and hardy but with the names of ken & boris instead , in his rear screen). I later found out that he actually did as he had promised and went off the bridge. A bit of a nutter yes but he will go down in taxi folklore as a legend and will give Tom daley a run for he’s money !
Road runner
July 24, 2012 at 1:57 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I didn’t see the buffalo soldier plunging into the river, I guess he didn’t want to get his Barnett wet! Plus they can’t usually swim can they?
Gary the cabbie
July 25, 2012 at 11:59 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
LOCOG and TFL have only added to traffic congestion during the Olympic Games by allowing BMW to showcase their vehicles in the bus and zil lanes, to the exclusion of the world renowned London Taxi. The eyes of the world are upon London and instead of seeing the iconic London taxi our so called leaders have allowed the Germans pride of place. So much for Team GB
batterseabob
July 26, 2012 at 2:58 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
anybody know what has happened to the anderson shelter
joe hawkins
July 30, 2012 at 5:08 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
When these Olympics are over we should treat Boris, Mason and all the authority’s with the same respect that they have given us. They have hung us out to dry. What they should remember. London cab drivers have a great memory. We should hound these people out. We shall never forget what the have done to us. We are the best in the world DESPITE of them
Martin Long
August 3, 2012 at 9:32 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Recently a garage in Three Colts Lane blew my engine up on a smoke test on my TX4 which had done 133,000 miles.
My mate asked questions at a big M.O.T. garage in Bexley, I followed it up here in Witham Essex, furthermore I emailed the Ministry of Transport whereby they sent me an email that within the last five years they have abolished revving a diesel engine on a M.O.T. or smoke test for no more than 2.500 revs for a period of 30 seconds.
They are only allowed to do that three times, if the reading does not meet the criteria then they must wait half an hour before the only other time they can repeat the procedure.
I have a colleague who had a pass at a normal M.O.T. testing station where it passed ok, failed at SGS Then passed at a different M.O.T. testing station, since this happened to me the garage concerned have stopped private smoke test.
The M.O.T. also deemed that any damage made by the smoke test or M.O.T. are liable, my engine was rebuilt free of charge.
I think it would be a very good idea for all drivers through this site who have paid out for the wrecking of these fine engines to levy court proceedings against SGS, and meanwhile visit the website of V M Motori Spa and you will see that they are not a mickey mouse organisation.
I also wrote to them i received a letter from LTI stating that a well maitained engine would not blow up.
The .P.C.O. didn’t come back to me we all know why, i will ask you all has there been an agenda via the TFL and the PCO to wreak as much financial havoc on us the cab trade as possible, and with this hideous Vito a converted van by stealth, only you all can answer that one, anyway anyone interested I will email you the M.O.T. I received from the Ministry.
Matt in Epsom
August 6, 2012 at 9:37 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Had an interesting conversation with a Hailo customer the other night. He said he switched over from Addison Lee about 6 months ago, and spends around £60 a week on cabs. Someone at the call centre at AL rang him up and asked him why he is no longer using them, he told them he now uses Hailo. A couple of days later a Manager at AL rang him and asked him if he would do a survey for them on the service he receives from Hailo.
It seems like AL are losing alot of work to Hailo. My own independent survey reveals that 7 out of 10 Hailo customers were former AL customers. It looks like JG empire at William Road is in deep trouble, especially after borrowing £10 million from Barclays at the beginning of the year.
Funny how 18 months ago he was boasting in the business pages about of how much money they were raking in by their app in worst recession since the 30′s.
john
August 7, 2012 at 11:32 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hi all G/B.So you dont have no work in the city at the moment,so some of you thought you would work the suburbs to earn a bit,but surprise,surprise it full of Y/B drivers.Now you know how it is for us all year round.Run us down all year round ,then when the work get tough you carn,t hack it,lifes tough for a G/B.
Poundnotepaul
August 9, 2012 at 4:13 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
John,I dont know which gb(s) have given you the hump but I can assure you that I’m a gb and I want to see all of us,gb’s and yb’s united, not having digs at each other.that way, we can help you when you need support and vice-versa but your post above will just piss a lot of gb’s off and then next time you want support,they’ll just think bollocks to you.
I want all of us to stick together mate,united we are stronger. I was at the recent demos with UCG committee and I was not only proud of Gb’s there but equally proud of the numerous Yb’s who I saw.
UNITY is what will drive us onwards and upwards
Chris
October 10, 2012 at 2:05 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Can anyone forward me the email address of the guy who made the films regarding bob at ltda as I would like to share my appreciation for a good job done.
Chris st john
john mara
November 20, 2012 at 9:14 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
so much for every taxi drivers receiving a letter from mr leon daniels i havent got my one yet my cabbie friend lent me his one it says in the letter compliance was very high and as a result we have not levied any fines for games lanes infringements( what a joke) mr daniels i was sent a pcn and i paid the fine of £65.00 i got my bank statement today to find i have been charged three times for one offence( what a joke tfl are )
Colam
December 6, 2012 at 2:04 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Hello,
not trying to be contentious and I know that all of the many things the UCG do are done by real working drivers who give up an awful lot of their time and expertise for free.
I thought it needed to be pointed out that the UCN (which I always avidly read) is the best trade paper by miles; it just does not come out with enough regularity or consistency. Taxi drivers are a fickle bunch and if something is not in front of many of them on a regular basis; they forget about them. Times are hard so people have to be out trying to earn a crust and cannot just spend time running a trade org with website and newspaper, but it would be so much better if the UCN was quarterly (or monthly or bi-annual) and then drivers would look forward to each edition to see what is happening now.
The UCG is already an organisation to be taken notice of, but imagine if the paper were out with enough regularity to stay in the consciousness of the thousands of more apathetic drivers…
Ian
March 25, 2013 at 12:22 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I share the same views. Since I joined Ucg it’s gone all quiet and I posted a message regarding this, I have not received any reply.
Has UCG finished, should I cancel my membership.
I thought we voted to allow working staff to claim expensives.
Any un dates would let the membership know what’s going on. The other trade organisations still produce a paper.
editor 1
April 3, 2013 at 10:21 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Although the UCG have not had a trade paper out for quite some time that does not mean we have gone away. We are all still on all the blogs and forums and working hard for our members and the taxi trade.
United Cabbies News 8 is almost ready to go to print and will be out very soon.
john
December 10, 2012 at 2:34 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
To the person who deleted my post,please explain why.
knowledgebod
January 15, 2013 at 2:09 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Whats happened to the UCG paper???
Enjoyed reading that but nothing since the olympics
Peter B
January 27, 2013 at 1:02 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Does anyone know what the wear limit is on TX4 front brake discs?
ossie
April 4, 2013 at 8:37 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
what’s the outcome of the suburban workshop as we are well into April 2013
Ian
May 15, 2013 at 9:49 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
It seems this web site is now closed.
Do not do any postings as they do not get answered.
Ian
June 1, 2013 at 11:05 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I will be cancelling my membership and going back to the devil I know?
At least I always go a answer from the LTDA .
It seems to me the UGC. Is run as a private member club. I feel UGC is neglecting the membership it rely on.
I do wish you the best for the future, but I cannot see you increasing membership numbers if you ignore comments posted on the web site.
Good bye.
Ian
ossie
May 23, 2013 at 1:12 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Does anyone no the latest news on the suburban workshop. Or are TFL mugging us all of again
shawn
May 5, 2013 at 11:03 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
can we have some TFL inforcement officers down in chamberlayne rd
kensal rise out side “the paradise bar” on a friday and sat night in
sector 9 as there is loads of illegal mini cabs working
please can UCG and RMT help us out, and pass this
message on to TFL ASAP
regards shawn brent barnet harrow
Ian
May 10, 2013 at 12:10 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Have I upset someone, 6 days waiting for post to be moderated .
How are we going to increase our membership if we do not update the web site.
This is our tool for doing this, also it’s a way of keeping the membership inform.
I do not go on the blogs etc because they are full of mis information and they are use to run personal vendettas against certain people within the trade.
I have read the issue 8 and I would like ask a question about dac on page 8. Did any phone DAC and ask them to confirm the rumour. Because you may be upsetting your membership who belong to DAC.
I really thought UGC only dealt in facts and not let some to use UGC MAG TO SPREAD RUMOURS.
Please can you answer the above question.
Regards
Ian