The Badge - December 2022 / January 2023

Will someone please give him the sack...?

INSIDE

More trade stories than all the others put together ULEZ TO EXTEND ACROSS LONDON

LONDON CABBIES TO ROW THE ATLANTIC

Merry Christmas to all cabbies from The Badge

Issue 282 December 2022 / January 2023 FIVE FIGHTS WE’D LIKE TO SEE IN 2023

TAXI DRIVER?

HAD AN ACCIDENT?

ROUGH JUSTICE

TfL’s sham independent appeals panel for TPH drivers witnessed firsthand Pages 4 & 5

We wish you all a Merry Christmas Thank you for your ongoing support and business.

We’ll deliver you a replacement LEVC today

Call us on

0203 488 8000 or email:

info@ rapidauto assist.com

2

Issue 282 - December 2022 / January 2023

WE NEED ANSWERS FROM TfL OVER OUR FUTURE

Published by The London Cab Drivers’ Club Ltd. Unit A 301.3, Tower Bridge Business Complex Tower Point, 100 Clements Road Southwark, London SE16 4DG Telephone: 020 7394 5553

E-mail for membership enquiries: E-mail: thelcdc@gmail.com Web: www.lcdc.cab Editor: Grant Davis

The Badge is distributed free to the Licensed London Cab Trade.

For advertising enquiries please contact the office on 020 7394 5553 or E-mail: thelcdc@gmail.com All advertising in The Badge is accepted under our terms and conditions. These are available at the LCDC office.

Before entering into any commitment, financial or otherwise, always remember to seek professional advice.

The views expressed in this publication are not necessarity those of the Editor or of the Management Committee of the London Cab Driver’s Club.

Contributions for publication are welcomed and should be sent to the Editor at the above address.

The London Cab Drivers’ Club Ltd. Printed by Iliffe Print. T: 01223 656500 www.iliffeprint.co.uk

Once again, we have another explosive edition.

Opposite on page 3 we have written to Helen Chapman at TfL expressing our deep concerns for the future ‘of our industry. After last months financial report from LEVC where they posted an £118m pre-tax loss and a loss of 140 jobs, we are asking TfL what contingency plans they have (if any) if LEVC were to follow the same path as the now defunct Dynamo taxi? (see page 11) On pages 4-5 we have a damning article highlighting the shambolic situation regarding the “Independent” Appeal Panel that is in place for TPH drivers who are attending Palaestra for a reconsideration hearing. Once again TfL have been less than forthcoming regarding the changes to procedure with this process - just as they have been with the newly installed Driver policy.

Whilst on the subject of the new Driver Policy, it is incredible that since its “inception” in December

2021 the trade Orgs have still not attended any meetings to clarify this new policy and we now have a meeting in January 2023 for us to discuss the draconian effects of this policy.

The manner in which TfL are treating our industry quite frankly is nothing short of a disgrace and it is high time this attitude changes.

Finally on a brighter note, I know money is a bit tight, but if you could maybe donate just one fare in your cab for the Atlantic Rowers (see page 12-13) on their massive journey it would be fantastic, another amazing charity event from these amazing cabbies.

Gofundme: cabbiesdoatlanticrow

Finally, I would like to wish everyone a Very Happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year.

PAYTON’S SOLICITORS Suite 12, Temple Chambers, 3, Temple Avenue, London EC4Y 0HP

We at the LCDC don’t often bang our own drum when it comes to helping our members with their legal troubles. A lot of the cases which come our way with members are quite sensitive and we respect their wishes to keep things in house and out of the paper which I can fully appreciate.

However, not only do Payton’s Solicitors offer our members a 24 Hour Duty Solicitor 365 days a year, but since getting involved with the Club, our solicitor Keima Payton has the distinction of having a 100% success rate in all her cases which she has handled on behalf of the Club’s members.

Keima Payton has a fearsome reputation in court and should ever the need arise you will find no one better able to fight your corner and save your Badge than Keima.

- Grant Davis, LCDC Chairman

Tel: 0207 405 1999 FAX: 0207 405 1991

Issue 282 - December 2022 / January 2023

3

LCDC WRITE TO TFL BOSS OVER SUPPLY RISK Helen Chapman Director of Licensing, Regulation & Charging Transport for London 5 Endeavour Square London E20 1JN

Dear Helen,

Grant Davis, Chairman, London Cab Drivers’ Club Unit A301.3, Tower Bridge Business Complex 100 Clements Road London SE16 4DG

I am writing to you because of our serious concerns regarding taxi vehicle supply in London, specifically to ask for your views on whether any manufacturer can sustain a business that meets all TfL’s Condition of Fitness requirements, including disabled access, the turning circle and the safety division.

When ULEZ conditions for London’s taxis were being discussed with London’s taxi trade back in 2014/5 I recall TfL promising us a range of compliant alternatives: there were 5 players who were keen - LEVC (LTI then), Metrocab, Nissan, Mercedes and even a Turkish supplier. In the end only two emerged, the LEVC TXe and Dynamo’s Nissan NV200. Now Dynamo has gone into liquidation and we have been told there is no prospect of a Mercedes Vito, we are left in a monopoly situation with one supplier and that supplier is looking very vulnerable. My concern is that ultimately no taxi supplier can afford to meet all of TfL’s CoF and hope to make any money out of it.

Make no mistake, the TXe is a good product and well liked by many of our members who have taken out LEVC’s PCP deal. LEVC has invested over £184 million making a taxi that London’s taxi drivers can appreciate. However, it is a very expensive taxi and yet the company that makes it is losing a fortune.

The latest set of accounts show that cumulative losses are over £430 million. That means they have lost around £50,000 for every taxi sold. Even worse, the sales of the van derivative, which is supposed to be the key to success, have been woefully low. Two very experienced motor industry chief executives have had a go at making the business profitable, both have failed and left. How can you give us confidence that LEVC’s owners, Geely, will continue to sustain these losses? More so, when you consider that Geely’s share price has halved in the past year and net profitability is down 35% - how long will they be prepared to prop up its ailing business in Ansty when the core business is also suffering?

The prospects for LEVC and the taxi trade must inevitably worsen because of the confluence of other factors coming into play.

In November 2020, when the Covid crisis was at its peak and there was little work for drivers, there were 22,370 green/yellow badge drivers in London.

Yet, two years later, when the streets are much busier, the number of drivers has declined by 13% to only 18,670. Fewer drivers will ultimately mean fewer taxis purchased.

The cost of buying a new taxi has increased by more than 50% in a matter of 4 years. The last of the TX4’s were sold at just over £40,000, whereas the latest TXe’s will cost a driver more than £66,000 and that’s net of the OZEV grant support. And if £66,000 is the cost of a plug-in hybrid taxi now, how much more will a fully electric taxi cost to meet the mayor’s ambitions?

And, of course, that’s before the huge increase we’ve seen in interest rates. A taxi that was only costing £40,000 a few years ago would attract interest costs of £8,000 on a 5-year HP deal at 4% per annum, whereas a £66,000 taxi at 6% today will cost £19,800 in interest charges. That’s on HP, the interest rate on a PCP will cost a lot more – currently just under £25,000 – because you’re financing the whole amount for the total 5-year term not on the reducing balance. The annual tariff review certainly doesn’t overcome these increases.

How long do your colleagues at OZEV tell you that the grant support continue on the TXe? Will the limit be set at 9,000 vehicles? There are probably about 7,000 TXe’s that have already received grant support including out of town taxis. So, not far to go. Moreover could the government consider early removal of the grant because the TXe only claims a WLTP zero capable mileage of 64 miles compared to OZEV’s published requirement for 70 miles?

Once removed, the plug-in hybrid TXe price will increase to around £74,000.

What could be done to lessen the risk to TfL and the taxi trade from a monopoly and a single, perhaps vulnerable supplier?

Our belief is that you and your colleagues at TfL should undertake a full review of the Conditions of Fitness relating to vehicle specification. TfL should be making it more attractive for alternative low volume vehicle manufacturers to take OEM electric vehicle products and turn them into London taxis. Whilst maintaining and perhaps enhancing the standards for accessibility and safety (the division), TfL should again review the need for the limiting turning circle requirement. Achieving the turning circle (or rather not achieving it) was the reason for the demise of the Mercedes Vito Taxi, a perfectly good taxi that was plagued with rear wheel steer mechanical problems and a system that put an extra £10,000 on the cost of the vehicle, and it was hardly ever used. Even the Police consider 180-degree turns in busy streets in London unsafe, so why cling on to a feature that is out-dated and potentially dangerous?

Sometimes we don’t recognise a crash or a market collapse that is about to happen, but it happens all the same. Then we wonder what could have been done to avoid the problems that caused the collapse. At LCDC we believe there is every reason to assume there is an increasing likelihood of a taxi vehicle problem, with both supply and demand issues building up to a possible crash. All we are asking TfL is to consider how it can adjust its requirements, to maintain the best standards but reduce the barriers to entry and enable more fully electric taxis to enter the London market.

I look forward to hearing your views and response.

Kindest regards Grant Davis

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Issue 282 - December 2022 / January 2023

ROUGH

Transport for London’s sham Independent

I recently attended TfL with a member for a reconsideration hearing concerning his licence these were normally carried out under TfL’s own guidelines:

“TfL has a legal obligation to arrange a reconsideration hearing in person affording an aggrieved taxi applicant / licence holder the opportunity to present their case. The hearing is conducted by an officer within TfL who is independent from licensing decision makers.”

In the past these reconsideration hearings were only ever chaired by either, Roy Ellis (former Head of the PCO, may he RIP) or Mr Sandie Kennedy, both of whom were independent of TfL and had a wealth of experience regarding the Licensed London taxi industry which was in keeping with TfL’s own guidelines.

These men listened to those involved directly and were able to assess important matters such as their credibility and also their genuine remorse. They also provided a determination based upon what they had heard at the hearing… they would in their summary give advice to the Head of Licensing and provide sound reasons why they had come to the conclusion that they had. In many cases matters which Sandie Kennedy had raised were quoted directly at the higher Courts.

You can therefore imagine my dismay when appearing

with my member recently to find the so called “Independent Appeal Panel” was now jointly chaired by Mr Nathan Rodd and Claire Farkas. These are the people who introduced themselves (and signed the paperwork) as Investigator / Prosecutor! These are not independent from the licensing decision makers, they are prosecutors - so how can they also be the Judge? These also aren’t people with any legal qualifications or experience in sitting as Judge and jury!

Everything has now changed and not for the better – Nathan and Claire simply tell the drivers why they are at the hearing (outlining the prosecution case) and whilst a driver can answer questions put to them by the prosecutors, it is only a short summary of their answers (as determined relevant by these prosecutors) that get sent to Head of Licensing for a final determination. What experience do they even have to summarise representations made by taxi drivers?

The irony to me is that in the part of the form where Roy Ellis and Sandie Kennedy would often fight for drivers to be able to keep their licence, Claire and Nathan just set out very briefly (and some might say badly!) what has been said at the hearing.

Then (and this is the bit which blows my mind) Mr Anthony Adye (Head of Licensing), who hasn’t heard a single word that has been said, makes the final determination about punishment.

How can a hearing before Prosecutors and Investigators (who are now investigators, prosecutors and judge and jury) also be in charge of all the information provided to the ultimate decision maker, the Head of Licensing?

How can TfL have the gall to suggest that this is an “IAP” as they say on the paperwork… there is nothing independent about these hearings and to come at a time when new policy means that drivers are fighting to

L.C.D.C: LEADERS NOT FOLLOWERS

Issue 282 - December 2022 / January 2023

JUSTICE

Appeals Panel (IAP) for TPH drivers... keep their badge is a travesty!

Why was the trade not informed and consulted upon the changes?

When was the system changed?

Who implemented these changes?

What do TfL think? That we are all stupid? That we wouldn’t notice?

How has “Independence” been left out of an “Independent Appeal Panel”?

I hear that one of the excuses for this change is that TfL could not find any

operators and providers” No other group at TfL, not even those who fail to pay for their tickets, have to put up with such stringent and unfair interpretation of the law.

If “Vision Zero” means that all driving offences are an insult to Transport for London, then EVERYONE (from the Mayor down) needs to be treated the same way.

All those who work at TfL and for TfL should have their jobs on the line - this will include staff, bus drivers, managers, tube drivers, etc .

What do TfL think?

That we are all stupid?

That we wouldn’t notice?

How has ‘independence’ been left out of an Independent Appeal Panel? bodies to “independently” chair these hearings - this simply does not wash with the LCDC. The Penalty Fare Appeals Policy, (which hears appeals for fare evasion on TfL service) has no such problems, as they state: “The panel comprises three persons of suitable standing and relevant expertise for the task who are wholly independent from TfL, its subsidiaries, contractors,

If a secretary gets totted can she keep her job?

If a Manager speaks on a mobile phone is he sacked?

Why is it always the self employed drivers who are told they cannot work?

Why is our IAP not only not independent but an opportunity for the prosecutors to make a final determination and take away our badges… maybe the important question is what should be done about it?

S Stop talking about it andJOIN!

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6

Issue 282 - December 2022 / January 2023

Number of people cycling in England falls a year after £2bn plan

Boris Johnson’s “cycling revolution” has so far failed to build on the gains made during the pandemic, as the proportion of people cycling at least once a week has fallen to its lowest recorded level in England.

As local councils have removed dedicated cycle lanes after the pandemic, the number of people cycling for leisure and the number of younger people cycling has dropped. Sarah Mitchell, chief executive of UK cycling charity Cycling UK, issued a plea for proper cycling infrastructure, arguing that “the short-term benefit is that people will be able to keep making those essential journeys to work, to school, to the shops by bike.

The long-term benefits will be improvements to the nation’s health, economy and environment.”

In 2020, the prime minister launched a £2bn plan to boost cycling and walking rates, aiming to “build on the significant increase in the number of people cycling during the pandemic”.

But figures released by the Department for Transport show just 9.1% of people cycled at least once a week for any purpose between

proved more people would cycle – particularly women and children – if it felt safe for them to do so. It’s sadly no surprise that last year those cycling levels dropped, as some short-sighted councils began pulling out the protected lanes which kept people safe and traffic levels rose again.

November 2020 and November 2021 – down from 11.6% during the 12 months ending November 2020, and 11.2% the year before, with cycling rates falling to their lowest recorded levels just one year on from the announcement.

Only 13.1% of adults cycled at least once a month in the year to November 2021 – the lowest recorded rate since the survey began in 2015-16.

Separate statistics from the National Travel Survey found that in 2021, the number of cycle trips per person decreased by 27% compared with 2020, and were also down 7% compared with 2019. The number of car journeys was up 4% compared with 2020, but still 23% lower than in 2019, while public transport trips were up 19% on 2020 but down 45% compared with 2019.

Rapid estimates from the DfT based on mobile phone data show that despite a poor 2021, the number of cycling trips has since risen in 2022 – though remain lower than their 2020 peak. This rise has mainly happened on weekdays, suggesting commuters may be turning to their bikes as the cost of living

crisis starts to bite.

More than half of local authorities in England saw a decrease in the proportion of people cycling at least once a week in the year to the end of November 2021 compared with pre-pandemic rates. Fourin-five council areas saw levels fall compared with the Covid-fuelled cycling boom of 2019-2020.

Cambridge remains England’s cycling capital, despite seeing a 12.6-point drop in the proportion of people cycling once a week compared with before the pandemic – the largest drop in the country. At the other end of the scale,

Islington in London saw a seven-point increase in weekly cyclists.

The drop in cyclists is mainly down to a fall in those cycling for leisure. Just 6% of people cycled for leisure once a week in November 2020 to November 2021, down from 8.5% during the first year of the pandemic. The proportion of people cycling for travel fell from 5.1% to 4.6%.

Young people have also seen levels drop, with the group aged 16-24 falling more than any other age group.

Mitchell said: “The pandemic

“Both national and local governments need to learn last year’s lessons and focus on the new crisis: cost of living. More people are turning to cycling for shorter journeys to help make ends meet, but they need the safety that dedicated cycle lanes bring. ”

A DfT spokesperson said: “Government is investing a record £2bn over this parliament to enable more walking, wheeling and cycling through better infrastructure, cycle training and active travel prescriptions.

“Though cycling levels have returned from the exceptional levels we saw during the pandemic, we remain fully confident our investment will enable many more people to choose walking and cycling for everyday journeys by 2030.”

Courtesy of The Guardian

Should ‘evidence’ be procured from the public?

Below is a picture of Mr Mike Van Erp, known to many as... “Cycling Mikey”. Van Erp is a Dutch youtuber who uses his mobile phone.

Van Erp is a Dutch national who grew up in Zimbabwe, his father, whilst riding a motorcycle was hit and killed by a drunk driver. He moved to the UK in 1998 to pursue a career in I.T but is now a professional carer and has been known to be a roller skating instructor.

However, he seems to be spending most of hs time cycling around the capital as a self-appointed traffic

enforcement officer and proudly boasts that he has reported 1,000 drivers, leading to 800 successful prosecutions in the last four years.

be procured from TfL bus lane cameras or Met Police cameras, but another to use evidence from a member of the public whom it has been alleged goes out of his way to antagonise other road users.

What we at the LCDC would like to know is what sort of society are we living in where a foreign national spends a vast amount of his time trying to antagonise and hopefully get the police to prosecute ordinary members of the public who are just trying to make a living?

We also would like to question how the Metropolitan Police are comfortable to accept and

It is starting to feel like we are living in the kind of society that existed before the fall of the Berlin Wall, where people were encouraged by the authorities to spy on their fellow citizens.

prosecute individuals, with so called “evidence” from

Van Erp. It is one thing for evidence to

If we keep going down this road, I believe we run the danger of ending up living in a Fascist state.

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9

Issue 282 - December 2022 / January 2023

ULEZ to be expanded across whole of Greater London from August

London’s ultra-low emission zone will be expanded across the entire capital from next August, a move that the mayor said would bring cleaner air to 5 million more residents.

Drivers of older, polluting cars will have to pay £12.50 a day to use their vehicle across Greater London from 29 August 2023.

An improved £110m scrappage scheme will be introduced to help vulnerable people and small businesses, and there will be more buses in the suburbs.

The mayor, Sadiq Khan, announced the start date after a summer consultation on the scheme. It has been welcomed by green groups, clean air campaigners and some businesses, although Conservatives have opposed the charge and said most people in outer boroughs do not want it.

Khan said the capital’s toxic air, and the climate emergency, made it a public health imperative, and that revenue raised would go into public transport.

bus passes.

He said it would be “complemented by significant improvements to the outer London bus network, making public transport a more attractive alternative to the car”.

Announcing the decision at Bonus Pastor school in Lewisham, an area with dangerously poor air quality, Khan said: “The latest evidence shows that air pollution is making us sick from cradle to the grave. Londoners are developing life-changing illnesses such as cancer, lung disease, dementia and asthma. And it’s especially dangerous for children.”

He said the zone, which was expanded from the heart of the city to boroughs within the north and south circular roads last October, had been “transformational”, reducing harmful pollution levels by almost a half in central London.

“Expanding the Ulez Londonwide will mean 5 million more people will be able to breathe cleaner air and live healthier lives,” he said.

Khan said the rising cost of living was a major consideration and that the

While London has struggled financially, TfL and the mayor say the Ulez expansion is designed to get the most polluting vehicles off the road rather than to raise revenue, with compliance now at 94%.

About 15% of vehicles driving in outer London boroughs would currently be liable for the charge – 160,000 cars and 42,000 vans entering the zone daily, according to TfL estimates.

£110m scrappage scheme would help people who most needed it to scrap or retrofit non-compliant vehicles.

Alex Williams, Transport for London’s chief customer and

strategy officer, said the scheme would offer “unparalleled support”, extending the grace period for some types of vehicles and groups, including disabled people, and offering more free

Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, a clean air campaigner whose daughter Ella died of respiratory diseases partly caused by pollution, said it was a “step in the right direction”.

She said: “When we had the inquest, we got the experts in Ella’s case to give some recommendations and all of them agreed Ulez expansion was something that needed to

be done to clean up the air in London. Clean air should be a human right.”

Muniya Barua, the deputy chief executive at BusinessLDN, welcomed the move but said the mayor and TfL’s next step should be to accelerate plans for a smarter road pricing scheme. “With congestion costing the economy over £5bn a year and a 27% reduction in car miles required to hit our net zero targets, this has to be a priority.”

Conservatives in the Greater London Assembly condemned the move and warned it could still be stopped by a legal challenge, with about 60% of respondents to the consultation opposed to the expansion.

Nick Rogers, the GLA Conservatives’ transport spokesperson, said: “Now is not the time to hammer Londoners with a £12.50 daily cost of living charge. Residents have made their views very clear to the mayor: they do not want the Ulez expansion.”

Courtesy of The Guardian

The future is Green The future is Colts

Don’t be a diesel dinosaur

TXE taxis to rent

We are still renting a limited amount of diesel taxis

Issue 282 - December 2022 / January 2023

DYNAMO GOES INTO LIQUIDATION WITH FEARS OVER TAXI SUPPLIER RESILIENCE

Here are the insolvency details for Dynamo and the official notice below.

The Liquidator is Brett Lee Barton of BLB Advisory. He was appointed by the creditors on 3rd November.

Little wonder the business

went into liquidation. The balance sheet at the end of last year showed net liabilities of £1.9 million, a fourfold increase on the previous year.

2022 must have got worse with the drying up of supply of Nissan NV200’s and little else to sell.

11

12

Issue 282 - December 2022 / January 2023

LONDON CABBIES TO ROW ACROSS ATLANTIC FOR THREE CHARITIES

Hi , Please have a look at this as it's something we want YOU TO BE PART OF !

We are aiming to do something very special, to SAVE LIVES and raise money for charity and we are willing to go to extreme lengths to achieve this!

In 2021 one of our

teammates, a fellow London Taxi driver suffered a debilitating stroke. He had been part of our fundraising Cabbiesdokilimanjaro team from the start. Our aim was to go from “ Fat Cabbies “ to “Fit Fundraising Cabbies”.

We achieved this goal by successfully summiting Kilimanjaro in 2019 and then in 2022 climbing Mount Meru

+ Kilimanjaro back-to-back, while raising over £25000 for charity. Our friend, who is very shy, had to step back from the team due to health problems and he then suffered exactly what we were all trying to avoid – a huge stroke. A year after the stroke he is in an ICU Unit and our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family as he slowly recovers.

We are determined to get the TAKE STEPS TO AVOID A STROKE message out to as many people as we can, while raising money for charity and we think ROWING THE ATLANTIC will turn some heads.

We will be rowing the boat depicted in the video, we know the boat can do it, but can we?

We estimate it will take us about 60 days, rowing 2 hours on 2 hours off, 24 hours a day. This is what we are prepared to do but we need some help from company sponsors to make this happen.

We anticipate our challenge will be covered on TV, radio, print and online, as there has been much media interest in our previous challenges. As we are all currant working London Taxi drivers and all drive LEVC Taxis we have already been using the icon to get our message out to the public .

We are the only boat in the @AtlanticDash that will be able to send pictures, video, or messages 24 hrs a day, so as the race progresses everyone will be able to see and hear our progress, trials, and tribulations. We sincerely hope our row will

help to spread the message about healthier lifestyles saving lives.

If you would like to find out more please have a look at the attached Sponsor Pack.

It will only take a minute to look at how you can make a difference!

Thank you!

We are at a more advanced stage now ! We have purchased the special food we will need to survive, loaded it onto the boat which is currently being shipped to Lanzarote. It had to be done like this because we are due to arrive in Lanzarote on 15th for boat scrutineering, seminars and night practice rows. Having spent the money we have raised and put £100’s of our own money and time into to this we desperately need more sponsorship to carry on. Our charities are banking on us our trade is counting on us, we just need a bit of help please! We only have this one shot!

Thank you for your consideration.

Daren Parr cabbiesdoatlanticrow@gmail .com londonkabbie@hotmail.co.uk

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Grant Davis and Tony Marson sat down and had a chat in late November, where Grant asked the questions that you want to know the answers to. Keep reading to find out what was said!

Who is ComCab London Limited?

ComCab London is the last original radio taxi company still in operation, established in 1974 and has one of the largest fleets of black taxis in London.

Who is Tony Marson?

Tony Marson is the managing director of ComCab London and is a very driver-focused managing director at that! He has been with ComCab London since 2019 and helped the FRPSDQ\ WKURXJK WKH SDQGHPLF DQG NHHS &RP&DE¶V GULYHU¶V ZKHHOV WXUQLQJ DQG WKHP earning!

1 R Z O H W ¶ V J HW L QW R W K H L Q W H U Y L H Z Grant: Bei eing ng the last rad adiio taxi circuit still going, what have you done to adapt and develop as the industr ustryy moves for orw ward?

Tony: I worked with differ eren ent companies previousl sly y ev even en with Mike Galvin when he was the CEO of ComCab London. During this time, I learnt about the funct ctiions and the family dynamics of how it shoul uld d work. You are are right we are the last ones. The thing we want to do and make sure of here at ComCab is to keep that family, we are here for drivers. That is what we want.

*UDQW :DWFKL FKLQJ QJ WKH QHZV LW¶V DO DOOO about the recession, next year and what is coming in the pipe pi peline. It is busy this time of year but with January and February closely approaching.

What would ComCab do to help help drivers to get through the recession?

Tony: Looking at the past cou coupl ple pl e of years, we have have just come out of a pandemic and ComCab is still here, her e, and the drivers are st stiill here and the reason for that is we can adapt quickl ckly. y. We need to make sure our drivers earn a living, as a team we went to work to make sure money was coming in via our circuit. We have one of the largest accounts in London and we got them to agree to a cl cliick-andcolllect service which was put in col place for drivers and for our vulnerable clients, col colllect ectiing ffood ood and taking them to appointments.

We already have major clients on our sy syst stem, who will be there when the recessi ssion on hits and we we

are ready to switch on more work.

Grant: So, when the city adapts, ComCab adapts, so whatever the challenge is, you can figure out KRZ WR JHW PRQH\ LQWR GU GULLYHUV¶ pockets.

Tony: That has been my ob objjective ever since I came into ComCab in 2019, I walked in and within a couple of months we had Covi ovid, d, and I am still here today. We have got a lot of technolog ogy y which we we spent a lot of money on. We KDYHQ¶W GRQH WKDW lightly; we have done that for a reason because we know we need to change and from that, I think that we are in a good place.

Grant: Back in the day radio circuits had bi big g equi equipme pment bolted in, if you come onto ComCab do you have an app for drivers? you Tony: We have a ful ulll suite fo for drivers, we have our own cr cred ediit ed card system, TF TFL L approv oved ed,, we ed have a tablet with instal alllation and our own printing syst system.

We pride ourselves on that, we are still a fa family. We have the fitting bay; I see and speak to many drivers when they come in.

7KH\ VSHDN WR -RDR ZKRP WKH\¶YH known for 20 years. Ther ere e ar are e people in our workf kfo orce and our team that have been here fo for 40plus years years. It is about the cab GULYHU¶V famil amily. y. That is us.

Grant: What about the work?

Drivers have a mortgage to pay and a cab to pay for. You have /RQGRQ¶V EL ELJJ JJHVW DFFRXQW 7RQ\ Q\ KDYHQ¶W \RX" Tony: We have London Taxicard, which with that there are several other shoot ot--of offfs from that and one of them we are doing diversity work with as wel elll which is Dial-aride.

We try to accommodate drivers in many ways now, they have their future screens where they can pick future jobs 3-5 days in advance. They can plot their whole day. day. A driver told me he WKLQNV LW¶ QNV LW¶V V IDQWDVWLF DV KH FDQ GURS his boy off at school and pick him

up later as he can work his jobs around it.

Grant: Driver vers s continue to say how low fixed ixed prices are and they ZRQ¶W JR QHDU WKHP DQG WKDW arguments have been made ti time and ti time again. People assume that fixed prices are less than the meter so why should they touch them?

Tony: A driver came to me recently that came in and has been on the circuit for ar arou ound 38 years and he wanted to lea leave because the fixed prices are becoming too regular. So, we had a look at 500 jobs and did 500 calculations of the meter and it turns out 11.2% of the fixed price cost was better than what the meter was. Since then, this driver has been covering fixed prices on a reg regular basis.

Grant: We mentioned earlier about Dial-aal Ride, what does that wor ork k consist of?

Tony: They provided contracted runs where we give the drivers the addresses for the pickups and the drop-offs within that 8-hour period od,, which can be 8 to 10 jobs, they are al alll within a cer certtain ra radius and WKH\¶UH DO H DOOO IRU LQG QGLLYLGXDO ERURXJKV The interest is increasing, and more and more drivers are asking to be added to the list. When we receive the jobs our DQO team will speak to the drivers and see if they would like to take the run. *UDQW , GRQ¶ Q¶WW WKLQN WKDW LV D EDG thing because you look at black cabs, and taxis are perceived as /RQGRQ¶V WD[L VHUYLFH DQG WKDW LV HYHU\WKLQJ LW LVQ¶W MXVW WDNLQJ D FLW\ guy to the airport, it should be more cumbersome to society as wel elll.

The dial-a-ULGH ZRQ¶W ILW DOO WKH rest of the drivers have access to other cl cliients, who are blue chip chip cliients that are asking for cer cl certtain services in cer certtain vehicles i.e., the TX TXE Es who could have have a daily rate. Clients are requesting more and more taxis, more than any other service. We need more drivers to be able to cov cove er that work. That is the reason why we

are here today having a chat. We need to give a service.

Grant: It is a two-w way street if drivers are saying they need more work because they need money to pay for their cabs, mor orttgages and to live, you need to have a partnershi ship p with the cab driver and you to get a bi bigg gger fleet which means you can have more work to bring the money into the cab GULYHUV¶ SRFNHWV Tony: One of the major things I look at after running many fleets, over my career, is I never oversubscribe. I believe that everyone can reach their ful ulll potential. So, one of the things I look at weekl klyy sometimes daily is the amount of fleet that we have, and the work we are cov coverin ering.

7KDW¶V DQRWKHU WKLQJ WKH ZRUN WKDW comes in we need to make sure sure we have the fleet to cover it.

When we get that we will bring more work in. Now, which is nice to say, say, we have an endless tap of work ork,, but that work is not shut tight but is only open a fraction of what I believe we as the cab industr ustryy can fulfil.

Keep a look out for next PRQWK¶V DUWLFOH ZKLFK ZLWK KDYH the rest of the interview included or check out the LCDC YouTube channel where you can find the full video.

Use the QR code at the top of th s page to app y to o n or ca 0207 432 1600 to f nd out more!

17

Issue 282 - December 2022 / January 2023

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 TRADE’S FUTURE The Club worked tirelessly in bringing in the green & yellow identifiers to the taxi trade.

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19

Issue 282 - December 2022 / January 2023

UBERLAND

I’ve been reading a book about Uber, called “Uberland.* The author is an ethnographer and so is mostly focused on Uber as an employer in the USA; also the research ends in 2017. However, it still has relevance to what has gone on here and in other places, with much current even today.

SAFETY ISSUES There is nothing new in the book but I’ve taken a couple of snippets because the penny still hasn’t dropped with TfL and the Mayor, far less central government.

The author tells a story of a driver that had a commute of 1.5 hours into NYC so would spend days at a time on the car, rather than commute back and forth. On one occasion he was woken by a job offer for a pick-up at JFK airport.

He then “passed out” and remembered nothing until a call from the passenger woke him, asking where he was? He then proceeded to work Uber drivers are under pressure to accept fare offers or risk being temporarily suspended or removed from the app. Drivers use multi apps and when they accept a nonUber fare, they hurry to log-out before getting a job offer. In doing so the author has ridden in cars where the driver’s attention has been so affected that they miss speed limit signs, red lights, etc.

We’ve all seen worse than that here where they actually hit the signs rather than miss them; not to mention the odd pedestrian, cyclist, etc.

I don’t know if these practices continue today, but suspect that they do. we now know part of the reason why they are such bad drivers, especially when you add in the 3 or 4 phones on the dash and having to follow a satnav.

Speaking of satnavs, I have seen and heard, like you, the sometimes silly routes Uber drivers are told to take by the satnav. Now I know why. Uber use drivers and customers to gather data for them on routes and in areas where they have insufficient data. So, to get this data they will send driver and customer on a sub-optimal route. The customer pays for Uber to gather data.

THE MODUS OPERANDI Critics of disruptive technologies, of which Uber is one, sum up the way these operate as “”move fast, break things and don’t ask permission.” The thing they break most often is the law and regulations. Uber try to mask illegality as innovation. Too often, they get away with it as well, hoodwinking the authorities.

Uber hoodwink the public in a consistent way across the world. When they first move in, as often as not they

Walker on the march... operate illegally. They gain support from users and other groups/organizations. For example, they may appeal to an anti-racism group by claims that they are “creating employment”, especially among immigrant communities, even though they resist being called an employer to avoid employment legislation.

At the same time, their not so neutral algorithm allows customers to discriminate against minorities in a way employment legislation would never

allow. If a customer continually gives a low rating to a specific driver, eventually that driver will not be assigned to that customer or another with a similar profile.

He could be being marked low because he is black or she is a lesbian, etc.

Next they create crises that generate lawsuits that they then try to use misclassification to win cases, such as claiming that drivers are consumers of Uber, rather than employees of Uber.

This, after claiming to create employment opportunities in order to get their foot in the door.

By this time, either they win their case or threaten to, and often do, pack up their operations and move on, leaving local councils and authorities to sort out the mess they leave behind.

An example of this was California whose state welcomed Uber with open arms and they shared a love-in until the state wanted to licence the autonomous cars Uber were running in San Francisco. Uber decided themselves that the law didn’t apply to them and carried on running the cars without a licence. When pushed, they cleared

their autonomous operation out of California to Arizona, where they didn’t need a licence until one of their cars killed a pedestrian crossing the road.

So, they move in under the guise of being part of the “sharing economy” rather than an outfit that exploits everything and everyone it comes into contact with. They come into a city like London, offer the drivers good rates and incentives to join as “partners”.

While keeping price to the customer artificially low to stimulate demand, they keep adding drivers in order to get response times down to unsustainable levels.

Then once they have saturated the market, they increase rates to customers and reduce driver rates. At the same time, drivers see not only the return but also the number of job offers fall.

They are quite innovative about the way they increase customer charges. They have introduced a system whereby the customer sees a different end price to that the driver sees so that they can clip some of the drivers earnings. They also operate FPs. In this case, customers that live in an affluent area will be asked for a higher fare than a customer making the reverse journey from a less affluent area. They will also charge a FP based against the data they have gathered on a customer to assess what they are willing to pay.

Drivers’ tips have been changed into “service charges” by the time the driver is invoiced, transferring the tips from driver to operator.

ABOVE THE LAW Where to start? When Uber began operating illegally in Montreal, and their drivers fell foul of enforcement officers, Uber paid their fines; paid impoundment fees and supplied replacement cars; paid legal fees, telling drivers to keep on working in Montreal.

Speaking of enforcement officers, I was already aware, as we all were, of the existence of “phantom cars” on customers’ app screens. I have always thought, and often it has been, to hoodwink customers into thinking there were more cars available in an area than there actually were.

What I didn’t know was that these are used as decoys. For example, when Uber were operating illegally in New Jersey, enforcement officers downloaded the app to identify where there were numbers of Uber cars operating illegally. So,Uber generated phantom cars in areas of low demand in order to lure the officers away from areas where there were numbers of

real cars.

Uber are shameless in their lawbreaking. Even their fellow tech predators are not safe. Uber stole trade secrets from Waymo, Google’s autonomous car arm, while supposedly working with them in partnership. They stole a whole team of people working on autonomous tech from a university that they were partnering with.

When a customer alleged rape against an Uber driver, Uber obtained the woman’s medical records without permission.

When trying to gain a licence in Chicago, Uber gave a presentation to show that they could help ID stalkers.

They used customer data to ID what they called “rides of glory”. Basically, they used customer data to establish that 30 NY Uber users were using the cars to rendezvous with a “one night stand”.

A journalist, Sara Lacey, was threatened that if she did not stop writing derogatory articles about Uber, they would “enteratin” the idea of a smear campaign against her and her family. Nice people!

ROUND AND ROUND WE GO Since 2014, Uber have undermined London’s traditional taxi and PH industries. They have wrecked demand for the traditional PH trade, with unsustainable and unfair pricing.

While they have also affected our demand, they have helped devastate out supply. Who is going to take 45years to do the KOL when they can become a pseudo-taxi driver in a few weeks by obtaining PH licence from a “lucky dip” bag of sweeties and then drive a car with satnav and App. What with Covid and the law cases that Uber have lost, TPH had a real chance to rectify the current situation.

They could have taken a harder line with Uber and allow proper PH to compete. They should have taken steps to speed up (not water down) the KOL, made it harder to obtain a PH driver licence and rein in the way Apps are used to encourage more entrants into the KOL. Well, they’ve made their decision and it’s a kick in the nuts for you and me.

They have driven down our fleet numbers to a shadow of what it was ten years ago, while KOL entrants have all but dried up. At the same time, they are rushing through 500+ new PH driver licences every week so that Uber can re-establish their response times and gum up the streets of Central London with double-parked and cruising cars.

Did I day Gum? Should I have said bung?

Have a good Christmas everybody and a Happy New Year. *Uberland, how algorithms are rewriting the rules of work; Alex Rosenblat; University of California Press;2018.

20

Issue 282 - December 2022 / January 2023

Poppy Cabs turn out in force to help war veterans travel

As on every Remembrance Sunday, London taxi drivers, young and old gave up them time to show veterans just how much they appreciated the enormous sacrifices which were made.

The provided a free service at mainline stations and designated pick up spots in Central London to help them reach Whitehall and other areas.

Taxi driver Steve Scott said: "Our small offering pales into insignificance against the huge debt we, owe these guys and girls who gave up so much for the freedom we take for granted".

With vintage taxis also working the ranks it was a truly magical sight to behold and with the aid of marshals assisting the aged Vets, once again the London taxi trade

did itself proud.

We know coverage of Remembrance Sunday is a global event and it is wonderful that the trade is seen by everyone around the world acting in such a kind and respectful manner.

“Well done to everyone who took part and especially Mike Hughes for all his tireless work with Poppycabs.”

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22

ITS THE LISSON GREEN MOB MARK TWO

Received this message on WhatsApp: “Be careful around Barbican city hotel…Drivers getting their cabs broken into whilst in Fish Central or Kennedy's, this hotel has had its signs removed as it is now housing assylum seekers from France.

Low traffic neighbourhoods in the area are getting targeted and broken into”.

City office staff workers are also being assaulted and robbed.

If you use the two watering holes in the City, please make sure you take all your valuables with you.

Welcome to Khans London.

This is a problem that is about to escalate all over London as more hotels are seconded onto the scheme, supported by Sadiq Khan and certain London councils. .

Hoteliers are to be paid millions of pounds to sack all their full time staff, and import crime into residential areas.

Worst of all, advice given about phoning the police is also a joke.

We have documented evidence from drivers who have been attacked which states, after an unacceptable 20 minute wait to speak to a police operator, they are told “sorry, there’s no units in the area to attend”

Well done Sadiq !!!!! Not only have you gridlocked most of London, you’ve filled it full of no go areas.

As a trade, we have all been affected by Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) restriction, implemented by certain councils around London.

Also, we have seen a number of restrictions bought in during the pandemic…that we were told would be temporary.

Spurred on by the cycling lobby and the mayors transport team,

Issue 282 - December 2022 / January 2023

many of these restriction are still in place plus some, we are informed, have become permanent.

You can fool some of the people all the time But you can’t fool all the people, all the time.

Although this has caused a tremendous increase in congestion and in turn, has bought added pollution to streets bordering the restriction, councils have openly lied saying that pollution and congestion is down.

We now know why councils have lied…saying that traffic is lighter on LT and perimeter roads!

The traffic counting wires do not count vehicles moving at 10mph and slower….where traffic is almost stationary most of the day, the surveys show that traffic has mostly dissipated, when in fact, most of the day it’s gridlocked.

Reports that emergency vehicles are stuck in the gridlock are completely ignored.

Businesses have suffered with many closed for good, buss journey times have slowed down but worst of all, emergency service vehicles such as Ambulances and Fire Appliances have also been badly affected.

If you want to keep an eye on what’s going on, please follow @ediz1975 on Twitter.

Residents in north London boroughs demanded consultations and the councils obliged with surveys.

Ediz posted on Twitter: When Enfield Council counted traffic on overspill roads from LTNs, its equipment could'nt record vehicles going less than 10k/mh. So, as he explains, the actual amount of traffic on many of these roads was significantly more than the data showed.

Then recently, the news broke that Islington council had admitted to publishing false statistics about pollution and traffic displacement.

On Tuesday 21st November, we saw a council (Haringey) refusing to consult fully with residents of their Borough at an arranged meeting.

Have a listen... https://shortest.link/8WVu

Below is a link to the video that Islington council managed to get removed from YouTube. It concerns a consultation meeting where ordinary residents of the Borough of Islington, weren’t informed.

Many residents complained they were stopped from attending, by police who blocked access to the area.

Those who were lucky enough to get inside were told that the councillors weren’t going to come out and face then.

Residents who heard about the meeting through word of mouth, turned up, but were turned away again by the police.

The councillors were spirited away by a back door leaving the residents only able to speak amongst themselves.

No accountability, no transparency= No Democracy.

This is Islington brand of democracy.

Democracy for the privileged few.

Haringey Labour have sided with privileged few, the self important pressure groups, rather than the majority of real people in Haringey.

There is currently a coordinated and well funded effort to force all traffic onto main roads, in particular A-roads and boundary roads, in a deluded belief that people will get fed up and the traffic will eventually evaporate. In reality however, the effect is an actual massive

See video: https://shortest.link/8WVN

escalation of pollution on those already worse off.

Also on social media, there was a shocking smear by former LibDem councillor Clive Carter, who called the residents "Anti

LTN zealots". He went on to say that "too many are given to vandalism, and intimidation."

It’s an old saying: You can fool all the people some of the time

The police appeared to be quite aggressive, unlike the way they treated the stop oil protesters, where people who’d glued themselves to the road where offered refreshments.

Perhaps at the next demo, we should turn up with tubes of super glue!

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Issue 282 - December 2022 / January 2023

Sadiq Khan’s kamikaze war on motorists is an unforgivable act of fiscal recklessness

Going against public opposition to a Ulez expansion will do little to quell concerns about a hidden agenda

If ever there was any doubt that London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s green crusade is little more than a load of hot air, how about this: during a sixyear stint in City Hall, characterised by constant lecturing of Londoners about the need to go green, Khan and his team have racked up more than 360,000 air miles on jetsetting official trips, according to analysis from The Sun newspaper.

That’s enough to fly around the world 14 times, or travel to the moon and around it 18 times, while belching out nearly 200 tonnes of carbon.

Khan’s foreign escapades even include a recent 14,000-mile round trip to Buenos Aires, accompanied by five members of staff, to address a climate change summit touted as a "hybrid in-person and virtual event".

It is estimated that the journey produced roughly three tons of carbon dioxide per passenger – more than the average car produces in an entire year in Britain.

No wonder, then, that Londoners are foaming with rage at the latest salvo from Khan in his kamikaze war on motorists – an expansion of the £12.50-a-day ultra low emission zone (Ulez) charge to outer London boroughs.

It’s not just the rank double standards that sticks in the craw, however. It’s that the mayor’s crusade is shortsighted, terribly misguided and horrendously ill-timed.

There is also a sneaking suspicion that climate change is something of a red herring when really it’s all just a big money-making ruse to prop up Transport for London, left bankrupt on Khan’s watch.

When it comes to reducing

the number of car journeys taken in the capital, Khan has long-favoured the stick over the carrot – with decidedly unconvincing results, too.

During the pandemic, the mayor introduced a series of supposedly “temporary” changes to the hated Congestion Charge in a bid to “ensure the capital’s recovery from the pandemic is not restricted by cars and congestion”, but like most temporary taxes it has proven to be a largely permanent measure.

Though the charge was returned to its pre-pandemic weekday hours of 7am-6pm, motorists still have to pay £15, as opposed to the preCovid price of £11.50, and it continues to be enforced at weekends.

The decision to retain the £15 C-charge was taken on the basis that it should result in a risible 4pc reduction in car mileage in the zone and despite evidence showing that its effectiveness has been extremely mixed.

Although the number of private cars fell after the introduction of the charge nearly 20 years ago, they

have simply been replaced by other vehicles such as Uber cars and Amazon delivery vans, in a city where road space has shrunk as a result of major construction work and Khan’s obsession with building new cycle highways.

The major’s introduction of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods across the capital has proven similarly divisive, with equally inconclusive results. Though proponents of LTNs believe that they can be useful in tackling climate change, reducing car usage, and increasing the number of cyclists, they too have come with unforeseen consequences.

In the 10 inner London boroughs that introduced LTNs or equivalent schemes during the pandemic, increases in car use have been greater than in boroughs that did not, according to figures from the Department for Transport.

But an extension of the Ulez threatens to be the most draconian and damaging yet. A daily £12.50 charge is little more than a tax on the poorest of society because it penalises those who cannot afford to upgrade to a

newer, cleaner model that escapes the levy.

of fiscal recklessness, bordering on class warfare.

To say that many households won’t be able to afford the charges is an understatement.

Yet the majority of those that will be hit by the scheme will be police officers, firefighters and NHS staff, trying to get to work, as well as an army of tradesmen for whom public transport is simply not an option.

Estimates put the proportion of those in the capital that rely on their cars for work and travel at around 30pc.

The revelation that Khan ploughed ahead with the expansion of Ulez despite 60pc of respondents to a public consultation opposing it will do little to quell concerns about a hidden agenda. In outer London, 70pc of residents were against the idea and 80pc of workers were opposed.

And for anyone who drives into the zone regularly, the cost would add up to a staggering £3,200 annually, at a time when many families are already reeling from spiralling mortgage, energy, food and fuel bills.

Khan has said his campaign is driven by the belief that the Government has a responsibility to build “a greener country” in the shadow of Covid-19. That’s perfectly reasonable – who wouldn’t want our children to breathe cleaner air, or the environmental benefits that come with it?

But asking hardworking families to carry the bulk of the financial burden – in the eye of a cost of living storm, too – is an unforgivable act

What’s more, it appears to be based on the flawed assumption that driving is somehow a luxury for most people. For many of those living in outer London, it is a necessity, whether for getting around or for work.

Ditto his backing for a “Singapore-style” network of toll roads that campaigners say will mean electric vehicles are taxed just as heavily as petrol and diesel ones. It is further proof – if any were needed – that Khan is waging an ideological war on cars.

Courtesy of The Daily Telegraph

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Issue 282 - December 2022 / January 2023

Five great fights we want to see in 2023

Lightweight stars Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia announced on Thursday that they intend to fight one another this coming spring if they win interim fights and Davis overcomes legal issues, giving fans one of the most compelling possible matchups in the sport.

That proves that best-vs.best can be more than just a slogan. And it gets us thinking about more mouth-watering potential matchups as we near a new year.

Here are five fights we want to see – and two we don’t – in 2023.

Terence Crawford vs.

Errol Spence Jr. Don’t hold your breath. This might be the best possible matchup in boxing, two unbeaten, experienced welterweights and top pound-for-pounders in a 5050 fight. It could be the biggest 147-pound clash

since Floyd MayweatherManny Pacquiao in 2015.

Alas, they haven’t been able to come to terms and the window to a deal appears to be closing. It would be a travesty if this fight never

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happens.

Tyson Fury vs.

Oleksandr Usyk Boxing fans long for a single heavyweight champion. This matchup would produce one.

The unbeaten Fury has been the dominant big man over the past half decade, including two knockouts of Deontay Wilder. The talented Usyk, the former undisputed 200-pound champ, is coming off consecutive victories over once-feared Anthony Joshua. Fury and Usyk aren’t close to a deal but the

public demand is strong.

Canelo Alvarez vs.

David Benavidez Alvarez seems determined to avenge his upset loss to 175-pound titleholder Dmitry Bivol but that’s not the most compelling fight for him.

Benavidez is an unbeaten, fiery former titleholder who is Alvarez’s weight (168 pounds) and has a style that is more exciting than that of Bivol. Another good option for Alvarez is Jermall Charlo, the unbeaten 160-pound titleholder who seems poised to move up in weight.

Naoya Inoue vs.

Stephen Fulton Inoue might be the best fighter in the world pound for pound, with a lethal combination of ability and knockout power. And there is no obvious threat at or near the 118-pound champ’s weight.

The only exception might be the unbeaten Fulton, a 122pound titleholder with uncommon skill. Inoue is the more-complete fighter but he’d have to move up in weight, which could be the equalizer.

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