LONDON
A taxi driver is in hospital fighting for his life after having a heart attack at the wheel and ploughing into a cab on Wapping High Street, east London this morning.
The cabbie is thought to be in his 40s and suffered a heart attack while driving, according to the London Ambulance Service.
An ambulance arrived at Wapping Station around 7.50am, treated the cabbie and took him to St Bartholomew’s Hospital “as a priority”.
Scotland Yard told London24: “We were called to reports of a road traffic collision between two vehicles. One was a black taxi and the other was a grey taxi.
“The man remains in a critical condition in an east London hospital. No one else was injured in the collision.”
Tanya Valdez, also a London taxi driver, came across the scene minutes later.
“A man was lying on the floor not moving, and a colour I’ve never seen before,” she told the Evening Standard.
“The other cabbie said he must have had a heart attack. He was coming towards him one way and just smashed into him.
“The Vito (the other taxi) must have carried on, because the cab was smashed into a building. The passenger who was in the Vito got in my taxi.
“She said, thank god for the vigilance of the Vito driver - he saw what was coming and he swerved out of the way, so it could have been worse.
“It wasn’t nice to see that first thing in the morning.”
http://www.london24.com/news/taxi_driver_fighting_for_life_after_crash_in_east_london_1_4132698
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Dundee taxi drivers claim ‘scam’ after marshals scheme descends into farce
Fourteen months ago, Dundee City Council demanded £30 from every one of Dundee’s 1,300 taxi drivers to bankroll a marshal scheme.
It has emerged, however, that not a single member of staff has ever been hired, with the estimated £40,000 collected languishing in a bank account ever since.
Taxi drivers have now hit out at council chiefs and criticised them for taking the cash before they knew the plan would work, demanding that the money be refunded.
The council has been desperately trying to hire the right calibre of staff to run the taxi marshal initiative, targeting ex-police officers with the skills required to keep people safe on the city’s streets.
Licensing committee convener Stewart Hunter told The Courier he had real hopes for the scheme and admitted he was hugely disappointed at how things have worked out.
On paper, the introduction of taxi marshals to key city centre locations at weekends looked to be a sound idea.
It was hoped they could protect worse-for-wear drinkers who risk their lives on a weekly basis by crossing roads in the face of traffic – with the area outside the casino on the city’s Marketgait particularly worrisome.
They could also have helped to quell trouble at certain taxi ranks, giving drivers the confidence to stop for passengers in areas some have been avoiding.
Taxi driver Gregor Ross, 47, from Carnoustie, however, said he was angry that the council had demanded payment up front for a scheme it has been unable to deliver.
“Every tax driver in Dundee had to pay £30 to cover the cost of the introduction of taxi marshals – which must mean that they took around £40,000 of revenue out of the taxi trade,” he said.
“Fourteen months later the scheme has completely failed to materialise and our money is still sitting in a council bank account and there are a number of drivers who are extremely angry about this.”
Mr Hunter said he would be meeting members of the taxi trade to discuss the way forward.
“It is extremely unfortunate and disappointing that we have not been able to deliver the taxi marshals we need,” he added.
“I think this was an excellent idea as there are safety issues in the city centre at weekends and we believe they could make a big difference, but unfortunately we’ve just struggled to attract people with the right credentials and the appropriate experience to take on these roles.
“We will make one last attempt to make it happen, but if we cannot deliver the marshals then we will have to look at refunds.”
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Rotherham taxi drivers strike in demand for further talks
TAXI drivers will go on strike from tomorrow morning to demand further talks with the council over licensing policy changes.
Protesting cabbies will withdraw services from 6am and are planning slow drives through Rotherham during both rush hours.
The new licensing policy, set for approval on Monday, will require CCTV in all taxis and drivers to use vehicles less than ten years old.
Rotherham Private Hire Association and Rotherham Hackney Carriage Association voted to act on Monday night.
They say more details are needed about how the video and audio recording will be implemented and have complained that the “fit and proper person” criteria is too vague.
RPHA chaiman Abdul Tariq said: “Because there’s only a five-day grace period before this comes in, the drivers want the council to sit down with us again before that ends.
“It’s not just about the CCTV, that’s one thing that’s been picked out. It’s meant we haven’t had time to discuss other things in our meetings.
“We only got the full draft document yesterday. When we met last night, pretty much everyone was in favour of going on strike.”
Rotherham Borough Council says the new measures will drive up standards in the trade, which the Jay report mentioned as playing a “prominent” role in child sexual exploitation.
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