PLYMOUTH

A policeman who had been ‘called out of bed’ in the early morning hours went through a red light and was in a collision with a female taxi driver’s cab.

Police have revealed that the officer involved had been called from his bed to attend an incident in the early hours of the morning when he “confused” a green traffic light arrow for his own lane's light on Union Street.

He was in a collision with Lynda Austin's Mercedes people carrier.

Lynda is a taxi driver with 15 years’ experience but she has been left shaken by the incident.

"This is my livelihood," said the 61-year-old, who is from Plymouth but lives in Looe with her husband, Anthony, also a taxi driver, "but they haven't even apologised.

"My cab is a write-off, and personally I can't even get into a car. I'm too drive frightened to drive."

Lynda was driving towards the Union Rooms on Sunday, August 9, at about 2am when the collision occurred.

She described how she was travelling at "no more than 25mph" and had just gone through a green light when the collision, on the driver's side of the cab, happened.

"Next thing I know my air bag went off and I'd gone into the railing and traffic lights," she said.

"Someone came running over saying I needed to get out of the cab as they saw smoke, but it was just dust from the air bag. Luckily I didn't have any passengers in the car."

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Police-officer-8216-called-bed-8217-collision/story-27768850-detail/story.html#ixzz3lJKyET5I
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 A Wellingborough taxi driver has been prosecuted after overcharging a customer.

Seydi Vakas Colak was ordered to pay £845 after being found guilty of not using the meter in his cab, resulting in his passenger being charged too much.

The action also invalidated his vehicle insurance.

Wellingborough Council's licensing team received a complaint in October last year that Mr Colak, a licensed hackney carriage driver, had taken a passenger from the rank in Orient Way to an address in the town without turning on the meter in his cab.

At the end of the short journey, Mr Colak told his passenger the fare was £3.50. As this was more than they usually paid, the passenger asked for a receipt and then contacted the council.

An investigation by licensing officers showed that because the meter wasn't used, the fare charged was in excess of the maximum allowed under the set tariff prescribed by the council. It was determined that not using the meter was contrary to the byelaws for hackney carriages and also meant the vehicle insurance was not valid.
http://www.northampton-news-hp.co.uk/Northants-taxi-driver-fined-450-overcharging/story-27771071-detail/story.html#ixzz3lJKYJv2r
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 Taxi drivers have staged rallies in Melbourne and Sydney demanding state governments outlaw the ride-sharing service UberX.

Around 400 drivers and their supporters gathered outside the New South Wales parliament chanting, “Shame on Uber”, and demanding the state transport minister, Andrew Constance, resign.

“We don’t want [Uber] regulated, we want them out,” one driver told the raucous crowd. Another warned: “If the minister won’t stop Uber, then we will stop Uber. If he doesn’t have the balls, we have the balls.”

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/10/taxi-drivers-block-streets-of-sydney-and-melbourne-in-rally-against-uberx
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 LONDON

Automotive LPG supplier Autogas has asked TfL to consider LPG options in new licensing proposals for taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs).

The proposals are in regard to the Ultra-Low Emission Zone in central London.

In order to tackle air pollution and emissions problems in central London, TfL is recommending a revised voluntary decommissioning scheme for taxis over 10 years old and the requirement that all taxis and new PHVs new to licensing from January 2018 to be Zero Emission Capable (ZEC).

Autogas believes that TfL’s proposal to increase the charging infrastructure of electric vehicle charge points in order to support the uptake of ZEC-ready electric vehicles by the commercial sector (including taxis and PHVs), neglects already-established alternative fuels which could otherwise assist in achieving air quality goals. 

Linda Gomersall, general manager of Autogas, said: “We are concerned that TfL has again ignored alternative fuels already in place that can contribute to its vision of reducing air pollution.

“We strongly support TfL’s objective of improving air quality in central London by reducing vehicle emissions and as such, we are continually looking for opportunities to work with TfL to deliver their goal in improving the capital’s air quality.”

Gomersall added: “It’s not just London that could benefit from more LPG powered taxis and PHVs.

“Councils across the country that are dealing with polluted city centres need to look at a range of fuel options and LPG could provide an ideal solution.”

http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/fleet-industry-news/2015/09/09/autogas-urges-tfl-to-consider-lpg-taxi-options