This letter appeared on Social Media last night.
It attemps to Blackmail the Entire board of Addison Lee to resign.
I doubt it will have any chance.
SOUTH SOMERSET
A TAXI driver has warned that a huge hike in the licencing fees that cabbies have to pay to the district council could put firms out of business.
Councillors voted 7-1 in favour of implementing the rise – with one abstention – at a meeting of South Somerset District Council's licencing committee on Tuesday morning.
The amount that taxi drivers will have to pay in private hire operator charges over the next five years is £820, up from just £85 over a three year period, while the cost of a drivers' badge for three years has increased from £80 to £260.
Under the new system, drivers will be given the option of paying the fees in instalments rather than in one lump sum.
The new fees will take effect on May 1.
The issue has caused much controversy among taxi drivers, not least when the meeting had to be rescheduled from its original date two weeks ago after an administrative error resulted in the council failing to notify cabbies that the issue was due to be discussed.
Roger Woodland, owner of CR Taxis, believes that the quality of services that taxi drivers across South Somerset can offer will decline as a result of the committee's decision.
He said: "It is going to come as a shock when these new fees start and there is a strong possibility that the number of taxi operators in the area may decline and service levels drop, which is a shame because I firmly believe that we provide a very valuable service to the community, especially school children, the elderly and the infirm."
"Having spoken to a few taxi drivers in the last week it was apparent that almost all of them had no idea the meeting was taking place this morning and a large majority of them did not know that the fee increases were going to happen."
A spokesman for South Somerset District Council said: "Once the licensing committee agreed the fees and charges for 2016/17, they were recommended to full council as part of the budget setting process.
"A note was published in the Western Gazette, in accordance with legislative requirements, which stated the proposed fees. Any objections which were received, but not withdrawn, were considered at licensing committee."
http://goo.gl/W8Vj2T
---------------------------------------------
ABERDEEN
The worried wife of an Aberdeen taxi driver has warned cabbies could be unable to keep working if controversial plans to make all vehicles wheelchair-accessible are adopted.
Aberdeen City Council wants all hackney drivers to make their vehicles wheelchair accessible by next year.
Union Unite has argued there is already enough provision, while others have argued that not everyone with a disability uses a wheelchair so the policy could discriminate against those with other mobility issues.
And last night Maureen Smith said the new rules could cost her husband Stuart more than £20,000 to switch from his saloon vehicle to a new wheelchair accessible type.
Mr Smith, 63, is saving for retirement after 35 years behind the wheel but could be forced to work for many more years according to his wife.
She said: “The cost of a second hand wheelchair accessible car can be as much as £22,000.
“If every taxi has to be wheelchair accessible then why not every toilet? Where does it all end?
“Everyone is suffering now with the oil crash so I don’t know why they would do this when it could put lots of people out of work.”
Taxi driver union Unite has claimed there is already sufficient wheelchair provision in the Granite City, with more than 500 vehicles equipped for wheelchair users.
After a stormy debate at the last meeting of the licensing committee, SNP councillor Michael Hutchison pushed for a motion to investigate the operations of the Dundee trade which operates with a “mixed fleet”.
The future of taxi provision will be decided by all councillors at a meeting of the full council on May 11.
https://goo.gl/SKUPt9
---------------------------------------
PLYMOUTH
A TAXI driver has been jailed for repeatedly striking a man with a bottle in pub toilets after taking a legal high.
Terry Cretch, aged 51, hit the reveller around the head in a cubicle after a minor disagreement, Plymouth Crown Court heard.
Victim Robert Clarke was left badly bleeding from a series of cuts but was able to walk away covered in blood, as shown on the pub's CCTV coverage.
Cretch admitted that his behaviour completely changed after he took a legal high on top of alcohol.
Judge Ian Lawrie jailed him for three years for what he called "appalling behaviour".
He told Cretch: "It is astonishing bearing in mind the advantages you have had in life, a loving wife and loving children, and the responsibilities you bear, that you resort to violence of the worst sort, involving a weapon and inflicting serious injury."
http://goo.gl/kYGtxf
------------------------------------------
BUDAPEST
This is the second anti-Uber demonstration the Hungarian capital had to get through this year already, but the problem isn’t really with the cheap way everybody likes to travel nowadays.
Taxi drivers in Budapest aren’t exactly fans of Uber because taxis are heavily regulated in the Hungarian capital, meaning that the government is telling them what kind of cars they can use (not too small ones) for how long (ten years), how those taxis have to look (a certain yellow) and on top of that, the fare is also fixed and set by the city (about a dollar per kilometer).
Satisfying all those rules leaves a very thin margin for profits, while taxis outside of Budapest, and alternatives like Uber, don’t have to follow these regulations at all. And of course there are those on both sides who don’t follow any rules. We Hungarians call them hyaenas, and yes, they will rip you off.
But with Uber, at least you might get a refund.
http://goo.gl/3MXsHS
No comments:
Post a Comment