NOTTINGHAM

Tributes have been paid to 43-year-old father-of-three Amjim Amin following his death after a crash in Edwards Lane on Monday (July 16).

Known to his friends as Majid, he had been a Hackney carriage taxi driver for more than 20 years.

His distraught brother, Imran Amin, 43, said his family have been told he died from a suspected heart attack while behind the wheel of his cab.

It happened only moments after he had dropped his parents off at the City Hospital for a routine appointment.

Imran told the Post: "He was one in a million. He was a cheerful, loving character who would always put a smile on your face. A lot of people are shocked. He was always there for the family."

He said his brother, who lived in Lenton and was born and bred in Nottingham, leaves behind three children - two teenage boys and a girl.

https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/tributes-paid-taxi-driver-43-1794601 
--------------------------------------

WELWYN GARDEN CITY

 Cabbies working with a leading WGC private hire company held a day of work stoppage in protest of their employment conditions.

The protest had the backing of national workers’ union GMB.

On Tuesday, July 3, dozens of drivers gathered at Mundells with their cars and GMB flags.

The protesters say over 100 drivers attended.

“If there’s no drivers, there’s no AAA,” said one driver.

The cabbies were objecting to AAA’s use of drivers licensed by Transport for London (TfL) for Welwyn Hatfield jobs, which they say is eating into their business.

One driver said his takings had plummeted by between 60 to 70 per cent in recent months.

GMB say that under a process called triple licensing, the operator, driver and vehicle should all come from the area the job was called from

However, the law changed nationally in 2015 following the Deregulation Act, allowing operators to sub-contract jobs across local authority borders.

The drivers protesting at Mundells said they want more scrutiny on cross-border hiring of drivers as a national issue.

A spokesperson for AAA, which has offices serving Potters Bar, Hatfield, WGC, Borehamwood, Hertford and St Albans, said: “We operate within the national and local guidelines for licensing.”

Welwyn Hatfield-based drivers with AAA pay the company between £90 and £100 per week to access its bookings, and believe that the company takes similar fees from London drivers.

Either way, one driver told the WHT: “The more drivers they get, the more money they get.”

He added: “So we’re the ones who suffer.”

“They [AAA] don’t care about their drivers any more,” said another anonymous driver at the Mundells demonstration.

Steve Garelick, regional officer for GMB, also attended the protest on Tuesday, July 3.

“It takes a lot for drivers to protest like this,” he said.

“The guys here need a quality of life and they need to be able to earn an income.”

He added the TfL-licensed drivers “don’t know the area, and they don’t know the clientele”.

He expressed particular concern about the possibility that contracts for the school run could be subcontracted to non-local drivers.

The demonstrating drivers say that AAA has not responded to their ongoing attempts to discuss the situation, prompting the protest.

“Nothing has been talked about, they just ignore us,” said one driver.

A spokesperson for AAA responded to say that they regularly discuss issues with drivers on an individual and group basis.

On the day of the protest, AAA declined to comment, but told the WHT: “As far as we’re concerned it’s business as usual for our customers.”

The impact of cross-border hiring of drivers has been a point of discussion between cabbies since the Deregulation Act came in, and is not unique to AAA.

A spokesperson for Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council, which oversees taxi and private hire licensing, said in response to the drivers’ calls for greater scrutiny:

“This has become a problem for drivers across the country and we’ve been supporting the lobbying at a national level calling for the law change to be looked at again.

“We’ve also been working closely with TfL over many months to investigate operator activity in London and hope to make a further announcement soon.”

As a next step, the drivers are planning to arrange a meeting with Welwyn Hatfield MP Grant Shapps to discuss their concerns about how the Deregulation Act is impacting them. 

------------------------------------------------

SOUTH CAMBRIDGESHIRE 6 Year Long Investigation. 

You need to read this yourself, much, to much information for usual 'Cut n Paste.'


https://bit.ly/2zNGYYZ