SHALL WE DESIST, OR INSIST?

IS THAT IT?

Is that what we have been fighting for?

A few bus lanes that should be ours anyway, and minicabs obeying an existing law on insurance?

Maybe this Mayor is genuine, maybe not; we shall see.

Londoners desperately need a cap on Private Hire licenses, from the Department for Transport, and the Government.

I am told, Theresa May is far from satisfied with Transport for London's performance so far.

Maybe TfL are fighting for their existence too?

Rapes are still happening at an alarming rate in London - because the DBS is still being watered down with letters of good conduct and a failure to find out the truth from foreign applicants.

Many EU countries quash records of sex offenders, after only a few years.

Embassies who furnish TfL with a letter of good conduct for Private Hire applicants, may not be aware that the applicant in question resided in another country for many years, committing heinous crimes.

We need a minimum UK residency (5 years, in my opinion) for applicant, so proper UK checks can be made.

I could not care less about the English language tests.

I care even less if applicants have to sit a 'quickie' knowledge test.

I believe an 'advanced' driving test is unnecessary. Every Private Hire applicant should pass a DVLA test - not swap their foreign license for a UK one.

A minicab driver's lack of basic English and topographical knowledge is of no concern to me.

These are Taxi requirements - an Advanced Driving test, and the Knowledge of London..

Do not hand the likes of Uber the PR gift of claiming minicabs are like Taxis. They are not!!

At the moment there is nowhere these driving tests can be administered - so how is the Mayor going to pull that unworkable rabbit from his hat?

Uber could fund drivers' tests; most likely to be repaid over a loan period - shackling drivers to Uber financially, and adding prestige to Uber's damaged reputation.

Be careful of what you wish for.

The Government's 'blind eye' stance to DBS checks is generated to help employ of the unemployable, at current workers' expense.

Are foreign teachers afforded a watered down DBS?

Has no one learned from the Soham murders?

I want an undiluted DBS for everyone working with the vulnerable; taxi drivers, minicab drivers, school bus drivers, care workers, teachers, police officers, doctors and nurses. This minor demand is common sense. But does the Government truly have its citizens' welfare at heart?

What exactly has the Mayor promised us, that is not already ours?

English tests feed Uber's claim that the Mayor is unfair.

Do you think any Bollinger Bolsheviks, leaving a club in Shoreditch, care if their SatNav jockey can converse with them?

We should be demanding a Public Enquiry into the corruption of TfL regarding Uber, via Cameron and Osborne, and Goldman Sachs, Johnson and Dedring, Mason and Hendy, Daniels and Emmerson, and the likes of Jo Bertram, Rachel Whetstone and co.

Are we going to let them get away with it?

We need Compliance Officers to do their job properly.

Taxi ranks in Mayfair are being abused by minicabs and touts, sanctioned by clubs and restaurant managers, and neglected by TfL.

Minicabs are given carté blanche to hang it up in 'expectation' of a hiring, all over the West End, in stations and in the City - facilitating unofficial ranks, without fear from TfL compliance or police, to accept virtual hirings or a walk-ups for cash, courtesy of their prominent roundel or fog lights.

Let's not forget virtual plying-for-hire.

We need to get 'Ply for Hire' defined, one way or they other. At the moment, it's the 'other'.

We have nothing to lose; save the dog or put it down - at least we will know where we stand.

Minicabs and touts are not our only problem.

The issuing of 600 Private Hire licenses every single week of the year, waterlogged lanes of empty buses, obese cycle superhighways, ill-throughout pedestrianisation, constant unattended roadworks, and the abuse of London on weekends, treating it like a corporate playground, without taking its besieged residents into account, is adding to higher fares and longer, more frustrating journeys, that are killing the Taxi trade off; thanks to the three complicit monkeys; TfL, DfT and HM Government.

We have just had a pleasant week, due to Eid.

The Mayor's promises, perfectly timed to coincide with the holy holiday, may dampen the fire in some temporarily satisfied bellies.But we have all heard promises before.

Do not think proper civil disobedience goes unnoticed - it does not.

I admit to being impressed by Mayor Khan's personal achievements - yet I am impatient for his words to blossom into action.

Impatient because we do not have enough time for the Mayor's "Long term plan."

My scepticism of politicians plays out my frustration on Khan. If he is unable take criticism from some upstart Taxi driver, then he is in the wrong job. And believe me; he is not in the wrong job.

So I will keep pushing the Mayor, best I can.

I acknowledge Mayor Khan's promises, and after dubbing him 'Silent Johnson', I am relieved to find he has finally spoken to us as a trade.
Communication is the bridge to all understanding.

Ding ding! Hear that?

That bell is the end of round one. Not the end of the fight.
Nothing has been won.

No one can yet claim "Peace in our time."

Eaten bread is soon forgotten.