OUR LOSS

DADS DEFENDING DAUGHTERS BIDS FAREWELL TO ITS FAVOURITE SON

We wish Jimmy Thomas all the very best in his retirement from Taxi Leaks.

It is a sad day for the Taxi Trade, who will miss his well informed writings.

Transport for London must be having a party, celebrating the news that one of the very few people who exposed exactly what they were up to, is hanging up his pen and going to spend more time with his family.

How Jim kept Taxi Leaks going, seven days a week, sometimes three articles a day, only he knows.

People of a certain age will remember 'The Magic Boomerang' - that is my theory.

I do not want this to sound like an obituary, but in a way it is, as far as the Taxi Trade is concerned.

I met Jim about twenty years ago in the Warwick Avenue Cab Shelter.

Freddie Jones, Micky Traynor, Ossie and I would light up when Jim came in. He had a cheeky smile and saw humour in most things. Quick witted and smart, with a warm personality.
But when it came to some of Taxi Leaks exposés or opinions, he ruffled some uncomfortable feathers.

Sir Winston Churchill once said, "You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life."

Jim made enemies, but they were enemies of the Taxi Trade. They saw Jim as a threat. And indeed he was.

I believe if Taxi Leaks was a weekly printed publication, our trade would not be in the trouble it finds itself now.

So goodbye Taxi Leaks.
Enjoy your extra time with your loved ones, Jim. You remain an active member of Dads Defending Daughters, the Mayfair Mob, the Independent Taxi Alliance, and friend to the Taxi fraternity.

It is a personal pleasure to know you, Jim.

As my Mum once said of Ossie, I will say of you, "That man has no equal."

Georgie Vyce and Jimmy Thomas during a DDD protest.

Below is James Charles Thomas's article:

And Finally, It's Goodnight From Me...And It's Goodnight From Him... Jim Thomas

You get nothing in this life given to you on a plate. That's why you did the knowledge. You had to work and fight for that badge.

Now most drivers just sit back and do nothing but complain that no one is fighting for them.

It's no good blaming the orgs because when they've called mass demos, they've been lucky to see 20% of drivers turn up.

When Action4Cabbies asked for £20 donations...only 4,000 out of 22,000 pledge money.

Drivers complain about the LTDA and yet when asked to go to a branch meeting and vote new life into the org, only 50 drivers out of 10,000 showed up. 

Every night I see drivers sitting behind touts on our ranks, young fit drivers who do and say nothing. 

You've allowed small groups of individuals to take full advantage of your apathy, credit card companies and An App company have stuck their greedy fingers into your money bags and are helping themselves to part of your earning, and you say nothing. 

Drivers who have never complained face to face with their org reps, now think it's a great time to join in with the enemy Union, chaired by a man who rides round reporting Taxis for over ranking and who wanted to drive an AddVan through London advertising the exploits of John Worboys 

And now it's nearly all over, they say "stop with the gloom and doom" while sleep walking into a one tier system that is most certainly coming.

I predicted years ago that when the end battle came, all our leaders would have left the battlefield....I was wrong, it's the army who are deserting....

Well good night from me and God bless, it's all yours.

            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First they licensed Uber, and I did not speak out—
Because I was working.

Then the Trade Unionists and Taxi orgs called a mass demo, and I did not go—
Because it was busy and I had to work.

Then, after realising our largest org was doing nothing, two drivers stood up shouting and rebellious...but they were expelled—I did and said nothing, just carried on working.

Then they asked for members to go to a branch meeting to vote against Judas and his WAGs — but I didn't go as I was working 

When they finally took my Badge and Bill and handed it to an Uber driver— there was no one left to fight for me.