STANDING UP TO UBER

The young lady who wrote this is neither hysterical or a fool. Her article epitomises Uber's contempt for the travelling public and women in general.

Frances Carbines

UK comics and cultural relations. Reviews for @Womenoncomics, 'Cafe Arguments' comic, 'Colour In Offices' colouring book.

My open letter to Uber who won’t apologise for their driver assaulting me

Dear Uber bosses, employees and stakeholders,

I am writing an open letter to you because you will not respond to my tweets, messages and emails two days after I was assaulted and left crying by one of your drivers.

I am writing because as a female travelling at night in London I feel it is essential to let other women and men know the dangers your drivers can pose.

I am writing because not enough people know that last year there were over 300 sexual assaults, and 30 rapes, in your vehicles. If this were any other crimes there would be a huge scandal but you have managed to keep this one quiet.

And it’s not ok.

Women have a right to feel safe and protected when travelling alone, and this should be one of your non-negotiable policies. And yet horrible assaults regularly take place within your cars. The media do very little. How much have you paid them to keep quiet?

My assault happened two days ago, when I was coming back home and really wanting to get back safely and quickly.

I had had a horrible weekend with my fiance cutting off our engagement, cancelling our wedding which I was so looking forward to, and cancelling our home purchase. We were meant to move into our first home together next month.

Of course, you or your driver couldn’t possibly have known this. But regardless, you should provide a safe service to your customers: male or female, young or old, rich or poor.

They should never be made to feel intimidated, abused, frightened or upset when paying for a service which is only to be driven safely from A to B.

When I posted about this on Twitter, you didn’t reply. Instead, you posted pictures of Rio and other exotic locations. Why fling your ambition so widely when you can’t even provide a safe service within the UK?

You then rang me at work at 10am when I was in a meeting and refused my polite request to email instead. Why?

Here is the link to the Evening Standard article. Luckily for me, when the driver called me a slut and dropped me in the middle of a dual carriageway with oncoming traffic, at 11.30pm, in the dark, with no cash, scared and alone, miles from my destination, a kind Black Cab driver picked me up and drove me home. Unlike your drivers, he spoke in a friendly, calm way, helping me reach my destination and recover my equilibrium. I cannot thank that Black Cab driver enough.

Uber, it’s nearly 3 days since my assault and I haven’t had an apology from you. My tweet has had over 200 retweets — it’s terrible publicity for you.

When will you apologise? Until you acknowledge your culpability in this, the women and men of London cannot travel safely within your cars.

Yours sincerely,

Frances Carbines

BOB NEILL MP SUPPORTS TAXIS

MY LOCAL TORY MP

Bob Neill is the Conservative MP for Bromley & Chislehurst.
As a constituent of Chislehurst, I have written to Bob on two occasions - both times receiving a prompt response.
Neill is a hands-on MP who is available all year round, not only during election time.
It is my belief that Bob Neill is good for Bromley & Chislehurst and the Taxi trade.

In March I emailed a letter of concern about my trade and the state of affairs Transport for London has put us in.
You can see the template of my email, if you click here.
Bob Neill MP's reply is below.

Last month I emailed Bob again, about an 'All Party Parliamentary Group', set up in Parliament, for Taxis.
You can see the template of my email, if you click here.
He replied within a week, below.

I am not a member of any political Party.
I share no allegiance or political preference.
And I refuse to show loyalty to any political group - I leave that form of tribalism to career MPs.
I vote on issues.
My respect is reserved for individual people.
I do not care whether you are working, middle or upper class - they are mere labels.
I believe Tony Blair to be the worst Prime Minister in living memory - uncious, deceitful and worst of all unaccountable.
I consider the abusive Bullingdon duo of Cameron and Osborne as the worst kind of uncaring and out of touch chancers the Tory Party ever produced.
Why they chose Cameron over David Davis, is beyond me.

Bob Neill - London Pride

I thank Bob Neill for his work ethic and genuine concern.
And I do hope that other proactive Taxi Drivers received a similar response from their MPs.

THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN

WE ARE NOW LIVING IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE

WHERE TAXIS ROAST ON RANKS

AND MINICABS WORK THE STREETS

The Olympics are back - this time in Rio.
Since the Albino Buffoon sold the Taxi Trade down the Thames during the London Olympics, Transport for London could not have done a worse job.
Four years ago John Mason gave an American IT company, registered in the Netherlands, a Private Hire Operators License.
Private Hire roundels can be purchased from TfL, no questions asked.
Uber is allowed to Ply for instant Hire via an App, as Taxis sit and roast on ranks, whilst being harassed by TfL Compliance Officers for over-ranking and other mundane misdemeanours. All the while, uninformed people stand waiving their phones, touting for a Prius.
The new 'For Hire' sign in London is the Toyota symbol, courtesy of TfL.

Prior to the 2012 Olympics, Taxis plied for Hire on the streets of London, whilst legitimate Private Hire mincabs parked up outside their own Offices.
If a Minicab was seen 'hanging it up' outside a club, he was instantly recognised as a tout.
That was before London was deregulated into a lawless Wild West show.

In the four years since Uber rode into Dodge, Transport for London have been prompted to demolish Taxis, and deregulate the Private Hire industry back to the bad ol' days before regulation, by people like Baroness Susan Kramer (Minister of State for Transport and patron on the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, who received a £700k donation from the Carlyle Group who own Addison Lee, who now use an Uber style app and work model) who lobbied for the promotion of CBH [Cross Border Hirings - minicabs working in Boroughs and Counties they are not licensed in], which aided Addison Lee and Uber; and GLA quango member Peter Anderson (Chairman of the Canary Wharf Group - owned by the Qatari's who have invested over a £billion in Uber); and David Cameron (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, whose child's Godmother is Uber executive, Rachel Whetstone), who warned Boris Johnson (Mayor of London) to "Leave Uber alone."; and George Osborne (Chancellor of the Exchequer) who personally lobbied the former Mayor, on Uber's behalf; and Sajid Javid (Secretary of State for Business) who openly promoted Uber as the successor to London Taxis; and Goldman Sachs (known as 'Government Sachs', due to their influence and total ownership of corrupt governments around the world, such as Her Majesty's Bullingdon government) who throughout time in memorial have put profits before peasants, no matter what collateral damage is caused.
These friends in high places have made sure their cohorts at TfL, John Mason, Peter Hendy, Leon Daniels, Garrett Emmerson and company were coated in Teflon.

So began a two horse Mayoral race which Sadiq Khan, with his promises of dealing with the corruption at TfL and beyond, won handsomely.
Part of the new Mayor's manifesto fell just short of George Galloway's claim to "Run Uber out of town."

So what, under Khan and Shawcross's short reign, has changed so far?
Fortunately many of the players who put Londoners and London's visitors at risk, have been moved away from direct involvement between TfL and Uber.
Cameron was forced to resign, Osborne was unceremoniously sacked, Javid's new job is the political equivalent of teaboy in the North Pole, Bojo helped Zac Goldsmith lose the Mayoral election, then stabbed his way into a new Cabinet job, in true Machiavellian style, and many of the quango who did not declare their vested interests in Uber and other Private Hire companies, like Peter Anderson, have been booted off the Board.
And trade Org and Union representatives seem to believe Mike Brown is as good as his word - only time will tell.

So far nothing has happened, except more promises.
TfL have openly admitted that many Private Hire vehicles were not insured.
TfL even set a deadline for all Private Hire vehicles to purchase said insurance.
Can you imagine what would happen to an uninsured Taxi?
The taxi would have been issued a 'Stop Notice' with immediate effect, and the driver would have been charged for driving without proper insurance.
But if you were a Private Hire driver, you were allowed by TfL and the Metropolitan Police to carry on working and picking up passengers whilst uninsured until the deadline.
In essence, TfL and the Metropolitan Police aided and abetted illegal activity, on behalf of Uber.

So far the Mayor's Office and Mike Brown are looking good; mainly because Johnson's TfL were so bloody awful.
At the moment all that the new brooms at TfL are doing, is their job.
Private Hire have always been obliged by law to have insurance - but TfL never enforced it.
Thorough Enhanced DBS checks have always been the rule - but TfL never enforced it.
Laws are only as good as their enforcement.

Where is the official public enquiry?
Are the 'powers that be' going to close ranks and protect the guilty, as they usually do?
Where is the promised cap?
All words and no do, so far.
There has been some serious wrongdoing inside and outside of TfL. The GLA have not emerged untainted either.
More and more Private Hire drivers are disarming TfL Compliance Officers, by ripping their roundels out.
Because of Baroness Kramer's despicable promotion of CBH, Private Hire minicabs can circumnavigate TfL's jurisdiction, without the need for TfL stickers or roundels.
Unless Mayor Khan takes time out from his photo shoots across the capital to devise a plan to combat this loophole, capping will become just another pointless piece of political posturing.

Recently, my RMT Union representatives got their arses smacked by the Deputy Mayor, Val Shawcross, for attending a meeting unprepared on one of their issues.
The unspoken, secret, gagging ordered issue of the rise in rape and sexual assault by Private Hire drivers.
Whether is was Deputy Mayor Shawcross's intimation or the beliefs of my representatives, is not clear - but Taxi drivers' motives were brought into question.
It was inferred that some MPs and those in high office are of the opinion that Taxi drivers were 'all of a sudden' horrified by the sharp rise in Minicab rapes, because the deregulation of the Private Hire industry started to affect drivers pockets.
I will answer this accusation in the very same way I answered it instantly in my mind, whilst waiting for my turn to speak, during our last RMT Branch meeting:
"How dare you suggest that this is to do with fucking money or fucking protectionism!
Exactly the same as our uninformed Union reps, and ninety nine percent of the population, WE DID NOT KNOW THIS WAS GOING ON!
Do you think we were driving around not giving a fuck that three girls a week were being assaulted in Minicabs, until it hit our pockets? How dare you!
We are fathers first and foremost! The rest is incidental decoration.
WE DIDN'T KNOW! Not until representatives from the UCG and LCDC did some great investigative work and uncovered the facts (via the Freedom of Information Act), did we dream it was as fucking awful as it turned out to be!
As soon as Danny Hussey, Sean Pier and I knew, we asked what our Orgs and Unions were doing about it?
At the time, our Orgs and Union representatives seemed embroiled in Taxi and legal matters.
So we took it upon ourselves to inform the public.
We designed some banners, and headed for the BBC - the rest is history.
Fuck you, you cynical cunts! Kids are having their lives destroyed, and you, because money and power and greed and ego matters more than people do, you judge us by your guttersnipe standards. Fuck off!"
Fortunately I had time to collect my thoughts before it was my turn to speak, and I delivered my reasoning on the matter ... dispassionately.

Outside the Branch meeting, saying our farewells, a senior member suggested to me that all our efforts might be seen as nothing more than protectionism, by cynical MPs and those in the GLA.
I informed him that my Dads Defending Daughters efforts were from a place MPs might no longer recognise - integrity.
And that my Taxi Trade efforts were indeed from a form of unapologetic protectionism.
I told him my form of protectionism is from a need to protect, not just my job, but the profession of which I am proudly a member. A four hundred year old profession, that is sometimes taken for granted in this historic and diverse city, but recognised around the world as the best, the Gold Standard.
I asked him, do not Politicians go to extreme lengths to protect their Party, even to the extent that they sacrifice their principles and dignity for the good of the Party?
Do MPs not vote against their better judgment and against their constituents' wishes, sometimes throwing the vulnerable on the pyre, along with their own self respect, to further the Party line and their own careers?
Do MPs not cocoon themselves against the harsh realities that they have caused?
Do MPs not 'let them eat cake' whilst giving themselves a wage rise of double figured percent?
And now they have the cheek to pontificate to us about protectionism?
Those who close ranks and protect their own against prosecution of war crimes, embezzlement and paedophilia, have the neck to stand in ethical judgement of us 'Plebeians'? Jog the fuck on!
Again, I informed him, they are judging us by their standards.

There will be protests coming, causing chaos and disruption to London. Sometimes to highlight the increase in rape and decrease in TfL accountability, and sometimes to highlight the inequality the Taxi trade faces during its destruction by bullies in high office.
We do apologise to those innocent travellers who may be affected by our more 'stubborn' demonstrations.
But 'highlight' we will, the the corruption and thoughtless disregard the present Government and TfL (under the Mayor's Office) have for the working men and women of this once great city.

Footnote: I apologise for the colourful language used in this article. Sometimes a well placed 'fuck' translates more appropriately than the accepted language of polite society.

21 YEARS LATER

TEMPUS FUGIT

In 1897 the Blackwall Tunnel opened, and the first conviction for 'drink driving' was given, to London Taxi driver George Smith.

21 years later we emerged victorious from the muck'n'bullets, to a promise-land fit for heroes.

21 years later the Bosch are at it again.

We bravely fight to free Europe from tyranny and again emerge victorious from the rubble.

21 years later the Germans are having another go.

This time in the World Cup - as Victory is ours once again.

21 years later I become a homeowner, after earning my Green Badge the previous year.

21 years later Boris Johnson becomes Mayor of London, and destroys all we have fought and worked for.

21 years time I shall be 80, and Londoners will be asking, 'Why did those in high office appease Uber to such an extent, they allowed a plague of unknown, unqualified drivers to wreak havoc on the streets of London?'

21 years is too long to wait for the truth to emerge. Act now!

Be lucky.

THE BADGE AND TAXI ON DDD DEMO

NICE TO SEE DADS DEFENDING DAUGHTERS EFFORTS ACKNOWLEDGED IN THE TRADE PRESS

From 'The Badge' - LCDC

From 'Taxi' - LTDA

A big 'thank you' from Dads Defending Daughters, to both trade papers for the coverage. of our efforts.

TAXI APPG

LETTER TEMPLATE TO YOUR MP

Instigated by the London Cab Drivers Club

Email or post this to your local MP.
Simply fill in the name of your MP at the top, and your name at the bottom.
_____________________________________

Dear,

I am writing to you as one of your constituents and a Licensed London Taxi driver.
As you are aware, we have been experiencing major difficulties with our regulator, TFL, on a huge range of issues such as licensing, enforcement and compliance, to name but a few.
In fact the Greater London Assembly (GLA) produced an excellent document on TFL's inadequate management of the Licensed Taxi and Private Hire trades, called 'Future Proof' - where the GLA called TfL's performance "Woefully inadequate."

On the back of this and other major concerns, such as safety and the right to ply for hire, there has now been an 'All Party Parliamentary Group', set up in Parliament, for Taxis:
This has cross party support of many MPs and Lords, who are keen to support the trade and help secure its future.
The two key strands to the APPG would be:

1. Holding the GLA and Sadiq Khan to account for promises made in the Mayor's manifesto.

2. Applying pressure on our Government for fair and positive changes in the law, whilst also addressing Existing laws that are not being enforced.

On this basis, may I request you consider supporting the Licensed Taxi trade, and respectfully ask you to join the APPG, along with your fellow MPs and colleagues from the House of Lords.

I thank you for your time, and look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

REPLY FROM THE MAYOR OF LONDON

DON'T PISS UP MY BACK AND TELL ME IT'S RAINING

Dear Mayor Khan,

I would like to thank you for your reply to my email, dated 19 Jul 2016, but I cannot.

I felt your letter, an insult to my intelligence, was a fob.

You did not answer any of my questions or engage with any of my suggestions.

Did you actually read my email?

In your reply you suggest I may be aware of the introduction of more stringent regulations.

Are any of these regulations new?

Or is TfL finally enforcing those already in place, but never previously policed?

Correct Hire & Reward insurance has always been a requirement. TfL decided not to enforce it.

In fact, Leon Daniels lied to the GLA, that Uber had 'on/off' insurance. They did not.

Leon Daniels also lied to the GLA, stating he was in possession of Uber's landline. The landline he offered Ms Shawcross was Jo Bertram's personal number.

So these "more stringent regulations" are nothing more than TfL finally doing their job.

Do Uber now comply with all the specifications laid out by TfL, regarding landline and offices?

And taking into account that Uber have sworn on oath, that they do not receive or handle customer bookings in any way, worldwide; do they still comply to your 'stringent regulations'?

In my email, I proffered three points toward preventing rape and sexual assault in TfL Licensed Minicabs.

1. Scrapping onscreen locations.

2. Banning blacked out windows.

3. A minimum of five years residency.

You acknowledged none of them.

Your reply was like an automated TfL response on Twitter; stating all Private Hire applicants go through an enhanced DBS. "Have a nice day." "You're welcome."

The Licensed London Taxi trade has had enough political sidestepping and untrue truths from your predecessor.

Refugees and asylum seekers are afforded certain exemptions, if the DBS cannot check the applicants' background.

This is unacceptable. Do you expect someone's daughter to get into a car with a stranger?

Are our daughters not as important as yours?

You, along with most MPs and the media, refuse to acknowledge the glaring problem this trade is facing from unchecked predators.

I watched you answer the 'Uber rape' question. You were quick to qualify yourself by saying one rape is one too many. But went on to say that Uber is (only) 32 of 154.

Surely you understand that the rise in sexual assaults since 2012 is because TfL relaxed their regulations to the point of deregulation, to appease Uber.

That deregulation went across the Private Hire board.

No it is not just Uber drivers who have raped and sexually assaulted women during a twelve month period, but because of their influence over TfL, deregulation has been allowed to happen.

Now we all know that serious crime, such as murder, rape and sexual assault can happen to any profession.

Doctors, teachers, politicians, policemen, TV presenters, even Taxi drivers bring shame to their trade - but not on the scale of Uber.

And Uber's safety record is hardly enviable, is it?

It seems a Prius is crashing somewhere in London, daily.

I personally cannot remember one single day where I did not witness an imbecile with a roundel doing something dangerous.

Dads Defending Daughters is concerned about safety.

One of our members knows only too well the horror of being the father of a rape victim.

Rape can destroy lives and families.

You know that it is widely recognised that only ten percent of victims come forward.

TfL or police need to legally enter Uber's premises and view all previous complaints against Uber drivers, and make sure that all have been forwarded on to the correct authorities.

A young woman recently tweeted a complaint to Uber, against a driver for masturbating whilst driving. Did that, and similar complaints ever get reported to the police?

You promote yourself as a family man, who loves his wife and daughters. I do not doubt your sincerity for a second; it's the most natural thing in the world.

What about my daughters? What about everyone else's daughters, wives, mothers, sisters, aunts?

What about our sons? Rape is not gender specific.

If you consciously keep Londoners in the dark, then you are culpable; much the same way as the BBC are with Jimmy Savile.

An informed population may make informed decisions.

We are not going away. In fact the less you do to check this rise in rape and sexual assault, the bigger and stronger we become.

If you are going to reply to this email, please do so having read it.

Kind regards,

Leonard H. Etheridge

Dads Defending Daughters.