You and The London Taxi Board

By Chris Hutton

The London Taxi Board is a creation of London Taxi's International, the manufacturers of the black cab, who needed to firewall the duopoly they share with Metro cab in the supply of taxi,s in London. They were joined by the Joint Radio Taxi Association who saw it as a tool to become a policy force within the trade. The London Motor Cab Proprietors Association needed the board to save their section of the trade that had been in decline for years. For three quarters of the last century the fleet owners supplied virtually all cabs worked by drivers in London. These cabs , often shoddy, always over priced provided the owners with huge profits at the expense of the drivers. From the 1970's a new breed of cab driver came in to the trade, not content to pay top dollar to rent a bottom draw cab so they purchased their own cabs. This gave them the freedom to control their own working conditions.

The Licensed Taxi Drivers Association where a major force on the board until they pulled out over the fast track knowledge. They are now one of the Boards harshest critics, they would have some credibility if it wasn't for the fact that Geof Kaley , who is on the board as chairman of the JRTA, wasn't also chairman of the LTDA. I will leave up to you to decide if, as the LTDA claim they do not have representation on the board.

The T&GWU are the only body on the board who can claim to truly represent the driver. They wrongly believe that they can best serve the driver by staying on the board.

The London Taxi Board Have never asked the working driver for permission to act on their behalf nor allowed them to attend any of the boards meetings which are held in secret. They dictate your working life, your income, your future.

By David Clegg

In one of its meetings with the DETR a few months ago the LCDC spelt out in no uncertain terms the true position of the LTB. That they are an un-elected, self-appointed, unaccountable, un-incorporated body who do not represent the trade (except for their own self-interest) in any shape or form. It is gross misrepresentation when they claim that they do represent the majority of drivers in the trade. This point must now be made to TfL. Why do we all sit by and do nothing about it? A good idea perhaps would be to collect drivers' signatures around the trade pointing this out - just to demonstrate that they do NOT have our support and condemning them for claiming that they do. This would be very powerful. The obvious question will come back - Well, who does represent you? At this point we, collectively, have to forge a new body of all the driver representative groups (which could be enlarged to accommodate others, by consent). We only need to get the communication going. It requires courage and determination if we are to rid ourselves of this unwanted and reviled self-appointed group. We need a Taxi Board but we don't need one like the the current setup. So let's appoint one that is answerable to the trade, that will consult us, that will report back to us, that will truly represent us. What are we waiting for?

The text of the petition to TfL could read something like this:-

 We, the undersigned, being licensed London taxi drivers and/or proprietors, do not support or recognise the group who call themselves "The London Taxi Board."

They are in reality a bogus, un-elected, un-incorporated group, who are answerable to no-one but purport to represent us. They operate in secret and do not consult with the London taxi trade on any matter concerning our welfare or future. We condemn them for misrepresenting us in this regard and demand that the GLA and TfL do not recognise this group and do not enter into discussions with them about the Licensed London taxi trade.

SUGGESTED LIST:

NAME: BADGE No: SIGNATURE: