Yes the dreaded Rickshaw plague's the streets of Covent Garden, Leicester Square and Regent street blocking junctions, bus lanes, and impeding the flow of traffic within this busy part of London and therefore negating any tangible green credentials they ever claimed to have.

Rickshaws operate in London due to the lack of will within our Parliament and at City Hall under the last Mayor Ken Livingstone. Rickshaws offer no protection from collision and will never be able to accommodate disabled passengers in wheelchairs or with guide/assistance dogs.

Only last year Transport for London via the Public Carriage Office produced a glossy consultation document with the sole purpose of defining Rickshaws has "non motorised London Taxi-cabs", this consultation process stalled due to problems regarding previous legal definition's of rickshaws. How could anybody honestly think a rickshaw is a London taxi-cab?

Something is wrong with politics within certain bodies within London and a more sensible approach to this problem by Mayor Boris Johnson.

A very simple workable solution would be to confine rickshaws to the Royal Park's where traffic levels are lower and road space is available, this would reduce the chances of collision and improve traffic flows within the West End of London.The difficult question is "where do you put a wheelchair or guide dog"?

To grant exemption from the disability discrimination act would be a dangerous precedent to set so maybe the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association "Ban don't Licence" campaign is the only course of action left.

http://www.thelondondailynews.com/death-traps-london-streets-p-990.html
 
 
 

While London black cab drivers share an ability to recount tall tales, Dominic Shannon is in the rare position of being able to back his up with photographs. For the past nine years Mr Shannon has taken a series of pictures while he ferried people around London.

What began as an insurance measure, when he bought a disposable camera so that he could provide proof for accident claims, has grown into a vast documentation of life on the streets of the capital.

Mr Shannon, 39, has accumulated thousands of photographs, from tourists standing in heavy rain outside the main attractions in the city to homeless men sleeping on benches as workers rush past.

“I see everything from my seat, so I just kept snapping. I love this city, there's loads going on and I'm never short of a photograph. Every cabbie has got a story, but I'm the only one who has photos to prove mine,” he told The Times.

One passenger had been at the hairdresser when it started to rain. Because she did not have an umbrella she took off her shirt and used it to protect her hair when she ran from the taxi.

“I thought 'What are you like?'”, Mr Shannon said. “What's more important, getting your hair wet or showing your taxi driver and the neighbours your smalls?”

Many passengers were impressed by the quality of the pictures, which led to his first exhibition in Camden, North London, this month. Mr Shannon has talked to a publisher about creating a book of his photographs, which are to be included in another London exhibition this year.

Although he has moved into digital photography, Mr Shannon is content with a £150 camera instead of expensive equipment. “Point and shoot, that's all I need. I wouldn't know what to do with all those lenses. That's what the concept is. It's a bit rough. That's why it's different,” he said.

Some of his images show the darker side of London life: a drunk sprawled in the back seat of his taxi, a homeless man passed out in his own urine with an empty bottle of cider next to him, a man with a bloody nose after being in a fight.

Most capture the diversity that distinguishes London: autumn colours in Kensington Gardens, landmarks bathed in sunshine, a tattoed man at Camden Lock, taxis lined up outside Westminster Abbey. “I think it really shows what London is all about: from new buildings to old, posh people to street people, Soho against churches,” he said.

At first Mr Shannon, who has lived in the same street in Somers Town his entire life, was taken aback when he was approached about exhibiting his work. “I thought it was crazy. Now the other guys call me cabarazzi, or Digital Dom,” he said.

He will not be giving up his day job, however. “I love it. I meet so many interesting people and I love to have a chat. I'm not one of those cabbies that drives people mad, though. I'll give them space, but if someone wants to have a chat, I'll talk for England,” he added.

Driving ambition

— Taxi drivers who have also succeeded in alternative careers:

— Clive Efford The Labour MP for Eltham put his taxi up for sale when he was elected to Parliament in 1997

— Brian Hall The actor, best known for his role as Terry the eccentric cook in Fawlty Towers, became a taxi driver for several years after school before a chance meeting with his future agent

— Fred Housego Became a television personality and presenter after winning Mastermind, the BBC television quiz programme, in 1980. He continued to drive a cab throughout his subsequent media career

— Joe Janiak An Australian taxi driver who is the owner and trainer of Takeover Target, a racehorse that has performed well in Britain, including at Ascot

— Simon Khan An English golfer who turned professional in 1991

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4369025.ece

The Peugeot E7 based on the 807 launched by Allied Vehicles of London is an electric powered taxi with a range of around one hundred miles and can zoom upto 60mph.

The cost is on a par with the Mercedes Vito Taxi of £30K, but the added selling point of an "all-green" cab may attract more punters around town.

However Allied Vehicles argue on their website that "The evidence published by the PCO shows that the Peugeot E7 taxi could be up to 19% cheaper to purchase and operate than an LTI taxi (a saving of £9,354 over four years). Frontier estimates that, over a twenty-year period, this could mean savings for drivers and passengers totaling some £183 million."

Savings to the cab driver will be through long-term energy efficiency and the makers of the E7 Gavin Gillies, Managing Director of Cab Direct - British manufacturers of the Peugeot E7 black cab - commented: 

"Our case isn't about making anyone switch to an alternative taxi. We simply want London taxi firms and drivers to have the opportunity to make their own, informed decision on what vehicle best suits their business."

http://www.thelondondailynews.com/another-green-london-p-989.html

Steve McNamara, a cab driver for more than 20 years, winces each time he visits the pumps.

"Every day, virtually, fuel costs go up," he says.

"If you think it is affecting the average family who fill up their car once a week. I fill up that cab every two days. It is making an enormous dent into my running costs."

As one of London's 24,000 licensed black cab drivers, fuel is the essence of his livelihood.

Being self-employed, he has no means of shelter from soaring diesel costs, which he says have risen 30% this year alone.

Tank troubles

At current prices, his "cost of tank" - the amount spent on fuel - is likely to amount to a painful £2,500 this year.

"Our costs are very high anyway," he adds. "The vehicles are very expensive and the maintenance colossal and we are now facing sky-high fuel prices.

"It will come a point when the straw will break the camel's back."

Things have not reached crisis point yet, he stresses, although he is "fearful" about the future should prices continue to climb.

During a typical rush hour in London it would be hard to sense any such looming nightmare for the capital's famous old "hackney carriages".

The public understand there has been a vast increase in the cost of fuel and someone has to pay for it

Richard Massett, Licensed Taxi Drivers Association

Cabs seem as ubiquitous as ever, treasured - by their various users - as a combination of congestion-buster, human satellite navigation device and, if need be, a shelter from the elements.

But as sole traders in a highly regulated industry, drivers are more vulnerable in the worsening economic climate than many other workers.

"Nobody has gone bankrupt as yet but it is having a big impact on drivers' earnings," Richard Massett, from the Licensed Taxi Driver Association (LTDA), says of the rising fuel burden.

Drivers are in the unenviable position of seeing their costs escalate without being able to adjust their prices in response.

Unlike the capital's 44,000 private hire taxi drivers, who can charge what they want, fare rises for metered cabs are capped by Transport for London.

Drivers argue that April's annual 2.7% rise - which bumped the average cab fare up to £10.85 - was insufficient to cover earlier fuel increases let alone the further sharp rise since then.

Transport for London, which calculates fare rises on the basis of changes to average national earnings and drivers' costs, says it needs to strike a balance between protecting drivers' income while also giving passengers value for money.

But with fuel costs far outstripping the headline rate of inflation, drivers argue they need more support if they are to maintain current levels of service and choice.

"You just can't go on with costs increasing the way they are," says Richard Massett. "If it continues to increase, people won't be able to afford to go to work."

Trying to economise

Short of working fewer hours, there are few opportunities to economise, Steve McNamara says.

More drivers are going part time, he notes, or switching from night to day shifts to make journeys more cost-effective.

"People are always telling you you need more cabs in the evening but this is beginning to have the reverse effect," he argues, explaining the financial risk of making the return leg of a long night time journey without a passenger.

 AVERAGE CAB FARES: 2008-9
 
Weekdays: 6am-8pm: £9.82
Weekdays: 8pm-10pm: £11.39
Weekends: 6am-10pm £11.39
Overnight/holidays: £13.37
Source: Public Carriage Office

"If I take a job 18 miles out of the centre, it is going to cost £6 [in fuel] to come back," he says. "It starts to lose its attraction."

Many passengers will be sympathetic to the situation drivers find themselves in but the industry's preferred solution to its financial challenges may be less palatable.

It is lobbying for an airline-style fuel surcharge to be added to all cab fares in London, irrespective of their length or cost.

"That is not something we have been able to do and that is what we want to do," says the LTDA's Richard Massett.

"I think it has to happen."

As Steve McNamara explains, a flat-rate charge of 50 pence per journey would enable drivers - on the basis they do an average of 20 journeys a day - to take home an extra £10 a day.

"It wouldn't cover the increase in running costs but it certainly would go some way towards it."

Confronted with such an increase, he accepts that some customers may take umbrage and choose other forms of transport but he hopes the impact will be limited.

"The public understand there has been a vast increase in the cost of fuel and someone has to pay for it," Richard Massett adds. "It can't continue to be the drivers."

Policy options

For its part, Transport for London (TfL) - under the leadership of new London Mayor Boris Johnson - says it is looking at options for helping drivers, while stressing it has no firm plans in mind.

 
Being self-employed, fuel costs have a direct impact on drivers income

"Drivers associations have expressed concerns about rising costs of fuel," a TfL spokesman acknowledges.

"We are considering what action could be taken to support drivers if prices continue to rise."

Passenger groups, not unsurprisingly, are rather ambivalent about such a prospect.

For many people, the idea of fuel surcharges has been discredited by the seemingly "only way is up" trend for airline charges as well as the high-profile price-fixing allegations in that industry.

"I think we would be wary of a changing the pricing mechanism," a spokeswoman for London Travel Watch, which supports the current annual review of fares, says rather diplomatically.

In reality, it is worried about constant fare changes as prices fluctuate and whether charges will then be removed if the outlook improves.

Comparing eras

Worries about the poisonous cocktail of rising prices and falling consumer confidence - hitting the number of people using cabs - are unlikely to abate for some time.

With the spectre of the 1990s recession hanging over the current slowdown, cab drivers are as well placed as anyone to gauge how fragile the economic mood in London really is.

"It is probably not as bad as 1991, which was the worst period in living memory," Richard Massett believes.

A small consolation for the time being, but the question is how long it will last and how much more cabbies will end up having to pay?

 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7492981.stm

The London Assembly Audit Panel has ordered a review of the rules after being shocked at the amount that had been claimed by the former mayor and Assembly member on travel and entertaining. Today's publication of expense claims for the last financial year revealed significant differences in the amounts claimed by individual members.

Audit Panel chairman Navin Shah said: "We must ensure that the rules governing what can be claimed are justifiable and transparent."

The former mayor spent £5,460 visiting other countries and £6,811 on "other expenses" thought to be entertaining.

The annual figures show that former deputy chairman of the Assembly, Tory Brian Coleman, spent £8,231 on taxis despite having been told his travel habits were overstepping an acceptable limit and earning himself the nickname "catch-a-cab Coleman".

His largest one-day taxi claim was £656 on 13 December and included two and a half hours' "waiting time". Mr Coleman's taxi claims include £391 on 16 October for an "event at the House of Commons". The total amount spent on taxis by Mr Livingstone and the Assembly members was £17,850.

The amount of money spent on foreign travel by the former deputy mayor Nicky Gavron has also raised eyebrows. The Labour member, who was the former mayor's "green" envoy, spent £6,574 on trips abroad - more than Mr Livingstone. Since she was reappointed deputy mayor in 2004, Ms Gavron has flown abroad 28 times. Emma Beal, Mr Livingstone's-partner and former women's adviser, spent a total of £1,633 including £358 on taxis, £373 on foreign travel and £801 on "other expenses".

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-mayor/article-23517251-details/Ken+chalked+up+%C2%A313,000+expenses+in+his+last+year/article.do

The London Taxi Drivers' Fund undertook its 80th annual pilgrimage to the town with disadvantaged youngsters and children with special needs.

A convoy of 100 taxis, decorated with balloons, arrived at noon and headed for the seafront following lunch at the Cliffs Pavilion.

After a few hours at Adventure Island, it was back to the Cliffs for a slap-up tea before heading back to London.

Raymond Levy, fund spokes-man, said: "The weather didn't dampen the children's enjoyment at all. They went to Adventure Island despite the rain.

"The children were very excited. Some of them haven't been to the seaside before.

advertisement
 
 
"One child asked me if we were abroad. He had never seen the sea before.

"We take it for granted, but it something very special for these kids."

The children are from hospitals, foster homes and underprivileged families across the Greater London area.

It costs £8,000 to fund the outing with money raised by sponsorship and fundraising activities organised by the fund throughout the year.

The convoy is accompanied by police outriders, the RAC and St John Ambulance staff.

Mr Levy thanked all the organisations which made the daytrip such a great day, including the 100 cabbies who gave up a day's work.

He added: "It's all worth it to see just one child smile, but today we have seen 300 smiling children."

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/local/display.var.2387720.0.outing_raises_300_smiles_from_children.php

Doctors beget doctors. Lawyers beget lawyers.

Throughout European history it has ever been thus. People with a trade or a craft or a shop or a farm have traditionally handed it on to one of their children to continue the family business.

The instrument-maker Antonio Stradivari passed his business on to his sons, the cabinet-maker Thomas Chippendale passed his on to his eldest boy.

And yet in the modern world with a vast cornucopia of new jobs, and dramatic changes within many careers, the process by which parents gently steer their children into the same career is under threat.   When I was young it was like the Wild West - now it's like the Wild West got worse

Taxi driver Nick Townsend

Your views: Family careers

A survey by Hudson recruitment consultancy this week suggested that one in four people would not like their children to follow in the same profession. Male lawyers were the most despondent, with one third saying they would not want their children to do the same job.

But it's not only those in white-collar professions that no longer feel the need to pass on the family business.

Too stressful

Nick Townsend, 46, has been driving a black cab in London for 20 years. His father, Albert, despite being 73 and a published author, still occasionally ventures out in his own taxi. 
The London cabbie's "knowledge" has often passed from father to son

Having started out as a technician in the film industry, Mr Townsend found himself looking for a stable career with good earnings and found it in his father's trade. His father was proud. And yet this line of cabbies could be about to end.

Mr Townsend has enjoyed his time as a cabbie but believes things have changed too much for his 12-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son to consider taking up the trade.

"You hear a lot of people saying it used to be good in the 1960s," he says. "There is a sense of community but not as strong as it used to be.

"It is hard to keep up with costs. A lot of guys are in their 40s and their heart gives up with stress."

And as well as fierce competition from private hire cabs and rising costs, life for taxi drivers venturing out at night has also become more dangerous.

"When I was young it was like the Wild West - now it's like the Wild West got worse."

Steady job

Another who can't recommend his career to his child is Chris Swain, from St Helens, who spent 27 years in the RAF before taking redundancy last year. His stepson George, 17, has identified the armed forces as his likely career path. 
"Now this is what I call work experience, dad"

"I thoroughly enjoyed it but times have changed," says Mr Swain. "While it could be great for his training, it is very dangerous now."

Having served three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, and spoken to many other service people who have encountered danger, he feels compelled to urge caution on George, despite his own love for service life.

"He realises it can be a great life. He has researched what it can do for him as a career. Kids see a relatively good standard of living. And in the present climate any steady job is good. But I'm trying to steer him towards an apprenticeship."

Happy at work

And both the older and younger generation are thinking differently about the whole nature of work, which could explain the fracture in the inherited trade.

"The whole idea that work should be fun is something that was invented by the baby boomer generation," says Jenny Ungless, a career coach at the Monster recruitment website.

Even half a century ago, career choice was completely dominated by economic and geographic considerations. Now young people will be considering work-life balance, fulfilment levels and even making ethical choices.

There are often also more practical reasons why trades cannot be passed on, such as changes in the apprentice system.

Jim Pauling, a long-serving river pilot on the Mersey, followed in the footsteps of his father, uncle and grandfather.

"When I was a child I never asked my father what he did. I didn't question him about ships.

"I basically did it because I knew I probably wasn't going to get to university. I knew we had a nice life and were comfortable and a bit of the same would do for me. I've had the best working life."

But by the time his sons were nearing adulthood, the structure of the profession had changed. From an apprenticeship system where each candidate was guaranteed a job should they successfully serve their time, now jobs are advertised.

In the end, all three of Mr Pauling's sons chose to be doctors instead of turning towards the deck of ship. "I'm not despondent none of them did it," he says.

And in this era of choice, it seems strange to many parents that they would even consider steering their offspring into particular careers.

Children are expected to be independent, understanding their own priorities and following their own path.

 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7501553.stm

Most London cabs accept credit cards these days, although some still resort to card-impression machines, but the percentage that has to be paid to the card-issuing company makes that ineffective for small amounts - taxies in Glasgow threatened to refuse chip and PIN transactions for less than £12, and charge passengers £1.50 for the privilege.

Proximity payment systems, such as wave-and-pay - or PayPass as the Royal Bank brands it - take a smaller percentage. They therefore make more sense for lower-value transactions, but if the system is going to get any acceptance from taxi drivers the issue of how to tip will need to be solved.

When one had to sign a credit card slip there was usually a blank line, headed "gratuity" into which one could write an amount for the tip. With chip and PIN that option disappeared, and it's taken a few years for terminals to start asking if you'd like to add a tip before entering your PIN. But with proximity payments there is no PIN, nor screen to interact with, so adding a tip becomes more difficult.

The 25 drivers involved in the pilot probably won't care, but if the system is to be more widely deployed, then perhaps a big red button marked "ADD TIP" is in order. But the cabbies still won't take you south of the river after midnight. ®

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/11/london_cabs_paypass/

Trained in the legendary "knowledge" to remember every back street and building in England's capital, medical research once revealed that London taxi drivers are so well trained that a specific part of their brains has physically grown larger to accomodate the additional work load.

These professionals have a unique window into what goes on in our world. High flying business men and financiers discuss their secrets in the back of cabs as they wing between deals, oblivious to the anonymous driver who is ensuring their safe arrival. Stars of stage and screen share intimacies on their way from stage door to hotel.

The 16,000 London cabbies, more discreet than your doctor or bank manager, hear and remember it all.

To ride in a London cab and not to consult with your temproary host is a wasted opportunity to share in that pool of knowledge.

Yesterday, as I was ferried between the National Theatre on London's South Bank, and the Royal Academy, closer to the city centre, Michael my London Cabbie for the journey shared some of his thoughts with me.

Michael's father had been a naval gunner on a ship during the second world war, and appeared for about 3 seconds in a film from the time. I asked him if he had the DVD. He had the video tape, he replied, but he'd heard the film was being remastered and reissued, and he'd be buying that as soon as it came on sale.

As a child growing up after the war, Michael remembered a time of optimism and national pride, when patriotism was a national strength people took for granted, and when kids weren't outside playing they would be reading comics and comic books featuring Battle of Britain pilots in daring dog fights, or soldiers on exciting missions behind enemy lines.

How things have changed, he said, as he picked his way expertly around the congested roads and across the Thames.

Michael had wanted to put a small English flag on the back of his cab. A patriot, he also saw himself as English rather than British, and wanted to express that through a small St Georges cross. Two years it had taken, as his application was repeatedly turned down for fear it might "give offence".

"Can you imagine," he asked me, "a cab driver in America being refused the right to display the stars and stripes?" And he reminded me that American schools have the flag in their classrooms.

"And what's all this apologising for slavery that happened years ago? Wasn't the guy who stopped it all, William Wilberforce, a Brit?"

The journey seemed to be over almost before it began, and I left the cab reminded that there's a silent majority, a bedrock of true Britishness that refuses to be stifled.

So Michael, and your fellow London Cabbies, you are an amazing community who deserve your place in The Hall of Fame………….

http://theerrorlog.blogspot.com/2008/06/hall-of-fame-4-london-cab-drivers.html

Firstly looking at the vehicle itself the taxi must be fit for purpose and in good repair. It must have a full road safety or mot certificate and most council will require a separate taxi test.Quite often this extra test is required every six months. Because of the high mileage a taxi drives in a year often more than a thousand miles per week, this is an extra safeguard on the taxis road worthy ness. Enabling the local licensing authority to make sure taxis operating in its area keep to the required standard above all safe for the driver and its passengers.

http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/How-to-tell-a-Licensed-Taxi-in-London-and-the-UK/414421