It’s great to be passionate and fight for a cause but when ego comes before proper consideration or understanding of the facts it is not a good thing.
It has been proven time and time again that protests led by trade orgs have no effect. They have changed nothing over the years.
In fact those protests which had any message about Uber only served as free PR for them , increasing Uber accounts in London by 850% instantly on one occasion.
What a great idea that was!
Instead of listening to advice and directing all action to expose the corruption at TFL, a message that the media and Public will support, trade orgs have always come up with their own message which has proven to be flawed.
The UCG refused to listen to good advice or any advice except from their new friends at the LTDA or Tom Watson (promised the world and delivered NOTHING for 2 years).
They organised a protest calling for a Parliamentary Investigation , which will achieve nothing.
They claimed that a Public Inquiry would take too long, ignoring the fact that it is the ONLY mechanism which can expose TFL and also ignoring the fact that if a Public Inquiry is initiated it would be reasonable to call for Uber’s License to be suspended immediately as well as an immediate suspension of the improper and unlawful Taxi Age Limit. A Public Inquiry is the only way for evidence to be formally heard, and once that evidence is heard and exposed it has to be acted on.
The Phone Hacking Public Inquiry is a good example. Phone Hacking was know of for many years and ignored. Nothing changed until there was a Public Inquiry and the truth was exposed.
This meant the Police were forced to take action; bent reporters, Public Officials and even the Police themselves were then investigated , charged and prosecuted. The News of the World, a multimillion pound part of NewsCorp was shut down. People who had acted corruptly were sacked.
It would be safe to say that the practice of Phone Hacking was stopped as a direct result of the Public Inquiry and many of those responsible prosecuted. Anyone who says differently does not understand the facts.
A Parliamentary Investigation or Inquiry can do none of this and will therefore result in no action being taken.
The root cause of ALL the problems affecting the Taxi Trade is corruption. Anyone who thinks that this corruption does not extend to Parliament is naive and is ignoring the evidence detailed in the Mail article.
How can a Parliamentary Investigation or Inquiry possibly scrutinize evidence in a robust way or take action when it has been proven that those in Parliament have acted corruptly and would be exposed by that Inquiry?
If those involved are powerful enough to have acted corruptly with impunity , why would anyone think that they don’t have enough power to invalidate a Parliamentary Inquiry?
While we’re at it lets ask Johnson and Khan to investigate themselves and see if they find any wrongdoing!
The UCG not only don’t understand why a Public Inquiry is the only way to expose TFL, they (along with every other trade org with the exception of the LTDA) also do not understand that media management is critical.
They did not manage the media and gave no clear message.
Most of the media did not even report that a protest had taken place. The only reports beside the Mail and LBC were by City AM who initially said it was about Bank Junction.
ORDER...ORDER.
The political website Order Order mocked Taxi Drivers for protesting in Whitehall while Parliament is in recess and also said it was about Uber.
CABBIES BLOCKWESTMINSTER, FORGET IT’S RECESS
Black cab drivers are blockading Westminster this afternoon in their latest anti-Uber protest, organised by United Cabbies Group and supported by the LTDA and RMT. Just one problem. It’s recess and there aren’t any MPs in town…
Placards include charming sentiments such as “Cameron Osborne you will hang for this“.
I have spent hours of my time trying to convince the UCG that they need to manage the media and it has been ignored.
In November I wrote a Press Release for them calling for a Public Inquiry and tried to help... but was again ignored.
All I get is abusive comments from those who are disgruntled, sad individuals who have no understanding of the facts and are the epitome of everything wrong with the London Can Trade.
They have a Football Hooligan mentality and will create their own demise because of it.
The efforts of thousands of Taxi Drivers last Thursday were wasted because yet again, Taxi Orgs refuse to listen to common sense and in fact even argued against it.
I recently had a massive success by getting the Cameron /Osborne corruption exposed by the Mail.
Yes; despite the claims by others, the story came about because of the hard work from myself, not anyone else.
The efforts of Ajit Chambers in initiating a website which enables drivers to send a letter to their MP calling for a Public Inquiry following the Mail exposure was a stroke of genius and full credit should be given to him for that because it is leading to significant political support.
The efforts of Jolyon Maugham and the Good Law project in setting up a legal case against Uber, has been another massive step in the right direction and could result in Uber being stopped in its tracks..
The Mail Article, the thousands of letters sent to MPs calling for a Public Inquiry and the Legal Case against Uber have all happened as a direct result of the hard work of 3 unpaid individuals who have campaigned on principal.
Another individual who has been of massive importance to the exposure and reporting of these issues is Jim Thomas; the Taxi trade should be eternally grateful for the huge amount of unpaid time and effort he has put in over many years in publishing the Anderson Shelter and Taxileaks. Some of those who are critical of any articles which are written by others and posted on Taxileaks should bear this in mind before they hurl abuse.
The orgs that thousands of you religiously pay subs to every month out of your hard earned money have achieved NONE of this. (despite the false claims of one org to have been responsible for the Mail article)
Some of them do drive very nice cars though!
If a trade org initiates an official protest they have to give Police Notice in advance which often means that any action which would be effective is curtailed.
It is also the case that Trade Orgs do not seem to understand what is needed and often send no message or the wrong message to the media.
The root cause of all problems is corruption at TFL, The Mayor’s Office and in Government.
It's no good engaging with, or negotiating with those that are corrupt.
Even if a particular issue is overcome, if the same corrupt system of management is in place then further issues will follow.
The ONLY way to expose the corruption, which has been shown to extend beyond TFL and the Mayor’s Office to the Prime Minster and Chancellor, is a Public Inquiry.
There is no need for any org or anyone else to negotiate. The demand needs to be for a Public Inquiry and nothing else; It’s that simple.
There needs to be driver led daily flash protests at multiple locations until the demand for a Public Inquiry is met.
The improper and unlawful Taxi Age Limit and Uber's Operators license needs to be suspended immediately pending that Public Inquiry.
Parliament is now in recess until April 18th so maybe April 17th would be a good day to start?
It’s time for orgs and egos to end. Both are pointless.
It’s down to Taxi Drivers; the choice is yours.