Yes we have a newsletter that will be hitting the ranks and cafes shortly but if like me you can't wait to get a hard copy click on the link and have a read at http://www.rmtlondoncalling.org.uk/node/1232 .This will be a monthly newsletter which not only informs,but deals with relevant issues that affect you the self-employed London Taxi-cab driver.
This month we are looking at two very serious issues; the Mayor's emission strategy and the menace of the Satellite mini-cab office. Now both these issues were dealt with and/or created under the previous Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and the trade is rightly shocked that after all the money spent upgrading Taxi-cabs that we are back to square one and entering a period of further instability. The issue of Satellite mini-cab offices is one that will only rest once we have shut every single one of these offices down. These offices make a mockery of the law and have turned the clock backwards to days before the introduction of the licensing of mini-cabs.
Rest assured whilst others in this trade look inwards to find battles to win we at the RMT London Taxi branch will take on the difficult issues and campaign, complain, picket and protest until the illegal ranks and the clipboard operators are removed from the public highway and sent back to where they belong....at their office waiting for a legal booking from a bona fide customer and not touting on the public highway.
Time for common/case law to be obeyed by those in authority, the clock is ticking and we have lost enough custom/income due to lax, lazy enforcement. Let us hope the new man in charge proves to be better at running the Public Carriage Office then the previous chap. A Taxi-cab can "ply for hire" a mini-cab must be "prebooked" the laws are there and it is time for these two different industries to go their separate ways.
Join the only trade union prepared and willing to defend your future, join the RMT specialist transport union at http://www.rmt.org.uk/ .
