Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Now taxi drivers are Ken's Enemy No.1

If you drive a motor vehicle that transports less than 40 people at a time, then Ken Livingstone wants to price you off the road. You would have thought that with his fondness for using London's black cabs, Livingstone would be supportive of the fleet and its dedicated drivers. Not a bit of it.

As Iain Dale has explained, Livingstone is:

... making every cab fit a piece of technology which is supposed to reduce exhaust emissions. Not a bad thing in theory, but the technology doesn't work. It doesn't reduce emissions, it actually increases them! Newer cabs have it fitted as standard but older cabs have to have it fitted retrospectively at a cost of £2500. The cabbies are issuing legal challenges but Livingstone won't talk to them and still maintains the technology works despite all the evidence to the contrary.

Now there is a shock. A group of people prove Livingstone wrong and want to talk to him about it and he will not give them the time of day? Who would have thought? If you think we are being harsh on London's communist Mayor, why not watch the film below for yourself and make your own mind up?


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." Red Ken book, 1989.

Obviously voting Ken le rouge in as Mayor, doesn't mean he has to talk to you. (Tho' I suspect cabbies often vote Tory.)

Wiglet said...

I know one of the cabbies who spoke to us last week didn't like Ken but we didn't think much of the cabbie as he turned the clock on as soon as we muttered the words "Pimlico please" and then took as long as possible to get the ramp down so that my husband could get my scooter into the cab (an extra £1.40!); he drove around the block an extra time (claiming a one way system and couldn't stop); then he tried to do 'keep the clock on while he gets the ramp down' routine at the end too. But hubby now knows the trick of making the driver state the cost when the car stops - Oh dear that cabbies face was a picture.

I don't like Ken Livingstone but on this he gets my vote if he hacks of cabbies.

Anonymous said...

I do not use cabs very much, but if and when i do i am fully aware that they are not cheap, but very convenient. I do not think, like wiglet i would give Ken my vote on anything other than his resignation, he has cost the rest of us a lot more than a few bob to a cabby, he has sold London down the river to apease his minority groups, he was useles in the GLC and he is still useless now, if i thought it would get rid of him i would gladly give the cabby a few bob extra, and still come out saving money

Anonymous said...

wiglet, what you have to appreciate is that we all have a living to make. Cab Drivers do not earn a "salary" they are paid only for the time they have a customer in their cab, so literally time is money.

Quite often it can take a cab driver longer to load/unload a wheelchair user (get the ramps out of the boot, attach them to the vehicle, put the back seats up, wheel the person into the cab, affix all the relevant belts etc etc in accordance with TFL guidelines) than the actual journey itself can take. So why shouldn't they charge for this time? This time can effectively account for an extra travelling fare. You wouldn't expect any other professional tradeseman/woman to do their job for nothing would you? Or should disabled people be treated differently to any other fare paying customer in this respect? I'm sorry if that sounds a bit harsh, but disabled people want to be treated equally so you can't have it both ways.

As for Ken Livingstone, I could write a book on that idiot but the people of London are the bigger idiots for voting the fool in on 2 occasions in my opinion.

Anonymous said...

i hate ken he is just a piece of fox vomit that wanks over black dicks while wearing islamic dress

Anonymous said...

1 in 15 cab drivers are nice people and great to talk to. The rest in my experience have been disgustingly rude, no manners whatsoever. They are consistently turning down fares even if they are really 5 minute journeys not going in the 'right' direction. Which is illegal right? Just quit your 50K (no taxes declared prob) job if you're not happy! Let some foreign guy with more hunger and better manners take it! They also ALWAYS try and skim off a few extra sheckles off the fare and keep the meter running whilst you get your money out! I dont want to swear so i wont say anymore...But Ken is right to increase the number of licenses, never a good cab when you need one!

winger said...

Check out spendapennysendapenny.com - an unofficial poll where you can "flush" your least favourite candidate down the toilet. I've seen four different animations so far - hoodies, routemaster, clamps and a jack boot with the resulting candidate ending up down the drain. So far Ken is leading the least pop polling - last count he'd been flushed 290 odd times! It definitely put a smile on my face :)