When They Say "It's Not About The Money"....Its ALL About The Money. By Harry Wall.

We all know why Uber want our trade and that they'll go to any financial lengths to get it. But it's not just Uber stealing our pie and that's the big problem, it's worth millions elsewhere too.

Those of us who can remember the old Carriage Office will also remember the day Livingston took office in 2000 which was soon followed by the news he planned to "streamline" the whole process of the knowledge, licensing procedures and so on. To make it better run and bring it into the 20th century. In order to carry out this grand plan their would be a need to increase the license fees, in fact more than double it if I remember correctly.

This was quickly followed by a letter of intent announcing a night fare increase of 30% which was met by screams of discontent from the rank and file but obviously ignored by Livingston.

It also stated we had no choice but to adhere to the change, if not we'd be put on stop. I seem to remember Oddy having some input in this but I might be wrong. Needless to say, the public didn't like it either and we lost work over it, especially between 8 and 10 as that's when tariff 2 came in.

Soon the overhaul change came in along with various charges for this and charges for that, changes to procedures that had worked for years that completely ballsed everything up but after a while we become complacent and just take it on the chin, it became accepted as the norm.

Now fast forward to February 2017 and even more rats are feeding of us.

With various fees added on, to sign on the knowledge now is £1000. Now comes a rough estimate of the rest :

NSL - £97 per cab x25k cabs = £2.4m per year.

MOT - £50 x2 per cab x25k cabs = £2.5m per year.

CC - average of £20 per week, per driver to accept credit cards x25k drivers = £26m per year.

Added together this already works out to £30.85m per year.

Add a rough estimate for Uber's yearly snatch of £375m and that takes the theft to a staggering £407.3m, PER YEAR!!!

We don't renew our bills yearly so that can't be added but that amounts to £272 a time, and medicals -which will rocket if we allow TFL to make us use their set ups- Hailo's take, Gett's extortionate take, Geelys new cab etc, etc, 

You're now looking at a Buzz Lightyear figure, "to infinity and beyond". And all the time this is going on we can't find a space on a rank!

It's no wonder they're fighting tooth and nail to ruin us and eventually deregulate us, which I'm convinced is their ultimate goal.

I seem to remember Livingston, I think saying "Why should 20k men earn £50k, when 50k men can earn £20k?".

Streamline the Carriage Office my arse!

We all knew it was a con to finance the minicab licensing and now we know why, note I haven't reckoned up the PH outlay because if I did the above figure would treble at least. The number of PH in London has always been greater than Hackney Carriage and obviously more profitable for the authorities, even more so now Uber have arrived. Now consider the profits nationally and it's no wonder licensing authorities throughout the country are welcoming Uber and shitting on the existing trades.

£407,350,000.per year and that's London alone!!

How the hell are we supposed to earn a living when we're up against that type of smash and grab? 

And it's government backed!!

It all becomes crystal clear as to why we've been subject to such lies, deceit and bullshit over the years. It explains why when an "Uber partner" drives down a flight of stairs because he's brainless, he's described on Sky as a confused driver instead of a dangerous liability that should never be allowed behind the wheel again. But Sky's owned by Rupert Murdoch who's a huge investor in Uber. 

But how deep does this conspiracy go?

It seems everyone involved in our trade is sitting pretty except us, we're the only ones struggling when everyone else is having it off nicely. Now compare us with the bus companies, they've lost somewhere in the region of £93m in revenue due to congestion. TFL do a deal with COL and close off Bank to all traffic except for buses to try and encourage more use. What do they do for our suffering revenue?

Sweet FA!!

Why help buses? 

Because buses are part of TFLs business and Daniels and Co. are directors of the bus company, remember Transport Trading LTD

We need to wake up and stand up for ourselves before it's too late. We can't wait for the orgs, they're taking too much time that we haven't got but to be honest I've lost interest. They're doing there own legal thing and that's lovely but that's bread and butter for the rats we're fighting, rest assured that'll take years going backwards and forwards to court in my opinion. 

What we've allowed here is nothing short of pure corporate greed. Whether we like it or not we're responsible for the state we're in today, letting corporate, blood sucking leeches latch themselves on to us through laws designed for guaranteed success, empowered with government approval. Political heavyweights spring in to action swearing allegiance to us only to be bought off or warned off then disappear under the nearest stone, hiding. The media's obviously warned off and at the same time think tanks emerge from the shadows screaming deregulation under the guise of launching our "antiquated" cab trade into the 21st century, extolling the virtues of the gig economy.

And we've stood for it.

While all this is going on underprivileged kids still benefit from our kindness and good character, along with the war disabled, the Albany charity, the British Legion and so on, but none of that ever gets mentioned by anyone. 

I was told recently the only way to effect change is with political will and I think he's right. We're in this state due to a much higher authority than TFL, Daniels and Co. are merely the architects who drew up the plan with obvious personal financial fringe benefits. Seeing as diplomacy hasn't worked and never will, our only course of action and chance of effective change is a complete and total shutdown of London. 

It's either that or all the orgs join forces and sue TFL for loss of earnings and damages, I'd say finding out the Queen's lesbian will happen sooner.

This treatment and rape of our livelihood cant be tolerated any longer. Good people in this trade are uncovering stuff like this all the time that should be firing us all up, determined to fight back, fight for our futures but the apathy and acceptance of a dreadful status quo is truly shocking.

We are sleep walking into oblivion. Principles, pride and integrity seem to have been forgotten by the majority but I'd be only too pleased to help them find it starting March 1st.

If Uber lose their appeal the games changes and we must take the fight to TFL!

Is up to us, the drivers, the London Cab Trade to burn off those leeches and restore our financial good health asap. With that will come well being but most of all pride.

I apologise for the lengthy post today but I'm just lost as to what else we can lose, they've took most of it.

For God's sake show some fight.

Be very lucky.