A cab boss has sparked outrage after blaming strict council rules for an increase in domestic abuse by drivers.I...
Wha..?
In a letter to the town hall’s licensing panel Mr Oaks slams the so-called ‘five faults rule’ for black cabs that are more than 10 years old. The rules – just enforced in Bury – bans hackney carriages from the road if they have more than five things wrong with them.
Mr Oaks says it is ‘killing’ the trade in the town.Better, I suspect, than a defective taxi killing your passengers?
In his letter, Mr Oaks, who represents hundreds of drivers in Bury, Bolton and Oldham, says: “Our members say ... it is also causing financial hardship not only to drivers but there [sic] families, and domestic violence is on the increase cased [sic] by the lack of money being earned, to which the councils [sic] policy’s [sic] are being blamed.”*speechless*
Clearly, 'The Knowledge' doesn't extend to literary expertise...
H/T: APILN
13 comments:
Thing is Joolz, he's a cab driver and not the poet laureate or the foremost authority in linguistic at Kings college Oxford.
That said, I don't believe for a minute that the issue is about "Death trap" cabs, but over officice jobsworths taking the piss.
OK, the "All the grief I'm getting over this, makes me want to bray our lass" was probably not the best of arguments to proffer, but to put this into context, I could pick any brand new car straight off the assembly line and pick out 5 faults with them. It doesn't make them death traps, it just makes me a really picky bastard.
Are you kidding, Budvar? Agreed, we don't know what level of faults the council are talking about here, but a 10 year old black cab? It probably shouldn't be on the road, much less being used as a taxi. If the operator/driver can't keep it roadworthy, should he/she be a taxi driver? And, yes, I do know what I'm talking about. And should one of these black cabs be involved in an accident, and the paying passenger is killed or injured, you can guarantee the "over officious jobsworths taking the piss" would be at fault, for not making sure the taxi was safe.
Bury, isn't that the place that has a lot of cab drivers of the 'bearded savage' persuasion who probably beat their wives on a regular basis anyway?
In all fairness, a blown number plate light bulb does not make a vehicle dangerous.
Taxi rules are extremely over the top.
What? A taxi driver complaining about the rules being too tight?
Well it makes a change from them calling for ever-more-drastic barriers to entry (aka limiting competition), which is their usual tune.
Xplod, I know what I'm talking about too, My first real job was pre-delivery inspections of brand new cars. OK it was back in the late 70s, and you should've seen some of the things that came off the production line and went through. I'm not just talking about British Leyland here, but it was an across the board thing.
I drive a 17 year old Jeep with less than 72k on the clock, just went through the MOT, failed on a couple of things like No plate lightbulb blown, battery not secure, OSF tyre was down to 1.8mm (he said it was illegal) and got new ones.
As for jobsworths being sued, all an MOT is, is the vehicle was in a roadworth condition at the time of testing, that's all.
Offtopic:
Chrome is throwing out a Malware warning for the site, and blaming CountingCats for it.
DSD
I'm getting Chrome's malware warning too.
Thing is Joolz, he's a cab driver and not the poet laureate or the foremost authority in linguistic at Kings college Oxford.
That job's probably gone to a lesbo Nigerian.
I go along with xplod (and very dangerously disagree with the Moose) - the standards of a fare-carrying vehicle have to be higher than that of mere mortals. This helps prevent riff-raff from joining the profession (and don't tell me that they already have - these are the ones who passed muster!).
If the rules state the the driver must know how many wrinkles are in his ringpiece, I want him to squat over that mirror and count them every morning.
TIP: Remove any hairs that obscure your vision with a pair of tweezers, don't wax.
TIP: It's a bummer if you get distracted when doing this. Always begin at the 12 o'clock position.
Next step: Compulsory showering for taxi drivers. Bring it on.
XX more than five things wrong with them. XX
Such as... "Wheel falling off?" "Breaks fucked?"
Or, as is more normal, "Having "THOSE" kind of adverts in your taxi?" "Taxi not washed and polished in the middle of a surprise snow storm complete with three centimeters of diesel blackend slush which was not there as you took the call?" (Seen them all).
"...he's a cab driver and not the poet laureate..."
Basic literature? That's too much to expect? I'm not asking him to compose a sonnet!
"If the operator/driver can't keep it roadworthy, should he/she be a taxi driver?"
Yes, quite so. They may have been the tiny, piddly little faults that everyone has mentioned and...they may not.
"Taxi rules are extremely over the top."
A function of bureaucracy everywhere. But then, they are plying for hire. I'd expect greater levels of checks as a result.
"Well it makes a change from them calling for ever-more-drastic barriers to entry..."
Heh!
"Chrome is throwing out a Malware warning for the site, and blaming CountingCats for it."
Yup, I know :(
I put up a post about it and I'm running tests with Malwarebytes to see if there's anything being loaded to my PC.
It hasn't found anything yet.
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