You may well wonder! Discover the unlikely connection in my latest article in Private Hire Taxi Monthly magazine  

Heres a link to an interesting read about the first electric cabs in the 1800's, by Ian Hall...

Private Hire Taxi Monthly magazine September 2020

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/18713327.southampton-taxi-traders-back-city-council-policy-row/




 

Make the most of the last week in August 2020 (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) with the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme offer, why not use a Southampton licensed taxi in Southampton to take you to your chosen destination and arrange with the driver to return you home?

The Southampton Hackney and Private Hire Association supports United Trade Action Group (UTAG). Please see their recent statement below:

We hope you and your loved ones are keeping well in these strange and uncertain times.

You are likely to be aware that we, as a trade that we are facing an onslaught of proposed road closures across many boroughs, including the City of London and TfL roads.

The speed and extent of these proposals, if not challenged, will have an extremely detrimental effect on our trade and passengers, especially the disabled, affecting our ability to make a sustainable living.

UTAG was formed to preserve the future of the profession we trained so hard to be part of via a series of legal challenges; it is the Directors and Steering Committees unanimous view that the road closures has usurped everything else, and has singularly become the most important issue before us. Without a road network, we are unable to ply our trade.

Therefore, we have proactively instructed our QC and Legal Team to prepare a Generic Statement of Claim against our exclusion from roads where buses and permitted vehicles, excluding Taxis, continue to have access.

This would allow us to request a Statutory Hearing in the High Court should it be necessary to do so.

Although no firm exclusions have been enacted yet, and while we wait for final confirmation of which roads/bridges we may or may not use, UTAG along with the LTDA believe that it is prudent to prepare for legal action, therefore, we have agreed to work collaboratively with them and co-fund the legal action(s). 

As these proposals are being brought in under the auspices of Covid-19 social distancing measures, they will be deemed temporary measures (temporary can be 18 months) by which time substantial structural damage can be done to our trade. 

Time pressures are upon us, as the trade shall have only 6 weeks to challenge said closures. The 6-week window starts from when the order is made, not the implementation of the restrictions; that is why we believe that we must prepare to act now, as announcements could come at any time.

We trust that you agree that this fight could be vital for our trade and that we must prepare as if it will go ahead. We shall of course keep you updated as matters progress.

Thank you for your unswerving trust and loyal support.

Please see below an article written by Ian Hall, Chairman of the Southampton Hackney and Private Hire Association:

The BBC have recently published a video featuring interviews with taxi drivers in Northern Ireland who share their concerns for the trade due to huge changes resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Drivers comment on the amount of extra equipment they now require including masks, gloves, hand sanitisers and even screens. Many are finding the extra costs combined with the reduction in work due to the closure of pubs and clubs makes it barely profitable. You can view the video the BBC news website here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-northern-ireland-53085773/coronavirus-taxi-industry-in-danger-of-extinction?

As one of the drivers stated it could mean the extinction of the taxi trade and also the private hire trade, considering the word is generically used for both licences. I have noticed in the last two weeks in Southampton more taxis are sitting on taxi ranks, hoping for a job but making little or no money. Although Southampton City Council licensing department have extended the vehicle age limit for hackney carriages and private hires among other things to help our trade, we are also facing troubled times.

Southampton City Council are following government guidelines regarding COVID-19 and the licensing department send out  notifications to the trade when possible. 

There is exemption for drivers not to carry the full number of passengers as shown on their identification plate. For example, if the vehicle is licensed to carry 4 people, you are quite within your rights to carry one person, the same as a multi seater vehicle licensed to carry 7/8 passengers can carry less people, it is up to the driver to decide.

As long as screens do not foul airbags, the council is allowing them to be fitted but they are not compulsory. Travel safely.

The Southampton Hackney and Private Hire Association support TaxiPoint magazine, a leading taxi industry publication which has been providing the latest in taxi industry news on multiple digital platforms since 2017. The magazine features interesting editorial on topics such as finance, insurance, licensing, maintenance, legal issues and much, much more. This month's issue contains many informative articles covering a range of topics including the challenges facing our industry at  this difficult time. Why not go and take a read? 

You can view the latest Taxi Point digital magazine here.

On the TaxiPoint website you can also subscribe to get the free TaxiPoint digital magazine and updated news stories direct to your inbox each month. 

On the 1st September 1939 Germany invaded Poland which led Britain and France to declare war on Germany. Not that I was around in those days but on the 31st August 1939 my parents got married. After a spell of rapid army training in Catterick, North Yorkshire my father went overseas luckily returning at the end of the war.  

There was no internet, mobiles or any of the communications we take for granted in the age we live in today. So as concerning the spread of Covid-19 pandemic is to life we hope it will not last for a length of time.

The National Service (Armed Force) Act which was passed by Parliament on the 3rd September 1939 imposed conscription on all males aged between 18 and 41 who had to register for service. Men who were medically unfit were exempt, same as those in key industries and jobs, such as baking, farming, medicine and engineering.  Women between the ages of 20 and 30 years were also liable to be called up, when in 1941 Parliament passed a second National Service Act which included unmarried women and childless widows.

If you were a London cabbie in the Second World War, you could join the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) and your cab would be converted into a fire fighting unit. These cabs were manned by a team of firemen and the driver being an experienced cabbie, on many occasions was at the scene of the fire before the larger engines arrived, simply because the driver knew all the shortcuts!

The cabs were fitted with ladders on the roof, buckets of sand for smothering incendiary bombs and small pumps to suck water from pails. Hoses were stored to the left of the driver, usually where customers' suitcases were situated. The most important piece of equipment was the large water pump trailer, attached to the back of the cab which had all the fittings and fire fighting equipment that could be set up anywhere.

Cabbies received £1 17 shillings and 6 pennies per week for the cab and £3 a week for their services as drivers.

Photo's courtesy of Philip Warren and Malcolm Linskey from the book of Photographic History of Taxicabs.

Today's pandemic is a public health crisis, which will most probably cause a recession that could become a financial crisis. We are unlikely to face World War II casualty rates but we fully understand the unprecedented times we are living in. It is of concern that taxi and private hire drivers who mainly live from hand-to-mouth have been told by the government to claim benefits which can take five weeks to come through (changes are being made to help self-employed persons) Whilst we stay at home to self isolate, or do not go out because there is very little work, it should also be noted that restrictions on the availability of taxis and private hire vehicles may have a negative impact on passengers safety by increasing the use of unlicensed, unvetted and uninsured drivers and vehicles.

I cannot speak for the rest of the country but Southampton as a city as I write this article towards the end of March 2020 is a ghost town.  Southampton airport is virtually closed, cruise ships are tied up in the docks with a skeleton crew on board and railways are cutting back on trains, it is a dismal time.

It has been welcoming to see the Chancellor Rishi Sunak meeting with the unions saying the government will do whatever it takes to get us through this. This should be a bail-out in the form of a grant and not a loan.  

Let us hope that this happens sooner than later.

Ian Hall from Southampton.