I retired from the police in December 2013, having worked for thirty three years in Dorset as a Constable. Twenty three years of my service I spent on the beat as a community‘Bobby’.
I was working in London earlier this year and before heading home caught up with a friend for a coffee. When finished, he booked a taxi as he was in a hurry to get to a meeting. A minicab (not a Taxi) was dispatched but the driver declined to carry him because he has a guide dog! To say that I was disgusted is an understatement.
The matter has been reported to Transport for London [TFL] and is under investigation.
What happened after this unfortunate incident is worthy of wider publication and demonstrates what a fantastic group of kind-hearted people Cabbies are.
My friend used Twitter to highlight his experience, as did I, and what followed was a heartwarming, overwhelming outpouring of anger and genuine offers of help free of charge from many of the hundreds of cabbies who use Twitter.
Over the years, as an operational Bobby I’ve known many occasions when taxi-drivers have come to the assistance of police officers. They’ve helped to trace missing people,‘radioed in’suspicious incidents, and come to the aid of many an officer, preventing them from getting a serious‘kicking’.
I can recall motorcades of black cabs visiting sea-side towns over many summers giving underprivileged children a day out, and was surprised recently to discover that the“London Taxi Drivers’Fund for Underprivileged Children”has been running since 1928.
There is also a London Taxi Driver’s Benevolent Association for War Disabled, which started in 1947 and undertakes amazing work.
I write a monthly column for‘Police’magazine and recently wrote a positive piece about London Taxi drivers. Since publication I have been inundated with emails and tweets from readers all highlighting the kind help they have received from Black Cab Drivers.
Here are one or two:
“I was undergoing cancer treatment at the Royal Marsden and took a cab from Waterloo. On arrival at the hospital the driver wouldn’t take any money from me”
This from an ex-cop:
“Stopped a black cab on Trafalgar Square one night back in 1974 after an IRA bomb went off at Brooks Club by St James Street. First on scene, saved a young lad from bleeding to death.”
“Cabbie collected us and our son from Great Ormond Street Hospital and didn’t charge us”
“Cabbie took me and my then poorly boy from Victoria to Evelina Childrens’Hospital and refused payment”
I have come to appreciate that these stories are not the exception they are the norm and that such generosity is typical.
I have also sadly become aware of the current frustration of the cab trade and the plight of many who are struggling with what can only be described as unfair competition through a failure of TFL to fairly enforce regulations. Competition is healthy, but when all involved are not on a‘level playing-field’and it seems to slope in favour of one side it clearly is not.
Cabbies are quite rightly proud of their gold-standard profession and of the‘medal of honour’(Green Badge) that takes years to achieve. I was astounded to learn of the lack of professional requirements needed to drive a minicab and that the public are exposed to some drivers who have not undergone any criminal records check.
Something must be seriously amiss for a Judge (Michael Sayers QC) to warn“Nobody can travel in minicabs with any degree of safety”after sentencing a driver to eight years imprisonment for rape. He also called for the compulsory licensing of all minicab drivers after police checks on the firm where the rapist worked revealed that not one driver was being legally employed.
To show my support I travelled up to London a couple of times to support taxi demonstrations. These have been organised to highlight issues with unlicensed uninsured Pedicabs, sexual assaults in minicabs, illegal touting being ignored, (seriously threatening the livelihoods of cabbies) and unlicensed/uninsured minicab operators. It was an impressive sight seeing so many cabs joined by many undertaking‘the knowledge”. It was a great success and received public support when they became aware of the problems.
Transport For London must act swiftly to fairly enforce regulations – they have a duty of care for public safety who it would appear are the ones most at risk.
Licensed Hackney Carriages have been around since Oliver Cromwell’s Day having first been established in 1654. It’s one of our oldest trades. London’s black taxis are iconic and world renowned – with their drivers regularly being voted the best in the world.
Perhaps its time for the Mayor of London to recognise this and personally intervene before London’s Cabbies have to be added to the endangered species list?
Clive Chamberlain
