Black cab 90949

[clarion]

You can report it to the PCO, and to Roadsafe. I'd probably do both. But, since I was assaulted by a cabbie and the Met did sod all, I no longer expect anything.

Given the impunity of the black cabs (I've been told several times, 'Go on then: Report it to the Police - they won't do anything', and they have been right every time), I think there is something corrupt in that relationship, whether it is masonic or brown envelopes.

At the same time as my assault, a lad was throttled by a cabbie just off Oxford Street. The Police sent all the witnesses away without taking any details, and prosecuted the cyclist!

PCO are deeply uninterested in any complaints, and will do all they can to block them. I have been told, as the poster above mentions, that they will not accept complaints which are not from passengers. This is bollocks, of course, but you probably won't be able to get any further.

 

[clarion]

Oh - and for all I think that, in the main, cabbies in London are moronic thugs, Addison Lee drivers are worse.

 

[gaz]

The reports that are logged with road safe are forwarded to one officer, outside of road safe that deals with taxi's. Unfortunately he does't have access to watch any videos, so any videos we send him are pretty pointless but he is working at finding a way to view them. What he can do is contact the PCO and get them to do various things, but as has been said, the PCO are crap at doing things like this and they are taking an age to get back to him. I believe where possible, he is pushing the PCO to put reports against the drivers record in cases which he can. But those are removed after a few years.

He is going way beyond what is expected of him at present and he says that if he can't get anywhere with these sorts of things then he will raise it up the chain. If it comes to that then i will also exploit some of my contacts in the MET to push this as a real issue.

I've had some pretty interesting experiences with Taxi drivers over the past few years, several of them on youtube. And nothing has been done about them.

 

[Jezston]

So what can we do about them? Do we have to wait until one of them kills someone before something is done ... or has that probably already happened several times already and nothing was done ...

 

[clarion]

The latter.

 

[Gandalf]

I must confess that in the past I have been rather sceptical as to how bad taxi drivers really are, even though I have seen many of their exploits on YT. A perception that is undoubtedly coloured by the fact that I live out in the suburbs and very rarely travel into London to experience the adversarial unpleasantness of it all.

When I rode up to Blackfriars Bridge last Friday It was a real eye-opener. On the way up there I saw some pretty ropey behaviour from car drivers, bus drivers and even cyclists.

That said, I have to say that based on my experience for sheer blood-curdling sociopathic and homicidal tendencies the drivers of black cabs were in a league of their own.

My overwhelming impression was that they really do believe that the road is their exclusive fiefdom and any lesser mortals are expendable. They don't like cyclists using bus lanes do they? I'm pretty sure the fag paper punishment passes I experienced were done purely to make a point as the outside lane was empty in every case.

How do they get away with it?

 

[clarion]

...I think there is something corrupt in that relationship, whether it is masonic or brown envelopes...