any - Taxi Drivers

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Sun 6 Mar 2016 17:09
any - Taxi Drivers - joegrundy

Two separate incidents in my small town in the last couple of weeks have given me pause for thought. Both happened to my son.

1. A customer parked in a supermarket car park came back to find her front wing, bumper, bonnet, etc. damaged. Over £1000 damage. CCTV showed that a liveried taxi had done the damage pulling out of its parking slot. Worse, that the driver stopped, reversed, looked at the damage he'd caused, then drove off. Local facebook (where the cctv was uploaded) identified the taxi firm - and within a few hours the firm's proprietors had contacted the victim. After a bit of shenanigans, the firm paid for the repairs, courtesy car, etc. Old Bill were not in the slightest bit interested in this (seems clear to me) offence.

2. Driver of liveried taxi minibus. tailgating, wrong lane at roundabouts (dangerously undercutting), on hand-held phone and at some points on TWO phones (one in each hand) and steering with knees. Old Bill not interested. Local council taxi licensing office more interested, took complaint, promised to log and speak to taxi firm.

In both cases, witness statements and witnesses were prepared to go to court.

I was an Old Bill for 30 years and this sort of attitude annoys me, although I was always CID rather than traffic. Seems to me that all is now dependent on cameras, etc. The day to day dangerous/careless driving is ignored.

Rant over (for time being).

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Sun 6 Mar 2016 17:24
any - Taxi Drivers - gordonbennet

I could match your rant and raise you several bar of blood pressure at the dumbing down, and more to come, of my job over the past 40 years.

Just common or garden lorry driving but with each upgrade to the vehicles, training and testing, the job gets further deskilled...lots of box ticking and regulations but no one's paying any attention to skills and seat of the pants feel for the road and vehicle which will always be the saviour when conditions combine and the electronics just don't cut it.

Its progress apparently, what could possibly go wrong.-:), so we'll just have to shake our heads and whisper the immortal words ''told you so'' as we watch and weep over the inevitable decline.

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Sun 6 Mar 2016 17:53
any - Taxi Drivers - joegrundy

I could match your rant and raise you several bar of blood pressure at the dumbing down, and more to come, of my job over the past 40 years.

Just common or garden lorry driving but with each upgrade to the vehicles, training and testing, the job gets further deskilled...lots of box ticking and regulations but no one's paying any attention to skills and seat of the pants feel for the road and vehicle which will always be the saviour when conditions combine and the electronics just don't cut it.

Its progress apparently, what could possibly go wrong.-:), so we'll just have to shake our heads and whisper the immortal words ''told you so'' as we watch and weep over the inevitable decline.

No, gb, respect to you. I couldn't do it. My exwife#1 is a bus/coach driver, and I couldn't do that either, esp. driving a double-decker in the middle of Cambridge with bikes in front, behind, either side, etc. - and it's your fault if you get it wrong!

I have, sadly, come to accept that the job of Old Bill has gone down the pan, and I wonder why I wasted 30 years trying to do the Right Thing. For a recent example - driver enters roundabout in LH lane, carries on round to 3 o'clock (indicating left) and undercuts driver exiting roundabout. In my day, pull them over, b****** or report for summons. Now, sadly, see Old Bill doing same thing.

Many years ago I had 'blues & twos' on my own car (on call for a huge area) and there were occasions I did something about it. Now, I just hang back and keep out of the way.

What saddened me about these instances, though, is that even with personal contact with current Old Bill, there was just no interest whatsoever. It's not surprising that anyone caught on cameras is encouraged to check, check, and challenge. I'd do the same.

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Sun 6 Mar 2016 18:02
any - Taxi Drivers - joegrundy

PS: and in relation to NIPs etc. That's another area. Check. check. and challenge.

My son was served with an NIP 114 (yes, 114) days after the date of the alleged offence.

'Are you sure about this?' we asked of the SWP Ticket Office, 'See you in court'.

'On this occasion blah blah' they said. If you're acting like a tit, don't advertise it. (But how many paid/took the points without asking?)

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Mon 7 Mar 2016 15:53
any - Taxi Drivers - galileo

Don't know about other areas but our local Old Bill seem to be somewhat short-handed, an issue aggravated by all the paperwork involved if they do actually do something, not to mention time spent hanging about at courts.

(I have friends currently serving with them, who tell it as it is, not necessarily what press releases etc say).

Not saying this is a valid excuse, but may be a reason for the reluctance to act.

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