The LLA & TFL (no.2) bill which contains clause 19 will empower TFL and London councils enabling them to appoint pedicab ranks/bays.
The RMT and its London taxi branch will be petitioning against clause 19 and we shall continue to campaign until these objects are banned from the public highway.
If your trade body isn't petitioning against "clause 19" you will need to ask some serious questions of the people you are paying to represent you. For it is you the working taxi-cab driver that will end up ranked next to a piece of 3rd world transport not fit to be carrying passengers on the public highway and not them.
Westminster City Council and the Metropolitan Police have been ticketing and removing pedicabs under present legislation so we have the laws in place to deal with pedicabs that block the pavement or public highway. Time the United Trade Group spent less time slating the RMT and little more time trying to defeat a bill that will create pedicab ranks/bays on the public highway. Be under no illusion if this bill gives pedicabs ranks/bays then the private hire lobby will demand rest bays too and then see who'll be complaining that we didn't do anything to stop this from happening.
"BAN don't LICENCE shout the LTDA, well what a mess to get themselves into when they say one thing on an ad van but in reality they are prepared to allow a bill that creates ranks waltz through parliament in the hope a few parking tickets are given out by CCTV. To make matters worse this scheme is voluntary and therefore unenforceable.
NOTE the police and the councils have powers now to move pedicabs on and remove them from the public highway. This bill is a Trojan horse and it is working taxi-cab drivers who will lose out as per usual.
John Kennedy Chairman RMT London taxi branch...
PS Please note the promoters of this bill have been given plenty of opportunities to discuss this issue so that further time and public money is not wasted. It seems the present Mayor liked the support of taxi-cab drivers back in 2008 but is failing to listen to real taxi-cab drivers and instead hearing only silence from the taxi trade representative on the board of TFL...
