Ex-officer has the knowledge for cabbies

@Ollie Beak,

are you implying that a hack is like a dodo here?

well the dodo didnt become extinct because it couldnt evolve, it didnt have time to evolve, evolution takes millions of years!

the dodo became extinct due to the stupidity of human nature, finding a food source to exploit, and then raping it till there was no more, not thinking of tommorow, just today!

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Fiddling while Rome burns.

Class!

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On the general point of choosing a source of support in the never-ending struggle to get commonsense applied in the area of taxi and PH licensing, it is my experience – gathered over 15 years, and across the country in the last five years, that there is no easy route to solving any particular issue or defending yourself or association in the face of the hopelessly worded legislation and regulations/conditions in which we are enmeshed.

Solicitors rarely specialise in Taxi law – I know of one -based in the West Midlands – he usually ‘runs rings’ around hapless lawyers employed by local authorities.
Apart from that you get someone who wants money up front, probably to fund buying a copy of Button’s book, to prepare himself to defend you, without a scintilla of an idea of just how the trade operates and the idiocies of the rules and regulations imposed upon us.

Then we have the Trades Unions. These sometimes dip their toes in the water seeing a possibly lucrative pool of new members. They often provide legal cover but not to defend you against rules and regulations if they feel the risks of costs are not worth it.

A glaring example of this was the case of Kaye v Darlington Borough Council. Having won in the Magistrates Court the union involved refused to support the member when the councils (about 50 of them) ganged up to fund Darlington in an appeal to the High court in London.

The driver was then left alone in London in front of a High court judge with an army of barristers funded by the councils who insist on promoting the money-spinning DSA Taxi driver test before granting, or in the case of Darlington, re-newing a drivers’ licence.
That case, once lost, has allowed councils to impose this test as a pre-condition of licensing; and thus unchallngeable when evermore of them seek to introduce it, even where drivers have been licensed for up to thirty and more years.

So then we are left with a range of national, regional and local associations, few of which have any employee or member with in-depth knowledge or ability to defend or prepare a case for submission to a council or court.

Finally, we have the professional advocates who offer their services to Operators, associations or individual licence holders, to assist, advise and manage cases against councils acting improperly or unlawfully OR to help individuals who may have erred in some way to defend themselves before a committee; and possibly to prepare a case for appeal to the magistrates court or Crown court.

Although they may not always be able to appear in court on your behalf they can save you coinsiderable sums of money by cutting down on ‘solicitors’ time in preparing a case – which as we know, does not come cheaply.

So, you pays your money and takes your pick.

If someone offers you something for nothing you might well be suspicious but if the service works and benefits you or your work colleagues then why not give it a chance?

As someone who provides such services I declare an interest. I can claim some successes and will admit to some failures, when conducting cases against councils on one matter or another. I don’t doubt that there are those better qualified than me, in some cases,to research and argue an issue. The point is, the trade usually does not want to pay the costs involved in bringing high cost specialists/solicitors and barristers in to sort out their difficulties.

Even the use of a specialist intermediary with experience of working in the trade and tackling issues in front of committees, officers and auditors costs money – I need to eat as well; and travelling around the country is not cheap either.

Alan Fidler

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He should be banned from going within a 1000 miles of North Tyneside & Newcastle, for the damage he and his cronnies did to the Trade down here!!!!!

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Now I wonder why Mr Wilson lost his job when Berwick council merged……
Never heard such `shite` in my life,if that idiot thinks the cab trade is thriving,after all `HE` was the saviour who showed all the idiots how to circumnavigate the regulations and get `plates` via back door methods.
So now after flooding the market with mickey mouse plates,and costing councils (those who did enforcement) at anyrate,time and money in court actions,HE reckons he has done us all a favour,and now wants to help drivers negociate the legislation that is meant to govern us and protect the public. Or is it HE wants to show more idiots how to get round the law for his own gain this time….since the license money last time went to the council.
Personally,with references like that,If i needed a solicitor or legal advisor,i`d trust the Kray twins than HIM…

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He said: “The taxi industry in the North East is thriving, yet at the same time the services available to provide help and guidance to owners and drivers are minimal HA HA HA LOL

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