Taxi drivers accused of racism…..sign saying they are ‘English speaking’
News admin | Feb 02, 2010 | Comments 8
Source: Mail Online
A racism row has broken out after a city’s taxi drivers started displaying stickers in their cars saying they are ‘English speaking’.
Up to a dozen drivers have been showing off the notices bearing the St George’s Cross on the back windows of their cars in Southampton, Hampshire.
The small red and white sticker declares the cab is being driven by an ‘English speaking driver.’
But the flags have been branded ‘racist’ by trade representatives, councillors and racism campaigners who have demanded they are removed.
Taxi drivers have hit back, claiming the stickers are simply a protest to force the council to make sure new drivers can speak good English.
The stickers were placed in the cars after drivers received complaints about the standard of spoken English among them.
There have also been complaints from passengers about drivers using sat navs and over-charging.Cllr Brian Parnell said the stickers were ‘offensive’ Perry McMillan, chairman of the Southampton cab section of trade union Unite, said the group’s ethnic minority members had been upset by the stickers.He said: ‘Surely all drivers speak English. If they don’t, then what’s going on?
‘We hope that licensing officers can investigate this and satisfy the trade that this isn’t the case.’Campaign group Show Racism the Red Card demanded the stickers be taken down from the cab windows.
Chief Executive Ged Grebby said: ‘I don’t have a problem with displaying the cross of St George because this is a symbol we have managed to reclaim from the far right.’But the “English speaking driver” part is where it crosses the line into racism.
‘Cab drivers have to have a command of English and there are strong racist undertones in this message.’I think the drivers should take the flags down immediately and if they don’t, they should be told to by the council who licences them.’ But taxi drivers have hit back at the allegations of racism.
Clive Johnson, chairman of taxi firm Radio Taxis and the Southampton Trade Association, said: ‘These signs are not racial.
‘They are a protest to the council saying please make sure all new drivers have command of the English language.’There are a few drivers out there who cannot speak English and just bluff their way along.’It doesn’t matter if they are Polish, Russian, French or Spanish, if they can’t communicate with passengers then it’s a problem.’
Taxi driver Peter Ford, 48, said: ‘It’s just about letting customers know that the driver will actually be able to speak English, which isn’t always the case.’ Fellow driver Chris Head, 49, added: ‘I have no problem with the stickers.
‘Lots of customers will wait at ranks until an English driver comes along because they want someone they can talk to.’ Ian Hall, chairman of the Southampton Hackney Association, said half of the group’s 126 members are from an Asian background.
He added: ‘I don’t think any drivers should have these stickers in the back of their car because it’s racist.’If drivers have got these stickers in their back windows then they need to take them down.’ Mr Hall said night trade in Southampton would ‘collapse’ without ethnic minority drivers, who buy the majority of taxi plates.The sticker issue was raised at a meeting between cab firms and Southampton City Council.
It is believed that the council would order them to be removed if it received complaints from passengers.Chairman of the council’s licensing committee Councillor Brian Parnell said the stickers were ‘offensive’.He said: ‘It’s certainly not the image we want for Southampton.
‘It is offensive to drivers from ethnic minorities who form a large part of the city’s drivers and without whom Southampton’s taxi service would suffer.’We want to promote harmony in the city.’But it is important that taxi drivers meet a certain set of standards and one of those is the ability to speak English.
‘It is normal good practice for anyone working in another country to be able to speak the language of that country.’I think the problem might be that many drivers do speak English but with a heavy accent that can be difficult to understand.’ Cllr Don Thomas, who sits on the licensing committee, added: ‘Taxis and taxi drivers can form the first impression that visitors have of Southampton.
‘I think this is completely the wrong sort of message to be sending out in what is proudly a cosmopolitan city.’ A council spokesman said: ‘People should contact the council and let us know if they see signs and stickers being used in taxis, particularly if they find them offensive.’Currently, anyone who wants to drive a taxi must hold a British driving licence, pass a medical, undergo a criminal record check and complete a ‘knowledge’ test of Southampton.
Last year council chiefs added a driving assessment and a test in basic reading, writing and communication skills.Within six months of taking to the road, drivers must also pass a BTec qualification in Road Transport Passenger Driving.
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Filed Under: Taxi News
NEWCASTLE PRIVATE HIRE DRIVERS ASSOCIATION
It should also be noted that these drivers are not stating on their notices that they are ‘white’ English speaking but merely ‘English speaking’ drivers.
That said it would take a long stretch of the imagination to suggest this is racist since many of their Asian colleagues are also English speaking. It would make better sense if all of the drivers both white and Asian or otherwise, support each other in encouraging the council to follow its own guidelines to ensure that all licensed taxi drivers meet the basic reading, writing and communication skills.
For the sake of balance this article might help explain where the publics’ concerns are coming from:
http://theopinionator.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/06/british-man-raped-by-muslim-taxi-driver.html
Edward.
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Lady Eleanor Reply:
February 4th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
@Edward Douglas, With regard to the cross of St. George used in the notices. St. George was born in Turkey, lived in Palestine and became a Roman soldier who was adopted as patron saint of England in the 14th century. It was for his humanitarian deeds rather than his nationality that he was so highly regarded. St. George is also patron saint of Aragon, Catalonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Germany and Greece as well as Moscow, Istanbul and Genoa.
It should be noted that some of the countries mentioned have a majority Muslim population. Taking this point in hand there is absolutely no reason for a Muslim or anyone else to feel offended by a sign in the back a taxi which assures the public that the driver has an acceptable command of English.
It is very wrong of the licensing authority to appropriate an incorrect interpretation of the wording in the signage which should be proudly displayed by both the English and Asian taxi drivers to allay the fears of the public as to whether the driver is properly qualified or not.
The so-called political correctness of the council is doing more to create a wedge between the English and foreign drivers than it is to forge good relations between them.
I hope this clarifies a situation which should be self evident to anyone with a modicum of common sense.
Lady Eleanor.
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I have more than a modicum of common sense, and your conclusion makes no sense whatsoever. The cross is fine. I dont have a problem with that, but the statement on it, and the context used, is blatantly racist. If you cannot see that, then you are obviously racist.
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Lady Eleanor Reply:
February 4th, 2010 at 8:19 pm
@davey, Have you ever looked at one of those notices that read ‘Polite Notice’ and misread it thinking that it said ‘Police Notice’? It is the way you see it and to a large extent what you think you should be reading on a notice. On closer inspection you then read what is actually on the notice.
What I am trying to point out is that:
“You do not have to be English to describe yourself as ‘English speaking’, you just need the ability to speak English”.
The council in question have specified that taxi drivers have to speak English. As Edward has already pointed out the notice does not say ‘white’ English speaking driver. However, the question that needs to be asked is why the drivers found it necessary that they had to make it known that they were English speaking by displaying this notice.
Could it be that the council are not correctly following their guidelines?
Do not forget that the fare paying public have a right to get into any licensed taxi and arrive at their destination with a driver who can understand directions and can communicate with them effectively.
Remember the old joke:
Lady at bus stop to driver: Does this bus go to Fenham?
Driver: Well it says so on the destination board.
Lady: Aye and there’s an advert for washing powder on the side but you don’t take in laundry.
Your accusation that I must be a racist has been made without your understanding what I have written. It is you who has chosen to interpret the context of the signage in a very narrow way and twist it in order to play the race card, much like the bleeding-heart liberal council in Southampton.
Lady Eleanor
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@davey, How can this be ‘blatantly’ racist? statements like this perpetuate this pc nonsense. Anyway the powers that be are only concerned that a sticker has been placed in the window,the content of the sticker is not actually in dispute. Is the following advert from Gumtree Racist?
Why not escape the city for 5 months and go play in the sunny, snowy French Alps, work hard, play hard???
What are you waiting for???
PLEASE DO NOT APPLY IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE FOLLOWING:
1. Excellent French + English
2. UK Resident, with National insurance number, European passport.
3. Available to pay for a flight to the Alps to arrive within 5-6 days
4. Have relevant experience in the role that you are applying for.
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We should have had these Stickers up here especially with the Berwick crisis!!!!
This Website has highlighted that Taxi/PH Drivers in the South have more “balls” than we do, despite us having the Berwick Saga still with us.
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one thing that gets my back up is people like you Steven Arthur you talk a load of crap persistently, you have got a nerve telling us we have no balls when what you have done about this Berwick scenario is first of all you joined them and got yourself a Bandit licence and drove around probably flimping left right and centre, then when people started to take note what was actually going on and started raising issues with flimpers you quickly came back to North Tyneside with your tail between your legs so don’t you dare tell us we have “no balls” there’s plenty of people with “balls” up here apart from you !!!
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Stephen Arthur Reply:
February 17th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
First of all Hackdriver, prove that I flimped!
Secondly my name is with a “ph” not a “v”
Thirdly, what do you do to make things better?
A – Probably…nowt
So keep your back up!
Last thing, would you display a Sticker like that????
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