" Cardiff to be left without taxis "

Cardiff's Hackney Driver Association said its members will strike on four nights in April because of their happiness with new guidance issued by Cardiff council

Thursday 31st March 2016

Clubbers and partygoers in Cardiff could be left without taxis on four weekend nights this month after cabbies threatened to go on strike.

The city’s Hackney Driver Association said members are planning to take action on April 15 and 16 and April 22 and 23 because of their unhappiness with a council crackdown.

The planned move would hit taxicabs – black cab-style services that can be hailed on the street – but would not affect private hire drivers.

It comes after the council clamped down on taxi complaints in the wake of a series of reported sex attacks in the capital last year.

In September, concerns were raised that lone women had been refused journeys by drivers which they deemed to be too short a distance.

As a result, Cardiff council issued guidance from the head of the licensing committee, Councillor Jacqueline Parry, saying that if anyone felt they were wrongly turned down for a journey they should take the driver’s details and report them.

The council subsequently announced 90 complaints were made within three weeks.

But the association says these complaints were simply a result of the increased number of people visiting the city for the Rugby World Cup .

“The alleged victims have never stated in any interviews that they had to walk home because the taxi drivers refused to take them home , based on the ground that the journey was too short,” said Mathab Khan, chairman of the Cardiff Hackney Carriage Association.

“The council received some 90 complaints in three weeks mainly during the Rugby World cup tournament, when 70,000 to 100,000 rugby fans filled up every nook and cranny of the city especially whenever Wales was playing at home or away, and most of them are fairly drunk and some of them are heavily drunk or too drunk to travel in taxis.

“Hence the degree of complaints increased significantly, due to the fact that there was 10 times more people in the city, compared to the amount of people we normally have in any given time, and most of them were heavily under the influence of alcohol.”

The group alleged that drivers have been punished unfairly – with five drivers since having their licences suspended.

And it claimed those complaints had been dealt with through the council’s licensing sub-committee to “punish the drivers with a vengeance” in a forum which requires a “lesser level of scrutiny” than if they had been pursued through a court hearing.

Mr Khan said: “Unless the full committee of Cardiff council ceases such malpractice with immediate effect and remove Councillor Jacqueline Parry [committee chairwoman] and Dave Holland [Head of Service – Regulatory & Supporting Services] from their position immediately, we will be considering industrial action on Friday, April 15, and Saturday, April 16, between midnight till 4am and will repeat on April 22 and 23.”

Cardiff council has defended its right to take disciplinary action against individuals who refuse a fare without good reason, and explained its reasoning behind pursuing complaints through a committee rather than through a prosecution.

A spokesman said: “Last autumn the issue of refusal of fares became prominent in the local media and the council received many complaints. Council officers decided to deal with these by taking them to the Public Protection Committee to consider potential disciplinary action. This was in view of the volume of complaints, public concern, the committee’s function to protect vulnerable members of the travelling public, and the desire to simplify the process for the complainant, who is the ultimately the service user.

“During the time in question, the council did appeal to the taxi trade to take vulnerable women home. A view shared by Mr Khan’s media statement on September 27, which stated that ‘99.9% of drivers were helpful ’ and ‘Our (Hackney Carriage Association) advice to our drivers is to be as helpful as you possibly can, especially when it comes to lone female students. We say ‘Please take them, they are vulnerable’.

“Rather than threatening strike action, we would advise all drivers to understand and abide by their licensing conditions, or face enforcement action for breaching the law.”

Just one word - Uber

I have absolutely no sympathy with the taxi drivers.

The number of times I, my wife or my daughters have been refused a lift from town late at night just because it was a short journey (still over £8/9.00 though !!) runs into double figures and that's only since I started reporting them back in September.

We are the only city that I've travelled in where this happens. All the other city's such as London, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Swansea (yes even them !!), etc. don't even quibble over a journey distance and sometimes when you're not sure where you're going it can be just around the corner.

For the taxi drivers to claim it only happened during the Rugby World Cup is an absolute lie. It came to the for at that point as we had visitors from away standing up and complaining whereas in Cardiff we had become, almost, resigned to it.

Private hire in Cardiff is pretty good but anything else is crap. I'm glad the council are tackling this and given that it's almost impossible to get a taxi we'll hardly notice if they take action !!

Rant over

To many of the taxi drivers are muslim and they want to rip you off. Can't be done for a short fare so they only want the longer fares.

Can any thread be made on this forum without someone mentioning muslims or the eu?

To many of the taxi drivers are muslim and they want to rip you off. Can't be done for a short fare so they only want the longer fares.

That is a crap, biased, rascist comment.

How you know their religion I don't know I would take massive offence if you described me as Christian just because I am white and "Welsh" (I actually detest all religions in equal measure )

Just to be clear, in my experience Asian taxi drivers are no worse, or better, than white drivers.

In fact the most unpleasant example I've had was by a white 50 year old driver who tried to snatch my phone after I took a photo of his badge so that I could report him.

This is about Cardiff taxi drivers, black, white, it doesn't matter. There is a large proportion of them who think that they can pick and choose, contrary to the license they display !

To many of the taxi drivers are muslim and they want to rip you off. Can't be done for a short fare so they only want the longer fares.

That is a crap, biased, rascist comment.

How you know their religion I don't know I would take massive offence if you described me as Christian just because I am white and "Welsh" (I actually detest all religions in equal measure )

Just to be clear, in my experience Asian taxi drivers are no worse, or better, than white drivers.

In fact the most unpleasant example I've had was by a white 50 year old driver who tried to snatch my phone after I took a photo of his badge so that I could report him.

This is about Cardiff taxi drivers, black, white, it doesn't matter. There is a large proportion of them who think that they can pick and choose, contrary to the license they display !

How did you know he was 50? That's ageist, he could have been 40.

All taxis have been taken over by Muslim drivers and it's there only way of being alone with women/girls. Asian/Muslims should be banned from driving non Muslim females around but how many Muslim women get into Muslim taxis?, none as Muslim women know they'll be raped.

All taxis have been taken over by Muslim drivers and it's there only way of being alone with women/girls. Asian/Muslims should be banned from driving non Muslim females around but how many Muslim women get into Muslim taxis?, none as Muslim women know they'll be raped.

f*cking glad you live in that well known capital of free living, life must be hell for you.

Now you actually think you can make an educated comment on the taxi problems in Cardiff based on your "in depth knowledge" of Asian/Muslim residents

I really thought people like you were extinct I presume you're just looking for a bite, if not then I pity you, your family and your friends.

Good luck, and stay away from Wales, clearly a much more open and educated part of the U.K. than Brighton if I was to use the same rules of generalisation as you

To many of the taxi drivers are muslim and they want to rip you off. Can't be done for a short fare so they only want the longer fares.

That is a crap, biased, rascist comment.

How you know their religion I don't know I would take massive offence if you described me as Christian just because I am white and "Welsh" (I actually detest all religions in equal measure )

Just to be clear, in my experience Asian taxi drivers are no worse, or better, than white drivers.

In fact the most unpleasant example I've had was by a white 50 year old driver who tried to snatch my phone after I took a photo of his badge so that I could report him.

This is about Cardiff taxi drivers, black, white, it doesn't matter. There is a large proportion of them who think that they can pick and choose, contrary to the license they display !

It's well know that the foreign taxi drivers in Cardiff and Pontypridd ask for money up front which is always more then the meter would be. I always make a point of asking the foreigners which make believe god they worship and guess what? The majority are muslim.

All taxis have been taken over by Muslim drivers and it's there only way of being alone with women/girls. Asian/Muslims should be banned from driving non Muslim females around but how many Muslim women get into Muslim taxis?, none as Muslim women know they'll be raped.

f*cking glad you live in that well known capital of free living, life must be hell for you.

Now you actually think you can make an educated comment on the taxi problems in Cardiff based on your "in depth knowledge" of Asian/Muslim residents

I really thought people like you were extinct I presume you're just looking for a bite, if not then I pity you, your family and your friends.

Good luck, and stay away from Wales, clearly a much more open and educated part of the U.K. than Brighton if I was to use the same rules of generalisation as you

cant you make a comment about Muslims without being branded racist? f**k me it's like you got to tread on egg shells when you bring them up.i bet they have no problem with bringing us up when they're talking in general