When you’re Feeling Blue.
Bristol is desperately in need of a truly Libertarian spirit on its local council.
Back in 2008, the council decided that the self employed taxi drivers who ply their trade running tourists round the city were in need of more regulations.
It was not enough that the drivers had all been forced to buy new and more expensive larger vehicles – which have ensured that the 900 drivers between them consume around 270,000 extra gallons of fuel each year – just in case a wheelchair user arrived at Temple Meads station and suffered the utter humiliation of the first cab at the rank not being large enough to comfortably accommodate their wheelchair.
They then decided that all these new vehicles were the wrong colour to give them that ‘New York’ iconic image of taxi rankdom. In future all taxis were to be repainted ‘Bristol Blue’? Yes, the vehicles the self-employed drivers had just bought.
Surely they don’t have the means to insist on this? But they do – for long ago they passed a by-law saying that you had to comply with council regulations in order to hold a taxi-drivers licence. They simply inserted ‘must be colour Bristol Blue’ in the regulations.
So keen are they on a uniform image – that they will accept five different versions of Bristol Blue. [Ed. ???] The cost of a respray is estimated at £4,000 – and one assumes that they wouldn’t be too happy with a hand-painted job. This is in addition to the two to three weeks the drivers will be off the road whilst the work is carried out.
The taxi drivers tried to force a judicial review of this decision, but having just bought new vehicles, found that they couldn’t muster the finance to mount the legal challenge.
The council, which has already stopped drivers using ‘advertising skins’ which cover the whole vehicle, has suggested that they use ‘Bristol Blue’ skins instead…..but working in association with “Unite and Destination Bristol, have devised the Gold Standard in recognition of the importance that high quality taxi and private drivers make to the city, its residents and its visitors. As well as literacy and numeracy skills, map reading and other transport aspects the course focuses particularly on passenger care and meeting the needs of disabled passengers.”
The training programme consists of a short taught course leading to a BTEC qualification. In addition drivers are assessed as they do their work – these assessments, along with the knowledge and understanding gained in the BTEC sessions, will entitle the driver to receive a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in Road Passenger Vehicle Driving. Drivers who complete both the BTEC and the NVQ then receive their Gold Standard certificate.
There are less than seven weeks to go until the deadline, only 332 of the 799 registered in the city have been painted the right colour. Which leaves 467 cars in need of a respray in the next 45 days; more than 10 per day, including weekends.
Does someone on the Lib-Dem dominated council have a relative in the respray business?
March 18, 2011 at 21:05
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Anna, this is a particularly good piece since I identify with such crushing
public sector decisions on a daily basis. My business is transport and I’d say
we spend about 30% of our management duties battling such morons.
We’ve calculated that petty (and I mean petty, none of it
advantageous to safety, for example) regulations from local authorities, have
stopped us employing in the region of an extra 20 people in the past year
alone.
I feel sorry for these guys because their fares will no doubt be regulated
by the council, so they can’t evenn pass the costs on. We do, and that means
that taxpayers foot the bill for public sector idiocy where it concerns
contracts we, and our competitors, tender for public sector contracts.
Still, what do they care? It’s not their money, is it?
- March 18, 2011 at 20:19
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I didn’t live in Bristol, but I had the misfortune to be resident in the
County of Avon when it was in existence. This was created because old Bristol
was bankrupt and they needed a larger cachement of people to shake down for
the money required. They managed to have one of the highest poll tax rates in
the country when that was in effect. Although I had left the area by the time
it was abolished, I still rejoiced, tempered a bit by the daft new
bureaucracies set up in its place.
I never voted for the incumbents during my time there but they still kept
getting re-elected.
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March 18, 2011 at 16:33
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“And yet they still keep getting voted in.”
….and what’s to choose among
the Traditional Traitrous Triumvirate?
Councils, wherever they may be, are
the micro to the macro of big, useless Government…..get used to it or throw
them ALL out.
- March 18, 2011 at 15:39
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@annaraccoon2010 http://thevoiceofreason-ann.blogspot.com/… photographed with
gollywog.
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March 18, 2011 at 17:23
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Link broken…
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March 18, 2011 at 19:18
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There were a couple of errant full stops (dots?) at the end – this
should work:
http://thevoiceofreason-ann.blogspot.com/
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March 18, 2011 at 15:37
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@ Jeremy Poynton
And yet they still keep getting voted in.
I too lived in Gurt Bristle for 25 years (actually 25 years and 37 days)
and I reckon that one reason which helps the same bunch get re-elected over
and over again is Bristol’s local election system. In short, elections in
Bristol mean that a third of the seats come up for election each year, with
the fourth year having no election. This means that if there is a big swing in
voting preference, it can only affect a maximun of one third of the seats,
thus ensuring that there is no big overall change in the council’s makeup –
any real anger with the politicians would be hard to sustain for a three year
period.
Secondly, it means that the makeup of the council is often quite balanced,
allowing parties to all blame each other for any problems – a fact often
exploited to great effect by Bristol’s politicians.
And we haven’t even started on the Merchant Venturers yet…
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March 18, 2011 at 17:23
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Good point. I did love my time in Bristol, it’s a fine city in many ways,
and my ex, and three of my adult children still live there, so I am in there
on and off, especially to stock up at the Sweet Mart in St. Mark’s Road
(www.sweetmark.co.uk for ALL your Indian {and other} food needs!).
Happily esconced in a small market town in Somerset now, and this former
Northern ale drinker (Robinsons’ Mild) is now a committed ciderhead
Great Bristol story – last year, a black councillor called an Indian
councillor a “coconut” (i.e. Brown outside, white inside); accused of
racism, she stated “I can’t be racist – I’m black”.
You just can get the councillors these days.
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March 18, 2011 at 14:33
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Still, isn’t it good to know that no less than 16 employees of the Council
each gouge in excess of £100,000 p.a. from the taxpayer ?
Kind regards
- March 18, 2011 at 14:27
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Could be worse.
Newmarket cabs have to be two-tone (?diversity requirement?)
“In Newmarket hackney carriage taxis must be black, with a yellow
bonnet/hood, roof and boot/hatch.”
They drive around like angry wasps.
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March 18, 2011 at 14:45
- March 18, 2011 at 14:18
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The regulators have always treated taxis as a favourite toy that they can’t
resist playing with. The old London regulations about carrying a supply of hay
and the permission for a call of nature against a specified wheel of the
vehicle come to mind.
- March 18,
2011 at 14:14
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Petty little tyrants.
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March 18, 2011 at 14:07
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Sigh.
It’s just another barrier to entry.
For some reason, all local councils are keen on regulating taxis – perhaps
it is the limit of their mental powers. Or perhaps they’re all part-time
drivers and want competition limited.
In my home town, ALL the taxis are now people-carriers – at what cost I
dread the think. Most of the time, of course, they carry two people – the
driver and the passenger. Green credentials, anyone?
Private hire plates, I’m told, change hands for £000′s, or evey £0,000′s –
a clear sign of a crippled market.
This is one business that could do with the fresh air of freedom blowing
through it.
- March 18, 2011 at 13:58
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Erm – surely the world, and Bristol, has more pressing problems than the
colour of taxis? Are all the old peoples’ homes of the highest standards? Are
the Fire Brigade well equipped with the latest appliances? Are the schools
serving healthy, nutritious, appetising dinners? Are all the roads completely
free of potholes?
No, thought not…..
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March 18, 2011 at 14:16
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Ah, but you missed a vital point. The council don’t spend the money – the
taxi drivers do. The council still has to check out the driver’s credentials
no matter what the conditions for a license are.
- March
18, 2011 at 16:20
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Well actually the taxi drivers spend it but ultimately the customer has
to foot the bills. Unless the driver goes bust, in which case the taxpayer
will be providing his benefits.
- March 18, 2011 at 13:45
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…and what in the name of diversity happens if I demand a green and pink
taxi takes me from Temple Meads to the airport. Will the council be obliged to
repaint a proportional number of their fleet to accomadate my ethnic demand, I
hope so!
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March 18, 2011 at 13:35
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I lived in Bristle for 25 years, until 2005. The council are an execrable
heap of shit and have been for decades. Indeed, the first city in Britain to
suggest reinstating trams. back in the 70s, in the late 90s they were told the
government was not inclined to help them as they were so incompetent with
money. Not sure whether it is still hung, LibDem or Labour controlled, but any
such changes have made no difference. Certainly Labour controlled for many
years, they have shown all the essential attributes of such councils, pissing
money away on minority groups, allowing First Bus or whatever the company is
to charge outrageous bus fares, and being incapable of making anything better
for the City.
And yet they still keep getting voted in.
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