On 03/07/2014 17:22, Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 17:11:58 on Thu, 3 Jul
2014, JNugent remarked:

The only answer that works is tell people that they should only ever
book such cars in advance, and hence be more assured that it's not an
unlicenced one (with all the associated risks).

"Unlicensed minicabs" is a strawman. There are a few knocking about,
I'm sure, but not as many as people think.

The context is very handy for use as a bogeyman by the real offenders:
licensed minicab drivers who unlawfully ply for hire on the streets
(and that's the majority of them).

I'm not sure why using unlicenced cars as a bogey-man, to encourage a
publicity campaign to encourage people to only use pre-booked cars, is
in any way helpful to licenced minicab drivers illegally plying for hire.

I wasn't necessarily linking the subject with this or that news item,
but making remarks about the trade more generally. It's a deflection of
enforcement efforts: "It's not us, honest, guv; it's them pirates".