London Banter - View Single Post

JNugent[_5_] · October 17th 15, 02:58 PM posted to uk.transport.london

On 17/10/2015 10:02, Robin9 wrote:

;151173 Wrote:
In article ,
(JNugent) wrote:
-
On 16/10/2015 23:05, wrote:-
In article ,
(Roland Perry) wrote:
-
In message , at 11:41:37
on Fri, 16 Oct 2015, Paul Corfield remarked:

Haven't you been introduced to Mr R Perry, Honourable Member for all
things Nottingham, Ely and Cambridgeshire? :-))))

I can do urban transport in some detail in Geneva and Amsterdam too
(as well as London of course).

Never taken a private hire in Ely, so I have no idea if they have
meters or not. The cars in the rank at the station are [East Cambs]
Hackneys.-

I should bloody well hope that any car on a rank is a licensed
hackney carriage as only they may ply for hire legally.

The answer to your earlier question is that some other major cities,
Birmingham to my personal knowledge and as also mentioned in a news
report today, Manchester and Sheffield, share with London the
inexplicable (to me) Luddite rule that bans meters in hire cars. What

possible justification can there be for this?-

Eliminating any excuse for mistaking a pirate car for a taxi, of
course.-

That is addressed by marking rules on vehicles, both hackneys and hire
cars.
The position should be clear enough. They aren't unmarked like Addison
Lee cars in London are.

Addison Lee vehicles are cleared marked on the back with the
company logo. However, any mentally competent person can tell
the difference between a London Hackney Cab and a minicab. The
idea that a meter - inside the vehicle, remember - is necessary to
enable people to differentiate is absurd.

Not everyone using transport in London comes from London.

Not everyone using transport in London comes from a town or city where
the proper purpose-built taxi can be found and purpose-built taxis are
just about unknown outside the UK. Most places are served by saloon cars
fitted with a taximeter and a sign on the roof in order to distinguish
them from any other car on the road.

For many (even if not most) people, it is relatively easy to be deceived
into believing that a London pirate car is somehow a "taxi".

There are even some people who will deny that obvious truth.