Chairman of Hereford Taxi Association blocked from sending "rude" emails to council
It's over an ongoing dispute about changes to how taxis are licensed
Last updated 22nd Dec 2021
The chairman of hereford's Taxi Association has been blocked from contacting the council after sending "defamatory and rude" email.
It follows and ongoing dispute over proposed changes to the way taxis are licensed in Hereford.
John Jones says he is frustrated at the way the official consultation process has been handled - which ended last week.
After trying to email licensing officers he found his emails were not delivering.
Mr Jones had earlier fallen foul of the council’s unreasonable behaviour policy as “he would not desist from sending defamatory and rude emails to both staff and the cabinet member”, the council said.
"When they sent me the warning letter I sent them my emails from the past two years back to them", John explains.
"What they've picked up on was that I;ve said they're incompetent and negligent.
"Ask if I thought that was threatening and intimidating I said no it's the corrects words."
The council say they have forwarded his emails to councillors as his right to lobby members is not affected.
A list of a list of over 60 concerns over the planned changes, which include tight restrictions on which vehicles can be licensed, have been set out.
One of them also includes the "impassable" knowledge-based test which drivers would need to pass in order to operate.
It will test them on routes around the county and is due to become a requirement of all new and re-registering drivers.
John added: "If these conditions come in and every driver has to re-sit this test then we're going to lose 80% of the drivers we already have.
"I heard from one driver last week who was marked wrong on four questions when actually they were correct.
"TIt's set for everyone to fail. We've now got an accute shortage of drivers and at the weekend some people were waiting up to three hours for their taxi to arrive."
The option of taking strike action is growing ever more popular amongst drivers who feel they haven't been given appripriate opportunities to raise concerns in the consultation period.
John says he opposes that as it will cause awful disruption to the public and the but adds he will have to facilitate it if members of the association vote in favour to do so.
What does the council say?
In a statement the council said: "The consultation period for the revised taxi policy was extended at the request of members of the taxi trade so that as many comments as possible could be gathered. Two consultation meetings in November were held over Zoom due to the sheer number of attendees amid Covid concerns. At these meetings the trade were able to ask questions via the chat facility and did so. The council’s lawyer answered the questions put forward and a copy of the questions was also taken which will be used in the policy review.
"Although it was noted that some of the trade were not happy with the revised policy, this draft had been put to them via a leading external solicitor to ensure that all the necessary public safety and safeguarding issues had been picked up. The Council is very aware that the trade, both nationally and locally, is concerned about its viability following the departure of many of its drivers, and will endeavour to find a way forward that will not impact unduly on the trade, although not at the cost of public safety nor safeguarding protection of passengers.
"The comments from both the taxi trade and other stakeholders will all be taken into account in the drafting of the final version which will have to be approved by Full Council. As there is a significant governance process to go through to get to this stage, the policy has currently been scheduled for the May meeting."