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Mick: We’re complaining about TfL. They’re not enforcing their own laws that are there to protect the public and the people that they license. As a result, it puts those of us that are actually obeying those laws at a disadvantage.
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Everyone seems to think it’s about Uber and it isn’t. Uber is a symptom, TfL is the disease. If Uber want to comply to the rules that are in place, then it’s fine. We welcome legitimate competition.What do you hope to get from the protest today?
We hope to persuade TfL to do their job properly. They drafted their own private hire act in 1998 and they’re not enforcing it. Leon Daniels [TfL's Managing Director] is on £600,000 a year; there’s 370 people on £100,000 a year in TfL, and they can’t interpret their own act. They’re not fit for purpose.So it’s not about having competition?
No, it’s to do with unfair competition. If the private hire industry, including Uber, obey the laws that’s fine, but they don’t. The media seem to think this is all about taxis not wanting unfair competition from Uber but the LPHCA, our competition, are actually supporting us today. Because it’s about TfL and they’re as unhappy with them as we are.

Banana: My name is Peter Penfold. I’m The Banana Man of the London taxi drivers and I raise money for the charity, Kids Integrated Cancer Treatment (KICT).
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Basically, all the taxi drivers support the children with cancer so I’m out here today supporting their cause as well. Unfortunately, Boris Johnson and all them don’t really give a shit, SHIT, they don’t give a shit about the working man and they don’t give a damn about anything to do with kids with cancer. These hard-working cab drivers have supported our cause, so I’m here today to support them now.



Bill: This is all about TfL’s failure to implement the private hire act. We’ve been forced into a corner by Boris Johnson and, in particular, Peter Hendy. What did he get his knighthood for? For services to London transport in the 7/7 attacks and the Olympics. Well hang on, he messed up the Olympics because it was gridlocked and secondly, he got paid for his work during the 7/7 attacks. Licensed taxi drivers worked for free, we didn’t benefit from a terrible act. Where’s my knighthood?!
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Boris, in his infinite wisdom, has chosen to get into bed with corporate America. The biggest problem with the whole thing is that people in this area don’t realise that it's not about Uber, it’s about corporate America taking over Britain by stealth and not paying into the exchequer.What do you think about Uber?
Uber are registered in Holland so what legal right do they have to be registered as a private hire company when it doesn’t actually have any private hire vehicles? They are not a private hire company. We pay our fair whack – fuel duty, taxes on our vehicles, VAT. They don’t. Do we, the 26,000 cab drivers, register themselves as businesses in Holland to avoid tax and fiddle the system? It seems like it’s fairly simple to do.

