- Title: UNITED KINGDOM: London taxi drivers block traffic in Olympic lane protest
- Date: 17th July 2012
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JULY 17, 2012) (REUTERS) TAXIS IN FRONT OF BIG BEN, HONKING HORNS IN PROTEST
- Embargoed: 1st August 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: United Kingdom
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Politics,Sports
- Reuters ID: LVAEQ4ARA26DL497KWAA07I4JRL3
- Story Text: Hundreds of London's trademark black cabs queued up outside parliament on Tuesday (July 17) in protest over their exclusion from special traffic lanes prioritising Olympic-related traffic.
As the first wave of Olympic athletes and visitors began pouring into Britain, much of the focus is now on how London's already strained transport network will cope with the influx, and taxi drivers used their horns to send a noisy signal of their frustration.
Motorists and commuters have been braced for additional travel chaos in the notoriously congested city as the Olympic lanes come into effect.
Tuesday's protest was organised by the taxi driver's union United Cabbies Group (UCG), and Mick Bailey, chairman of the taxi division of the RMT, explained why it had his union's support.
"We're outraged at the way taxi drivers in London have been treated. We've got 25,000 wheelchair-accessible vehicles that won't be allowed to work. Taxi drivers generally won't be allowed to work, because we haven't been allowed access into the Olympic lanes. There are parts of London where taxis can't pick up on the near side, so it's impossible to pick up anyone that wants to travel to or from the Olympics if we're not allowed access to the lanes," said Bailey.
UGC spokesperson Jonathan Myers said negotiations with London and Olympic officials on the issue had been unproductive.
"They've given us a couple of concessions, but it's like cutting off our arm and giving us a finger back and saying, 'you can now go to work', you know. The concessions are just miniscule, and we want access to everywhere. And the reason we want access to everywhere is because we understand how this city works. I mean look, within ten minutes we've just blocked central London, this part of London. We know how it works, and we know that if we have access to those Games lanes it will have no effect on the Games family whatsoever," Myers told Reuters TV.
He added that restricting the movement of the taxis would drastically affect the driver's livelihoods.
"Most cab drivers will be about 40-percent down on their earnings. And it's not just about that - cab drivers will survive, we always survive - what it's about is people getting to hospitals, to the theatre, to restaurants, to work, and it's just going to prevent London functioning."
Cabbie Ross explained to Reuters why he felt it was important to join the protest.
"I'm all up for the Olympic lanes, people getting around quick. But me, as a London cab driver, who's used to using the bus lane, us being not able to drive into it is just so outrageously bad for us as cab drivers, because we've still got to do our living, we've still got to get around, and we can't get around to work with us not being able to go in the lanes," Ross said.
London Mayor Boris Johnson, however, insisted the exclusion of black cabs from the Olympic lanes was essential.
"You've got a lot of black cabs, 25-26,000 of them, you put them in the Games lanes you're really nullifying the whole value of the Games lane, you'd be destroying it, you wouldn't be able to move the athletes around, it would be a disaster," he said.
With 10 days to go until the start of the Games, concerns over London's creaking transport system, and an embarrassing shortage of security guards, have eclipsed an otherwise smooth run in to the world's biggest sporting event. But Johnson insisted such issues had to be put in context.
"If I may respectfully suggest, compared to the problems that other Olympic cities have had at this phase of the pre-Olympic preparations, we're doing very well indeed. London is better prepared than any previous Olympic city has been at this stage."
Despite the introduction of the lanes on Monday, Olympic competitors from Australia and United States experienced very long journeys of several hours travelling from Heathrow airport to the Olympic village in east London.
Unlike other vehicles, black taxi cabs are allowed to drive in bus lanes which allow them to travel across London much easier than most cars.
UGC say that two more protests are planned, including one on the opening day of the Olympics. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
