TfL questions cabbie’s fitness to hold a licence after social media accusation made by fellow taxi driver
A London taxi driver has had his fitness to hold a licence questioned by Transport for London (TfL) after a fellow cabbie accused him on social media of refusing a fare, according to the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA).
Lloyd Baldwin, Executive Senior Officer at the LTDA, revealed the incident in TAXI newspaper. The driver, who visited the LTDA’s Taxi House visibly distressed, denied refusing the fare and explained the situation to representatives.
The driver recalled the passenger becoming frustrated when he asked for more details about a destination he was unfamiliar with. The passenger then chose to take another taxi behind him. The second cabbie, believing the first driver had ‘broomed’ the job, took to social media to accuse him and vowed to ‘make him famous’.
TfL subsequently contacted the accused driver to question his fitness to hold a licence after seeing the tweet. Baldwin noted this is the first known case of TfL acting on a social media post made by another cabbie.
Baldwin also highlighted another recent case where a driver was accused by a fellow cabbie of dangerous driving after performing a U-turn. Dashcam footage, reviewed by the LTDA, showed no wrongdoing.
He urged drivers to think carefully before posting about colleagues online, stressing that such disputes should be handled with direct communication rather than through social media or formal complaints.
Lloyd Baldwin said in TAXI newspaper: “I had a very distressed and upset cabbie come into Taxi House last week telling me that Transport for London had written to him informing him that they were calling into question his 'Fitness to be Licensed' after they had seen a tweet in which another cabbie had accused him of brooming a fare.
“He did nothing of the sort and did not refuse or broom the job. TfL informed him they had done this after seeing a post on a social media platform. He explained that he remembered the incident and it was the fare who refused to go with him. He had inadvertently upset the lady fare by not knowing her destination. When I asked and he told me the place that had been asked for neither myself, nor the other cabbies who work at the LTDA had ever heard of it.
“When he asked the fare for a bit more information about the destination, the lady announced, ‘I’m not going with you’, and walked to the cab behind. The customer then got in the cab behind, and after a minute or so (which may have been because that cabbie was trying to nail down exactly where it was the lady wanted) they left, and as they did the other cabbie opened his window, accused our member of brooming the job, and shouted he would make him famous.
“I don’t need to go into the dangers of cabbies tweeting, Facebooking or whatever social media platform you prefer as I’ve written about it many times, but this is the first time I’m aware of that TfL have questioned our member over a tweet. This tweet was posted by a cabbie, who believed exactly what the lady fare had said and took it upon himself to post her version of events.
“On the very rare occasion, I have had a fare come up to my cab and announce they would not take the cab in front because he didn’t know the destination. When this happened, I would simply get out and talk to the cabbie. I would then get a feeling if he was brooming or genuinely didn’t know the place asked for. It would not even enter my mind to jump straight on social media and dig out another cabbie on the strength of what someone told me had happened without knowing the true facts.
I have also recently helped a member who has had another cabbie complain about him for doing a U-turn in front of him. Our member had dash cam and emailed the footage into me. The team at the LTDA watched it and we all agree it shows he did absolutely nothing wrong, but if you read what he is accused of, you would have thought he had nearly killed the other cabbie.
“I’ve had the odd altercation and crossed words with another cabbie over the nearly 30 years of driving a cab, as I’m sure all that are reading this have, but I would never consider running to TfL for what happened in this instance.”
