Foster Place

This is the office of the taxi regulator,a double fronted Georgian building.
Drivers have protested till they are blue in the face.
She is "unavalable"

Garda demonstrate how to park in Pearse St.

Nuns story Baggott St


Well on Monday I was at a loose end having overslept I missed the morning rush.
I did a bit at Heuston station and then headed into Foster Place just beside Trinity College.This rank is one of the oldest in the city of Dublin and for some reason the powers that be are planning on closing it.

Apart from that I soon found a space at the rank,then the talk started."Did you get done"?. All in all quite a few of them had been "done".

The topic of the conversation then turned up on her motorbike and blocked all the cars trying to get in and out of Foster Place.
Note book in hand she proceeded to issue tickets.
One taxi with no roof sign came up from the back and was stopped from driving out.
He said he was parked up the back and was off duty,she shouted with a roar like a cow in heat directly into the drivers face, quite disturbing really.
"Well I'll give you a ticket anyhow and you can explain it to the Judge",after a bit of argy bargy more taxis were issued with tickets.

Then a black driver with no roof sign on was allowed to drive past. Now the taunts of racism came into the equation.
It makes no sense to me,we are on the streets 24/7, we have a lot of information,if the force for law and order is seen as the enemy all will not fair well.

There are guys selling drugs quite openly on the streets, these drug dealers deal in death,their customers rob for cash to buy drugs.

DO SOMETHING ABOUT THEM.

Yet an honest person trying to earn a bad days pay is treated like a criminal.

I suppose it is very easy to write a ticket for a taxi which stops at a bus stop for a few seconds than to have to deal with a proper crime.
Why does it take 36 hours or longer to get a Garda response to a domestic break in?

I remember reporting 2 cars driving at over 120 MPH once.
The guy who took the 999 call said he could do nothing if I couldn't give him the registration numbers.
Number? I said. Man they are driving at over 120 MPH I could barley get the color.

His reply was a classic.

Are you driving while you are talking on that phone?.

The conversation ended and I never saw a police car on the motorway,I wouldn't like to have the guilt on my mind knowing I had done nothing to prevent a death from happening.

Anyhow thank God no one reads this or I would find myself locked up like the McBrearty family in Donegal.
(locked up for murder even though they since found out it was a hit and run)

Another turn of the screw for taxi drivers is the new fines which are drastic because they cover minor offenses. e250 fine for waiting outside a club or pub which doesn't have a rank,
A few drivers were done in Camden st last weekend.

I did say it and the dogs on the streets know it now.
The Garda are investigating 2 serious sexual crimes one rape and one sexual assault by taxi drivers.
They happened in a short time of each other.

It was only a matter of time before the practice of multiple un licenced drivers driving the same car would result in rape or murder.

Now all drivers will be treated as criminals.

The real criminal is in the taxi regulators office.
She knew this would happen,I told her enough times.

While I am at it why does she have such a big office, its not an embassy for Gods sake. That place should be out in the sticks on 1/10th of the rent.

Looks like its going to be a long hard summer.



Talking about hard times there was a program on bbc radio 4 on debt and bad debt in particular. look here there will be a lot of taxi drivers facing the crunch around now and its no harm to know your rights. The debt collectors are really bully boys and have driven many people to suicide. You do have rights though,so listen to the show now,7th July it might be gone in a few days.The piece near the end is the best bit.

Its not all doom and gloom....theres......theres always the chance that the sun might come out, that's the optimistic side though.
Still the rain forces people into the taxis so its an ill wind that blows no good.

Go have a read of the new bolg from San Antonio Texas