Taxi Bashings

Ingee, you are an intellectual minnow ( I love fishing and fishing related words). Your comment was irrelevant amd puerile. The post clearly demonstrated my point – YOU ARE AN IDIOT. When you have something sensible to add, please do so. Until then keep your homosexual fantasies to yourself.

But what is wrong with providing some extra manpower to keep order? Everyone knows the police need more numbers and funding. Security dealing with some of the bum jobs could do a lot to ease the stress.

Ingee’s head in the sand I hate cops comments haven’t been seen for a little while. A couple of did you knows:

1 -There is a fine if a taxi driver doesn’t help put your bags in the car.
2 – There used to be fines for standard of dress and neatness in cabs although they were repealed. Since then standards have dropped – anyone surprised?
3 – If Police actually targetted them as they suggest there would be few on the road. If you doubt this have a look at the cabs on the road – cutting people off, speeding, going through stop signs, red/yellow lights etc… They don’t exactly set an example as professional drivers.

On a similar kind of thread – The ACT could save plenty of money by setting fines for minor offences, such as common assault, offensive behaviour, low range DUI, as per other states (NSW,VIC, SA – that I know of) other than handling these through the courts (costing bucketloads. Same as a ticket if people wish to dispute it they can go to court and argue their case.

Ingee it would appear that Headbone is right… you are an idiot. You too fearlessfly. No cops in Garema Place? Idiot.

Taxi drivers in both the ACT and elsewhere are well known for their approach to Police – they will say anything to get off an infringment… or redirect the public spotlight.

While you may think that small infringments are petty these people are supposed to be professional however over the years it has been demonstrated over and over again that many fall short. Wouldn’t you prefer to have a taxi driver with all their points and to know that they are competent?

Generally speaking their driving standards are poor and their knowledge of where to go is even lower. Who hasn’t given a taxi driver directions?

As for the CT. Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story. To all the well informed that read Riot you would be able to regularly point out inconsistencies in the stories CT print. To those that can’t obviously you have your heads in the sand.

Never said it would do quell violence or stop people buying drinks… but if the Government wanted to be seen as acting, there’s a quick win for them 😛

Go cry yourself a river Headbone. When you’ve grown up enough to have a wet dream, your opinion might cound for somthing – untill then happy wanking.

Maelinar, my God! I actually agree with your original post. Thankfully it had nothing to do with fishing zones. Ingee you are an idiot.

RSA certification did not cure alcoholic fights, nor does it stop already people buying drinks.

RSA certification is an absolute joke. I have been in bars in all capital cities and a fair swag of regional centres and had absolutely no trouble purchasing drinks when I have been so tanked I could hardly speak – let alone stand up.

And now liquor laws are being reviewed in the middle of the year… Good god. Methinks the wrong issue is being looked at now.

A quick win would be to make RSA certification a requirement.. something most of the other states implemented a long time ago.

Common sense is the rarest one of all.

Its not just certain police that are missing it, but a vast segment of the general population.

vandam… I wasn’t fishing for a bite. But it is pretty pathetic of cops to issue some of the fines they have been. Antisocial behaviour by cops, no matter how much justified by strict interpretation of the law, is a misguided policy that eventually causes problems that could have been avoided by application of some commonsense.

unfortunately in my experience the 20% or so of cops who don’t possesss common sense reflect badly on the remainder.

perhaps if each drunk person involved in a fight was handcuffed to a light pole and left til morning, the police could quite the place down, without being off the street processing dickheads. They could do the same with the drug dealers, then the next morning, could go round and book them/let the go as appropriate…

If the police aren’t careful, then before you know it, we’ll end up with a gang of marauding tennis fans in Civic.

I think I get what you mean…

I agree that the police should be taking a harder line on a few things like disorderly behaviour, in an active-discouragement-prevents-future-crime model.

I’d say that the big issue driving the reluctance of police to take a really hard line on late night scub-bags would be the need to balance the issue of aprehending and processing some idiot which wuld take two cops off the street for a couple of hours minimum Vs staying out there to potentially be there to deal with somthing more serios – like stabbing’s outside Cube or somthing.

Ingee, iirc the coroner has said that the AFP were neither engaged in a chase at the time she died nor to blame.
But if freeing up police from responding to minor incidents at the taxi rank means they can do more than ‘maintain a visible presense’ and actually deal with open air dealing in Garema place most nights it would be nice.

problem with the AFP? Not me. And besides, who ever heard of somthing like a coroners report standing in the way of unverified hearsay 🙂

must remember to proff read before plessin sumbit!

The tin-foli hat brigade should take a shower when it come to wild accusations about teh CT being anti-police. Raising legitimate concerns about the inherrent incompetence and ineptitude of the AFP hardly constitutes a vendetta.

The AFP probably felt pretty comfortable with the 3 minute response claim given that there was no CCTV fottage – same as they were pretty comfortable with the claim they weren’t chasing the car the hit Clea Rose – until all the amature footage apeared to show otherwise.

I think that in the believability stakes, you’d have to trust the word of a cabbie over a cop every time – simply because they’re not under pressure to cover their lame arses.

I believe the AFP are still awaiting an official complaint from the TAXI driver that was allegedly assaulted.

I was out on the town this night and saw cops patrolling near the taxi rank before all this shit went down. I seriously doubt it took them 30 minutes to get there.

I think the point has been missed, bonfire mustve been teaching shark jumping. How about we find these cwocks who think it si appropriate to beat the folks who are happy enough to drive them home. Granted they may lick windows instead of doing something useful, but they are driving everyone home allowing the rest of use to concentrate on killing our brains with beer.
For that point alone, cabbies have my unenduring love, all bar those hands ontypes; you lot can get stuffed.

fearlessfly, Its not that they dont do bugger all, its that they dont have the resources! There are plenty of cops out there that want to get stuck into the local scum…….if only they had the time! But thats not a roster issue! thats a govt that doesn’t want to spend the money, and would much prefer to spend it on sportsgrounds, bike lanes, bike racks, artwork, and the collection of shopping trolleys! Hopefully Liberal pull their fingers out this year, so we someone else to vote for come election time!

Proud local, you should read to the end of thje article. The crimes reported that cops said 4 minutes, cabbies 30.
ive been out in civic loads of times and there are bugger all police about.cops like the safety of a car.and they do nothing about the dealing in garema place,as everyone knows.

I hear the police took their time because they had just changed shifts…They responded within 5 minutes but didnt get there within 25.

And there’s a couple of constables who apparently prey on minor discretions by taxi drivers to prop up their figures.

It’s silly when the police rely on cabbies to take drunk drivers home, and the cabbies rely on police for protection.

Can’t we just get along?

Well said Proud local,

People get all their idea’s from the media. The CT hates the Police, although it has been a little light on the ole Police sledging of late, apart from the last week!

I have to agree there are always Police in the City.

I reckon they should advertise a Police free city next weekend and see what happens! Those poor hard done by Cabbies, might change their opinion! The CT will get a good story out of it though!

It’s a well known fact that the Canberra times and the AFP don’t get along in this town. The amount of B******t that gets written in that rag about policing is ridiculous. They wrote that police took 30 minutes to get there that night when it was only 3. Typo or gross exaggeration!?

Also the cops pretty much police that rank for about 75% of each Friday and Saturday night. You will see them standing directly opposite with their vehicles just waiting for trouble to start anywhere in the general vicinity and put it out smartly.

They DO have other parts of town to patrol though and can’t be there 100% of the time but the cabbies are getting a pretty good deal never the less.

Also, has stated before, the cabbies involved in this brawl voluntarily got involved then complained caused they got hurt! If you are not prepared to get hurt then don’t step in to break up fights people….. harsh but fair.

The Canberra times nor the Cabbies get no love from me I’m afraid. We usually cut taxis a break on the road too, might have to re-evaluate that stance.

Just one small point about there being one or two cab companies. A tiny bit of investigation will reveal that each taxi is a business entity. The previous name for Canberra Cabs, “Aerial Taxis Co-operative” gives a better clue. These co ops are formed so that you don’t have to phone all two hundred (or whatever) cabs to find a vacant one near you.
These co-operatives are riddled with problems. One cab driver said to me once, “You’ve got a multi-million dollar a year business being run by a bunch of broken down hacks who cant get a real job.” That, and good old human greed and avarice, are the root causes of Canberra’s taxi woes.

JD114,
I konw your fishing for a bite, but beta get your facts right first! in the last week 10 tickets were issued to cabbies! From the start Cabbies, have made this bigger than it needed, purely to get the Govt to do something. i suspect it may have something to do with the bad press recently with cabbies and their wandering hands!

According to the Canberra Times today it seems the cops are acting like little cry babies, petulant pricks apparently. One would expect a bit more maturity than a high school level of retribution for a perceived slight following their dragging of the heels the other night…

How about putting in a boom-gate like at the air port and hitting the customers for the $2 or whatever it costs the cabbie – that money could fund the purchase of a bloody big stick which could be used to administer punishment to people stupid enough to be out drunk in town after mid-night.

Guys, there are now TWO taxi companies operating in Canberra. Canberra/Elite Cabs, and Cabxpress.

Security was provided by Canberra/Elite previously, until Cabxpress entered into the game. As soon as this happened, Canberra/Elite pulled their security guards.

No point saying ‘the taxi company should pay’ when there’s more than one around.

I hope the taxi marshals all have personalities like Lleyton Hewett: then that’ll make things interesting for all involved.

No longer will young or vulnerable women be (allegedly) molested by taxi drivers while alone…
Young or vulnerable drunk women can instead get molested by someone who lives nearby, because the Marshalls hook them up together?

Which is roughly how the Action Nightrider service operated, was it not? (only cheaper)

And there was talk of a fixed cost per passenger arrangement. For example, if the cab companies agree that a fare to the outer limits of Belconnen is worth $40, and the taxi takes four passengers, then each passenger pays $10.

The point you’re all missing is that part of this plan is to enable the Taxi marshalls to organise mass bookings of taxis to the suburbs.

“Mr Barr said the Nightlink trial, which will start in about a month if agreement is reached tomorrow, will see special marshals organise rides so that people travelling in the same general direction travel together, thereby reducing the time that patrons have to wait for a taxi.”

I have to agree. It smacks of corporate welfare and should be a cost of doing business just as hiring a bouncer is for a nightclub etc. We will pay for it one way or the other either through taxes or fares.

What about targetting the problem rather than the bandaid solution.

I think this should be funded by the Taxi company. Surely they are responsible for the wellbeing of their staff.

Taxi drivers must be the most pampered group in Australian society, after the Irwin family.

Why can’t Canberra Cabs fork out for this?

Where did I go wrong to make it like this ?

Or is that just too much UB40 in one sentence ?

better mael?

I hate links.