5 minute read
Work out what you want, not what you don’t want
While sitting through what at times appeared to be an endless whingefest at the two recent trade shows in Manchester and Milton Keynes, I really tried to work out what it is that the industry actually wants.
I failed completely. As an industry we seem to have a many and varied list of things we don’t like and don’t want. But the room goes rather silent when someone asks: “What do you actually want?”
Policy-makers don’t generally sit in a room and dream up stupid ideas. They listen to, engage with and try to understand how to make industries operate better. They try to remove barriers and unnecessary encumbrances, and generally achieve a balance for suppliers and the public. Clearly safety is paramount in any policy-making, but it should not be the only consideration.
SO WHY ARE WE HERE?
Much of what the industry currently moans about and wants changed were actually changes promoted by the industry itself. Let’s take cross-border hiring. The previous system, if you could call it a system, was a patchwork of original legislation and case law with some local regulations thrown in, so it ended up as almost unworkable.
Therefore, the 2015 Deregulation Act was received with open arms and gratitude. But following the realisation that it pretty much enabled any private hire driver to work anywhere in England and Wales, together with the growth in platforms to support that concept together with the emergence of super-regulators, we’ve now decided that we don’t want it after all.
There are now siren calls for the previously-derided ABBA system, whereby all bookings must start or finish in the area the vehicle and driver is licensed for. OK, let’s jump on that bandwagon, shall we, and let’s see how long the novelty of that “solution” lasts.
It doesn’t take much imagination, let alone critical analysis, or even – heaven forefend – an impact assessment to start to unpick ABBA. Using legislation or even regulation to thwart competition, which is really at the heart of many of these issues, is not their purpose. Nor is it ever successful.
The recent slew of regulatory changes, which no doubt will add bureaucracy and cost, are clearly driven not by the industry but those who have been able to scapegoat the industry with blame for many of their own failings. No one transporting the public can deny that taxis and private hire should have the highest levels of safeguarding in place.
However, it has been a skilful exercise on the parts of many of the public agencies that failed miserably to prevent serious high profile crimes even when they were reported to them that they have managed to park the “problems” and “solutions” at the door of the private hire and taxi industry. Very skilful indeed.
Therefore, I find it somewhat shocking that trade organisations “welcome” the constant flow of “guidance”. Still, I guess it beats trying to actually establish what the industry wants and needs, which may of course be the status quo, and then lobbying, campaigning and championing it.
THERAPY SESSIONS HAVE THEIR PLACE
Do we really believe that pulling a few hundred people from the industry together to provide some form of mass therapy session is useful to the industry? “My name’s Mike. I hate the local council and I don’t like filling in forms and I saw a cab from Budleigh Salterton pick up a punter in my area the other day…” If we do, then the format is probably fine.
But if we are a serious industry, turning over billions of pounds, employing hundreds of thousands of people, and the participants are people who want to maintain or build successful businesses and then exit profitably or pass on a thriving business to their children then maybe not.
HOW IS POLICY MADE? WHERE DO NEW LAWS COME FROM?
Policy leading to legislative and regulatory change will continue to be made whether or not the industry chooses to participate. Policy makers will be listening, watching and acting on the views, feedback, comments and lobbying of those who exert the energy, brainpower and yes, the time and money to effect the change they want to see. Whether those changes, those new laws, new guidance and new regulations are good for you, the person trying to build or even maintain a business is highly questionable and frankly unlikely.
That is why industries have trade associations. They don’t have them to deal with the day-to-day dross of running a business, but to ensure that their strategic interests are represented.
A good trade association is not one that fills in the forms you don’t have the patienceto fill in, phones up the council and whinges about a new one-way system or the re-siting of a rank. No siree!
Your business, your future is wrapped up in the legislative, regulatory and external environment. Simple solutions to complex problems rarely work. Everyone has an agenda and some are prepared to put their time, money, energy and expertise into making it a reality. Others simply whinge!
