News

London Taxi driver Charlie Green has decided to call it a day having spent 60 glorious years working throughout the capital.

Born in Stepney, London in 1925, Charlie joined the cab trade having spent five years (1942 to 1947) in the army. As a second generation family member to become a taxi driver, Charlie thought his keen eye for detail, razor sharp wit and profound interest in human nature would make him ideally suited for a career in the taxi industry. He went on to study and pass the Knowledge test in 1948, and soon found himself sitting behind the wheel of a Chinese upright courtesy of cab firm London General at 1 Brixton Road, SW9.

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On Friday 31^st October at 5pm, Mann & Overton London confirmed that they had made telephone contact with and appointed all but eight of the owners of the 673 TX4’s who have had their licences suspended by the PCO.

Several attempts have been made to reach the remaining eight, both by phone and letter, during recent weeks, but without success or response.  All eight were therefore written to again by M&O London last Friday and given firm appointments and booking references for this coming Friday 7th November.

By the 11^th November Mann & Overton London had completed the rework programme on all affected TX4s, one day ahead of schedule. In total all the affected TX4s that have had their licences suspending both in London and in the rest of the UK have now been allowed back on the road for hire.

Dealers are now concentrating on the remaining TX4s in an effort to have the LTI recall action completed upon all of them during as short a time period as possible.

LTI continues to discuss with all the concerned parties the liability for the root cause of the under bonnet fires and hopes to be able to communicated the results of those discussions very soon so that compensation claims can be processed.

In the meantime drivers should continue to follow the LTI suggestion from previous statements:

In the event that any person believes that they have suffered loss as a result of the recent events we suggest the following practical actions: -

• Record and keep evidence of all losses;
• Do what you can to reduce losses, e.g. sharing/hiring a taxi when your usual vehicle is actually affected;
• Consider who has actually caused the losses to occur;
• Wait until the losses have come to an end (or at least can be determined) before making a claim, so that, if recoverable, some of the losses are not missed by making a claim too soon;
• In any letter of claim set out in as much detail as possible the following: -
  • Details of the vehicle affected and in particular the Vehicle Identification Number (”VIN”);
  • The circumstances of the claim, for example the date and time when the vehicle is alleged to have been out of use;
  • Any alleged losses; how they were calculated; and documentation in support;
  • Servicing history;
  • What efforts were made to minimise the losses
  • Receipts of purchase.

LTI have continued to investigate the under bonnet fires that have occurred on early build TX4s.  These investigations have provided further insight into the root causes of the fires.  Sufficient evidence has been gained for LTI to update the range of solutions designed to stop the type of under bonnet fires that have been experienced in the 12 early build TX4s.  These comprise the following.

• Replace the Exhaust Gas Recirculation pipe
• Install a heat shield over the Exhaust Gas Recirculation pipe
• Install a formed steel cover to encase the NVH pad.  This will prevent the NVH pad detaching from the bulkhead and provide additional shielding from heat sources in the engine bay.
• Thoroughly inspect all pipe runs and wiring for evidence of unusual wear and replace as necessary

The revised rework plan will commence on TX4s from VIN 200540 and LTI has confirmed to the PCO the details of this change point.  TX4s with a VIN prior to 200540 were built with a different design of NVH pad and will be subject to the original rework programme, which will be due for completion week commencing 27th October 2008. This latest rework programme meets the approval of the Public Carriage Office.

LTI will continue to employ the services of Sigma who are based at Mann & Overton London to supplement LTI and M&O personnel and will utilise 30 ramps and an appropriate number of technicians to conduct the rework.  Planning and trialling of the process has commenced and LTI are targeting an increased capacity of 300 per week when the process is stable, the technicians are trained and parts supply is able to support this rework rate.  LTI will liaise with the PCO over the coming days to finalise the duration of the revised rework plan with which it is anticipated all suspended TX4s will be reworked by the 12th November 2008.

In London Mann & Overton will continue to contact drivers while outside of London drivers will be contacted by their dealer in VIN ascending order to book the TX4 in for the rework to be carried out.

Once the rework has been completed in London the driver will be issued with a certificate, updated from the certificate issued for the original rework, the design and content of which has been agreed with the PCO.  The certificate will certify that the rework has been completed to LTI’s technical and quality standards.

The revised rework plan will also be implemented in respect of all other TX4s.  LTI will continue its efforts to complete the work on all TX4s as quickly as possible and will keep the PCO fully informed of its progress.

Now that LTI have further insight and sufficient evidence into the root causes of the fires LTI can now progress discussions to look at where responsibility lies for the losses that various parties (including LTI) have suffered.

In the event that any person believes that they have suffered loss as a result of the recent events we suggest the following practical actions: -

• Record and keep evidence of all losses;
• Do what you can to reduce losses, e.g. sharing/hiring a taxi when your usual vehicle is actually affected;
• Consider who has actually caused the losses to occur;
• Wait until the losses have come to an end (or at least can be determined) before making a claim, so that, if recoverable, some of the losses are not missed by making a claim too soon;
• In any letter of claim set out in as much detail as possible the following: -
  • Details of the vehicle affected and in particular the Vehicle Identification Number (“VIN”);
  • The circumstances of the claim, for example the date and time when the vehicle is alleged to have been out of use;
  • Any alleged losses; how they were calculated; and documentation in support;
  • Servicing history;
  • What efforts were made to minimise the losses;
  • Receipts of purchase.

Once again LTI would like to thank drivers for their patience during this difficult time and can assure them that all possible progress is being made to get them back to work as soon as possible.