Addison Lee backlash: Politicians and cyclists unite to condemn views of minicab firm boss

QUOTE:
With less than a fortnight to go before he seeks re-election, Mayor of
London Boris Johnson has described as "unacceptable" comments made by John
Griffin, the boss of minicab firm Addison Lee, about cyclists in London, as
bike riders and politicians were united in condemning his remarks. Mr
Griffin himself has issued a statement in which he defends his comments,
coming as a number of businesses were reported to have cancelled their
accounts with the business.

In a column in the current issue of company magazine Add Lib, which is
available free to the passengers of almost 4,000 minicabs and VIP cars that
Addison Lee operates in London, Mr Griffin had called for cyclists to be
subject to compulsory training and to pay non-existent 'road tax,' saying
"You want to join our gang, get trained and pay up."

News of his comments broke on Thursday evening, quickly spreading through
the cycling community and beyond, with the hashtag #boycottaddisonlee
trending on Twitter, demonstrating that in this age of social networking,
many cyclists belong to a formidable, tech-savvy group that you risk
alienating at your peril.

That has amply been demonstrated by a deluge of one-star ratings - the
lowest possible - for Addison Lee's iPhone app, responsible, the company
claims, for more than £20 million of bookings since its launch, with a
selection appearing on the I Pay Road Tax website.

Already, on Thursday evening, a number of mainly small businesses had
announced on Twitter that they planned to cancel their accounts with the
company. Unconfirmed rumours over the weekend are that Barclays, sponsor of
London's Cycle Hire Scheme and the Cycle Superhighways, as well as the
provider last month of £12 million funding to aid Addison Lee's planned
expansion, had done likewise; if true, that is a significant account to
lose.

By Friday, Mr Griffin's comments were national news, with former deputy
prime minister John Prescott, who had traded blows, figuratively at least,
with Addison Lee over the M4 bus lane while secretary of state for
transport, even tweeting a link to our original article, with the comment,
"Here's one of the reasons why I've cancelled my Addison Lee account."

Labour's shadow transport minister, Maria Eagle had urged the Mr Johnson to
"immediately distance himself from the appalling remarks about cyclists made
by Tory donor John Griffin who claims that London's Mayor entirely endorses
his view that cyclists are responsible for the numbers killed and injured on
the roads."

"Cyclists in London are increasingly worried about the threat to their
safety from the thousands of Addison Lee cars that John Griffin has ordered
to illegally use the capital's bus lanes,|" she added, quoted on the website
London 24.

"Considering this is a man who has given Boris Johnson's campaign £25,000 in
2008, and a further £250,000 direct to the Tory party, there are real fears
that the Mayor will not take the tough action needed to protect cyclists."

A spokesman for Mr Johnson, who by virtue of being Mayor of London is also
chairman of Transport for London which is seeking a High Court injunction
following Mr Griffin's authorisation to his drivers to illegally use bus
lanes, confirmed that Mr Johnson had received no donations from him in
relation to the current electoral campaign.

He added: "John Griffin's actions are irresponsible and unacceptable, and
Boris Johnson does not agree with his comments on cycling."

On Friday, as a number of customers of Addison Lee took to Twitter to state
that they had cancelled their accounts, a blog piece from Mr Griffin
appeared on Huffington Post, in which he said, "My foreword in Addison Lee's
magazine Add Lib, has caused quite a storm amongst the Twitter community,
and I'm glad it has. In the article, I argue for compulsory training and
insurance for London's bicycle owners and I still stand by my contention."

If anything, his post poured more fuel onto the fire, however, making
sweeping generalisations about cyclists "wearing flip-flops, T-shirts, a
pair of headphones on, tapping their fingers on the handlebars to the beat
of the music" and adding "we've all had to take evasive action as these
kinds of cyclists tear trough red lights" - a comment apparently made
without irony from someone who just days earlier had told his own drivers to
break the law and that he would repay their fines.

He asserted that use of headphones by cyclists should be banned. It's an
issue that splits cyclists themselves, but many would say that enforcing
existing laws that ban motorists from using mobile phones at the wheel would
be a better use of resources, and one that would have a much greater impact
on road safety.

"I regularly hear stories from my drivers about accidents they have
witnessed involving cyclists," he went on, although a search of the name of
his company on any cycling forum used by riders in London will make clear
that it is those very drivers who are regularly singled out as being among
the worst on the capital's roads.

His assertion that Addison Lee's training for its drivers "requires that
they are courteous and respectful to cyclists at all times" will at the very
least raise eyebrows of cyclists who find that claim to be entirely at odds
with their own experience.

In his original article, Mr Griffin had called for cyclists to receive
training before they were allowed on the road, failing to acknowledge that
most adult cyclists also hold driving licences and are therefore qualified
to exactly the same level as most of those driving cars.

In his follow-up piece, he lamented the passing of the cycling proficiency
test, asking, "What happened to that? Why is it not on the agenda any more?"
Mr Griffin has clearly not heard of Bikeability, which bills itself as
'Cycling Proficiency for the 21st Century.'

This morning, the Road Danger Reduction Forum issued its own response to Mr
Griffins' latest comments, stating that "this is not just one more
extremist. His views are simply versions of the dominant 'road safety'
ideology which bedevils a civilised approach to transport and real safety on
the road."

It said that Mr Griffin was consistently approaching the issue of the safety
of cyclists from the wrong angle, including his call for compulsory
training - "if anyone needs regulation to control behaviour which is
genuinely anti-social because it threatens other people's lives, it should
be that of motorist."

Another example it highlighted was his apparent view that it is cyclists who
are the main source of danger to themselves, rather than drivers who are
cocooned within vehicles capable of inflicting death or serious injury if
not driven safely.

As for media reaction to Mr Griffin's original column, the Daily Mail
focused on his call for cyclists to pay 'road tax,' including the misleading
term in its headline, compounding the error by going on to report that "he
believes they should pay for the privilege - as motorists do to drive their
vehicles."

While the newspaper did not itself provide a critique of Mr Griffin's
comments, it did include the response to them from the London Cycling
Campaign (LCC).

The Daily Telegraph also included 'road tax' in its headline and as the Mail
had done, reported Mr Griffin's words without specific comment. It did,
however, balance them with quotes from Green Party mayoral candidate Jenny
Jones, highlighting the 'Die-In' at Addison Lee's offices tomorrow evening
organised on Facebook, and from Sarah Fatica of road safety charity Brake.

The latter said that while his point about cyclists receiving better
training was a valid one, motorists needed to take special care because of
the nature of the vehicles they drive. "If a cyclist makes a mistake it is
usually the cyclists themselves who are worse off but if a motorist makes a
mistake it can lead to a number of casualties," she pointed out.

A separate blog post on the Telegraph website, however, by author and
journalist Harry Mount, did seek to demolish many of the myths that Mr
Griffin had put forward in his Add Lib piece, starting with the headline
"Bicycles don't kill people; cars do," adding, "That's what makes [Mr
Griffin's] remarks so depressing.

"In a glaring non sequitur, Griffin says that, because cab drivers are
protected by air bags and impact bars, and bicyclists have little more than
a helmet, it is then the cyclists' fault that the roads are so dangerous.
That is precisely why drivers should be particularly considerate of
cyclists. A bike can do little harm to a driver. Cars kill cyclists."

Other newspapers, such as the Guardian and the Independent, did provide a
more detailed analysis of Mr Griffin's comments, as did The Times, which
yesterday also reported that he had signed up to its Cities Fit For Cycling
campaign.

Some will view Mr Griffin's endorsement of The Times' campaign as little
more than a damage limitation exercise suggested by his PR advisers, and the
fact is that as the founder and chairman of a firm already viewed negatively
by many of the capital's cyclists, it is too little, too late.

The impression he gives is that despite his claims of being a cyclist who
uses Boris Bikes regularly, is that he remains woefully out of touch with
thousands of others who ride their bicycles in London every day, and would
like to feel safer while they are doing so.

http://road.cc/content/news/57046-ad...s-minicab-firm

--
Simon Mason

On Apr 22, 6:58*pm, "Simon Mason"
wrote:
QUOTE:
With less than a fortnight to go before he seeks re-election, Mayor of
London Boris Johnson has described as "unacceptable" comments made by John
Griffin, the boss of minicab firm Addison Lee, about cyclists in London, as
bike riders and politicians were united in condemning his remarks. Mr
Griffin himself has issued a statement in which he defends his comments,
coming as a number of businesses were reported to have cancelled their
accounts with the business.

In a column in the current issue of company magazine Add Lib, which is
available free to the passengers of almost 4,000 minicabs and VIP cars that
Addison Lee operates in London, Mr Griffin had called for cyclists to be
subject to compulsory training and to pay non-existent 'road tax,' saying
"You want to join our gang, get trained and pay up."

News of his comments broke on Thursday evening, quickly spreading through
the cycling community and beyond, with the hashtag #boycottaddisonlee
trending on Twitter, demonstrating that in this age of social networking,
many cyclists belong to a formidable, tech-savvy group that you risk
alienating at your peril.

That has amply been demonstrated by a deluge of one-star ratings - the
lowest possible - for Addison Lee's iPhone app, responsible, the company
claims, for more than £20 million of bookings since its launch, with a
selection appearing on the I Pay Road Tax website.

Already, on Thursday evening, a number of mainly small businesses had
announced on Twitter that they planned to cancel their accounts with the
company. Unconfirmed rumours over the weekend are that Barclays, sponsor of
London's Cycle Hire Scheme and the Cycle Superhighways, as well as the
provider last month of £12 million funding to aid Addison Lee's planned
expansion, had done likewise; if true, that is a significant account to
lose.

By Friday, Mr Griffin's comments were national news, with former deputy
prime minister John Prescott, who had traded blows, figuratively at least,
with Addison Lee over the M4 bus lane while secretary of state for
transport, even tweeting a link to our original article, with the comment,
"Here's one of the reasons why I've cancelled my Addison Lee account."

Labour's shadow transport minister, Maria Eagle had urged the Mr Johnson to
"immediately distance himself from the appalling remarks about cyclists made
by Tory donor John Griffin who claims that London's Mayor entirely endorses
his view that cyclists are responsible for the numbers killed and injured on
the roads."

"Cyclists in London are increasingly worried about the threat to their
safety from the thousands of Addison Lee cars that John Griffin has ordered
to illegally use the capital's bus lanes,|" she added, quoted on the website
London 24.

"Considering this is a man who has given Boris Johnson's campaign £25,000 in
2008, and a further £250,000 direct to the Tory party, there are real fears
that the Mayor will not take the tough action needed to protect cyclists."

A spokesman for Mr Johnson, who by virtue of being Mayor of London is also
chairman of Transport for London which is seeking a High Court injunction
following Mr Griffin's authorisation to his drivers to illegally use bus
lanes, confirmed that Mr Johnson had received no donations from him in
relation to the current electoral campaign.

He added: "John Griffin's actions are irresponsible and unacceptable, and
Boris Johnson does not agree with his comments on cycling."

On Friday, as a number of customers of Addison Lee took to Twitter to state
that they had cancelled their accounts, a blog piece from Mr Griffin
appeared on Huffington Post, in which he said, "My foreword in Addison Lee's
magazine Add Lib, has caused quite a storm amongst the Twitter community,
and I'm glad it has. In the article, I argue for compulsory training and
insurance for London's bicycle owners and I still stand by my contention."

If anything, his post poured more fuel onto the fire, however, making
sweeping generalisations about cyclists "wearing flip-flops, T-shirts, a
pair of headphones on, tapping their fingers on the handlebars to the beat
of the music" and adding "we've all had to take evasive action as these
kinds of cyclists tear trough red lights" - a comment apparently made
without irony from someone who just days earlier had told his own drivers to
break the law and that he would repay their fines.

He asserted that use of headphones by cyclists should be banned. It's an
issue that splits cyclists themselves, but many would say that enforcing
existing laws that ban motorists from using mobile phones at the wheel would
be a better use of resources, and one that would have a much greater impact
on road safety.

"I regularly hear stories from my drivers about accidents they have
witnessed involving cyclists," he went on, although a search of the name of
his company on any cycling forum used by riders in London will make clear
that it is those very drivers who are regularly singled out as being among
the worst on the capital's roads.

His assertion that Addison Lee's training for its drivers "requires that
they are courteous and respectful to cyclists at all times" will at the very
least raise eyebrows of cyclists who find that claim to be entirely at odds
with their own experience.

In his original article, Mr Griffin had called for cyclists to receive
training before they were allowed on the road, failing to acknowledge that
most adult cyclists also hold driving licences and are therefore qualified
to exactly the same level as most of those driving cars.

In his follow-up piece, he lamented the passing of the cycling proficiency
test, asking, "What happened to that? Why is it not on the agenda any more?"
Mr Griffin has clearly not heard of Bikeability, which bills itself as
'Cycling Proficiency for the 21st Century.'

This morning, the Road Danger Reduction Forum issued its own response to Mr
Griffins' latest comments, stating that "this is not just one more
extremist. His views are simply versions of the dominant 'road safety'
ideology which bedevils a civilised approach to transport and real safety on
the road."

It said that Mr Griffin was consistently approaching the issue of the safety
of cyclists from the wrong angle, including his call for compulsory
training - "if anyone needs regulation to control behaviour which is
genuinely anti-social because it threatens other people's lives, it should
be that of motorist."

Another example it highlighted was his apparent view that it is cyclists who
are the main source of danger to themselves, rather than drivers who are
cocooned within vehicles capable of inflicting death or serious injury if
not driven safely.

As for media reaction to Mr Griffin's original column, the Daily Mail
focused on his call for cyclists to pay 'road tax,' including the misleading
term in its headline, compounding the error by going on to report that "he
believes they should pay for the privilege - as motorists do to drive their
vehicles."

While the newspaper did not itself provide a critique of Mr Griffin's
comments, it did include the response to them from the London Cycling
Campaign (LCC).

The Daily Telegraph also included 'road tax' in its headline and as the Mail
had done, reported Mr Griffin's words without specific comment. It did,
however, balance them with quotes from Green Party mayoral candidate Jenny
Jones, highlighting the 'Die-In' at Addison Lee's offices tomorrow evening
organised on Facebook, and from Sarah Fatica of road safety charity Brake..

The latter said that while his point about cyclists receiving better
training was a valid one, motorists needed to take special care because of
the nature of the vehicles they drive. "If a cyclist makes a mistake it is
usually the cyclists themselves who are worse off but if a motorist makes a
mistake it can lead to a number of casualties," she pointed out.

A separate blog post on the Telegraph website, however, by author and
journalist Harry Mount, did seek to demolish many of the myths that Mr
Griffin had put forward in his Add Lib piece, starting with the headline
"Bicycles don't kill people; cars do," adding, "That's what makes [Mr
Griffin's] remarks so depressing.

"In a glaring non sequitur, Griffin says that, because cab drivers are
protected by air bags and impact bars, and bicyclists have little more than
a helmet, it is then the cyclists' fault that the roads are so dangerous.
That is precisely why drivers should be particularly considerate of
cyclists. A bike can do little harm to a driver. Cars kill cyclists."

Other newspapers, such as the Guardian and the Independent, did provide a
more detailed analysis of Mr Griffin's comments, as did The Times, which
yesterday also reported that he had signed up to its Cities Fit For Cycling
campaign.

Some will view Mr Griffin's endorsement of The Times' campaign as little
more than a damage limitation exercise suggested by his PR advisers, and the
fact is that as the founder and chairman of a firm already viewed negatively
by many of the capital's cyclists, it is too little, too late.

The impression he gives is that despite his claims of being a cyclist who
uses Boris Bikes regularly, is that he remains woefully out of touch with
thousands of others who ride their bicycles in London every day, and would
like to feel safer while they are doing so.

http://road.cc/content/news/57046-ad...politicians-an...

--
Simon Mason

The blog by Harry Mount, which is mentioned, has an interesting
discussion. Someone has repeated the recent R4 quote from Will Self
which I liked:-

"WILL SELF: The main thing children should be able to do is “play out”
basically … and those of us of a certain age, even in big cities,
remember when you went out the front door in the morning and you
roamed far and wide - and that doesn’t happen anymore. And why doesn’t
it happen anymore? It isn’t because of Stranger-Danger. It isn’t
because of marauding phalanxes of crazed paedophiles roaming the
streets. It’s because of cars – pure and simple. So it's something we
could do for children - which is to use our cars a good deal less,
particularly in the city, because that’s what makes it dangerous for
children to play out."

On Apr 22, 11:03*pm, Squashme wrote:


The blog by Harry Mount, which is mentioned, has an interesting
discussion. Someone has repeated the recent R4 quote from Will Self
which I liked:-

"WILL SELF: The main thing children should be able to do is “play out”
basically … and those of us of a certain age, even in big cities,
remember when you went out the front door in the morning and you
roamed far and wide - and that doesn’t happen anymore. And why doesn’t
it happen anymore? It isn’t because of Stranger-Danger. It isn’t
because of marauding phalanxes of crazed paedophiles roaming the
streets. It’s because of cars – pure and simple. So it's something we
could do for children *- which is to use our cars a good deal less,
particularly in the city, because that’s what makes it dangerous for
children to play out."

Mr Self is the geezer who drove around the M25, made a film of it and
is something of a self proclaimed petrolhead so that is quite
encouraging coming from him.

--
Simon Mason

On Apr 23, 6:29*am, Simon Mason wrote:
On Apr 22, 11:03*pm, Squashme wrote:



The blog by Harry Mount, which is mentioned, has an interesting
discussion. Someone has repeated the recent R4 quote from Will Self
which I liked:-

"WILL SELF: The main thing children should be able to do is “play out”
basically … and those of us of a certain age, even in big cities,
remember when you went out the front door in the morning and you
roamed far and wide - and that doesn’t happen anymore. And why doesn’t
it happen anymore? It isn’t because of Stranger-Danger. It isn’t
because of marauding phalanxes of crazed paedophiles roaming the
streets. It’s because of cars – pure and simple. So it's something we
could do for children *- which is to use our cars a good deal less,
particularly in the city, because that’s what makes it dangerous for
children to play out."

Mr Self is the geezer who drove around the M25, made a film of it and
is something of a self proclaimed petrolhead so that is quite
encouraging coming from him.

"PRESS RELEASE from Bikes Alive - Sunday 22 April 2012

CYCLISTS AND CABBIES TO BESIEGE HQ OF ROGUE MINICAB BOSS

At 6pm on Monday 23 April, hundreds of cyclists are due to besiege the
headquarters of London's biggest mini-cab company, Addison Lee, to
take part in a "die-in"; many cabbies are expected to show their
support.

John Griffin, boss of major mini-cab firm Addison Lee, has told his
drivers to illegally use bus lanes, since - despite his tete-a-tetes
with ministers (and his £250,000 in donations to the Tory Party) - he
has failed to get the law changed. Any such change would slow down
journeys for millions of bus passengers and for users of real taxis,
and greatly increase the dangers for cyclists. The mini-cab boss went
on to put the blame for the maiming of cyclists on cyclists
themselves, rather than on the motorists who maim them.

The initial response from Transport for London (TfL), regulator of
London's mini-cabs, has been less than robust. (By coincidence, mayor
Boris Johnson, who's in charge of TfL, has received £25,000 in
donations from John Griffin.)

So large numbers of cyclists, in a gesture of resistance to Addison
Lee's selfishness, plan to hold a "die-in" at 6pm on Monday evening at
the company's head office in William Road, London NW1 (two blocks
north of the Euston underpass).

Bikes Alive spokesperson Albert Beale said today, "This is yet another
example of the increase in threats to cyclists, and of the
unwillingness of Transport for London to prioritise the health, safety
and sanity of Londoners as a whole over the selfishness of motorists
and - in this case - of rich company bosses. Any Addison Lee drivers
who illegally follow their boss's instruction to use bus lanes may
find themselves blockaded by cyclists: many of us are convinced of the
need to actively - albeit peacefully - defend ourselves, in the face
of the anti-cyclist policies of TfL and of people like John Griffin."


NOTES

[1] Bikes Alive is a network of cyclists promoting peaceful self-
defence against traffic violence (see http://bikesalive.wordpress.com).

[2] For more on the die-in at the Addison Lee head office, contact the
event's initiator, Beth Anderson on 07769 555111.

[3] For other queries about Bikes Alive, contact Albert Beale on
020-7278 4474.

[4] Bikes Alive will be enforcing a one-hour traffic go-slow during
the evening rush-hour at the lethal junction outside Kings Cross
station on Monday 30 April, in response to current changes to the
roads at Kings Cross which not only fail to address the dangers faced
by cyclists, but actually introduce new ones. Such actions will
continue until the mayor elected that week - whoever it is - reverses
TfL policies which prioritise vehicle throughput over the safety of
non-motorised road users. The Kings Cross junction is one where (as
recently disclosed) TfL traffic planners were told to ignore cyclists.
For background to the situation at Kings Cross, see the Bikes Alive
press releases dated 11 March, 25 March, and 18 April 2012 (all Bikes
Alive press releases can be found at http://bikesalive.wordpress.com/press-releases)."