All HALT members should be aware that Colin Evans is trying to have HALT "struck off" by the FSA so that HALTS can go unchallenged with its plans to take the business away from its legitimate owners, i.e. Heathrow drivers.

If you are a HALT member, please show your disapproval of this move by emailing me at Roman@rmt.org.uk 

I will be happy to register your disapproval with the FSA on behalf of ALL HALT members.

I have been warning drivers of the dangers that we all face at Heathrow with HALTS' plans for some time now. It is now crucial that drivers realise where this is leading before it is too late. Act now, or repent later.

Once HALT is gone, say "goodbye" to Heathrow, because it will be at the mercy of "free enterprise".

You have been warned.

Colin Evans appears to be changing the rules for the new Blue Voucher system on a daily basis.

First we had the announcement that there would be no further cash payments once the Blue Voucher scheme was introduced on November 5th, 2010, and then there WOULD be cash payments after HALTS (Heathrow Taxis) was put under pressure the weekend before the launch. This was followed by yet another announcement that the cash payments would only be a temporary measure until they could cut a deal to have a credit card style system set up for drivers with no bank account.


The latest development in this sorry fiasco is the CASH ONLY payment method, wait for it......because of the SNOW!!!


The picture above was taken from the HALT notice board, and as I've said in the past, HALTS have no right to put any of their literature in the HALT notice board; it belongs to HALT members, not Colin Evans or anyone else. This picture may not be readable because of its size, so I have reproduced the text below, it states;

"Heathrow Taxis Blue Voucher Scheme


To all Heathrow drivers


The current adverse weather conditions are obviously having a negative impact on journey times and fares which is reflecting badly on our service to passengers at Heathrow, therefore, to try to alleviate the situation we have decided to implement the following payment process for all Blue Vouchers:


Cash will be paid immediately on any voucher with a value under £100. Vouchers with a value over £100 will be paid five days from the date of the voucher.
This process will apply to all driver so no bank payments will be made during this time.


This is a temporary measure until the snow and ice has cleared and we will notify you when payment for vouchers will return to normal.


We thank you in advance for your cooperation during this difficult time.


Heathrow Taxis"


What is going on here? This process will apply to ALL drivers so no bank payments will be made during this time???

Has Heathrow Taxis (HALTS) got a problem with its banking system? They claim to have signed up over 200 drivers, so why is the snow stopping payments into their accounts? I've heard some excuses in my time, but this one really does take the biscuit!!!

Any driver that takes a Blue Voucher may be taking the risk that they may never receive payment. I have previously stated that any work that comes out of the taxi desks is the property of the drivers on the rank, and I stand by that claim, but I have to say that I will personally have to think very hard whether I want to take the risk of accepting one of these vouchers when I consider the bad credit card history that certain members of the Heathrow Taxis committee have entered into. JourneyPay is just one example, and HALTPAY is another.

I have documentation that clearly shows that these people are not capable of running a secure credit card operation. So, my advice to any driver presented with a Blue Voucher is, be very careful, take it at your own risk.

I look forward to the next change of goal posts with interest. Meanwhile, keep checking RMT notices in the canteen area for further developments.

Be very lucky,

Mick Moran.

After a Freedom of Information request to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), I can reveal the Heathrow Airport Licensed Taxis Society (HALTS) signed a contract with Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL) on 1st of December, 2009.

This is a commercial agreement that is to run for 5 years, and there is a non-disclosure clause written into the contract. This means that HALTS cannot reveal any information to those who sign up to Heathrow Taxis, even though they are supposed to be "members" of this private company.
HALTS recently had its inaugural AGM where a committee was elected and it is interesting to take a look at the members of this newly formed committee.

HALTS has five directors, Colin Evans, Howard Kaye, Chris Harrison, Henry (Harry) O'Leary and Dave Eshun. Of these five directors three have been elected onto the committee; Colin Evans and Chris Harrison for three years and Dave Eshun for two years. The remaining four committee members are, Barry Pellor for two years, Kevin Nutley for one year, Waine Stapley for one year and John Styles for one year.

At next year's AGM there will be another committee election, and neither Colin Evans, Chris Harrison, Dave Eshun nor Barry Pellor will have to stand for re-election, but Kevin Nutley, Waine Stapley and John Styles will. When these elections take place the remaining directors of HALTS will be able to stand, and it is more than likely that both Howard Kaye and Henry O'Leary will both be elected.

This will mean that all five directors of HALTS will also be committee members! Barry Pellor has been very supportive of Howard Kaye for some time, so I don't think he is likely to offer any resistance to any decisions the director members of the committee make. So we will have a committee that will be able to discuss HALTS matters behind closed doors as directors and then be assured of a majority vote for any proposals they may put forward for deliberation as committee members. Democracy for the drivers? I think this is unlikely, to say the least, as the directors will always have a majority even if they have the maximum number of committee members allowed by the rules of the company, i.e. nine.

Both Howard Kaye and Colin Evans are the sole directors of Heathrow Taxis Solutions, the company that they formed to handle all credit card bookings that are created through the taxi desks. This company is a properly incorporated private company limited by shares, and the one share issue is held by HALTS, but what if the directors of Heathrow Taxis Solutions and the weighted HALTS committee decide to transfer this share to another place, or split it into a number of parts and take the benefits of any profits made by the credit card operation elsewhere? There are far too many questions over the level of control or benefit that drivers at Heathrow can expect to see with this set up.

As I've stated on many occassions, I am very concerned with the way this is going and I don't think our best interests are the true motivation behind the formation of either HALTS or Heathrow Taxis Solutions.

Colin Evans, Howard Kaye, Chris Harrison, Dave Eshun and Henry O'Leary are all acting committee members of the drivers' mutual society HALT (Heathrow Airport Licenced Taxis) along with Alfred Winn, who is the only dissenting voice. HALT still exists, and its members are being hoodwinked into believing that HALT has been demutualised and is now HALTS. This is not the case, HALT still exists as the drivers' own mutual society and has been all but abandoned by its own executive committee to serve their own purposes.

What I would like to ask the HALT acting committee members is this, why didn't they take up the offer of fixing the problems that HALT has had from day one regarding the 50% quorum level when a workable solution to the problem was put forward? A cynical person might conclude that they never really wanted the democracy for drivers that they always claimed they did want.

If the HALT unreachable quorum question had been addressed and an elected committee had been formed, it might have been possible to vote in favour of demutualisation instead of the fake change that has taken place. Any committee member that claims that the way this has been handled is either moral or legal does not deserve to hold that office and should admit that what they have done is an injustice to the drivers and the whole idea of a mutual society.

The RMT London Taxi Branch is fully committed to ridding Heathrow Airport of this injustice and will never accept the primacy that HALTS has gained with the conivance of BAA.