Sunday 29 July 2012

The Anderson Shelter

So sorry to see that The Anderson Shelter has been taken down!

There was speculation that it had been attacked by hackers, but this is not the case. The site was taken down by Jim Thomas, the blogs owner, for personal reasons. Even so, it is a sad day for London taxi drivers as The Anderson Shelter was a hard hitting site that challenged many of the threats that have befallen the trade over recent years.

Jim, himself a very "in your face" activist, never gave up his fight to expose some of the more blatant wrongs that the London taxi trade has had to endure. The implementation of satellite minicab offices was one of the main issues, and it was only when a document called the Safer Travel at Night (STaN) was discovered on the internet, two years after it had been drafted, that the realisation finally dawned on the trade that the licensing authorities had some very disturbing plans up its sleeve.

I won't go into detail about this issue here because it is only one of many, and the purpose of this post is to express my regret at the passing of The Anderson Shelter. Suffice to say, I do hope that Jim can find the strength and determination to come back with something similar. It is hard to expect someone to put so much effort into such an undertaking, but Jim just seems to be better at this than most of us.

Good luck for the future, Jim, and enjoy your "new found freedom".