Taxi drivers ordered to remove the Cross of St George from their cabs

Over at the Express, a really quite disgraceful story. Apparently, taxi passengers in Southampton had complained foreign drivers could not understand English. So a group of drivers put St George’s Cross stickers in their cars, bearing the slogan “English Speaking Driver”.

Southampton Council has called them racists, and said that they will remove their licences - i.e. their livelihoods - if they don't remove the signs.

As I said in the Express, I think that Southampton Council should leave these taxi drivers alone. Do they not have more important things to be dealing with than enforcing pointless rules and petty complaints?

If a driver put up a sign saying they spoke Urdu, French or German, this decision would never have been made.

What does the other side say? Ged Grebby, of Campaign group “Show Racism the Red Card”, says

I don’t have a problem with displaying the cross of St George but the ‘English speaking driver’ part is where it crosses the line into racism.

To show what total nonsense that is, let's try this with just one change:

I don’t have a problem with displaying the cross of St George but the ‘Telagu speaking driver’ part is where it crosses the line into racism.

Not only would nobody complain. I imagine it would be thought laudable and helpful by Grebby and her ilk, and any attempt to stop it would be opposed.

I'm left wondering - (1) how we ever let things get this far, when councils would intrude into the lives of residents in such an absurd way; (2) how anyone on said council could actually think that it was right to do so; (3) why some people in this country hate our own language and flag so much.

By Alex Deane

Comments

[Sandy]

This is crazy.

[Adrian]

Call me silly, but isn't racism about race, not about language?

Or has this been stupidly classed as racism because there is no such thing as 'languagism'

[Jonathan]

The problem doesn't lie with the cross but with the phrase. It denigrates foreign drivers who have problems with the english language. Foreign integration is another issue and should not be brought into this story.

I am disappointed by Big Brother Watch, this article concentrates on the issue of the stickers whereas I would have expected BBW to focus on the fact that the punishment is inappropriate and harsh.

[Purlieu]

So now it's wrong and "racist" to say "English spoken here" well is it racist to have a sticker in the cab saying "ici on parle Francais" or "Deutsch hier gesprecht" in order to help foreign tourists etc.

[lonny]

If they want to win this one how about
Native tongued driver ?

[Endivio Roquefort I]

"The problem doesn't lie with the cross but with the phrase. It denigrates foreign drivers who have problems with the english language."

No it doesn't. To say that you speak English does not in any way denigrate people who speak another language, just as saying you are left-handed does not denigrate people who are right-handed. That argument, I'm afraid, is just plain daft.

What it might do is put non English-speaking drivers at a competitive disadvantage. In this way, it's no different from, say, advertising that your car has air-conditioning, which might (in a hot country, or in hot weather) give you a competitive advantage over drivers whose cars don't have this feature. In which case the simple solution would be, for the drivers who are losing out: learn the facts of life. Face the competition. Install air conditioning, learn English, whatever it takes. It's just the law of the marketplace, and certainly nothing that a Council has any right to interfere in.

[John]

As a tourist in a unknown town it can be very hard to get to where you want to go, and taxi drivers are usually a good source of information. Ive had an experience of a none english speaking driver in my home town and he ended up in the wrong place. I refused to pay more than the usual amount because our nations immigration laws are inadequate and leave us with people who cannot communicate in our native tongue. I respect the drivers for having the guts to tell people what they want to here. Something the monarchy was brilliant at but the government is of no use.