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TLC bosses threatening inspectors if they don’t seize enough cars

TLC chiefs are threatening inspectors with summons quotas and other stiff punishments if they don’t take enough illegal cabs off the road, according to roll-call recordings obtained by The Post.

One Taxi and Limousine Commission boss says in a recording that because inspectors didn’t seize enough cars during a Manhattan shift, he would pressure them by issuing a target number of summonses a day.

“You are going to be doing 15 summonses a day … I’ll ride you for a week. If you see that you’re not getting the seizures, you see you’re not getting enforcement … then start with the street hails,” he says on the tape.

He then tells the officers they’ll pay a hefty price if they don’t ramp up the summonses by having to work day shifts following an overnight.

“You will work Monday overnight, then I want you back here at 1:00 [p.m.] on the second day. Tuesday you come in at 1:00, then finish at 10:00, and I want you back here at 5:00, then you leave at 2:00,” he said.

One officer reminds the higher-up that they are allowed eight hours between shifts, as well as time to travel home.

“They’re going to make you miserable,” the boss says. “The bottom line is, you live in Staten Island, report to Manhattan.”

In another recording, a boss tells his inspectors to protect themselves by seizing enough cars.

“You gotta cover yourself,” he says. “The whole bottom line is to cover yourself.”

The TLC said more than 9,600 cars were seized last year — almost 70 percent more than the previous year.

But TLC sources say many seizures were bogus, didn’t have reasonable cause, and were done to fend off pressure from higher-ups.

A Turkish-American man taking his neighbors to the airport and a Chinese chauffeur driving his boss to errands have spoken out recently after their cars were seized.

Teamsters Local 237, which represents law-enforcement officers at the TLC, is hoping new Commissioner Meera Joshi will step in to help.

Local 237 President Greg Floyd and other union officials met with Joshi on June 2 and played the recordings for her.

“I have brought all of the issues to the TLC commissioner, and I am eagerly awaiting action to be taken,” Floyd said.

Randy Klein of Local 237 said he hopes she will clean house. “The ideal situation is they treat them like human beings, they are trained well, and have the tools to protect themselves and the public,” he said.

TLC spokesman Conan Freud said the agency takes the allegations very seriously.
“We do not condone unprofessional behavior. We will do a thorough investigation.”

With Chris Perez