Welcome back TD42, I was raging you weren't around a month or two back... I was helping an acquaintance lay a semi-solid floor, a bit of advice might have made me look like I knew how we should do it. I'm not sure that Dave was "a pig headed ignorant bastard to drivers" when they were recruiting. As I said, I had no dealings with him at all but they were all nice and pleasant (even loadsamoney) when they signed us up. It was only when they thought they controlled our ability to earn a living that they became abusive arrogant arseholes.
I don't think a drivers' representative on the board is necessary, erm. mytaxi's driver relations improved considerably after it was rid of two of the three drivers initially employed.