Uber Apologizes For “Imperfect (And Fictitious)” Explanation Of Rapes And Sexual Assaults Claims.

On Monday, Uber walked back a core explanation for the thousands of tickets in its customer support ticket system with the subject “rape.” This change in position comes less than a day after a BuzzFeed News published screenshots from Uber’s Zendesk-based customer support system showing thousands of tickets containing the word “rape.” Our report led to Uber's revelation that the company receives 5 claims of rape and 170 claims of sexual assault  directly related to an Uber ride as inbound tickets to its customer service database between December 2012 and August 2015.

Uber responded with a letter signed by three key executives. It directly referenced the Zendesk screenshots and claimed these were “highly misleading” and contained false matches. It offered three explanations for the prevalence of the word “rape” in its system. The second of these stated: “Any email address or rider/driver last name that contains the letters R, A, P, E consecutively (for example, Don Draper) are included.”

However, that turned out not to be right. Today, at approximately 1:10 p.m. Pacific Time, Uber updated its letter with the following:

* An earlier version of this post stated that “ Any email address or rider/driver last name that contains the letters R, A, P, E consecutively (for example, Don Draper) are included. After analyzing the data, we found more than 11,000 rider names and 17,500 rider emails with the letters ‘rape’”.

Zendesk, one of our customer support platforms, contacted us to say that their search tool would not return a name such as “Don Draper” when searching for the word “rape.” However, such a search would (and did) return names that start with the letters R,A,P,E — even if the ticket itself had nothing to do with a claim of rape. We apologize to Zendesk for using an imperfect (and fictitious) example that doesn’t accurately represent their search functionality. This does not impact our analysis of the overall numbers, which was based on a manual review of these tickets rather than a simple keyword search.

The update came following an investigation by BuzzFeed News. Yesterday evening, BuzzFeed contacted Zendesk to specifically ask about its search query capabilities. After failing to get a response, BuzzFeed News called and stopped by the company’s headquarters. Following that visit, Zendesk notified Uber of the error.

Uber’s update notes, “We apologize to Zendesk for using an imperfect (and fictitious) example that doesn’t accurately represent their search functionality.”

Prior to the update from Uber, BuzzFeed News had already learned that the Zendesk system did not work in the way Uber claimed in its original statement, and had reached out to Zendesk for confirmation and comment. It is unclear at what point it contacted Uber

Source Buzzfeed.

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Lose A Little...Gain A Lot : by I'm Spartacus

A young child has sadly become victim to a fatal accident, which took place at Hyde Park Gate, at 18:10hrs last night. The 1 year old boy was being pushed by his mother in a buggy when the collision occurred.

He was immediately taken to a central London hospital by London Ambulance, where he later died at 21:50hrs.

Again people rage and ask who cares and what's going to be done?

Well if your looking to TFL to galvanise themselves, don't waste your breath, the bottom line either in licence fees or operator profits trump any moral duty to public safety.

Here's my proposal:

The use of hands free phones and data terminals to be banned in moving vehicles, to use them you must be legally parked or in our case on a rank, engine off. After all it's only what the Highway Code recommends  all distraction is dangerous.

What about the radio circuits and apps I here the cry go up, well so what, if they cared about public safety they would endorse this, I will also say if they cared about the future of the trade rather than their own short term interests they would be sitting around a table thrashing out a merger. One circuit, One App, One number.

What about your phone calls discussing the football or bedroom gymnastics with your partner(or even someone else's), they can wait until your safely parked.

What about PH in town, well that's a problem for them and if they can't park legally, they need to use a car park, after all they shouldn't be in the CC zone without a booked job (OK stop laughing now!).

So here's something to come together about, don't let me persuade you, let the thought of that little child lying in intensive care compel you.

I'm Spartacus

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Taxi debit card scam strikes again

After a night out with friends, the Toronto man flagged a cab at King Street West and Spadina Avenue to his destination in the Junction. It seemed totally normal, he told CBC News. 

"The cab ride wasn't memorable. I just took a cab, paid with debit and went home," Ramsey said. "It was just the next morning I woke up and saw that I had a different debit card, and then tried to log into my online banking and I couldn't."

The driver had apparently swapped his green TD Bank card with a similar one that didn't belong to Ramsey.

"I wasn't even charged for [the cab ride]," he said.  "I don't think the debit machine he used was a real debit machine. So there's no paper trail of me ever being there."

It's a scam Toronto police have seen before, but they believe it's being perpetrated by only a "small number" of drivers. 

"People have been drinking so they take a cab and they've got their friends with them, they hand the cards to the suspect," Const. Michael Kiproff said.  

"They do their thing and when they're handed a card back, they just assume it's their card and put it in their pocket and leave."

Dozens of victims

In January, police issued a warning about this type of scam, which they say targeted dozens of victims over a period of just a few weeks. 

At the time, Det. Chris Beattie, the lead investigator in the case, said it is not clear whether those involved are legitimate taxi drivers with major cab companies or just fraudsters pretending to be cabbies.

But, he added, it's best to beware of cabs that don't have a familiar name or logo. Ramsey can't remember for sure what kind of taxi he hailed the night of the theft. 

Police got wind of the fraud in mid-December when a TD Bank fraud investigator reported a pattern of 12 incidents in which cab riders saw more than $55,000 taken from their accounts

A similar scam led to charges in Montreal last year. One victim, Julie Piesina told CBC News how hundreds of dollars disappeared from her account after she paid for a cab with her bank card. 

And in the summer of 2014, Peel Regional Police warned of a similar scam  happening with both limousines and taxis out of Pearson International Airport.

In Ramsey's case, the person who stole his card made 12 withdrawals from his account, but also deposited $5,000 in cheques. About $3,000 of those fraudulent funds are still sitting in his account while the bank investigates. The stolen card is now frozen

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Blood On Their Hands...TfL Ignore Calls For PH Drivers To Take Advanced Driving Test.

A toddler has been rushed to hospital after being hit by an Uber minicab in a rush hour crash, yards from Hyde Park.

Emergency services were called to Hyde Park Gate, off High Street Kensington, shortly after 6pm.

Police said the boy, thought to be around two years old, had been taken to hospital for treatment. Officers could not immediately confirm the seriousness of his condition.

A spokeswoman for the London Ambulance Service said paramedics treated the child for a head injury.

Roads were closed as police investigated the circumstances of the collision. The driver stopped at the scene, police said.

Calls For TfL Privare Hire Drivers To Take Advanced Driving Test

Calls for all Private Hire drivers to take advanced driving tests like Licensed Taxi drivers have to take, have been ignored by TfL bosses. 

Last week five motorcyclists were mowed down by TfL licensed minicab drivers. One fatal collision happened at the junction with Farrier Street just before 8.17pm on Saturday night.

Last night Regent Street had to be closed off, as a Toyota with TfL roundals collided with traffic lights and a bus, while doing an illegal u-turn.

The amount of minicab carnage on London's streets is escalating at an extremely fast rate. 

Every week over 700 new PH drivers add to the chaos as drivers, clueless to where they're going, frequently take their eyes off the road ahead to study their sat nav. 

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Time Is Running Out Fast....You a Need To Pledge Now.

For many years the trade has called for TfL to be dragged into court. When asked where the money would come from to pay for this, the answer always came back "the drivers could put in x amount each and we would soon have enough"

For he first time ever in the history of the trade, the drivers have been asked to put up dosh. X amount turns out to be £24. Unfortunately  over 21,000 drivers have ignored the campaign.

Soon it will be too late, and the 21,000 drivers will have no one to blame except themselves. 

Many drivers have gone far passed what was expected of them. One driver has pledge £1,000. 

Many of my friends, some who will be retiring in a matter of months, one who has already retired, have pledged. 

Please take a few minutes to watch these 2 videos below, which we hope will fire up your passion. 

It's not to late, but time is running out fast. You need to pledge, but you need to do it now. 

   

   

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Uber Driver Involved In Shocking "Kill All The Jews" Anti-Semitic Attack On School Bus, Relicensed By LTPH

Everyone was shocked when the new broke in the Daily Mail that criminal record checks were BANNED on foreign murderers and rapists who want to be minicab drivers if they have applied for asylum or refugees status. 

We were also told by the Mail that asylum seekers/refugees applying to be cab drivers are not being fully checked.

• 
  
• Driver applicants usually undergo enhanced DBS criminal records checks for the public's safety. As this cannot be done when those from outside the EU apply, they must provide a letter of reference from their home nation. 
• But the Daily Mail made it clear that refugees and asylum seekers are exempt and may be serious criminals.
• 
  
• General Manager of LTPH Helen Chapman, hit back by saying (on many occasions) that every applicant for a private hire drivers licence must undergo an enhanced DBS check. Chapmans statement has been repeatedly posted on Twitter. 
• 
  
• But it would now appear that this isn't the case and these checks are not being carried out comprehensively when it comes to PH drivers. 
• 
  
• We now find that a private hire driver, working for Uber, waiting for a serious court case to be heard which involved shocking anti-Semitic abuse and violence towards a bus driver and a group of Jewish school children, has had his licence renewed by TfL.
• 
  
• What happened to the enhanced DBS check in this case Helen?
• Are Uber drivers being given preferential treatment Helen?
• 
  
• A couple of years ago Taxi Leaks broke the story of an asylum seeker, wanted in Rwanda, in connection with a million person genocide by the war crimes commission, who had been licensed by LTPH to drive a minicab and was working for an operator in east London. 
• 
  
  
• We also posted a story about Taliban fighters who were working as minicab drivers to raise money to fight in Afghanistan. Plus we all remember the killer on the knowledge saga.
• 
  
• This recent case published in the Hackney Gazette, explained that an Uber driver,  Rashal Miah, 36, shouted he would “kill all the Jews” after a fit of road rage in September 2014.

  After getting stuck in traffic, Miah got out of his Mercedes and confronted the driver in front of a bus full of young children and was then arrested after policed rue summoned to the scene.

  But while waiting for his case to be heard, Miah's PH licence expired in the 11/01/2016. Even though he had this case in the pipeline his licence was renewed by LTPH. Miah was handed a 28-week sentence suspended for one year, after last month being found guilty of racially aggravated harassment.

  The question now needs to be asked

  WHAT HAPPENED TO MR MIAH'S ENHANCED DBS CHECK? 

  Drivers have asked this question on the TfLTPH Twitter account and been told they were unaware of the case which would be passed on to TfL intelligence ....what ever that is. 

  

  When drivers pointed out that Mr Miah was still shown on the TfL licence checker site as still holding a PHV licence.

  
  
  

  Unsurprisingly, when we try to check the validity of this claim, we found that the site had been taken down over the weekend.

  
  
  
  News Flash:
  TfL's Licence Checker site is now back up and it appears the Rashal Miah is still a licensed PH driver 
  
  
          Screen shot taken 14: 20, today
  
  
  

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Bank of America, Morgan Stanley Selling Uber Shares to Clients.

Bank of America Corp. and Morgan Stanley are selling shares in Uber Technologies Inc. to their high-net worth clients, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Shares in the car-booking technology company are being priced at about $49 a share, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. Bank of America's Merrill Lynch is restricting its sales to clients with a net worth of more than $100 million and is asking for a minimum purchase of $1 million, the person said. Morgan Stanley is requiring them to buy at least $250,000 in Uber shares, the person said.

Banks offer shares in many of the hottest private companies to investors who want to buy in before an initial public offering. Securities firms sometimes use these share sales to cement ties with nonpublic companies in the hopes of winning a prized underwriter spot in an eventual IPO.

Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Uber declined to comment. CNBC first reported that Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley are selling shares to clients. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., an early Uber investor, has previously sold convertible debt in the company to some of its private clients.

Bloomberg reported a financing round in December that valued Uber at $62.5 billion, which is more than about 80 percent of companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. Uber has raised more than $10 billion since it was founded in 2009.

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