Uber accuse Taxis Of Overcharging Wheelchair Customers And Announce Their LandLine Exemption By TfL.

Uber, lying to the public.

In their announcement earlier this month uber state quite falsely, that two thirds of Wheelchair users have been unfairly over charged by Taxis and private hire. 

As we know, in respect of Taxis, wheelchair users pay the same fare as everyone else. But then let's not forget the Ubergate tapes that have shown this company is being coached by TfL Managing Director Leon (turn on off insurance, Yes they have a land line) Daniels.

This below has been taken from Uber's website.

Existing accessible private hire vehicles often require booking hours – and sometimes days – in advance and Scope’s 2015 Extra Cost Commission reported research from the Department of Transport showing that almost two thirds of wheelchair users have been unfairly overcharged in a taxi or private hire vehicle.

Notice again, the inference that Uber do not do pre bookings. (The subject of the first Ubergate email scandal)

A document has recently appeared on Twitter, showing that TfL have given Uber an exemption from the requirement of having a landline. 

Uber say they have been granted an exemption as having a landline for bookings would prejudice the interest of a third party.????

It appears that this company can do what ever they like and that the PHV act of 1998 doesn't apply to them as in TfL's eyes, they are in a category all on their own. 

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Volkswagen is making a $300 million bet on one of Uber's rivals

  Shahar Waiser, cofounder and CEO of Gett.

Volkswagen is making a $300 million strategic investment into taxi app Gett, the startup announced on Tuesday.

The auto giant’s minority investment comes as it attempts to move beyond a huge corporate crisis over emissions, and launches a new mobility unit focused on new technology.

VW “want to go beyond vehicle ownership,” Gett CEO Shahar Waiser told Business Insider in a telephone interview.

Gett, an Israeli startup that launched in 2010, works in a similar way to rival Uber: Users can use an app to simply hail a taxi.

The company is not profitable overall, Waiser said — although it is in some early markets. It has annual revenues of $500 million. It has previously raised $220 million in venture capital — with VW’s $300 million taking the total up to $520 million. Waiser declined to comment on Gett’s valuation.

It currently operates in 60 European cities, as well as New York. The new funding will help accelerate expansion on the continent, Gett says.

Waiser also said that Gett’s technology — big data, predictive algorithms, and so on — could prove useful in the development of self-driving vehicles, but stressed that neither Gett is not currently developing autonomous vehicle technology.

Drivers who use Gett can stand to benefit from the deal: They will be offered terms on Volkswagen vehicles that are better than market rates, Waiser says. This, in turn, could make the platform more attractive to potential drivers looking to get into the ride-hailing business.

The investment is also likely to some extent a necessity, as ride-hailing companies raise increasingly huge war chests in their battle for dominance. Uber has raised billions. And Didi Chuxing, a Chinese ride-hailing company, recently received a rare $1 billion investment from Apple.

VW isn’t the first legacy auto company to invest in the ride-hailing business. Back in January, General Motors sank half a billion dollars into Lyft, at a valuation of $5.5 billion (and as part of a larger $1 billion Series F funding round).

Source : Business Insider.

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It's Not Uber Killing The Trade, Its The Engagement Policy...Letter To Editor.

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Letter To Taxi Leaks : Heathrow Surrounding Area, Turned Into Pseudo Migrant Camps

I have witnessed first hand how Uber cancer has attacked Heathrow area like a tornado. I have spoken to residents who have basically given up reporting to the local authorities including the Met police. 

This Addison Lee Driver, was alleged to have repeatedly assaulted a female resident in Little Harlington Playing Fields on video. 

Uber have formed migrant camps all over the Heathrow vicinities. Every available space from parks and lay-bys, from McDonald's to pub forecourts. From Hotel areas, to business car parks and Petrol forecourts. Areas like Sipson, Colnbrook and Stanwell. Etc etc. 

Uber have decimated the local minicab firms. It's as if the Calais camps have moved here lock stock and borrowed. Unless you have actually witnessed what has happened here first hand, you will not know the horror that has happened to once lovely areas. 

Bags of human waste are evident all over a five mile stretch. Apparently the locals state the smell from human waste in the parks that once housed children playing or the locals that use to walk their dogs etc. The stench in the air makes you vomit instantly. 

On my journey in most days, Uber cars are lined up on no waiting areas. Drivers asleep or openly using the spaces as toilets. These animals have no respect for any laws or for the local communities. 

Look at the video posted earlier, these residents are now prisoners in their own homes. Anarchy and scenes of Calas camps are now visable for all to witness. NO FEMALES are safe walking around these parts. 

TFL have caused this attack on lawful home owners, as well as the rest of us. Gangs of Uber migrants are openly doing as they would from camps in Greece and France. Words fail me right now. 

Unfortunately we live in a PC world where White middle classes have played their part in creating "No go camps". This has nothing to do with being racist at all. 

The London cab trade has all creeds and colours etc. We all have to live by rules and regulations. Unfortunately this uber disease has no such rulings in place. 

Welcome to Conservative way of giving these animals a chance up the ladder and look how they are paying us back. 

Thank you Cameron thank you TFL. 

And thank you Met Police. 

Corruption at the top has created Migrant camps out west!

Regards, Heathrow Taxi driver

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Police Ignore Assaults On Female By PHV Drivers In Harlington

Amazing footage of a Harlington resident, Christine Aardman, who's had enough of the private hire vehicles she feels are destroying the area. So she decided to video what's been happening in a parking area of little Harlington playing fields, Sipson Lane. 

She went their to take a few picture but while there, on 9th April 2016 at 9:10 am, she was subjected to racial and sexual abuse.

She said "It's a risky business going to no-go areas full of Heathrow PH drivers, but I only planned to see if things have improved from three days earlier, when I fist contacted the police.

"As soon as I arrived I was spotted by a PHV driver who shouted 'hi, what woman what are you doing here?'. Intimidation and assaults followed, but it was the cafes leaseholder who rang the police".

A further assault happens just before police arrive but no crime will appear in police figures. So that's no action and no red faces, about no go areas is created by Heathrow (private hire vehicles) drivers

The lady filming, later discovered that the police officially recorded the incidents as littering and parking issues.

Christine says she was shocked by the lead police officers attitude. His focus was more on the female owner who had made the call to the police and the private hire drivers. He didn't want to see film she had taken all CCTV of the incident.

.  ...

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Minicab Sexual Assaults, Could The Solution Really Be This Simple?...by Jim Thomas

Apparently, the biggest problem facing the public, in regards to London's Licensed Taxi trade (in the eyes of TfL), has been the refusal of drivers to accept credit cards. 

TfL in their infinite wisdom have acted swiftly by mandating drivers acceptance of all credit cards -including contactless payments- to be implemented in October this year.

In the eyes of TfL and the public... simple solution, problem solved. 

The biggest problem facing passengers in private hire vehicles at present, is customer safety. 

Reports from freedom of information requests, show from February last year to February this year, 154 instances of sexual assaults (including rapes) against passengers were recorded against private hire drivers. 32 of which the Met police were accusations made against Uber drivers. We must also be aware that the Metropolitan police state in their POP (Clapham) report, that over 60% of sexual attacks never get reported.

So what has TfL come up with as a permanent solution to this problem....they've  sat on their hands, with a bewildered look on their face, shaking their head. 

Paying people enormous amounts of money, doesn't guarantee common sense, they just haven't got a clue what to do.

As always, the solution could be very simple. 

Every Private Hire Vehicle should have two way CCTV fitted as part of their conditions of fitness. Some insurance companies are currently fitting systems at no cost to the owner. Every vehicle should have 2cm high easy to remember registration numbers, emblazoned on the dash, plus both front and rear windscreen. PHV drivers should also be subject to having their DNA taken for future cross-referencing. These measures would also protect the driver from false allegations

>Driver saved from false allegations by CCTV footage<

Currently PHV licence numbers virtually unreadable and almost impossible to ascertain. Seven digits in minuscule font, with 9 out of ten roundels hidden behind tinted screens. 

A simplified registration of three letters, followed by two digits (1,797,600 combinations) in 2cm high font (same as Taxi ID cards) facing the passengers bottom left of windscreen, should be an easy to remember reference. Combined with tamper proof CCTV  video, should see an almost immediately cessation in sexual assaults on passengers in legitimate Private Hire vehicles.

How is it that Taxis have to have the drivers badge number emblazoned on both front and back windscreens, in 2cm high font plus vehicle PCO pate numbers on back and in passenger compartment...having to be clearly visible at all times, and yet PH have small roundels with tiny digits, unreadable unless viewed up close and in the majority of cases, hidden behind tinted screens. 

With 99.99% of all passenger assaults, over the past 30 years having occurred in minicabs, how have these brainiacs at TfL managed to get it so wrong with vehicle identification?

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The Buck Stops Here????....Letter To Taxi Leaks From Dads Defending Daughters.