Russell Square Incident : The Case Of The Disappearing PHV Registration.

Footage emerged  yesterday on Facebook, showing a minicab driver, desperately trying to drive away after causing a collision. The alleged TfL registered private hire car was seen by witnesses to reversed into a Taxi.

The vehicle sporting TfL licence roundels, drove off at speed almost running over the two Taxi drivers trying to cut off the escape. 

Earlier yesterday,Taxi Leaks carried out a registration search on the Transport for London's PHV license checker website and found that the silver Peugeot FE12LZS had a TfL licence disc number 410629

But later in the evening, when we checked against, the Peugeot had been mysteriously removed from the website, even though it was only licences just over 4weeks ago. 

As the incident has been reported to both TfL and the Met Police, we would assume that after viewing the footage, TfL immediately revoked vehicles license.

So credit where credits due and well done to TfL (if this is the case).

We now await the fun and games!

Was it an Uber driver?

Did he have the App switch on?

Does he have insurance?

Was that switched on?

Was the driver, a licensed PHV driver?

Will we ever find out???

 

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#UBERGATE : Sexual Assaults Increase As TfL Registered Uber Cars Flooding Into Southampton.

Calls have been made for all taxis to carry officially-approved markings to prevent passengers becoming victims of crime.

It follows an incident in which a woman is alleged to have been sexually assaulted and dumped near the M27 motorway after getting into what she thought was a taxi.

The local Taxi union says people are becoming used to getting into unmarked taxis because of all the Uber vehicles that are “flooding” into Southampton.

Taxi driver Perry McMillan, chairman of the Southampton cab association, said Uber vehicles licensed by Southampton City Council, had to carry clear markings but those from other areas often displayed nothing but a small disc in the back windscreen, issued by Transport for London. 

Some of the Ubers were from the New Forestwhile others travelled into the city from as far afield as Basingstoke but most are from London, he said.

Southampton taxi drivers have held talks with New Forest District Council and are also planning to raise the issue with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.

Mr McMillan has spoken out following an alleged incident involving a woman in Bedford Place, Southampton, last month.

He criticised some of the advice issued by police at the time. Officers said people should book a taxi in advance instead of flagging one down in the street and should always sit behind the driver.

Mr McMillan stressed that people were legally entitled to hail a proper taxi in the street.

“Drivers face increasing pressure from out-of-town Uber cars flooding our city. 

Being hailed in the street helps both them and passengers in a hurry. They get to their destination safely - and all Southampton licensed cabs are fitted with CCTV.”

Police investigating the alleged incident in Bedford Place have charged a 57-year-old Southampton man with kidnap and sexual assault.

Source : Southern Daily Echo 

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Bank Junction Update : It's Never a Been About The Safety, It's All About The Money

Please Support Fellow Taxi Driver Stripped Of Licence For Criticising TfL.

Weʼre raising £2,500 to London Taxi Driver, Sean Stockings who had his license revoked 3 months ago by TFL. Please donate 2 help him cover his bills for this period.

IT COULD BE YOU NEXT!

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Thank you all for taking a few minutes to read about Sean Stockings and the appalling treatment he has suffered at the hands of TFL and Leon Daniels in particular. 

Sean is a Licensed London Taxi Driver with a young family and a super kind heart. Sean cares. Sean cares about bus and tram crashes and Sean cares about pedestrians being run over. Sean cares about how TFL are dealing with UBER and PH ranking outside stations, bus stops and residential streets. He cares about the huge rise in Road Traffic Accidents and the increase in congestion and pollution. He cares about the free for all wild west mentality on our streets. 

Sean is just like YOU, he is PROUD of his job and profession and what it stands for.

Sean has had his licence revoked...this didn't happen immediately, only when TFL failed to provide proper disclosure, forcing Sean's legal representative to send a letter before action on Sean's behalf...this is why The LCDC, are fighting hard to ensure that Sean does not lose his badge.

If Sean had done anything wrong, we would not be asking for your help. So what did Sean do?

On the 17th November 2016, whilst walking to a personal engagement Sean happened upon Leon Daniels, Mike Brown and Vernon Everitt (and others) out for the evening celebrating who knows what on the Eve of the Ladbroke Grove bus crash (when 14 people were injured, some seriously) just over a week after the most deadliest Tram crash since 1917 (7 fatalities and 58 persons injured). The glasses and plates on the outside table suggesting that they had been drinking wine and eating good food - perhaps outside a table chosen so these businessmen could smoke expensive cigars (looking for all the world to be enjoying their expense accounts in the type of posh restaurants that cab drivers cannot afford).

Sean could not understand why TFL with its track record would be celebrating that night. Sean would be first to accept that approaching them hasn't turned out to be his best idea ever - but exactly what did he do? Many of you have seen the video and are surprised that TFL have come down so harshly on Sean, when all he done was take the opportunity to ask Leon Daniels about his track record. Yes he was emphatic but sometimes you have to be when trying to get answers to important questions. As Leon Daniels smirked and Mike Brown looked down, Sean asked the questions you might also liked to have asked these people, who many feel have for the last 5 years slowly but surely destroyed the trade.

Well what happened next? Well within a month he had his licence revoked, without a disclosure. Those who have seen the clip will note that Sean was not abusive, so what has caused such an offence? Who determined Sean was not fit and proper and why? TFL tried to get the Police involved - they refused to arrest Sean (he committed no offence). Then a thorough investigation took place (with no input from Sean). Sean was permanently revoked over 3 months ago and been unable to work since.

There is much more to Sean's story and the involvement of others at TFL, that we simply do not have room here to fully explain in greater detail.

Please support Sean in this difficult time for him, his partner and young family.

Many thanks,

The London Cab Drivers Club

To donate, please click on this link:

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See full story and letter from TfL in this edition of the badge. 

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Letter From Lee Ward : Pressure Must Be Put On All Local Authorities Who Have Licensed Uber, To Prove Uber Operate Legally

 

Equality:

The state of being equal, especially in status, rights, or opportunities.

That’s the Utopian belief of many of us in this trade, or it used to be.

It used to be the reason why many drivers or even companies did not join an Organisation, Union or Association because they believed that everyone was treat fairly and equally so they didn’t need any support.

But times have changed, bank balances are changed and the Authorities carefully choose who to take action against and who not.

Example 1

2010, Sevenoaks

Evidence against Knole Taxis

Operating a licensed taxi and private hire company from an address without planning permission.

Result:

​License suspended

 

Example 2

2017, London

Evidence against Sean Stockings

​Videoed Leon Daniels in a restaurant and posted on social media.

Result:

​License suspended

Example 3

2017, Nationwide

Evidence against Uber

1,​Admitted under oath that the driver accepts the booking, this is a breach of Section 56 (1) of the LG(MP)A 1976 that states;

For the purposes of this Part of this Act every contract for the hire of a private hire vehicle licensed under this Part of this Act shall be deemed to be made with the operator who accepted the booking for that vehicle whether or not he himself provided the vehicle.

 

2,​assisting drivers to accept work when out of its licensing area

 

3,​Assisting drivers to not take the shortest route possible as defined in Section 69 (1) of the LG(MP)A 1976 that states;

No person being the driver of a hackney carriage or of a private hire vehicle licensed by a district council shall without reasonable cause unnecessarily prolong, in distance or in time, the journey for which the hackney carriage or private vehicle has been hired.

Where its drivers App does not take the shortest possible route as shown below.

    

4

Denying the customer from its basic contractual agreement when booking a journey. In the Uber Terms & Conditions it states;

You acknowledge and agree that the provision to you of transportation services by the Transportation Provider is pursuant to the Transportation Contract and that Uber UK accepts your booking as agent for the Transportation Provider, but is not a party to that contract.

This would be deemed a breach of Section 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015

 

Now, points 2 and 3 break the driver’s conditions to which we must all adhere to and I am sure that the Uber faithful are saying that these are nothing to do with Uber but the driver… well, they are wrong.

Point 2 Uber could stop by placing a geo-net on each driver so that they can only accept work in the area that they are licensed, all other data dispatch systems do this and we know Ubers can because they didn’t allow drivers from other area’s to work in Birmingham for some time. The App simply told the driver that he could not work there when he logged on (or words to that effect).

Point 3 Uber give this to the driver to follow the sat nav because most of the time they don’t know where they are going and should a customer disagree with the route taken then Uber use this route to decide if the driver went the wrong way or not, so yes, Uber are guilty of this one.

Now, you guys that love Uber so much and jump to their defence so quickly… I will never figure that bit out…. You are forgetting, or not actually knowing another section of the LG(MP)A 1976 which states…oh wait, sorry, you will be Uber drivers and will know nothing of the actual Acts that control your industry, my bad. 

LG(MP)A 1976 means the Local Government (Miscellaneous) Provisions Act 1976 and Section 72 (1) states;

Where an offence by any person under this Part of this Act is due to the act or default of another person, then, whether proceedings are taken against the first-mentioned person or not, that other person may be charged with and convicted of that offence, and shall be liable on conviction to the same punishment as might have been imposed on the first-mentioned person if he had been convicted of the offence.

So yes, Uber are guilty also of these two offences.

Now, why would Examples 1 & 2 have their respective licenses suspended (and therefore able to appeal through the courts) but Uber’s has not?

The rules and regulations are for all, are they not?

Surely, in this day and age, someone or somebody will not get away with breaching the rules and regulations simply because an authority is scared to death of being challenged in court….that cannot be it, can it?

I wonder, how many drivers out there still read all this and are still a frog in a boiling pond?

How many sit back and wait for someone else to fight it, or indeed how many have given up that fight because they are tired of fighting?

The fact is that each and every one of you are license holders, you pay for the authority that licenses you to protect your livelihood by keeping out the ones who are not playing by the rules. You inform the licensing of Facebook Taxis, you inform the licensing of PHV’s sat on a Taxi Rank, you inform licensing of PHV’s plying for hire, you inform licensing of Taxis overcharging the public or refusing wheelchair work.

You inform and demand authorities to deal with cases such as example 1 & 2, but you bury your heads in the sand against example 3 and pretend example 1 & 2 are the ones that are killing your trade….

I bet you are the same person who gets a difficult customer and backs down to them then spends the rest of the day dreaming of how you kicked them from kerb to kerb like He-Man.

The proof is there, just like in other countries that kicked them out, and it’s our duty to kick them out also.

Technology we cannot stop, but technology that does not work within the intention of the law we can. 

The same as you stop people who also do not work within the intention of the law.

Someone in authority somewhere is going to have to write a cheque and it may be a big one, but they don’t think twice about writing a cheque when it comes to challenging the small man out there.

That’s bullying and has to stop.

It’s every licensed driver and operator’s duty to put pressure on their local authority that have licensed Uber to prove to them that Uber operates legally and does not breach any of the examples that I have given in this post.

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Uber Given Another Temporary Licence And Told They Need To Sort Out Their Troubles.

Although we don't know the exact details, it's been leaked that Uber have been given another temporary licence and been told to sort out their present troubles

But that was before Brighton and the Sunday Times expose'. 

The evidence is there!

We've seen dozens of emails, implementing top TfL directors and management in conspiring against the the Taxi trade, and complicity in covering up Uber contraventions. 

TfL knew about Uber sex assaults, fake medical, fake DBS searches, they said and did nothing.

Rank and file Taxi drivers are now bemused by the silence from our main representative orgs and Unions, who continue to sit in their hands. Only one is out there punching it's weight, fighting our corner and the others are turning their noses up.

We've had churchillian speeches about "I won't stand shoulder to shoulder with a PH org" but we've still seen a meteoric rise in the membership of the new GMB Taxi branch, as drivers get fed up with laying what they believe is money for no representation. 

What's happened over the weekend is massive and we've seen it spread through the national media, with This Times, regarding, the Telegraph, Evening Standard and the Sun as well as BBC news.

Compliance officers are harassing Taxi drivers on ranks over Taxi news paper. Even though the add van has been out distributing copies to driver, their own marshals don't appear to have a copy with the Uber Rapist Gets 12 Years headline. Sort of, "we'll supply the bullets but it's for you to fire the gun".

If our orgs don't join together, pick up the baton and run with it, we are in danger of this scandal being swept under the carpet by a corrupt, conspiring, collaborating licensing authority.

It's been said many time that our biggest battles are amongst our own trade with orgs refusing to support each other, simply because they want all the kudos for themselves. (All or nothing)

If Uber are eventually given a full 5 year licence, the blame will not lay with the Mayor or TfL, but with the orgs who sit out the final battles. 

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Double amputee, 33, told to ‘f*** off’ by Uber driver in London who refused to take her home claiming she was drunk’

A DOUBLE amputee, 33, claims she was left stranded after being told to “f*** off” by an Uber driver who refused to take her home because “she was drunk”.

Clare Brown, 33, who has survived both meningitis and a stroke, had been on a night out in Uxbridge, West London, when she ordered an Uber car home with husband Chris.

Double amputee Clare Brown, 33, had been on a night out with husband Chris, left, when she claims an Uber driver refused to take her because he believed she was drunk

Clare had both her legs removed due to meningitis and now walks with prosthetics

The aspiring model was left stranded when the Uber driver allegedly sped off at ’70mph’

But the aspiring model claims the driver that arrived turned them away when she asked him to park closer to The Three Steps bar because she was unable to walk.

She claims the Uber driver insisted she was drunk and told them to “f*** off” before speeding off “at about 70mph”.

Clare, who will feature in London’s Alternative Fashion Week in September, claims the incident has put her off going out.

Clare, from Selsey, Sussex, said: “I just thought how the hell am I going to get home?

Clare’s husband Chris had asked the driver to park closer because she’s disabled but he claims the driver thought she was drunk

The mum-of-two claims the incident has put her off using Uber in the future

“We’d had a really fun night then ordered a car at around 9.45pm and waited outside the karaoke bar.

“When the Uber arrived, my husband ran up to the car and asked if the driver would mind coming to the other side of the road because I was disabled and wouldn’t be able to walk across.

“Just by seeing me coming across the road, he thought I was too drunk. I have scarring of the lungs so I can’t walk very much at all.

“He nearly ran my husband over as he zoomed off as fast as anything at about 70mph.

“By that point I was in tears – I wasn’t drunk. I have disabilities which mean I’m constantly dizzy and due to the stroke my speech is affected.

“I’m on so many tablets anyway that I can only have one drink and have to water that down.”

Due to her reduced mobility, she is reliant on support from both sides while walking and was upset that her disability was perceived as drunkenness, even after her husband told the driver she was an amputee.

Clare said: “I have no idea what he was thinking, but he sped off straight away.

“Chris was quite upset with what had happened but when he complained, he just received a generic message back.

“As he said, the problem is they can just do what they want. There are so many problems with Uber drivers.

“Everyone was trying to comfort me after we’d just had a really good laugh and got to know each other.

“When I was 17, I was in an induced coma after contracting meningitis. I was like that for six months in the hospital because they said if I moved I would die.

“It was to keep me completely still and during that time I had a stroke down my left-hand side too.

“I also had a brain haemorrhage because of surgery they did to take pressure off my brain and suffered internal bleeding.

“They were talking about turning off my life support and in the end, I had both of my legs amputated.”

Thankfully, Clare and her husband were also with Aleah Leigh, founder of Equality Model Management, when the alleged incident occurred, who was able to help them arrange for a proper taxi home.

Clare said: “I was quite glad that Aleah was with me on Saturday. Had it been just me and Chris, there would have been no way we would’ve got home so soon.

“My friends were having to calm me down. It was not a nice situation at all and it’s put me off going out in the future.

“This has happened to me before, where some Minicab drivers have perceived me as a drunk.

Clare’s friend Aleah Leigh, helped them arrange an Uber car through her app.

Aleah said: “When we told the driver that Clare couldn’t walk because she’s a double amputee, he said ‘f*** off’ and drove off.

“The poor girl was crying her eyes out. I was so upset for her.

“I’ve made numerous phone calls and I believe it is being investigated.

“We called a proper taxi firm and got her home eventually. The taxi driver was appalled by what had happened.

“When she is walking, she needs assistance from both sides. Because she also had a stroke, she speaks a little different too.

“It was just awful for her. She’d had such a good night and was happy – for it to end like that was a shame.”

An Uber spokesman said: “Uber does not tolerate any form of discrimination from riders or licensed drivers who use the app. We take any allegations of discriminatory behaviour very seriously.

“We’re currently investigating this incident and it is our policy to prevent drivers from using our app while we investigate serious incidents.”

Source : The Sun. 

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