T BLISS. IT’S BLOODY WORRYING! IS THIS THE HIGHLY TRAINED STAFF, MAYOR KHAN PROMISED

LPHCA statement on Uber Private Hire Operator License Renewal

The Licensed Private Hire Car Association welcomes the London Assembly unanimous call of 6th July 2017 for Transport for London not to renew Uber’s private hire operator licence.  We wholly support this motion. 

Like many interested groups, as reportedly stated by Mr Kurten AM at the Plenary Session, we have long expressed apprehensions about the poor practices of this business and its structure.  

Over the past few months our concerns have been strengthened by numerous publicly reported events.  These include:

1. Investigation into correspondence between Uber and the Prime Minister’s Office by the Information Commissioners Office on 13th April 2017.
2. Competition reduction, attributed to Uber, within the market found by the accountancy firm Moore Stephens on 24th July 2017.
3. Allegations of passenger fare exploitation by Uber drivers found by Warwick Business School and New York University on 2nd August 2017.
4. Criticism for failing to report serious crimes, including sexual assault, by Uber drivers from the Metropolitan Police on 13th August 2017.

Further to the above, Uber has been subject to ongoing questions about its working practices, driver engagement and payment of tax.  Uber drivers have also been successfully prosecuted by Transport for London for carrying passengers without proper insurance.  

This followed a complaint, from a Licensed Private Hire Car Association member, that one of their vehicles was being used uninsured by a driver for Uber work.  The lack of robust documentary checks raised additional consternation as to regulatory compliance.

Transport for London also successfully prosecuted Uber London Limited on the charge of Causing or permitting a person to use a motor vehicle on a road (or other public place) without a policy of insurance.

Modernisation of transport services is, we accept, a necessary progressive step but it should not risk public safety or the reputation of the wider licensed private hire trade.  

In adding our support to the London Assembly motion, the Licensed Private Hire Car Association calls for Transport for London not to renew Uber’s private hire operator licence on 30th September 2017. 

[ends]

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The Result Of TfL Licensing Uber Drivers, With Fake Topographical Test Results, Fake Medicals and Fake DBS Checks

Well, as they say....you couldn't make it up. 

Buckingham Palace Samurai sword waving terrorist Mohiussunnath Chowdhury, decided to unleash his own brand of terror at the Royal residence of Windsor Castle. 

But as he had no topographical knowledge of Central London -where he was licensed by TfL to work as an Uber driver- he entered Windsor castle into his Uber sat-nav. But like many Uber journeys undertaken by drivers with absolutely no knowledge of London, he ended up at the wrong destination, many miles away from where he had intended to go. 

Instead of arriving at the Royal residence of Windsor Castle, he actually arrived at a London Pub of the same name. 

Below is the court report from the Guardian, it reads like the script to a sit-com. 

It is alleged that Chowdhury, 26, who works as a self-employed Uber driver, had set off from his Luton address about two hours before his arrest and he used his satnav to try to drive to Windsor Castle. After he arrived at a pub of the same name, he drove on and eventually ended up near Buckingham Palace in central London.

He is alleged to have then driven towards a marked police car in a blue Toyota Prius at just after 8.30pm on Friday and stopped. During the incident, he was sprayed by police with CS gas and arrested.

Chowdhury, who wore a grey tracksuit and spoke to confirm his name and address, was remanded in custody. He will next appear at the Old Bailey on 21 September.

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Uber Execs Under Investigation For Bribing Foreign Government Officials

Uber is set to start rebuilding its reputation after a summer of scandal. It just needs a couple of weeks without any bad news — for example, that the Department of Justice is taking “preliminary steps to investigate whether managers at Uber Technologies Inc. violated a U.S. law against foreign bribery.”

That’s the bombshell takeaway from a new Wall Street Journal report, which alleges that Uber may have violated the  Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The FCPA makes it illegal for a US person or company to bribe a foreign government for favorable treatment. 

The WSJ doesn’t know which country (or countries!) may have been the recipient of bribes, but given Uber’s rapid expansion and general disregard for the rules, the list of possible places is nearly endless.

This isn’t the first bad news Uber has had from the government. A separate investigation is reportedly running into a program called Greyball, which Uber used to evade regulators in cities where it was operating against local regulations.

Under former CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber expanded at speed, but left a trail of destruction and bad PR in its wake. 

It frequently moved into a city before it was allowed to by local regulation, started up with low cost to get the local population on board, and then waged a public publicity battle to get its service legalized to some degree.

In the process, it frequently operates on the edge of the law. 

Because of its drivers’ status as contractors, rather than employees, it would be drivers having their cars seized. Uber would appear to be untouchable and able to conduct its business with little consequence.

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Unconfirmed Reports Have Been Posted On Social Media, That The Factory Building The New Electric Taxi Has Burned Down

From the BBC

More than 40 firefighters have tackled a blaze at a disused factory in Birmingham.

The fire on Holyhead Road, Handsworth, started just before 05:00 BST, West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service said.

The A41 Birmingham Road had to be closed earlier between Halfords Lane and Middlemore Road.

Jim Sinnot, from the fire service, said wood and cardboard inside the factory was ablaze and investigations into the cause are now taking place.

From The Telegraph :

Pictures have emerged of a blaze near the Holyhead Road in Coventry last night. 

Unconfirmed reports on social media suggested the blaze was at or near the London Taxi Company's factory based on Holyhead Road but firefighters apparently quickly dealt with the situation and put the fire out.

The factory is near the Sytner BMW site, opposite the Alvis Retail Park in Coundon.

Word of the fire became apparent after photographs were posted on various social media websites.

There were no details available from the emergency services last night.

The London Taxi company has opened a new factory in Ansty to build the new version of the famous London black cab.

We will have more updates on this story from 7am tomorrow morning.

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Wellington Airport strikes deal with Uber, creating pick-up area and charging fees

The international passenger terminal at Wellington Airport. On Tuesday the company, majority owned by Infratil, became the first airport in New Zealand to reach a deal to allow Uber to operate on its property.

Wellington has become the first airport in New Zealand to strike a deal with ride-sharing company Uber.

From Friday Uber's drivers will be able to pick up and drop off riders, freed from the lingering threat of being trespassed.

Users can immediately begin being dropped off in the public drop-off zone outside the airport check-in area. A dedicated pick-up zone for Uber drivers will be opened on the ground floor on September 1.

Ride sharing app Uber allows passengers to order and pay for rides using their mobile phones. It has become a by-word for digital disruption of major industries.

The deal is hardly unvarnished good news for users of the service, who will effectively now face a price rise for rides which start or end at the airport.

Uber will collect a $3 fee for all pick-ups and drop-offs on airport property on behalf of the airport company, starting on Friday.

When Uber launched in Christchurch, taxi drivers staged a protest outside the offices of MP Nicky Wagner.

For some, the deal may seem confusing, as users of the technology company, which has become a by-word for digital disruption, clearly already use the service at the airport.

But at airports in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch - the only cities in which Uber operates in New Zealand - the practice is officially forbidden.

Passengers are often forced to walk off airport property, or at least to parts of the site which are less closely monitored, to be picked up, otherwise the drivers risk fines or being barred from the property.

Airports have blamed transport regulations for the impasse, although opposition from taxi companies - which are understood to collectively pay millions of dollars for defined ranks near terminal exits - has also featured in the argument.

In a statement, Wellington Airport and Uber said the agreement followed the passing of the Land Transport Amendment Bill earlier in August, which recognises and effectively legitimises elements of ride-sharing services for the first time.

Wellington Airport spokesman Greg Thomas said the deal was the first of its kind in New Zealand.

"We're pleased to reach agreement with Uber and be the first airport to add ride-sharing to our ground transport services," Thomas said.

"This is another example of how we are making transport to and from the airport easy and convenient for travellers.

Uber has long claimed that it was willing to pay to use airport property, however its previous refusal to adhere to some transport regulations has meant airports risked breaching the duty of care the companies legally owed passengers.

The refusal of the San Francisco headquartered technology company to fall into line strained relations with the Government.

At one point, Transport Minister Simon Bridges raised the prospect that the company could effectively be banned if it continued to refuse to give assurances around passenger safety.

Uber has hailed the deal with Wellington.

"This is a win for consumer choice, tourism and the Wellington travelling public," Uber New Zealand general manager Richard Menzies said.

The deal sparked an angry reaction from one of New Zealand's leading taxi companies.

Bob Wilkinson, chief executive of Blue Bubble Taxis (which operates as Combined Taxis in Wellington) said he was "outraged" by the news.

"They [Wellington Airport] are prepared to put a company into the airport that isn't even yet legal," Wilkinson said, referring to Uber's past flouting of NZTA regulations.

Wellington's deal was likely to lead to similar deals in Auckland and Christchurch, Wilkinson said.

"Airports are mainly concerned about providing returns for their shareholders, and if this is a potential source of revenue, they must look at it.

"Wellington's broken rank, decided to go for it, the other two will probably follow suit."

The deal marks a considerable change in Uber's relationship with Wellington Airport, which is jointly owned by Infratil and the Wellington City Council.

In early 2016 airport chief executive Steve Sanderson said Uber drivers who repeatedly picked up passengers at the airport could be trespassed, even as he claimed to be close to reaching a deal to allow Uber to operate at the airport.

This would mean a driver would need the express permission of Sanderson to enter airport property, even as a passenger. The threat was never exercised.

In mid-2016 security guards were employed to monitor for Uber drivers using the airport, leading to claims of heavy-handed treatment.

Passengers wanting to use the service tended to request rides from the nearby Z Energy station which, while still being on airport property, attracted less attention.

By April 2017, Wellington Airport had blocked Uber from its free wifi network, making it harder for international passengers to access the service on arrival in the capital.

But in recent weeks Uber drivers have indicated the airport had dropped its monitoring and they were routinely picking up and dropping off passengers outside the entrance to the airport terminal.

Thomas said on Tuesday that Uber has been removed from the list of apps blocked from its network "a while ago".

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Why a Group of Uber Drivers Were Fined in Denmark This Week !

Four Uber drivers were fined by a Danish court on Monday for operating taxis illegally while working for the ride hailing service before it withdrew from the market in April.

The four men, one of whom was fined 486,500 Danish crowns ($78,060), were charged in March for failing to have permits and for violating a law introduced in February that imposed extra rules on taxis operating in Denmark, police said.

Another 1,500 Uber drivers also faced charges of illegally operating taxis, Vibeke Thorkil-Jensen, head of public prosecution for Copenhagen police, told Reuters. She did not give further details about the charges.

After launching its service in Denmark in 2014, Uber was criticized by taxi driver unions, companies, and politicians who said the firm posed unfair competition by not meeting legal standards required for established taxi firms.

Parliament passed a law in February 2017 that introduced more stringent requirements on taxis, such as mandatory fare meters and seat sensors. The new rules prompted Uber's withdrawal.

Union officials said Uber had operated illegally even before the new law was passed. In November, a student was fined for failure to have a permit while working for Uber.

In Monday's ruling, one of the four drivers was fined 486,500 crowns for making 5,427 illegal taxi rides with Uber in 2015, Copenhagen district court said in a statement. Three others were fined between 40,000 and 110,000 crowns, it said.

"We are very disappointed for the drivers involved and our top priority is to support them during this difficult time," said an Uber spokeswoman. She said it welcomed regulations in Denmark but there was a "clear need for modern regulations."

A lawyer acting for the drivers said at least three of the men would appeal their conviction, the Danish news agency Ritzau reported.

Reuters could not immediately reach the four drivers or lawyers acting for them.

Uber, whose drivers have faced criticism from traditional taxi operators in other markets around the world, picked Expedia boss Dara Khosrowshahi as its new chief executive replacing co-founder Travis Kalanick.

Kalanick resigned in June, under pressure following accounts of a corporate culture of sexism and bullying, as well as a U.S. Department of Justice federal investigation filed by Alphabet's (googl, +0.86%) autonomous car division.

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