Letter To Editor : Theresa May on BBC News Regarding Uber Licence Revocation... by Paul Nice.

Those of you who watched the news yesterday evening, may have been quite disconcerted to learn where our prime minster stands on Uber.  

Let’s start with her famous phrase was “Brexit Means Brexit” No one was sure what that meant!  

Did anyone think it meant delaying till 2021 and coughing up £20 billion!

 

Imagine how I felt as a tax paying and abiding citizen when the subject of Uber’s tax scandal was dismissed as minor importance.  I suppose £20,000 000 000 comes out of nowhere!

 

Something just doesn’t add up…  She states that 40,000 people are going to lose their jobs!  

I have to ask myself is Uber the only app?  The reported rise on downloads from other apps, will that not provide jobs?

Perhaps rate paying minicab offices could start to flourish again?  

Rates have gone sky high recently, perhaps the government wants retail outlets to disappear and global tech companies to take over instead of creating a market for all kinds of businesses alike.  

She mentioned a level playing field, something the Licensed taxis have been asking for, for years.  Since she’s coughing up £20 billion courtesy of you and me the PM needs to explain what a level playing field is…

 

The taxi industry asked for a level playing field when all they should’ve asked for is that existing legislation to be enforced.

Uber were given time to reform and only now do they admit what they call mistakes.  A gross travesty had happened and too much has been swept under the carpet throughout the years.  

Cameron, Osbourne, etc. were party to a viral conglomerate that kept its lips sealed as rapes and sexual assaults took place in our great city.  Dodgy background checks that were assisted and fake medicals all to support a non-tax paying company that treats its workforce with contempt.

 

Come join Uber and make £££’s why would Uber complain that its self employed partners are campaigning for the minimum wage?  

How do 40,000 people lose their job if those who provide the work do not accept that they are employees and are a mosaic of 40,000 separate business, that do not get its work from an operator, that says it’s a tech company and doesn't even need an operator’s licence?

 

Why do licensed taxi drivers complain about the competition of paying for a £56,000 vehicle with milk float technology when a Prius can be used instead (sod the disabled) 

Leon are you really giving people what they want?  

I would’nt say that to a rape victim’s father..

 

If people want a cheaper service from taxi’s how about lifting the age restriction, replacing the TX4 or TX5 with an economical already existing petrol hybrid engine and make a taxi driver’s income tax and NI exempt?  

Since paying tax is of minor importance and TFL are there to listen to the public and regulate the service; I don’t see why this cannot be achieved! 

Anyway since Uber is already doing this and you have £20 billion stashed away a swish of the pen could make this happen!

 

Mrs May please understand we can’t have a regulated and non-regulated taxi service operating in the same city.  

Don’t forget this is London not a third world city!

Let’s show the world that London is not open for corruption and we have high standards in all our industries and if foreign investors wish to be a part of this glowing beacon of world class stature, they will have to move in line with our standards and regulations.

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TfL plans cycle super highway for Tooley Street, Jamaica Road and Rotherhithe roundabout

Locals have until November 19 to comment on the plans

TfL has today announced proposals for a segregated Cycle Super Highway to run through Tooley Street and Jamaica Road.

The planned transformation of the A200 would create a segregated cycle link from Tower Bridge Road, all the way to Evelyn Street and Creek Road in Lewisham and Greenwich.

It also includes plans to redesign the Rotherhithe Tunnel roundabout, as well as for five new locations to receive pedestrian traffic lights, and smaller upgrades to 20 other crossings.

Proposed Cycle Super Highway route map

The plans were announced as part of a public consultation, which will close on November 19.

Visit the consultation here.

The project, nicknamed CS4 (Cycle Superhighway 4) is due to begin “late next year”, and would cost £55m.

A second consultation, due later this year, will also seek feedback on proposals to include Lower Road in the route.

Jamaica Road Cycle Super Highway proposal

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “I’m delighted to be able to announce plans to bring more than 4km of segregated cycle lanes to south-east London.

“We need more Londoners to cycle and walk for the good of their health and our air quality, and that’s why we’re working so hard make cycling safer and easier right across the capital. By bringing this route to an area of such high demand, this superhighway really will open up cycling to thousands more Londoners.”

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The Future Of The Gig Economy Hangs In The Balance ... As We Now Wait For Uber Verdict

In the workers rights appeal case today, Judge Eady QC said she will reserve her decision for a later date.

The future of the gig economy hangs in the balance

Judge Eady QC's ruling could have a major impact on the operating costs of Uber and the wider gig economy with delivery firms such as Deliveroo and Jinn, which rely on a network of self-employed couriers, also being impacted.

Unfortunately we will now have to wait 

There are over 1 million people working in the gig economy in the UK, according to recent government estimates. Gig economy advocates argue it provides convenience for users and flexibility, but detractors argue that it strips away employment rights. Galbraith-Marten QC said that the rise of casual work associated with the gig economy does not of itself defeat "worker" status.

Judge Eady QC said she will reserve her decision for a later date. If Judge Eady QC rules in the driver's favour then Uber will be able to appeal again to the Court of Appeal and possibly to the Supreme Court. The process could last several years, according to the FT.

"In recent years employers in the so-called 'gig economy' have been allowed to run wild on a rampage of exploitation," said IWGB general secretary Dr Jason Moyer-Lee in a statement earlier this year. "These low paid workers have been fighting back both on the streets and in the courts, and winning."

Earlier this week Addison Lee drivers won their case and are now entitled to full range of employees rights. 

Uber's main argument for why it doesn't need to give driver's worker benefits is flawed, lawyer claims

Former Uber drivers James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam took Uber to court last October over their employment status and won.

They wanted to be classed as workers that are entitled to rights such as holiday pay and minimum wage.

Uber believes that its drivers are "self-employed" and appealed against the ruling on Wednesday. The driver's legal team fought back on Thursday.

The San Francisco-headquartered Minicab giant, brought in barrister Dinah Rose QC to fight its corner while Jason Galbraith-Marten QC represented the drivers.

The outcome of the appeal could have major implications on the wider gig economy in the UK, but we will now have to wait. 

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Lyft eyeing London market sooner rather than later, now Uber’s license renewal refusal.

Uber, the ridesharing startup, announced news on Tuesday (Sept. 26) that it will no longer operate in Quebec in October. The decision comes as a result of stricter transportation regulations in the Canadian province. 

According to a report in Reuters, the move on the part of Uber to pull out of what is the second most popular province for tourism in Canada comes just a few days after London’s transport agency decided not to renew its license in the city. Reuters cited Uber’s Quebec General Manager, Jean-Nicolas Guillemette as saying that the ridesharing company, which has more than 10,000 drivers in the city and 50 office workers, will stop operations in the province on Oct. 14.

Uber has called on the Canadian government to rethink its stricter regulations on a pilot program that had previously enabled Uber to operate in the province. “We’re asking the government to renew the pilot project and let’s sit down and find a solution to this,” the executive told Reuters. Under the new rules, drivers have to have 35 hours of training, which is the requirement for traditional taxi drivers in the area. 

Uber’s decision comes as its rival Lyft is looking to enter the Canadian transportation arena. Lobbyists for the company have met with officials in Toronto, reported Reuters, citing city records. Over the weekend, The Telegraphsaid that Lyft is also eyeing the London market and could be emboldened to move sooner rather than later now that Uber’s license in the city was revoked. 

According to a news report in The Telegraph, Lyft’s Head of Global Policy & Strategy, Michael Masserman, and Chief Strategy Officer Raj Kapoor have had face-to-face meetings and phone calls with Transport for London (TfL) officials during 2016. The talks were focused on the startup’s business model and operations, as well as the London mayor’s new transportation strategy for the city. 

One December meeting in London was attended by Helen Chapman, who is in charge of TfL’s taxi and private hiring unit. Others at the meeting included Peter Blake, TfL’s director of service operations and three unnamed representatives of the Greater London Authority

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Tfl plans to make £322m by collecting data from passengers' mobiles via Tube Wi-Fi

Transport for London (TfL) plans to make £322m by collecting Tube users' location data and potentially selling it to third parties, Sky News can reveal. 

At the end of 2016, TfL ran a pilot which tracked the Wi-Fi signals from 5.6 million phones as people moved around the London Underground, even if they weren't connected to a Wi-Fi network.

TfL publicly stated that the purpose of the scheme was to use the aggregated, anonymised data "to better understand how people navigate the London Underground network, allowing TfL to improve the experience for customers".

It is now in consultation about tracking passengers on a permanent basis. The only way to opt out of the scheme would be to turn your Wi-Fi or phone off.

Wi-Fi tracking is used around the UK, especially on high streets and shopping centres, to track customers as they move around a store, for example.

However, documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws show that they also anticipate there will be a significant financial benefit from the scheme, in contrast to TfL's public messaging.

Many of the documents list 'financial' as the first benefit of the scheme. In one, a section called Advertising Partnerships states: "Enabling TfL to achieve £322m revenue generation over the next eight years by being able to quantify asset value based on the number of eyeballs/impressions and dynamically trade advertising space."

Another document details TfL's communications strategy for the pilot. The 'key messaging' intended for the public reads: "TfL collects Wi-Fi connectivity data to better understand journey patterns and improve our services" - with no mention of the anticipated financial benefits to TfL.

Lauren Sager Weinsten, chief data officer at TfL, told Sky News: "These are living documents. The excitement on this project has been how to create a project that will have great customer benefit and how do we explain to our customers what we're doing and why. We have been very transparent about all the documents and our thinking on this.

"And of course we want to make sure that we're very clear about all the different benefits that we'll see. There's a huge customer benefit and it's very exciting to see the patterned information that comes out of this.

"But we also do think that there is an opportunity to improve our secondary revenue that we get through our commercial advertising estate and through our retail developments as well, and that's also important as well."

Asked repeatedly by Sky News, Mr Sager Weinstein refused to rule out that TfL might in the future sell aggregated customer data to third parties.

TfL reinvests all its profits in its services. The organisation notified Tube users with prominent displays about the 2016 trial. The only way for people to opt out of the scheme was to turn off their phone's Wi-Fi while on the underground.

Maria Farrell, internet policy consultant at the Open Rights Group, told Sky News: "What they told people at the time was we're going to use this data to improve services. But now thanks to [Sky News] investigative reporting, we find out that it's partly to improve the services, but also it's to exploit people's data for revenue, doing advertising."

TfL worked with the Information Commissioner's Office on the scheme and said that user data was anonymised. But privacy experts have cast doubt on the implementation.

Paul-Olivier Dehaye, the cofounder of PersonalData.IO, told Sky News: "TfL don't seem to understand what 'anonymised' means in data protection terms. While the pilot was running, the data was merely pseudonymisation, while retaining the technical capacity of easily combining this data with external datasets.

"In essence, the value and dangers of this data are still fully there, but TfL has merely constructed a fiction that the individuals were not identifiable and conveniently assumed that would free them from the legal safeguards."

Dr Lukasz Olejnik, independent cybersecurity and privacy researcher, told Sky News: "TfL has definitely identified some privacy risks and tried to tackle them. They should be applauded for that.

"It's important to note that TfL does not provide an anonymization scheme. It's called pseudonymization, as the data are not processed in a way making it impossible to calculate the data back, given resources.

"Commuters should have clear ways of opting out from Wi-Fi tracking monitoring if they choose so. Designing convenient options is paramount."

Source: SkyNews 

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Uber defends business model at UK tribunal on worker rights

Reform Taxi Laws and Stop Cross Border Working

I want uk govt to legislate urgently to Stop cross border working licensed vehicles and drivers work in the area of licence. 

Reform taxi laws to reflect technology, create national data for drivers,vehicles and private hire operators, common national standards, give more enforcement powers to local Local Authorities, national standards for local knowledge test, proper high standards regulations for private hire operators etc etc

Why is this important?

Its important taxi trade is properly regulated, its objective should be to protect public, first priority must be safety of the public and drivers properly regulated with high standards, by giving effective powers to local authorities to regulate and enforce.

Sign The Petition : 

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