Lyft In Secret Talks With TfL, As They Look To Move In On London Market, After The Uber Ban.

             Lyft's Mike Msserman and Raj Kapoor

Another American eHailing app Lyft, Uber’s biggest rival, is eyeing the London market. Currently, they are holding talks with Transport for London (TfL) and City Hall officials, ongoing for the past year, according to a report in the Telegraph, citing freedom of information records. 

While the talks don’t actually state Lyft is getting into the U.K. market, they do show it has an interest in that market and in the TfL’s transport policy. 

News of the interest came to light j after TfL declined to renew Uber’s licence, dealing the leading ridesharing company a massive blow to the minicab firms credibility. 

If Uber’s appeal fails, it will no longer be able to operate in the TfL area, paving the way for a competitor to pilfer its market share. 

According to Fred Jones (see video below), Uber has 40,000 drivers and 3.5 million customers in  London, but like everything else about Uber, their numbers appear to be fake and don't add up. 

   

Lyft’s head of global strategy, Mike Masserman, and chief strategy officer Raj Kapoor have had face-to-face meetings and phone calls with TfL officials throughout 2016.  

The talks focused on the startup’s business model and operations, as well as the London mayor’s new transport strategy for the city. 

Lyft met with TfL in London last December and at that the meeting were Helen Chapman, who is in charge of TfL’s taxi and private hire department, Peter Blake (now gone) TfL’s director of service operations for surface transport, and three unnamed representatives of the Greater London Authority. 

Lyft isn’t registered as a company in the UK, nor does it have a private hire licence. 

A Private Hire operator’s licence is necessary to operate in London, and it should be noted Lyft’s entrance into the London market could face opposition from other PH operators as well as taxi representative groups, as well as the lawmakers. 

Those constituents of London may well be concerned that another new service could add massively to the congestion in London.

Lyft have declined to comment on the report, but given Uber’s current troubles, Lyft could soon be emboldened to move forward with a push into London.

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT :

This is what happens when you have 13,000 drivers with fake criminal record checks and no training 

Warning!!! Strong language. 

https://twitter.com/ianjparrott1/status/918581041245417472

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London Regulator TFL, Will Defend Decision Not To Renew Uber's License In Court: Says Mayor Khan.

At the Mayors Question Time debate this morning,  London Mayor Sadiq Khan face a barrage of sarcastic criticism from GLA member Andrew Boff, over TfL's decision not to renew Uber's operating licence in London. The Mayor went on to say, the city's transport regulator -Transport for London- will defend its decision in court not to renew Uber's license to operate in the British capital. 

This comes despite the apology made to TfL by the Uber CEO, when he came to London. Dara Khosrowshahi, who succeeded Uber founder Travis Kalanick as CEO a month ago, wrote in an open letter: “While Uber has revolutionised the way people move in cities around the world, it’s equally true that we’ve got things wrong along the way. On behalf of everyone at Uber globally, I apologise for the mistakes we’ve made.

London mayor Sadiq Khan says he welcomed the apology by CEO of ride-hailing app, but added, Uber deserved to lose its licence – Londoners' safety must come first.

Uber has until Friday to submit its appeal and can continue to operate until the appeal process has been exhausted, which could take several months. "The courts now will consider the appeal from Uber and of course TfL (Transport for London) will defend the decision they made," Khan said during a monthly question time session.

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Uber London needs to file its license appeal this week – what will happen if it doesn’t?

Today marks the deadline for Uber London to file its license appeal after Transport for London (TfL) revoked it last month.

If the ride-sharing startup’s London subsidiary doesn’t file the appeal in time, it will cease to operate in London on Friday 13 October.

Uber lost its private operating license in the UK’s capital city after the transport regulator raised concerns over the way it had failed to report serious criminal offences and its policy over Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.

TfL has concluded that Uber London Limited is not fit and proper to hold a private hire operator license.

What has happened since the ruling?

TfL made its ruling on 22 September, giving the startup three weeks to file an appeal. Uber has continued to operate in the city during this time. If it does file its appeal today, it will be allowed to operate during the appeals process.

This could take up to two years.

Verdict Email The issues you care about

Last week, Uber’s new chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi metwith the commissioner of TfL, Mike Brown, to discuss ways for the startup to regain its license.

On the day of the meeting, Khosrowshahi tweeted an image of himself with some of the company’s drivers in London

Uber answers to MPs 

This week, Uber and other gig economy startups like Deliveroo, were in front of the UK government’s business select committee to answer questions over workers’ rights.

This comes after the publication of the Taylor Report, which called for better treatment of self-employed workers.

During the hearing, the startup’s head of public policy, Andrew Bryne, said that Uber had shown “the wrong attitude” on a number of issues.

Byrne added that there was now a path forward with TfL to address the regulator’s concerns.

What do Uber drivers think?

According to posts on the online forum UberPeople, which is not affiliated with the company, drivers are saying they think the startup will get its operating license back.

The Telegraph reported that the company has hired a “TfL nemesis lawyer” to lead its appeal. The lawyer, Thomas de la Mare, has fought battles on Uber’s behalf against the regulator before

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Are Uber's London Account Numbers Double Dutch ???

The reason Uber won't come clean on this, is that it would expose the reality that if they had the 40,000 drivers, they would be working just over four hours per week says GMB.

GMB comments on the latest set of accounts, for year ending 31 December 2016, released by Uber London, the UK operating company.

Maria Ludkin, GMB Legal Director said:

"Uber could demonstrate its new found humility shown to the Mayor of London by showing a bit of transparency in its UK accounts.

“Uber gives the impression that it has an income of £36.9m in the UK by selling unspecified services to other Uber overseas companies - in other words it is an exporter of services from the UK. What a pile of tosh.

“In fact, Uber sends all the fare income made in the UK to a company in Holland.

"This Dutch company pays 75% of this income to drivers in the UK. GMB is working on the basis that the other 25% is the commission to Uber that comes back to the UK and makes up the lion’s share of Uber income in the UK.

“The reason Uber won't come clean on this is that it would expose the reality that the 40,000 drivers would be working just over four hours per week for Uber. So much for 40,000 jobs being on the line.

“It is high time that Uber stopped the spinning and came clean on what hours its drivers work each week.”

ENDS

TAXI LEAKS COMMENT :

So Uber are worried about the 40,000 jobs they say they are not responsible for. 

The same workers they don’t want to give basic workers rights to

The same workers they are looking to replace with autonomous vehicles as soon as possible 

The word on everyone’s lips is “Hypocrites”

This link below is a must watch:

https://twitter.com/MilitantCab/status/917736086276837376

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT:

TfL Ref: FOI-1306-1718

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 31 August 2017 asking for information about legal costs. Please accept my apologies for the delay in our response.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we hold some of the information you require.

The total expenditure, as at the end of August 2017 and since June 2014, is £291,679. This figure is inclusive of VAT.

We do not hold an expected estimate of future costs and so are unable to provide you with this information.

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

Yours sincerely

Lee Hill

Senior FOI Case Officer

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Was This Uber Driver, One Of Helen Chapman's 13,000 Without A DBS Certificate.

Uber driver ‘sexually assaulted a woman’ and told her to ‘stay in the car’ in South London

An Uber driver sexually assaulted a passenger, telling her: “Stay in the car. I’ll make you feel good,” a court heard.

The young woman says she had fallen asleep and woke to find Andrew Aluge, 46, “stroking and caressing” her leg.

He then grabbed her ankle as she tried to flee, she told a jury.

She said: “I suddenly felt really scared like he was going to rape me.”

The woman said she escaped and fled to a friend’s flat nearby.

Aluge denied inappropriately touching her during a trip to Tulse Hill, South London.

He claimed he tapped her on the leg to wake her up and was annoyed because she had her feet on his seat.

Aluge, of Vauxhall, South London, denies sexual assault at Inner London crown court.

The case continues: Source The Sun.

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA COMMENT: 

Could this alleged attack have been prevented?

Was this Uber driver one of the drivers with a fake DBS certificate?

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Man Fighting For His Life After Being Mowed Down By Another Sat-Nav Gazing PH Driver.

Pedestrian fighting for life in hospital after collision with Minicab  in Belsize Road....source : Camden New Journal

A man is in hospital with “life threatening” head injuries this evening after a collision with a car in Belsize Road.

Emergency services were called to the scene of the collision, at the junction with Abbey Road, at around midday and found a pedestrian, believed to be his his late-50s, with serious head injuries.

He was taken to St Mary’s Hospital, where he is receiving emergency treatment. Police said his injuries are “believed to be life threatening”.

The driver of the vehicle stopped at the scene.

Police have advised motorists to avoid the area, with road closures remaining in place.

Pictures of the scene showed a shopping trolley left stranded in the road.

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Exclusive...RT Minicab Livery Is Illegal, Say TfLTPH...But Will They Act On It ?... By Jim Thomas.

Taxi Leaks Breaking News 

We asked TfLTPH the question "Had the PH act 1998 been changed to allow full livery adverts on PHVs 

We offered this picture as part of the question .

To be honest, and going on the fact, the last time we asked them a question, after the 70th time of asking and getting no reply.....we didn't anticipate hearing back. 

We also put this photo on Taxi Leaks and copied TfLTPH into a tweet.....

Well, to our surprise, this afternoon we got this back from them.

So there you have it!

The Minicabs currently displaying the RT livery on super sides and rear window....are illegally advertising and should be reported!

 

We would hope that TfL will come down on this with the same amount of gusto they used when insisting that a copy of the a Taxi magazine was unauthorised advertising, when left on rear window shelves. 

Trouble is, TfL management bottle it when up against private hire companies, as we saw with the Addison Lee Rugby World Cup full lively on a number of their vans. 

Even though there were hundreds of complaints and TPH said the livery was illegal....Addison Lee continued to display until after the tournament had finished. We were informed later that no action was taken against Addison Lee by TfL, in regards to this issue!

So anyway,  let's keep reporting sightings of these RT Minicabs, clear photo showing number plate, along with location date and time....but let's not hold our breath waiting for TfL to take action. 

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