More Traffic Khanage On Holloway Road, Plus Another Waste Of Time Consultation.

From 01:00 on Monday 18 December until 04:00 on Monday 8 January, the A1 Holloway Road will be closed in both directions between Digswell Street and Highbury Corner roundabout. This is while we demolish and build a stronger Highbury Corner Bridge. 

Travel advice

 

Signed diversions will be in place for all traffic. Roads in and around the area are expected to be busier than usual, especially during peak hours. Buses will be delayed, diverted or stop short of their normal destination. Access to the station, local shops and businesses will be possible at all times. 

Please plan ahead and allow more time for journeys. For full details, please visit http://ift.tt/1PWBuYM

I apologise for the inconvenience caused by these essential works.

Yours sincerely,

Nick Fairholme

Oh No... Not Another Useless Consultation!

TfL are consulting on the next stage of the Mayor, Sadiq Khan’s plan to help tackle London’s toxic air pollution, which contributes to thousands of early deaths in our city each year. 

To have your say visit 

http://ift.tt/2ASit9P

From 8 April 2019, the Mayor is introducing the Ultra Low Emission Zone in central London, replacing the T-Charge with an even tighter emission standards for diesel vehicles. There will also be new Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle (PHV) licencing requirements from 2018.  

Further information on what this means for private hire vehicles can be found here

 

To help further reduce toxic emissions in London, the Mayor is also now proposing to:

  • Extend these tighter emissions standards to the whole of London for lorries, buses and other heavy goods vehicles only in 2020 

  • Expand the ULEZ for all vehicles including cars, vans, motorbikes and minibuses up to the North and South circular roads in 2021 

 

This consultation ends on 21 February 2018.

Yours sincerely, 

Alex Williams,

Director of City Planning, TfL

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT

If TfL were really serious about tackling London's so called Toxic air, then the Mayor should step in to stop the massive amount of congestion being caused by the segregated cycle super highways. 

We now have 24hr congestion on many London roads that wasn't there before the lanes were put in. 

Also the over supply of London buses needs to be dealt with. At the last bus strike, London's pollution level dropped by 50% but a blind eye as always was turned towards these statistics. 

 

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It's All Smoke And Mirrors As Uber's Temporary Sheffield Ban Is Lifted.

A suspension of Uber’s licence to operate in Sheffield has been lifted, the city council confirmed.

The minicab firm’s licence to operate in the northern city was suspended on November 29 after it failed to respond to requests about the management of the instant hail app, Sheffield City Council said.

However, the suspension was today lifted following “productive” discussions between the San Fransisco-based company and the council.

A spokesman for Sheffield City Council said: “Uber provided satisfactory replies to the questions asked by Sheffield City Council about the management of Uber.”

The new application, made by Uber in October, to operate private hire cars in Sheffield is being considered and a decision will be made in early 2018. There is still a chance the licence will not be renewed.

The move comes today, after York refused to grant Uber a licence to operate in the city.

Uber's licence was due to expire in York on Christmas Eve this year, having twice previously been granted clearance to operate - most recently on December 21 2016.

At yesterday's meeting in York, Uber said if it's licence wasn't renewed, it would use cars from outside the City of York to carry on its operation. 

Transport for London (TfL) refused to renew the ride-hailing firm's licence on the grounds of "public safety and security implications" in September. 

A spokesman for Uber in York said: "This is a disappointing vote for the riders and drivers who use our app in the city. 

Last year the sexual assaults including rapes in Uber vehicles, increased by 50%, road traffic accidents in London have increased dramatically. It was reported in the media that 13,000 Uber drivers had faked their criminal record DBS checks. 

Not forgetting that Uber tried to sweep under the carpet the fact that 57 million customer accounts had been compromised when their system was hacked. 

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York Follow London, Reading, Cardiff, North Tyneside And Refuse To Re License Uber.

York Council chiefs refuse to renew Uber's licence in York.

Council chiefs have refused to renew the Minicab-hailing company Uber's licence to operate in York.

Members of York Council's Gambling, Licensing and Regulatory Committee tonight debated for more than two hours over Uber Britannia Limited's application.

The company's current 12-month licence is due to expire on Christmas Eve.

Councillors concluded that the Minicab firm are not a fit and proper person - a required condition to refuse an application of its kind.

A spokesperson for York Council said: “The application by Uber Britannia Ltd to renew its private hire operator’s licence in York has been considered by City of York Council’s Gambling, Licensing and Regulatory Committee tonight.

“Applying the legislation, the committee has decided to refuse the application having concerns about a data breach currently under investigation and the number of complaints received."

Speaking after the meeting Neil McGonigle, general manager for Uber in York, said the company would now review the details of the decision.

It comes after Transport for London refused to renew Uber’s licence on the grounds of “public safety and security implications” in September.

The firm's appeal against that decision in London will be heard by Westminster Magistrates’ Court in Spring next year. Uber Britannia Limited can lodge an appeal with the Magistrates' Court over the latest decision by York Council.

Cllr Sonja Crisp tabled a motion to refuse the application on the basis of the data breach that affected the 57 million customers and drivers in 2016.

The second reason for refusal related to complaints made against the firm in York.

The decision is the latest blow to hit the taxi-hailing company, after Uber had its licence suspended in Sheffield this week.

The move came after the firm failed to respond to requests for information about its management.

Over half of all complaints to York Council regarding Taxi and Private Hire were against Uber Drivers!

Since December 2016, 296 complaints were made relating to hackney carriage and private hire vehicles or drivers in York up to November 22.

York Council said 155 of these complaints related to Uber vehicles or drivers.

But only four related to an Uber vehicle or driver licensed by the council - and 151 were made against those licensed by other local authorities, leading to councillors raising questions about the number of Uber drivers coming from outside York to work in the city.

Cllr Dave Taylor, a member of the committee, said during the meeting: "This city needs to have control of its taxi and Private Hire services and it needs to have a level playing field and I don't know if that means then national legislation needs to be tidied up.

"But I don't think that we can license a company which directs drivers to go around the houses, pumping up fair for customers, that tries to claim it has no liability for any claims, demands or losses, which claims to have a local office but never seems to staff it and the number of complaints against them is so high.

"I think those are the grounds on which we can refuse this licence."

Neil McGonigle, Uber Head of Cities, North of England, spoke in support of Uber at the meeting.

He revealed that some 28,000 have used the company's app in York in the last three months.

The meeting was told licenses for Uber to operate had been refused in Reading, North Tyneside and Cardiff, as well as London.

Saf Din, chairman of York Hackney Carriage Association said he does not object to competition, but that Uber was not a "fair player" in the public transport game.

Ahead of the decision, Mr Din told the meeting: "I urge you to be the most active members by refusing the application and offer no licence until you are fully satisfied."

He also handed over a petition regarding safeguarding of passengers, objecting to Uber's licensing renewal.

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Could Cambridge Have A London-Style 'Uber Ban'? Would They Just Kept Operating Regardless Of Ban?

Uber’s licence to operate in Cambridge is being reviewed to determine whether they are a “fit and proper” group to operate in the city.

In September, transport bosses at Transport for London (TfL) made headlines when they decided not to renew the licence for cab company Uber. The decision is currently being appealed.

Now, with the company’s licence in Cambridge approaching its expiry date, councillors will take a hard look at whether to allow them to keep operating in the city.

At the time, a spokesman for Cambridge City Council said: “We will look closely at the detail of TfL’s decision and the likely appeal Uber has indicated it will lodge against that decision before considering Uber’s operator licence in Cambridge, and whether that licence should be renewed or not.”

Next Monday (December 18), the city council’s Taxi Licensing Committee will discuss whether to renew the private hire operator’s licence held by Uber Britannia Limited.

Uber Britannia Limited was first issued with a Private Hire Operator’s Licence on December 21, 2015 for one year.

Due to Uber not having traded under the initial licence for a whole year, the subsequent renewal application was treated as a new application. The licence was issued on December 21, 2016 for a period of one year.

According to a report due to go before the committee: “Since November 2016, we have received six complaints regarding Uber as an operator.

“Five of these were received on the 15th and 16th November 2016, which was when Uber vehicles first appeared in Cambridge. The complaints related to how the bookings were made.

“Investigations carried out by the Licensing enforcement officers concluded that Uber was acting correctly.”

The report added that: “No complaints have been made to Cambridge City Council from members of the public in regards to journeys taken in Uber vehicles.

“At the time of the inspection, Uber Britannia Limited currently uses four private hire vehicles and drivers licensed by Cambridge City Council.”

Two letters objecting to the renewal of the Operator’s licence have been sent from Panther Taxis Ltd and a joint response from Cambridge City Licensed Taxis (CCLT) and Cambridge Hackney & Private Hire Association (CHPHA).

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Next Stage In The Uber Relicensing Scandal....We Have To Wait Till Next April.

Uber finally get the dat for their appeal against TFL's refusal to licence then as a private hire operator in London 

The date of the appeal has been set at 30 of April 2018. 

Uber were deemed not fit to operate back in September but instead of revoking their licence, which would have meant Uber had to stop all operations in London, TfL decided to only not renew their licence. This has allowed the company to carry on regardless. 

London's Mayor, Sadiq Khan recently said at a MQT at City Hall that this appeal process could take years to complete. 

Currently Uber are operating free of charge.

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Who At TfL Made The Decision To Scrap the Need For The 13,000 PH Drivers With Fake DBS To Reapply?

TfL appear to be in complete disarray after going back on their original statements that all PH drivers have the same enhanced criminal record DBS checks as licensed Taxis.

At a meeting with Taxi trade orgs, TfLTPH admitted 13,000 private hire drivers needed to reapply for DBS certificates, after using an unauthorised company which supplied their DBS certificates. 

It was made public in September that TfL had known about this issue as long ago as January 2017, but said and did nothing until the scandal came out in the national media. 

TfL said they would write to all 13,000 drivers, giving them 28 days to reapply, (an impossible task), but now, after nearly 4 months, and after the bad publicity has died down and moved on, it has been revealed that only 2,642 drivers have been contacted by TfLTPH. 

Because of the mountain of work involved, TfL appear to have moved the goal posts, making this statement to a query from Steve Garelick of the GMB Union:

All London PH drivers must do an enhanced DBS check. After reviewing the 13,000 records we identified & contacted 2,600 drivers who needed to request a new enhanced DBS check with our approved provider. 

This is not what the trade orgs were told the in the meeting with Mike Brown, where Helen Chapman said all 13,000 would be contacted and would need to reapply. 

It is now believed that TfLTPH only managed to contact the 2,600 drivers in the 28 day time frame, but then decided to drop the issue and move on. 

We have been informed by a TfL insider that all 13,000 questionable drivers have definitely not been contacted individually by TfL.

The only way the whole 13,000 affected drivers would have been informed about the current situation, is if they saw the article in the times, followed TfLTPH's account on Twitter...or read about the issue on the Taxi Leaks news blog.

TfLTPH went on to say:

We've suspended 875 licences of drivers who have yet to redo the enhanced DBS. 

That's one third or the drivers who TfLTPH actually managed to contact, seen as having unsuitable DBS checks. 

The figure for drivers needed to reapply has suddenly gone from 13,000 to just 875 !!!

So what about the remaining 12,125 ?

Going on the statistics made public by TfL in the reply to GMB's Steve Garelick, over a third of the drivers they actually contacted were not fit and proper to deal with the public.

It would be very interesting to find out, how many of the 48 #UberRapes victims fit into this demographic ?

As administrators, surely TfLTPH are libel to legal action for not giving the public adequate protection from sexual predators !

It seems Managers and Directors are leaving TfL at a speed of knots...is it the fear of being held legally responsible for heinous sexual attacks, or the thousands of illuminating emails sent back and forth between TfL and Uber, that are driving staff to resign ?

What are they afraid will be uncovered?

It would also be very interesting to know who made the decision only to contact 2,600 out of the 13,000 who they originally said needed to reapply. 

TfL....Totally Failing London

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Uber London : Uber heads to court to appeal London ban

Well, we finally got here. It was feared within certain sectors of the trade, from the way the Mayor was talking, that Uber's licence would be granted before this issue made it to court. 

Uber head to court on Monday, to fight Transport for London's refusal to relicense their London operation siting safety issues which they make the company unfit to be a private hire operator.

This kicks off the first of two crucial legal battles over the next fortnight.

The Instant eHailing app is appealing Transport for London's decision not to relicense when their current licence ran out in September. A move that was ineffective in banning Uber from the capital. The company is still being allowed to continue to operate while on appeal.  

This first appeal comes ahead of a critical decision at Europe’s highest court on Wednesday week, that will determine its regulatory future in Europe. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) will decide whether Uber should qualify as a technology or transport company, a decision that may see it bound to strict local taxi regulations.

The company is facing a series of legal battles and government investigations around the world, and is fighting to restore its reputation after a disastrous year that has seen its founder Travis Kalanick forced to step down as chief executive. 

Its valuation is also under pressure as the Japanese giant SoftBank seeks to buy shares from insiders at a much lower price than its $70bn (£52bn) valuation suggests.

Last week it faced a new UK blow when its licence in Sheffield was revoked for allegedly failing to answer questions about its management. 

Uber put the ban down to an administrative error, saying the council had sent letters to the wrong address. Uber believe they are a law unto themselves saying it's easier to seek forgiveness than permission. 

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