EU rules that Uber is a transport service, not a digital company

AD UNUM OMNES .... IN THE COLD LIGHT OF DAY By Lenny Etheridge

The day the few proactive members of this trade brought down Uber, the DDD and their likeminded friends went out and celebrated in the Prince of Wales.

But UberExit has gone sour. The exact same way Brexit has.

The victors have been royally screwed.

The refusal by TfL (Transport for London) to deny Uber a license, is no more than a ruse.

A ruse to cover up the fact that Uber conspired with TfL to destroy their competition; the Taxi and Private Hire industry.

Sadiq Khan is a holographic metaphor of a London Mayor.

If he isn't taking selfies with every living person on the planet (bar Trump of course), he's promising affordable housing to millionaires.

Khan is very good at shutting down police stations, but has no appetite for taking on huge companies – who continue to walk all over him.

It is now considered that Khan is a worse mayor than the infamous Boris Johnson.

At least Boris spoke out against Uber. That is until he was bought-out and reined-in by Uber flunkies; Cameron, Osborne and Javid.

The only time you will hear Khan utter the 'U' word, is in reply to Caroline Pidgeon or David Kurten during Mayor's Questions.

Sadiq Khan and TfL stand by and allow Uber to fleece Londoners and visitors to London every single day.

Hundreds of thousands of Uber passengers are being ripped off via surge pricing.

Uber drivers are scamming thousands of Uber customers daily, by purposefully cancelling a job and collecting the five pound 'scrub' fee.

Why do Khan and TfL allow this to continue?

Because we don't matter, and they don't care.

The Conservative Party has nailed its colours to Uber's mast.

Not only has most Tory MP's lobbied in favour of Uber. The Party itself campaigned for this criminally complicit company to be relicensed.

The Tories even went on to compound their obvious admission of wholesale bribery, by having leaflets printed up to plead Uber's defence.

Was it Theresa or Dara who paid for those flyers?

Wes Streeting MP has campaigned on behalf of all Taxi and Private Hire drivers, who have been unwitting victims of a TfL and Uber attempted takeover.

Tom Watson MP has shown great concern and interest in Uber's illegal coup d'etat.

Unfortunately our unions have been slow in coming to our rescue.

Is it because Taxi and PH branches are too small?

Or is it because London has a Labour Mayor, and the unions cannot find a compromise between taking down TfL and embarrassing our ineffectual mayor?

Sadiq Khan’s apathy is ultimately losing votes by the ton for Labour in London.

Uber's new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, apologised to TfL’s Mike Brown, and vicariously to Khan, for all the rapes and sexual assaults, for all the thievery, for the refusal to help police with a sexual assault inquiry culminating in the Uber driver reoffending, for the hacking of customer accounts, for the attempted deformation of a rape victim's character, for all of Uber's institutionalised sexual discrimination and lechery, for Greyball, for all of Uber's bribery and corruption, internet theft and industrial espionage, for hacking their own drivers' phones, for their fake insurance certificates, for the fraudulent DBS background checks, for the bogus medical tests, he was even kind enough to apologised for Uber terrorists and murderers.

Brown and Khan feel that the hands on confession by such an important and influential man, is enough for them to reconsider Uber's Operator's License application.

It is a shame that our very own Sean Stockings wasn't as important or as influential as Uber's 'born again' CEO. If he was, he might have been allowed to work whilst his appeal was being considered.

Uber are allowed to continue unlicensed for as many years as it takes for them to 'Masada' the Taxi trade.

Mind you, Uber didn't film TfL staff - including Leon Daniels and Mike Brown, eating in a public place, whilst doorstepping them on issues such as the Croydon tram crash - as Sean Stockings did.

I recently read the victims and their families are still awaiting compensation, over a year on.

No I didn't forget Uber's Hackgate.

And neither did Dara. He decided to keep that information from Brown and Khan. Much the same way he kept it from the FBI and the fifty seven million Uber customers and drivers who were victims of this crime.

So much for contrition, hey?

The real enemy of Licensed London Taxi drivers and legitimate Private Hire drivers, is TfL.

TfL are guilty of misfeasance in public office, and corruption.

TfL licensed Uber in 2012, knowing that the app transgressed all TPH regulation.

In laymen's terms, the app facilitated the act of putting the potential passenger in direct contact with the prospective driver, bypassing the Operator.

No Uber PH driver possesses an Operator's License.

Therefore TfL and Uber not only facilitated a crime, but they profited from it too.

The Licensed London Taxi trade has a strong case against TfL for misfeasance and grave malfeasance.

Uber have admitted on oath and in public that their app puts the passenger in direct contact with the driver.

TfL have lied to the GLA; using made up terms to try and qualify their illegal decision to license Uber.

It is not about instant hail or nano pre-bookings - time is irrelevant.

The order in which the process is administered, is the keyfactor - Uber back-fills, after the event.

TfL cannot plead ignorance, ignorance is not a defence.

TfL are our government appointed regulator.

TfL not only colluded in this illegality. They actively changed regulations to fit Uber's work model.

TfL and Uber really are partners in every sense.

Our unions seem reticent about their lack of will to do anything proactive against TfL.

And our Orgs do not have the muscle.

We can propose a Judicial Review and cite ourselves an "interested party". But as our flaccid mayor pointed out, Uber could drag this appeal out for another four years, and still carry on regardless.

Most proactive individuals in this fine trade see our path as an obvious one.

We need to take out a class action.

It is not difficult to prove TfL's collusion. Uber have done most of our work for us.

Compensation can be across the board.

TfL are guilty. The trade should seek recompense.

Drivers have suffered a huge drop in available work, due to TfL's illegal policy. Therefore drivers have suffered a loss of income, suffered physical and mental torture, by having to work slavish and ungodly hours to make ends meet.

Drivers have suffered emotionally from stress caused by TfL's inaction to regulate correctly and their conspiracy to decimate our trade.

The Taxi trade must claim for damages and remuneration.

TfLTPH's misfeasance, and malfeasance by some individuals at TfL, has cost drivers money, their mental health, their marriages, their homes, and even their lives.

It doesn't matter which union a driver belongs to or what organisation they're affiliated to...

TfL either pays us out or pays us off.

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT :

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Union and taxi drivers' group can participate in Uber's London appeal

TfL, Using the same lawyer who lost the meter case against Uber

LONDON (Reuters) - A British trade union and a taxi drivers’ trade body can take part in Uber’s appeal case against the decision by London’s transport regulator to strip the taxi app of its operating licence, a judge ruled on Tuesday. 

The GMB Union and the London Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA), which represents the city’s black cab drivers, had asked to be “interested parties”, meaning they would be given access to documents and could make submissions. 

However some of their access may be restricted due to commercial sensitivities and the judge at a preliminary hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court on Tuesday said she couldn’t take a final decision on the LTDA’s role just yet. Regulator Transport for London (TfL) refused to grant Uber a new licence in September, citing its approach to reporting serious criminal offences and background checks on drivers. 

The substance of Uber’s appeal is due to be heard over five days from June 25 with a preliminary hearing due to take place before then in April to discuss further administrative matters.The Silicon Valley firm, which has faced bans, restrictions and protests around the world as it disrupts traditional rivals, can continue to operate until the appeals process is exhausted, which could take several years. 

At Tuesday’s hearing, TfL also said it had “one or two” issues regarding the accuracy of details provided by Uber.“The decision letter says, well, there are one or two issues about the extent to which the information given to TfL was correct,” TfL lawyer Martin Chamberlain told the court. “That is one of the points that the decision is based on."

After Uber was stripped of its operating licence, the firm’s boss Dara Khosrowshahi met TfL’s Commissioner Mike Brown and promised to make things right in the British city, its most important European market.

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As QC Philip Kolvin Tells Cambridge Council Uber Is Safe, Another Uber Driver In Old Bailey Charged With Rape

A passenger allegedly woke up to find an Uber driver assaulting her in a taxi

Najamulhassan Qureshi, 35, allegedly put his hand up the skirt of a woman, 22

A court heard the alleged victim initially thought the man was her boyfriend. Qureshi denies assault by penetration and trial at the Old Bailey continues

A passenger woke up in the back of a taxi to find an Uber driver kissing her neck and putting his hand up her skirt, a court heard. 

Najamulhassan Qureshi, 35, allegedly climbed into the back seat with the 22-year-old woman and assaulted her. 

When she came too, she first thought it was her boyfriend and asked him ‘What are you doing, baby?’ and ‘Why are you speaking in an Asian accent?’, it is claimed. 

The alleged victim eventually realised what was happening and managed to escape from the car parked near her home in the Isle of Dogs in east London.

A passenger woke up in the back of a taxi to find an Uber driver kissing her neck and putting his hand up her skirt, a court heard today.

Qureshi later denied sexually assaulting the woman and claimed that she got ‘very angry’ when he sneezed on her mobile phone.

The Old Bailey heard the woman had enjoyed a night out drinking cocktails with her boyfriend in Islington, north London, on January 22 this year.

They ended up going to a late-night diner and appeared to be ‘somewhat intoxicated’, jurors were told.

She decided not to go back to her boyfriend’s home because he was staying with his parents that night and booked an Uber to her home at around midnight.

Prosecutor David Povall said: ‘There is no dispute that the Uber that arrived was a black Ford driven by Mr Qureshi.

‘She got into the back of the car and very quickly fell asleep.

‘It was some time later that she became aware there was somebody next to her kissing her neck and his hand was under her skirt.

‘She was confused. Her first thought was that person was her boyfriend and she responded by saying "What are you doing"”

Najamulhassan Qureshi, 35, allegedly climbed into the back seat with the 22-year-old woman and assaulted her, the Old Bailey heard

‘When she heard the response in an Asian accent it took her some time to work out what was happening.’

Once she had got out of the car she realised it was parked close to her home and ran to the front door.

The alleged victim called police and gave a statement the next day.

When Qureshi was questioned by police he told officers that she alternated between abusing him and trying to climb into the front seat during the journey.

He claimed that when he arrived at the destination she wanted to hug him and refused to be taken inside.

‘He said she dropped her phone and he picked it up and sneezed. She called him a motherf***er and she got very angry,’ said Mr Povall.

‘He said he had not got into the back seat and he did not sexually assault her.’

Qureshi, of Hounslow, west London, denies assault by penetration.

The trial continues

Source : MailOnLine.

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As Cambridge Council Decide To Relicense Uber, News Breaks Of Another Uber Murder.

British Embassy worker in Beirut was raped 'at least twice' before being murdered, investigators say an Uber driver who has been to prison several times 'admits strangling her and ditching her body in a dumpster' How on earth was this man licensed to drive for Uber???

A 35-year-old Uber driver identified as Tarek Hesso has admitted to murdering Rebecca Dykes, who was abducted after leaving a party in the the Lebanese Capital on Friday, investigators said.

Police arrested Hesso, who has previously served several prison sentences, in a 3am raid on Monday.

According to Lebanon's NNA agency he has admitted picking the 30-year-old diplomat up in his taxi, attempting to rape her and then strangling her before ditching her body in a dumpster by the roadside. 

Rebecca Dykes, a UK diplomat who worked at the British embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, has been found dead 

Rebecca Dykes was said to have been at a leaving party at the Demo nightclub in Beirut before she went missing

The body of the 30-year-old former public schoolgirl was found by a motorway on Saturday evening several miles from the nightspot where she was last seen alive.

Miss Dykes' family have been left 'devastated' by her death.

A police official said today that the suspect was traced through security cameras that showed his car driving from Beirut to the area where Dykes' body was found, just north of the Lebanese capital.

'He was detained at his apartment,' the official said, adding that the suspect is a Lebanese citizen. 

'He was detained at his apartment,' the official said. He added that once the plate number of the vehicle was traced through security cameras, the suspect, who is a Lebanese citizen, was identified.   

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said the suspect is an Uber driver who picked up the woman from Beirut's Gemayze neighborhood, known for its restaurants and pubs, then drove to a nearby neighborhood where she lived but did not drop her off there.

Instead, the suspect drove the car to the site where Dykes' body was later found. NNA said the man tried to sexually assault her, then strangled her with a rope. The police have not confirmed those details.

Earlier, a forensics official told The Associated Press that the woman was strangled with a rope.

Lebanese police have launched an investigation following the discovery on Saturday evening.

One security source said the diplomat was found with 'a piece of string around her neck'.

Another official involved in the investigation said: 'Our first impression is that it's not politically motivated.'

He said her body was found 'on the side of the Emile Lahoud road', east of central Beirut.

London police complained in April that Uber was either not disclosing, or taking too long to report, serious crimes including sexual assaults and this put the public at risk. The firm's boss has promised to make things right in the British capital.

And globally, the app has suffered a series of scandals in 2017 as a stream of executives left amid controversies involving allegations of sexual harassment and issues surrounding data privacy and business practices.

 

The Foreign Office advises against all travel to several areas in Lebanon, including southern suburbs of Beirut, and all but essential travel to most other areas of the country.

Terror attacks are deemed 'very likely' in the country, and protests in Beirut are common following the US announcement on the status of Jerusalem.   

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: 'Following the death of a British woman in Beirut, we are providing support to the family. We remain in close contact with local authorities. Our thoughts are with the family at this difficult time.'

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Uber Are To Be Relicensed For Five Years In Cambridge ....Shape Of Things To Come ?

Full report of Cambridge City Council Licensing decision regarding Uber

Uber's licence will expire later this month, prompting Cambridge City Council to decide today if the ride sharing service will be allowed to continue operating in the city.

The city council’s Taxi Licensing Committee took a hard look today (December 18) at 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.

From all accounts this has all the appearance of a kangaroo court.

Is this what we can expect in Londons case against the relicensing of Uber in the capital.

No evidence" Uber is a risk to public safety

Philip Kolvin QC representing Uber says there is “no evidence in the 200,000 rides or more” taken in Cambridge that Uber is a risk to public safety. He says the empirical evidence is just not there.

He says Uber does not engage in “predatory” pricing, but notes that they are a new company looking to get into a competitive market.

Sexual assault: "Heaven forfend"

Philip Kolvin QC: “One single sexual offence is one too many. Uber is wholly committed to doing everything it can to protect its passengers. 

“Of course nobody with a history of sexual misconduct would be permitted to drive with Uber. However, there are people in society who commit sexual offences. 

(Unfortunately this is not the case as an Uber driver with complaints for sexual harassment was not reported on to TfL and the driver went on to rape)

“If, heaven forfend, an Uber driver were to sexually assault somebody, there is a whole record of the journey. I can only tell you that Uber will work with authorities like yours to root out any instances of sexual assault.”

From early 2018 Uber will show who licensed driver

Do passengers know who their driver is licensed by? 

Philip Kolvin QC says that, by early 2018, there will be a feature in Uber to show people which authority (South Cambs / Cambridge City Council / London / elsewhere) granted the licence.

Uber stopped online health checks

Philip Kolvin QC says that, for a month, Uber allowed drivers to get medical advice from the “PushDoctor” app. Transport for London said this had to stop and drivers actually had to go to see a GP for their physical examinations. Uber stopped this. 

Happy to stop using 'greyball' technology

Mr Kolvin QC says Uber is happy to stop using “greyball” technology. Says that is an easy condition to agree to. Says UBL must pass complaints on the council.

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).

 The committee left the room to deliberate and returned at 02:40 

Verdict

Cllr Gerri Bird reads decision. They have decided, after hearing all the representations, that Uber will have their licence extended for another five years

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT 

Just who is this defence QC?

• As this is the man who defends Uber and its drivers in court, is this not a conflict of interest?

• Should London's Taxi orgs be putting in an objection to this QC being chosen to chair the night time commision? 

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20mph Limit Is More Dangerous... But Too Costly To Reverse, Admits Council.

Reducing the speed limit to 20mph has caused a rise in death and serious injuries, a council has admitted, but is refusing to reverse the scheme because it will cost too much. 

Bath and North East Somerset Council spent £871,000 bringing in the 13 new speed zones just 12 months ago.

But one year on, a report has found that the rate of people killed or seriously injured has gone up in seven out of the 13 new 20mph zones.

The review of the traffic control measures warns that this is a problem nationally, adding: "There is no simple explanation for this adverse trend but it could be that local people perceive the area to be safer due to the presence of the 20mph restrictions and thus are less diligent when walking and crossing roads, cycling or otherwise travelling."

Despite the council's own report concluding that there is "little in the way of persuasive argument for continuing the programme in the future", deputy leader Patrick Anketell-Jones has admitted there simply isn't the money available to reverse the 20mph zones. 

The Conservative councillor said: "It has cost over £800,000 to roll out the 20mph zone and it would probably cost the same to reverse them.

"We just haven't got the money. I'm pretty sure the 20mph zones will stay in place for the foreseeable future." 

It adds that the rise in casualty numbers and severity would "suggest against further expansion of area based schemes."

In the 12 months since each 20mph zone was installed the rate of people killed or seriously injured has gone up in seven out of the 13 areas.

The reductions had been seen in central Bath whilst the worsening was largely in outlying rural areas.   

The report added: "Casualty severity has worsened marginally in Bath and more so in outlying towns. Again, this is reflective of the national situation." 

This is not the first warning that 20mph areas are more dangerous. In 2010 the Department for Transport reviewed the scheme in Portsmouth, one of the first areas to adopt it, and found that number of people killed or seriously injured on affected roads actually went up, not down, after the limit was lowered.

Retired civil servant Simon Marshall, 58, from Lower Weston, called on Bath council to review the 20mph speed limits, calling them "unduly restrictive". 

He said he was astonished to see the report and learn that the council couldn't afford to reverse the zones, despite rising numbers of deaths and serious injuries. 

He said: "The facts are that the numbers of people being killed and injured are going up since the zones were introduced. 

"More people are being hurt because less people are taking care, and the council are saying that they can't afford to reverse it.

"To my mind that's saying that people are being seriously hurt but we are not prepared to stump up the cash to stop that happening."

The Government's current guidance remains that more traffic authorities should consider introducing the lower limits. 

Source : Telegraph 

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