Uber sparks anger from customers after increasing prices for journeys through snow storms with some charged up to FIVE TIMES the normal fare

Minicab-booking app Uber has faced criticism for increasing their prices as the 90mph Storm Emma and the 'Beast from the East' hit Britain with blizzards, ice and flooding leaving public transport across the country to be cancelled.

The firm has charged customers up to five time the normal fare for journeys as the Met office issues six different weather warnings covering almost the entire country today - two amber for 'be prepared' and four yellow for 'be aware'. 

Angry Uber users took to social media to share their dismay with the app.

Richard Silcock, from Manchester, said his journey was 'an absolute joke' after being charged £13.20 for a three mile journey

He added it was 'ridiculous' to charge a 2.7 times surcharge for 'a bit of snow

Other frustrated users described the business as 'desperate' or 'pretty douchey'.  

One passenger in Birmingham allegedly paid five times the usual fare.

The customer reportedly paid £31 for a three mile journey that usually costs £

Twitter users complained about being asked to pay more than usual with some saying it was 'desperate'  

Another Uber user was charged £16 for a for a two mile journey that usually costs £5. She queried the price and was told 'We understand that you never had to pay this much before' but 'the rates are updated based on the demand and supply in real-time.      

An Uber spokesperson said: 'The last few days have been incredibly challenging for transport services and anyone trying to get around. Bad weather has seen more people looking to book a car with Uber but fewer drivers on the road which caused prices to automatically increase. 

'Our app uses dynamic pricing to encourage more drivers to pick up fares so that more cars are available. Users can always see a fare estimate before they book and can split the fare with others through the app. We'd encourage both riders and drivers to stay safe and follow the latest travel advice. 

Uber trying to get away from the embarrassment of the surge by calling it "Dynamic" pricing, so back to the old 'it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission'.....

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Uber Rethinks It’s Antagonistic Relationship' With Licensing Authorities.

After a long history skirting municipal regulations and evading local law enforcement, Uber is ready to make peace with cities.

So said Rachel Holt, Uber’s general manager of U.S. and Washington, D.C. operations, in a Politico podcast this week.

“I think we used to go into cities with probably a more antagonistic relationship,” Holt told Politico.

 “And what we’ve learned, and I think what we’re seeing now, is going in with a lot more partnership.”

Ameliorating its relationship with cities is part of Uber’s broader efforts to repair its reputation. Uber suffered a series of scandals under previous CEO Travis Kalanick, including a federal investigation into software the company developed to avoid law enforcement in cities where the service’s legal status is murky. 

Controversy eventually led Kalanick to resign and former Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi took over as Uber’s chief executive.

In Seattle, Uber is still at war with the city government over a landmark law that allows drivers to unionize like employees

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Mother Tells Of Nightmare Moment When Uber Driver Took Off With Her Baby On Back Seat.

A mother was left screaming in panic after an Uber driver accidentally drove off with her seven-month-old daughter in the back of his car — and didn’t realise for almost an hour.

Elisabeth Katompa, a nurse, had visited her mother in Enfield with daughter Olivia-Hope before taking a minicab home to Tottenham with her sister. When the car pulled up outside her home just after 11pm, Mrs Katompa and her sister got out.

As they made their way to the other side to unstrap the sleeping baby from her car seat directly behind the driver he set off, oblivious. 

“My sister and I chased him down the road and he didn’t even know that we were chasing him,” said Mrs Katompa, 31. “We couldn’t catch up with him

The pair called 999. Uber has a lost property service brought text that allows drivers to be contacted but it's not a phone number... Mrs Katompa said: “The panic that I was in… I was screaming and shouting and what-not. I called the police because that was the only thing I could think of.”

When officers arrived she showed them her email receipt, which had the driver’s first name but not the numberplate. Without further details, police said they could not immediately track the driver down.

“I got so worried because you hear about things like that happening when someone just takes a child and then you never see them again,” Mrs Katompa said.

“I wasn’t thinking straight. I didn’t know if he was aware that she was still there, I didn’t know if he did it on purpose… I didn’t know what to think.”

driver had meanwhile accepted another fare, a man who did not question the sleeping baby’s presence. “He didn’t say anything,” Mrs Katompa said. “Maybe he assumed she belonged to the driver.”

Only when a second fare asked the driver if he was aware of the baby did he realise what had happened.

He took her to Bishopsgate police station, about five miles from the home Mrs Katompa shares with her husband Oliver, 31.

“One of the officers on the radio said someone had just dropped a baby off at the police station,” Mrs Katompa said.

“The police blue-lighted us to the station. I was just hoping it was her... I was hoping that she was well. I was worried that it wouldn’t be my baby. I just wanted to see her. It was scary.” 

When Mrs Katompa got to the station she was reunited with Olivia-Hope, who was asleep. “She wasn’t aware of anything that was going on and the officers were taking care of her,” she said.

Uber said it was the first time such an incident had happened. It added: “We normally hear about drivers finding mobile phones or keys in the back seat of their car but never a sleeping baby.

"As soon as the driver and a following passenger realised what had happened they drove to the local police station to safely reunite mum and baby.”

The Met said it was called at about 11pm on Saturday to reports of a missing baby. It said: “Officers responded and made urgent enquiries to trace the vehicle.

"Just after 12.10am, the driver attended a central London police station to report a baby in his car. The baby was reunited with her mother.”

No crime was recorded. Mrs Katompa said: “I’m still shaken up by it. Even when we got home, I didn’t want to let go of her.”

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Why Would Building Business Relations In Informal Setting Cause Such A Knee-Jerk Reaction???

We've always wondered why TfL bosses were so upset, being videoed having a meal outside Delfino's restaurant in Mount Street. 

In a fit of spiteful revenge, the Taxi driver who made the video had his licensed immediately revoked. Unable to work, he had to fight for 7 months to get it back (Unlike Uber who have just been allowed to carry on regardless of the fact TfL have said their operation is unfit and a danger to the public). 

We believe the reason why there was such a knee-jerk  reaction to the video, has now become more obvious. It would appear that Delfino's is a place where senior directors of TfL accept corporate hospitality, or as they say "build business relationships in an informal setting".

So what was going on 'that night' that made these TfL top dogs so nervous ?

What could they have been discussing/negotiating/building that caused such a poor judgement reaction 

Perhaps the situation will become clearer when you read the article below from the MayorWatch website.

Transport for London has defended senior managers for accepting hospitality from a consultancy firm it has repeatedly re-appointed over a seven year period without going out to tender.

Over the period, an initial £122,000 contract to advise and support senior members of staff, including former Transport Commissioner Sir Peter Hendy and successor Mike Brown, has been regularly extended, netting the supplier a total of almost £2m.

TfL says the contractor, Panthea, provides “advice and support to the TfL leadership team for a number of major organisational change programmes to deliver a range of improvements and significant financial savings.” 

As reported last November, the agency previously justified its decision not to hold a competitive re-tender on the basis that other bidders “would not have the existing knowledge of TfL,” or the same “expertise and familiarity or trusting relationship with the individual Directors in the Leadership team.”

The most recent extension was made in October 2017, when the decision not to seek alternative bids was justified on the grounds that “it would not be appropriate to go to tender as it may result in a loss of continuity in the development of individuals.”

Despite the agency citing existing familiarity with its processes and key staff as grounds not to seek rival bids, two senior executives were guests of the firm in January when they attended a meal described in Brown’s hospitality register as an opportunity to “build business relationships in [an] informal setting”.

The second executive present, communications chief Vernon Everitt, describes the meals as a “networking” event in his register.

The £150 meal at the Delfino restaurant in Mayfair’s Mount Street was Brown’s fifth acceptance of hospitality from the firm over the past four years. 

Last year London Assembly members questioned the decision to repeatedly extend the contract.

Asked whether it was appropriate for executives to accept hospitality from a contractor which wasn’t having to tender against rivals for work, TfL provided a different description of the event to those in its executives’ registers.

A spokesperson for the agency said: “This was a working dinner as part of the services that Panthea provide to TfL, including their continued advice and support to the leadership team.

“This was to plan upcoming work that Panthea will carry out, and was held in an informal setting.

“The topics discussed included our organisational structure and improvement plans, our financial savings programme, and our challenges for the year ahead.”

In response to a Freedom of Information request, TfL recently claimed it had no central record of the number, or value, of contracts being re-let without rival bids being sought.....now there's a surprise!!!

Source MayorWatch 

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Uber driver snared in 'sting' by rival York taxi drivers

    York Magistrates Court.

A PRIVATE hire Uber driver was caught out illegally picking up a fare in a sting set up by two rival York taxi drivers, a court heard.

One driver posed as a customer to flag down the Leeds-based Uber cab - even though private hire cars can only take pre-booked fares.

A second York driver filmed the incident on his dashcam before providing evidence to City of York Council.

Now the Uber driver, Rehan Farooq, has a criminal record and may face losing his private hire licence as a result of what happened on August 20 in Rougier Street, the court heard.

Victoria Waudby, prosecuting at York Magistrates’ Court, said one of the taxi drivers flagged down Farooq and asked him to take him as a fare.

After the Uber driver accepted the first taxi driver as a passenger, the second taxi driver filmed part of the journey.

Both taxi drivers provided evidence to City of York Council, which investigated and prosecuted Farooq for working as a taxi driver when he only had a licence to take pre-booked fares.

Mrs Waudby said of Farooq: “At the end of the journey, he was aware he was being followed and feared what was going to happen, as he didn’t know who was following him.”

Farooq, 29, of Alder Hill Grove, Meanwood, Leeds, who had no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to operating as a taxi driver without a hackney carriage licence in Rougier Street and driving without insurance.

He was fined £200 plus a £30 statutory surcharge plus £608.34 prosecution costs and six penalty points were put on his licence.

He told the magistrates: “The guy approached me. I thought I would take him. It was a stupid mistake. I am very sorry.”

Farooq said that he had insurance generally for his car. However, he accepted that because the insurance didn’t cover him working as a taxi driver, his insurance didn’t cover him for the journey he made after he picked up the first taxi driver.

Mrs Waudby said the council received a complaint that an Uber driver had picked up a fare in Rougier Street on August 20 in a Volkswagon Passat.

The car was registered to Farooq, who was licensed to operate as a private hire driver by Leeds City Council.

Uber records showed that there was no booking for Farooq to take a passenger at the time he was carrying the taxi driver.

When he was interviewed on November 28, Farooq told a council officer he was a full-time carer for his mother and worked as a private hire driver in the evening to make ends meet.

The council has contacted Leeds City Council but the West Yorkshire authority has yet to decide if it will take action regarding Farooq’s licence, the court heard.

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Sexual Predators Pose As Uber Drivers To Attack Women, Police Say They Don't Know Why Rape Is Increasing In London.

ASSOCIATED PRESS SAID:

Authorities say they are dealing with a string of sexual assault cases in which attackers pretend to be Uber drivers to lure women into their vehicles. But their statistics also includ Uber drivers, who pick up unbooked jobs, then turn off their app. 

The London Taxi trade have been warning the public and our licensing authority about fake minicab drivers for many years. They've always been out there, lined up outside popular night venues, trying to attract intoxicated young females into their cars. This situation was made worse when satellite offices were licensed by TfL, under the guise of the Safer Travel at Night (STaN) campaign. The lines of minicabs touting outside London clubs were suddenly given a cloak of respectability. 

But with the rise in minicab app use, people wanting a car stick out like a soar thumb, standing on the pavement looking at their mobile. Finding fresh victims became a lot easier for persistent predators.

But it's not just fake drivers that members of the public have to worry about. There are over 10,000 Uber drivers with fake criminal background checks who have been allowed to carry on working by TfLTPH. 

In August last year, we were told there were 13,000 Uber drivers that would 'all' have to re-submit DBS checks, TfLTPH manager Helen Chapman even went so far as to say she would vouch for all 13,000 Uber drivers, passing subsequent checks. Yet only 2,600 were rechecked by TfL. 

TfL have shown disregard for public safety and are now denying there ever was a list of 13,000. They have buried the whole episode.

And now we have news that Lyft have been in talks with TfL to bring their ride share app to London.

Just what London needs (not). More untrained, unchecked drivers following satnavs,smashing into each other, choking Londoners with their fumes and adding to congestion. Well done TfL. What ever happened to the phrase ' Duty of Care' ?

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Comcast boss tells of London cab driver's role in £22bn Sky bid

Brian Roberts says he learned a lot about Sky’s features during chat with driver

If Comcast is successful in stealing Sky from under Rupert Murdoch’s nose, it seems a London cab driver can take some of the credit.

The Comcast chief executive, Brian Roberts, said a chat in a taxi in November helped him realise why Sky is worth the £22bn offer he has tabled. 

Roberts told reporters he and a colleague hailed a taxi to go to a Sky shop. “The cab driver was incredibly knowledgeable about the difference between Virgin [Media] and Sky in every feature,” he said. “We were learning a lot there.

“Then when we got to the Sky store, we spent at least an hour going through every feature and comparing it to our own ... We were really terribly impressed.”

Roberts said that while the chat was not the deciding factor in making the bid, it was “another reminder for me how impressive Sky is”.

The 58-year-old inherited the top spot at Comcast via his father, who founded it as a cable business in the 1960s, but he had to prove himself before reaching the boardroom in 2002. 

His first job involved selling TV subscriptions door to door and putting up power cables. These days he is worth almost $2bn (£1.4bn), taking home about $30m annually. 

Still, the Philadelphian makes time for sport (Comcast owns the Philadelphia Flyers ice hockey team), winning a gold and four silvers for the US in squash at the Maccabiah Games in Israel.

Source : The Gaurdian 

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