We Need To Bring Them All Back To Answer Charges Of Alleged Malfeasanc

In a statement yesterday on Periscope, chair of the London Cab Drivers Club Grant Davis said: "we need to bring all TfL directors back past and present, to answer charges!". 

Paul Coghlan on FaceBook. 

The proof that Uber are illegal is now so unequivocally abundant it is mind numbing. 

Uber BV do not and never have had  an operators license. Uber BV in Holland dispatch every job after it has been accepted by the driver (illegal) as only a licensed operator can accept a booking. They also process the payment therefore avoiding any tax liability in the uk. Uber London ltd have the operators license but take no part in the booking process. ULL are merely the company who are Uber’s public face. 

We've all seen th videos of an army of compliance foot soldiers, trying to cover up UberRape, acting on orders from TfL top brass, removing copies of a trade paper from Taxis, being handed out to inform the public. 

One of the compliance officers suddenly disappeared from their ranks after it was alleged she had major connections with Uber drivers. 

They are responsible for the coverups of rape and gross misconduct by the company here in London. 

Freedom of information has revealed that TFL knew in 2013 that the booking process was non compliant. They actually instigated an IT architectural investigation by Deloitte that proved it to be so. 

TfL we’re about to act but Downing Street intervention quashed any compliance action. 

So for 5 long years TFL have knowingly sat on information that has caused 25k + self employed British men and woman to loose homes families and in the case of suicide their lives, in favour of an American tech company that contributes nothing, I repeat nothing, to our society other than an artificially low priced ride that will be 4x that price when all opposition is eradicated. 

The fight for justice continues as does the battle for survival. If you think it’s not you’re problem just remember this. These parasites will not stop with the Taxi industry. At the current burn rate they realise money will run out before self driving cars are ready en masse. They are looking to diversify into new areas. You could be next. Delete the app and support you’re local businesses.

                 

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT :

As Paul rightly says, Uber are looking to diversify as the money is running out. They already heavily subsidise every job dispatched. Uber have taken on Jump cycles in a bid to raise funds. They have leads devastated many small local businesses with Uber Eats. 

Ever business they are involved in has an affect on people's everyday lives. This below from the other side of the world:

 

A POPULAR Sydney burger chef has severed ties with UberEats and unleashed a scathing online spray against the “fascist” company after his business was hit by a wave of negative reviews from customers unhappy with cold food.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Burgers by Josh founder Josh Arthurs accused UberEats of “exploitation”. “To all our loyal customers who have had a bad experience with UberEats we APOLOGISE,” Mr Arthurs wrote.

“As both a customer and food operational partner of this fascist company I have seen first-hand just how bad [an] experience it is for both parties involved.”

He said the drivers were untrained in food handling and customer service and “any Joe off the street can join”, and the problem was made worse because drivers were “not paid much so they will take one job/food order and often stop in and get another along the way which results in customers getting cold food”.

“Now recently Uber changed its policy on refunds for customers and businesses,” he said. “Customers no longer have a call centre to call and they have to enter a complaint in via the app to be sent off overseas with an expected wait of 24 to 72-hour response time to then see if you are eligible for a refund.

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LCDC Chairman Grant Davis Gives Update On Periscope, A Must Watch.

Grant Davis, chair of the London Cab Driver Club gives an update on where the club are in regards to the 360 pages of emails they are collating.

Plus more information about their legal inquiries with top judicial review and Licensing law specialist at Bindmans LLP, John Halford. 

You can read more about John Haliford in this months badge on page 20. Grant has republish an article from the Badge in 2014.

Grant has always said if the club had been supported by the other trade orgs back in 2014, he believes we wouldn't be in the mess we're in now. 

Click the link below to see Grants periscope update

Well worth watching 👀👍🏻

https://www.pscp.tv/w/baDsrjE2MDc2Mjh8MU93eFdFTXlNWU5HUR9_k4bTlJrhbELQkR4WWo7VtnJ_XcxXrwc_qwMzqTU0

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Maidenhead Council Officer Raises Fears Over Lack Of Control Of Uber Drivers And Blames TfL

Uber drivers are ditching their private hire licences with the Royal Borough and signing up for Transport for London (TfL) instead.

Greg Nelson, the council’s trading standards lead, told a meeting of the Royal Borough’s Licensing Panel on Tuesday that the switch means the council has less control over drivers operating in the area.

While Uber has an operating licence with the council, regulations do not prevent drivers signed up to the transport app from being registered with TfL but working elsewhere.

Mr Nelson said: “I’m not particularly happy with this because the whole purpose of licensing is we have some degree of control on the vehicles operating in our area.

“If Uber drivers are waiting somewhere in the Royal Borough, parked illegally, there is nothing we can do about their physical presence.”

Mr Nelson added that by relinquishing their licences, Uber drivers would not have to comply with the council’s proposed safeguarding training for Hackney Carriage and private hire drivers.

Cllr Maureen Hunt (Con, Hurley and Walthams) said: “Our taxi drivers are going to have to pay for this safeguarding training but Uber won’t.

“We have to look at the fairness of this.”

During the meeting at Maidenhead Town Hall, panel members recommended that private hire drivers registered with the council should pay for mandatory safeguarding training.

Royal Borough taxi driver Mohammed Yasin said after the meeting: “I’m not against the training but the cost shouldn’t be placed on the drivers.

“This is for public safety, why can’t the council locate funds from the public purse?

“Otherwise, this is an extra tax for taxi drivers.”

The cost of the training was discussed in part two of the meeting, which the public and press are not able to attend.

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Uber expands settlement with FTC related to cyberattack

Question: What happens when you get caught out in a coverup, again?

Answer: Put more money on the table....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Thursday the ride-hailing company Uber Technologies Inc had agreed to expand its proposed settlement with the agency over charges it deceived consumers about its privacy and data security practices. 

The FTC said the expansion of the proposed settlement comes after the commission learned Uber had failed to disclose a “significant” breach of consumer data that occurred in 2016 affecting nearly 50 million U.S. riders and compels Uber to disclosure future incidents.

The settlement does not impose any fines but said Uber could face civil penalties if it fails to disclose future incidents.

The FTC said Uber in November 2016 learned that intruders had again accessed consumer data the company stored on its third-party cloud provider’s servers but did not disclose the incident for a year. The company said it had no evidence of fraud tied to the data breach.

The FTC said intruders used the access key to download from Uber’s cloud storage unencrypted files containing more than 25 million names and email addresses, 22 million names and mobile phone numbers, and 600,000 names and driver’s license numbers of U.S. Uber drivers and riders. 

“After misleading consumers about its privacy and security practices, Uber compounded its misconduct by failing to inform the Commission that it suffered another data breach in 2016 while the Commission was investigating the company’s strikingly similar 2014 breach,” said Acting FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen. “The strengthened provisions of the expanded settlement are designed to ensure that Uber does not engage in similar misconduct in the future.” 

The FTC noted that Uber failed to disclose the breach immediately, even after it paid the intruders $100,000 through its third-party “bug bounty” program.

The new FTC order requires Uber to retain records related to bug bounty reports regarding some vulnerabilities.

In November 2017, Uber Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi disclosed the data breach that affected 57 million people around the world and said the two individuals who led the response were no longer with Uber.

Uber Chief Legal Officer Tony West said in a statement Thursday that during his first week on the job in 2017 Uber publicly disclosed the incident. 

“I am pleased that just a few months after announcing this incident, we have reached a speedy resolution with the FTC that holds Uber accountable for the mistakes of the past by imposing new requirements that reasonably fit the facts,” West said. 

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT :

Meanwhile, there are so many of them in London, they're smashing into each other. Another blue on blue in Greenford Road.

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City Of London To Try To Fool Commonwealth Heads ...Will You Answer The Call?

The City of London Fathers are now admitting that the closure of the bank junction to traffic other than bus and cycles, could potentially put the heads of the Commonwealth gathering in London for the government forum in grave danger!

Because of the fear that the Commonwealth heads could be. Stuck in the utter gridlock of the surrounding areas, in their wisdom, they (the city fathers) have decided to open up the Bank Junction again....but only while the Commonwealth heads are here in London for their forum. 

As soon as they leave, the City will shut the Bank Junction again and the surrounding gridlock will be reimposed of the citizens of our once great city. 

Will the Taxi trade unite, and take this opera unity to bring back the City demonstrations against the unfair Bank a Junction scheme?

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Looney Toons Council Plan Pedestrianisation Of Upper Street

Or "how to kill off local businesses in one foul swoop".

An artist's impression of what a pedestrianised Upper Street may look like. Picture: Zaha Hadid Architects

One of the world’s leading architects has tabled a radical plan to pedestrianise Upper Street.

Zaha Hadid Architects said removing traffic from Islington’s signature shopping street would help make it a cleaner and less dangerous place.

It’s part of the Clerkenwell firm’s “Walkable London” project, a more ambitious take on mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s pledge to pedestrianise Oxford Street.

Instead of just one street, Zaha Hadid has called for entire pedestrian networks of major roads in the capital. And that involves a pedestrianised Upper Street, including Islington High Street and Goswell Road towards the City.

Melodie Leung, senior associate at the architects, told the Gazette: “If Upper Street people want to get behind this, we should talk.”

Speaking of Patrik Schumacher, Zaha Hadid’s director, Ms Leung said: “His proposal is to think grand: really long, continuous avenues that would allow walking to be a viable form of transport across the city. Upper Street means a lot to him, as he used to walk that route a lot.

“It would be fruitful for the shops and restaurants in the area. Pedestrianisation would be a natural opportunity for them.

“Upper Street is also so congested with vehicles and buses. If pedestrianised, it would be a really efficient link between the north and south of the city.

“Islington is a very residential community. If Upper Street was used for walking to school and walking to work, it would be a safer and healthier place.”

The 182-page Walkable London plan is in its early stages, but Ms Leung added: “It’s a provocative proposal and there would obviously be a lot of community engagement.” She suggested one way forward would be to do temporary closures of Upper Street, in order for the “community to test the outcomes”.

Steph Palmer, from Islington Living Streets, which campaigns for pedestrian safety, said: “It’s a lovely idea. In theory, I’m all for it. But in practice, what would happen to the streets either side that would take all the traffic?

“I’ve been in Upper Street when there’s no traffic and it’s so much nicer for shopping and seeing people. So it’s certainly something to look at

Source : Loony Toon's Islington Gazzette 

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Uber's chief admits the company failed to support drivers and favoured investment in growth of the business globally

Uber's chief executive has admitted that the ride-sharing company failed to support its drivers, favouring instead to invest in growing the business globally.

"We focused too much on growth but not enough on drivers," he said during a press conference. 

The app, which refers to the drivers it relies on to offer its service as "partners", has been criticised for treating them unfairly and refusing to offer basic employment rights. 

But Dara Khosrowshahi today said he hoped a brand new app for drivers would prove the San Francisco giant was committed to meeting their needs "at every moment of their journey". 

This includes improved ways for drivers to see how much money they are making through trips and how close they are to the goal they have set, as well as an improved profile section. 

Dara Khosrowshahi pictured during his time as Expedia chief executive before taking over from Travis Kalanick, who founded Uber.

The announcement followed a crushing defeat for Uber's in the European Courts of Justice, which on Tuesday morning upheld France's ban of the app, claiming that it was a criminal offence for the company to operate there. 

The decision will likely have ramifications across the EU for the under-fire ride-hailing company and set a precedent across the bloc as the EU’s top court said member states could use criminal law to “prohibit and punish” illegal transport activities without telling the European Commission first.

Uber France argued that it should be classified as an “information society service” rather than a taxi company, which judges rejected.

The brand new Uber app for drivers Credit: Uber

Such services qualify for EU protection designed to boost innovation, which require national governments to notify the commission before taking action against tech companies. The law was written before Brussels’ attitude towards US tech giants hardened over data protection and concerns over how little tax the companies pay.

The French government banned the UberPop service because it broke a 2014 law prohibiting taxi platforms from using unlicensed drivers carrying fewer than 10 passengers. Uber’s lawyers argued the failure to notify the commission should cancel the French ban and appealed the decision.

French judges referred the mater to the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice, which said Uber did not qualify as an information society service.

In December 2017, EU judges said that Uber was a transport company and not an information platform in a similar case involving Uber Spain.

A Uber spokeswoman said: "This case is about whether a French law from 2014 should have been pre-notified to the European Commission and related to peer-to-peer services, which we stopped in 2015. As our new CEO has said, it is appropriate to regulate services such as Uber and so we will continue the dialogue with cities across Europe.”

"HMRC has been waiting to see which way the ECJ went on this test case to determine whether it should also consider Uber as a VAT supplier of transport services. The likely VAT liability for Uber in the UK could be over £40 million in back taxes, and a 20% VAT rise in rides going forward. Action by HMRC is now highly likely," said Richard Asquith, global indirect tax expert at Avalara. 

Damien Geradin, a partner at Brussels law firm Euclid Law, said the decision was a missed opportunity. "The pre-notification procedure aims to protect players active in the digital sector against discriminatory or disproportionate rules," he said.

Tuesday’s ruling is the latest setback for the controversial US company, which is appealing Transport for London’s decision to strip it of its operating licence.

The capital’s transport authority plans to introduce regulations limiting the hours ride-hailing app employees can drive.

Uber has been controversial in other EU countries, such as Belgium, where the UberPop service is banned but protests against the firm continue. The company now only works with professional drivers in a majority of EU countries. 

In March, the company reached a settlement with the family of a woman killed by an Uber Technologies self-driving vehicle in Arizona.

Despite the controversies, the service remains popular. 

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT

The decline and fall of the Taxi trade trade continues. 

The following figures are for week ending 08-04-18

Private hire driver licences

113,596 down 49

117 are new

Private hire vehicle licences

87,702 down 219 

332 are new

Taxi driver licences 

23,800 

down 26 

0 are new

Taxi vehicle licences 

20,974 

down 52

9 are new.

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