BREAKING NEWS : Uber's Brighton Licence Turned Down a By Council

Following the hearing on Monday 23 April, Brighton & Hove City Council’s licensing panel has decided against renewing Uber Britannia Ltd’s Private Hire Operator Licence in the city.

The unanimous decision was taken as the members of the panel were not satisfied that UBL are a ‘fit and proper person’ to hold an operator’s licence under the terms of Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 and the council’s licensing objectives.

The panel considered all circumstances relating to the application and the factors operating in Brighton & Hove. This included a number of issues raised by those objecting to the application, which they found to carry very little or no evidential weight.

However, the panel did have significant concerns about the company’s data breach and UBL’s lack of commitment to use only Brighton & Hove licensed drivers in the city. These formed the basis of the decision to not renew the licence.

Chair of the licensing panel, Councillor Jackie O’Quinn, said: “When making Hackney Carriage and Private Hire operator licensing decisions, our priority is the safety of residents and visitors and, due to the data breach and the lack of commitment to using drivers licensed here, we were not satisfied that UBL are a fit and proper person to hold an operator’s licence in the city.

“All Brighton & Hove private hire and Hackney Carriage drivers in the city operate under the same licences and guidelines contained in the Blue Book and undergo the same background checks, whichever company they drive for. In the original application in 2015, UBL gave a firm commitment to adhere to the standards set out in the Blue Book and only to use Brighton & Hove licensed drivers. We do not feel the spirit of this commitment has been kept to. In the panel’s view, large numbers of taxis operating in the city that do not meet our Blue Book standards puts the safety of residents and visitors at potential risk.

“We recognise there are strong feelings on this issue and would like to thank all those who took the time to make submissions to the hearing.”

The hearing was held in public to make the process as open and transparent as possible. As well as representatives from Uber, the panel heard views for and against renewing the licence from interested parties, including residents and the local taxi trade.

If Uber decide to appeal against the decision, their drivers licensed with Brighton & Hove can continue to operate in the city while the appeal is heard. Any appeal must be made to the Magistrates Court in Edward Street, Brighton within 21 days of notification of this decision

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT FROM KENNY ETHERIDGE.

Remember all those who scoffed at us going down to support the Brighton Hackney drivers?

How we proved that a London driver can work the App in Brighton. That the App has no idea until after the job is accepted.

WELL DONE TO ALL THOSE BRIGHTON DRIVERS WHO MADE US WELCOME 

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Breaking News Uber’s Brighton Licence Turned Down By Council

Following the hearing on Monday 23 April, Brighton & Hove City Council’s licensing panel has decided against renewing Uber Britannia Ltd’s Private Hire Operator Licence in the city.

The unanimous decision was taken as the members of the panel were not satisfied that UBL are a ‘fit and proper person’ to hold an operator’s licence under the terms of Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 and the council’s licensing objectives.

The panel considered all circumstances relating to the application and the factors operating in Brighton & Hove. This included a number of issues raised by those objecting to the application, which they found to carry very little or no evidential weight.

However, the panel did have significant concerns about the company’s data breach and UBL’s lack of commitment to use only Brighton & Hove licensed drivers in the city. These formed the basis of the decision to not renew the licence.

Chair of the licensing panel, Councillor Jackie O’Quinn, said: “When making Hackney Carriage and Private Hire operator licensing decisions, our priority is the safety of residents and visitors and, due to the data breach and the lack of commitment to using drivers licensed here, we were not satisfied that UBL are a fit and proper person to hold an operator’s licence in the city.

“All Brighton & Hove private hire and Hackney Carriage drivers in the city operate under the same licences and guidelines contained in the Blue Book and undergo the same background checks, whichever company they drive for. In the original application in 2015, UBL gave a firm commitment to adhere to the standards set out in the Blue Book and only to use Brighton & Hove licensed drivers. We do not feel the spirit of this commitment has been kept to. In the panel’s view, large numbers of taxis operating in the city that do not meet our Blue Book standards puts the safety of residents and visitors at potential risk.

“We recognise there are strong feelings on this issue and would like to thank all those who took the time to make submissions to the hearing.”

For more details on the decision, view or download the Uber Britannia Ltd licensing application decision letter 1 May 2018 (PDF 451KB).

The hearing was held in public to make the process as open and transparent as possible. As well as representatives from Uber, the panel heard views for and against renewing the licence from interested parties, including residents and the local taxi trade.

If Uber decide to appeal against the decision, their drivers licensed with Brighton & Hove can continue to operate in the city while the appeal is heard. Any appeal must be made to the Magistrates Court in Edward Street, Brighton within 21 days of notification of this decision.

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WhatsApp’s Founder Jan Koum Quits Facebook, Following Differences Over Privacy.

When Facebook paid $19bn for WhatsApp in 2014, it seemed like an astonishing price for a messaging app that had very little revenue. Four years later, it now has more than a billion users, but still barely makes a cent.

Much of that might be down to Jan Koum, WhatsApp’s founder and, until yesterday, its boss, who has always sought to keep the app independent. Koum announced last night that he was leaving Facebook to collect rare Porsches and play ultimate frisbee.

It has to be one of the better Silicon Valley leaving notes; the question now is what happens to WhatsApp

ENCRYPTED DEPARTURE

Koum did not elaborate on why he was leaving WhatsApp, but the Washington Post reports that his departure is down to clashes with Facebook management over the parent company's apparent attempts to use personal data and weaken encryption.

WhatsApp’s founder, who grew up in Communist Ukraine, has always been a staunch privacy supporter and occasionally a critic of advertising-supported social media, and it seems possible that his philosophy differed from Mark Zuckerberg’s.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR WHATSAPP?

Since buying WhatsApp, Facebook has struggled with the question how to make money from it. An initiative to have businesses pay to communicate through the service has often been mulled, but so far struggled to take off.

Meanwhile the app’s encryption has often been criticised by politicians and police, who say it makes it more difficult to catch criminals. Interestingly, Koum’s departure comes as Russia and Iran both crack down on encrypted app Telegram.

As Facebook itself faces growing political scrutiny, could the company be tempted to weaken WhatsApp’s encryption as a potential bargaining chip

Source : Telegraph.

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Glasgow Taxis boss hits out at city council after Uber licence green light

Chairman of Glasgow Taxis Stephen Flynn poses for a photograph at the Glasgow Taxis offices Picture: Jamie Simpson

A TAXI boss has claimed the city council is harming one of Glasgow's most important businesses.

In a raft of criticisms, Glasgow Taxis chairman Stephen Flynn said the council is:

*handing out too many licences

*causing pollution in the city centre despite a policy to make Glasgow greener

*over-stretching its Taxi Enforcement Team

*Failing residents with too few ranks in the city and

*Should suspend granting licences while a city-wide survey of provision is underway.

Mr Flynn spoke out following Glasgow City Council's licensing committee awarding a new booking office licence to private hire app firm Uber.

As told in the Evening Times earlier this month, union Unite said it is considering reporting the council to the ombudsman over the decision.

Glasgow Taxis, Unite and the Greater Glasgow Private Hire Association all claim Uber's bookings will go through an office in Holland and not its Buchanan Street premises.

Uber strongly denies this.

Having a booking office in the city that directly deals with customers' bookings is one of the conditions of being granted a licence.

Mr Flynn said Glasgow Taxis has been in the city for more than five decades - but he worries for the firm's future in the face of council actions.

He said: "We try our best to help the city and sometimes we feel let down.

"As a company our first instinct is to make sure the people of Glasgow are safe and can travel in the safest way possible.

"I am worried about the where the taxi trade will go in the next 10 years because of council decisions being made now.

"The only people who suffer are the people of Glasgow."

Mr Flynn points to his company's ethos of corporate social responsibility, citing the annual taxi trip to Troon for additional needs children and support for the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice.

Glasgow Taxis also pays £58,000 each year towards the NightZone in Glasgow City Centre, manned ranks helping people get home from nights out.

Glasgow City Council has commissioned a survey looking at unmet demand in the city.

Mr Flynn added: "The council wants less vehicles in the city centre for environmental reasons and yet it gave out another 1000 licences last year.

"There could be another 500 licences given out between now and the unmet demand survey.

"And what will happen if the results of the survey show the city is at saturation point? It can't ask for licences back.

"The city is at saturation point.

"It's not about competition, it's about following the rules and regulations."

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said the council works closely with the taxi trade and "understands a number of their concerns."

However, he added: “All decisions in relation to the taxi and private hire car trade are made entirely in accordance with the rules that govern the Licensing and Regulatory Committee, as set out in the Civic Government Scotland Act.

“We have initiated an independent assessment of whether demand for taxis and private hire cars is unmet by the current provision of drivers and vehicles in the city.

"It would be wrong and unlawful of the council to prejudge the findings of that independent assessment."

He said the Taxi Enforcement Team is meeting its current targets and carried out 8000 roadside inspections and deals with 1000 complaints from the public.

The spokesman added: "The council wants the city centre to be used by cleaner and fewer vehicles and has updated its vehicle standards to allow the use of suitable low emission and electric vehicles for the taxi and private hire car trade.

“We are in regular dialogue with the taxi trade about the provision of taxi ranks in the city and adjust their location as circumstances demand."

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Uber In Westminster Magistrate Court For Case Management Hearing.

Uber has sought to “repair and reform” its business as it faces being banned from London, a court has heard.

The firm was told last year that it would not have its licence renewed in the capital by Transport for London because of public safety concerns.

It is due to appeal against the decision at a full hearing in the summer.

During a case management hearing today at Westminster magistrates’ court, Philip Kolvin QC, representing the cab-hailing app, said lessons had been learned from extensive criticism by TfL.

He said operational changes have allowed the list of issues to be discussed in the appeal to reduce from 25 to 11.

Senior District Judge Emma Arbuthnot, however, asked if the changes were just a "smokescreen."

"They were villains then, I’m exaggerating for effect, but now they’ve transformed themselves," Arbuthnot said. 

She said if there were still examples of Uber operating in an unlawful way, "then I want to know about it."

TfL accepted changes had been made but felt “it is really for the court to decide whether, in light of the changes made, Uber is fit and proper”, according to a statement read by Mr Kolvin. 

He said: "TfL served a 21-page letter ... it was a most thorough document and the issues included not just what Uber did but how it did it, and underpinning those issues was a critique of Uber's approach.

"The reaction of Uber to that letter has been one of repair and reform.

"It has accepted a large number of those criticisms made by TfL. It admits it has failed in many respects. It has apologised.

"It has made changes to the way it operates - it has changed its leadership, its directors."

The operational changes made by Uber reduce the list of issues to be discussed in the appeal from 25 to 11, he said.

He continued: "Making these cultural changes has put a huge burden on Uber, but we also recognise that it has put a huge burden on TfL and I would like to publicly acknowledge that."

Uber has also altered its app, so a user is now told that the booking has been accepted by them before they are linked with a driver.

Chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot said behaviour of Uber in the past was “pretty abysmal.”

The Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association (LTDA), which has been allowed to participate in the appeal, made an application to extend the list of issues.

The GMB union was also supposed to be involved in the proceedings but has since sadly been withdrawn following reassurances about health and safety from Uber. This will not go down well with the GMB's Licensed Taxi branch members who were expecting full support of the Union.

TfL has a number of concerns about Uber, including its approach to reporting serious criminal offences, how drivers’ medical certificates are obtained, how criminal record checks are carried out, and its use of technology which allegedly helps it to evade law enforcement officials

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Tesla driver banned after using autopilot in passenger seat

Sunday Soecial Report: Pop Up Ranks, The Pros And Cons.

There's been a lot of discussion about the pros and cons of pop up ranks. 

A few weeks ago, there was a problem with Taxi picking up a fare on a certain App, (who pay commission to the concierge for booking a Taxi using their app). Trouble was there were half a dozen Taxis waiting outside with their lights on at the time.

Drivers who use the app point to the fact that there is no official rank outside this hotel. 

Whereas drivers outside the hotel say pop up ranks actually show a need for a rank and many times in the past, a rank has subsequently been allowed.

This week on Facebook, an article caused a bit of a stir (later deleted) when a driver complained that a driver had picked up, immediately after dropping off at the Praed street exit to Paddington, while there were half a dozen Taxis with their lights on outside the Hilton.

It seems the idea that the Taxi trade are a 'band of brothers' who abide by a set etiquette... has now been replaced by a dog eat dog attitude.

The pop up rank proved to be very effective fight back tool, against private hire ranks (using the satellite office regulation, bought in under the STaN report) that sprung up outside every club, bar, restaurant and hotel, roundabout 2007. 

This trade, this band of brothers, this hit squad....stood our ground and in many instances we won the day. 

Let's remind ourselves of the pop up ranks that preceded official ranks:

Cranbourne Street (Mr Ali's), Stringfellows, Hombre's, Jalouse (Hanover Sqr), Tiger Tiger, Fabrics, Nobu, Novikov's, Quaglinos, Forge/Abacus, Hakassan, Swallow Street, Heddon Street, Brewer Street, Sketch, ToyBox, Victoria Sporting Club, Charing Cross Road, Coventry Street, The W Hotel, Russell Street, Sushi Samba, Toast, The Arts Club, etc...

All these ranks stared out as pop up ranks, the drivers banding together, fighting back at the lines of Minicabs illegally ranking. If drivers hadn't popped up and ranked at these places, the official ranks wouldn't be there today. 

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