The Court Case Of The Year ... TfL v Uber... Let Battle Commence

TfL’s refusal to grant Uber an operating licence last September not only sent shockwaves through the company it ignited a political battle with govement ministers who had heavily campaigned for Uber to be given an easy ride. 

But so far, its customers would hardly have noticed, as the company has been allowed to continue operating in the capital, having appealed the decision immediately after. 

This morning, that came to a head....as Uber, TfL and London’s media descend on Westminster Magistrates Court for the appeal hearing. 

It kicks off what is expected to be a three-day hearing during which Uber will try to argue that it is no longer the bad boy of the tech industry.

Uber will argue they have made a series of changes to its app, changing the way the company operates in London since September, including flying chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi into London for crisis talks with TfL commissioner Mike "on side" Brown. (Funny though, Mike "on side" Brown has refused point blank to meet with Taxi trade and recently ignored a Scheduled quarterly Commissioners meeting wit senior Taxi trade representatives.

The company will hope the changes - such as improving the way it deals with complaints - are enough to not only convince the court that it has turned over a new leaf, but TfL itself. Having the regulator onside will be a big help in this court battle. 

One the table to day is Uber record number of rapes, sexual assaults, customer accounts hacked, overcharging, discrimination towards customers, road traffic accidents and incidents, fake medicals, 13,000 fake criminal record DBS checks to name but a few.

Uber have operated illegal from day one! The big problem being that certain senior TfL officials knew this and covered Uber's back.

For Londoners who have come to rely solely on Uber (until the price surges), this week’s appeal could have big implications, but it is just as important for the company itself.

London is one of Uber’s most profitable markets ' the Jewel In The Crown'...and its continued operation in the capital is crucial to the ride-hailing app as it seeks to stem losses and prepare for an initial public offering next year. 

It is also a pivotal moment for Mr Khosrowshahi himself, who has sought to reform the company under his watch. A stamp of approval this week would burnish his credentials significantly.

But can TfL be trusted. 

Look at the mess their legal teams made of the meter case.

They've had evidence which should have shut the company down from day one and they've done nothing with it.

They knew in January last year about the fake DBS certificate and under Helen Chapman's watch they buried this by October. 

Source : Telegraph, Sun, Mirror : Image Orion Gotch.

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Glasgow Shows The Way Forward Again By Investigating A Cap On Private Hire Vehicles

Glasgow to investigate cap on private hire vehicles

GLASGOW is driving ahead with plans to potentially cap the number of private hire cars in the city.

The Licensing and Regulatory Committee at Glasgow City Council agreed to commission an independent expert to research the “drdprovision, use and demand for the services of private hire cars” across the city.

Changes to the law by the Scottish Government make council’s free to cap the number of private hire vehicles operating within their boundaries.

Councillor Alex Wilson, convener of the committee, said: “I welcome the fact that the Scottish Government is looking into guidance for local authorities to cap private hire car numbers and to give us a robust policy where we can actually take this forward.”

Last May, amendments to the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 made by the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 came into effect.

They allowed licensing authorities to refuse to grant an application for a private hire car licence on grounds of over provision.

Councillors were told there are 4,820 private hire cars registered and 3,527 licenses in Glasgow at the committee meeting on Thursday.

Unite’s cab section is in favour of the legislation and has in the past demanded the council put its foot down on bringing forward the appointment of an independent expert.

The black hackney drivers claim that supply is outstripping demand in the taxi trade, meaning full-time drivers are having to work longer hours just to get by.

The move to appoint an independent expert was actually agreed last November but the council was waiting on “legislative guidence” from the Scottish Government, but that guidence has not yet been published.

Now, councillors have decided to wait no longer and push ahead to procure an independent expert to carry out the substantial audit.

“I do think this would allow an opportunity for Glasgow to lead the way in terms of licensing policy yet again,” said Councillor Rhiannon Spear.

Councillor Robert Connelly supported the council pushing ahead, saying: “As no time scale was given by the Scottish Government, it could take quite a long time.”

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Red Sun group is helping to bring the MetroCab back to London’s taxis fleet

Zhejiang Geely is not the only Chinese company that has backed a plant in Coventry to tap opportunities from the electrification of London’s taxis.

Red Sun Group, a privately-controlled conglomerate based in Nanjing that has more than 10,000 staff and annual turnover of £2.6 billion (US$3.46 billion), announced a tie-up three months ago with British company Ecotive to supply an alternative electric-petrol hybrid taxi.

“Red Sun wishes to invest in facilities for the new breed of commercial vehicles powered by the tried and tested, highly efficient hybrid Ecotive vehicle platform, starting with the production of the MetroCab,” it said in a statement in March.

Red Sun said it would commit more than £100 million for a new plant to be built by CAD CAM Automotive (CCA), in which it has a significant shareholding.

CCA, based in Coventry, is a provider of lightweight aluminium vehicle bodies for the “special vehicles operations” of Jaguar Land Rover.

Two years ago CCA and Red Sun said they were finalising a merger involving £300 million of investment over five years.

The plan, which would “create up to 1,000 jobs”, would start with a £50 million “new energy” vehicle research and development centre, CCA said in a statement at the time.

Red Sun’s chairman Yang Shouhai, a former county-level agriculture and rural affairs cadre, announced in March that the new factory would have an annual output capacity of 300,000 vehicles.

CCA has a product design and engineering heritage that stretches back for more that a century. The company supplied bodies to British car marques MG and Aston Martin from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s, as well as the first 200 bodies for London’s black cab.

The MetroCab is a British brand of taxicabs first introduced in the mid-1980s and was produced until 2006.

Its ownership had changed hands several times, and has since the early 2000s been owned by Ecotive, a unit of electric cars to monorail projects developer Kamkorp Group, which is owned by UK-based businessman Kamal Siddiqi.

Kamkorp has been developing a hybrid Metrocab since the mid-2000s and has built multiple prototypes.

Red Sun, which started its automobile operations three years ago, will also form a joint venture with a mainland Chinese company to build a separate “green, smart automotive base” capable of producing 500,000 units a year, Yang added.

Late last year, the UK Court of Appeal upheld a 2016 verdict by the London High Court to dismiss a claim by Geely’s London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC) that the Metrocab’s design was a copy of its TX4 product and earlier models of the London black cabs.

The court threw out LEVC’s attempt to trademark the shape of London's traditional black cabs, on grounds that the shape of the vehicles lacked “distinctive character” and was not a “valid registered trademark”.

LEVC chief executive Chris Gubbey said the appearance of rival car makers would not affect their strategic plans.

“I don’t see the competition changing our forecasts or what we want to do over the long term,” Gubbey said. “There are moves to emulate what we’ve done, which is an endorsement in a way … monopoly is never a good position.”

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TfL Must Revoke Uber's Licence, Plus All Apps Must Be Regulated....by Lenny Etheridge

Uber cannot possibly win their appeal.

Either way it will be the same outcome  - they'll carry on regardless.

Uber must have their license revoked. If not, they must be regulated to the full extent of existing rules, which so far TfL have refused to enforce.

Running Uber out of town or forcing TfL to apply existing regulations and police them, will have much the same effect.

If Uber lose their final appeal against the UPHD employment case in October, they'll be dead in the water anyway.

After Uber is put down, we still have to ensure all Apps (including our own) are regulated.

At this moment in time there is no regulator for Apps.

Either TfL or the DfT must step up to the plate, accept responsibility and take control of these lawless, unaccountable Apps.

Otherwise our whole trade will become Uberesque; totally reliant upon an App master, as our street hail is hoovered up by App companies with no regard for the driver.

Uber is the beginning of our struggle, not the end.

The reason we are in the shit today is because of past mistakes - we were advised to have 'Ply for Hire' legally defined decades ago when there was no opposition to the definition.

Today we're paying the price of previous apathy.

Don't sell all your tomorrows for today's takings.

APPS MUST BE REGULATED!

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Use it or lose it: Dozens of Glasgow minicab drivers licenses suspended for NOT living or working there

Dozens of Glasgow Private Hire drivers have their licences suspended for not living there

Licensing bosses swung the axe on a list of cabbies whose registered addresses are outside of the city.

For 19 of the drivers, their time on the road was effectively ended as the suspensions go up to their licence expiry dates.

Manchester, London, Rotherham and Bolton were all listed as addresses, with many of the cabbies having never used their permit.

Ibniamin Khan, was the only one who was given a two-week penalty after he failed to use his private hire car for seven months when he was living in Yorkshire and Germany.

Alex Wilson, chair of the licensing committee told him: “We gave you a licence in 2017 and you’ve not used it.

“If you had read the terms and conditions of the licence you would know that you should have surrendered your licence.

“You are supposed to do that if you’ve not used it within any three-month period.

“You should never have applied for a licence if you had no intention of using it.”

But Mr Khan said: “I haven’t used my licence because I was looking for a car.

“My brother was then involved in a crash and I moved over to Germany to be with him for several months.

“I have now got a car and have moved to Glasgow. I moved here because I want to work here.”

All of those whose licences were suspended were called to appear in front of the committee.

The drivers who had their permits suspended until the end of their licence expiry will have to wait to apply for a new licence if they want to operate in Glasgow.

Source : EveningTimes.co.uk

TAXI LEAKS EXTRA BIT :

Well done to the licence regulators in Glasgow, who have realised what’s been  happening with their registered private hire drivers, and stepped in to take action to stop this practise. 

The minicab drivers will now have to wait until their current PH licence expires before they can reapply ((if they wish to work again but only in Glasgow) 

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Sajid Javid Has Phone Stolen By Moped Thieves, As He Calls For A Taxi At Euston.

Sajid Javid said he was lucky not to have been stabbed or beaten up after moped thieves stole his phone.

He had reached for his mobile to call a taxi outside Euston station in north London, when criminals appeared ‘in a flash’ and grabbed it. 

London cabby Peter Said "if he had used the Taxi rank, he would still have his phone....

‘It was brand new. Before I knew what was happening, it had gone. They just rode up, grabbed it and zoomed off,’ the Home Secretary said.

‘I was angry and upset but thought myself lucky not to have been stabbed or beaten up like many other victims who fall prey to these vicious criminals.’

Michael McIntyre was also targeted by moped thieves for his Rolex watch.

Mr Javid said: ‘It happened in a flash. I was walking out of Euston station and reached for my phone to call a taxi.’

He spoke about the incident after Michael McIntyre was robbed of his watch by moped-riding thieves.

The comedian was on the school run in his Range Rover in north London when thugs smashed the windows before stealing the Rolex.

Sajid Javid, who is in charge of the nation’s policing and security, said the incident happened during his previous role as Communities Secretary.

The revelation comes amid concerns of a wave of violent crime in some parts of the country, particularly in London and other big cities.

Mr Javid, who has four children, admitted he worries about them if they are out late and his parental concern drives him to tackle the problem.

‘Our streets should be safe at all times, you shouldn’t have to worry about things like knife or other crime,’ he said.

Theresa May has acknowledged concerns about moped gangs, but insisted police were being given the powers they need to crack down on crime.

Earlier this month the Prime Minister was challenged about the Government’s response to criminals using mopeds to carry out robberies and other crimes.

She said former home secretary Amber Rudd held talks with police to make sure they had the powers they needed to be able to chase moped-riding criminals.

‘This issue of moped crime is one that is of concern for people,’ the PM said.

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Union wins first stage of High Court challenge over Deliveroo riders