Uber 'unlikely to get its London licence back' after crunch talks with TfL

The emergency summit between the bosses of Uber and Transport for London is unlikely to result in an immediate breakthrough leading to a restoration of the cab hailing app’s licence, sources said today.

Uber chief executive’s Dara Khosrowshahi meeting with London Transport Commissioner Mike Brown will start a “hopefully constructive dialogue” that will help both sides understand each other’s position, according to figures close to the company.

Mr Khosrowshahi flew into London for today’s crunch talks following TfL’s bombshell decision to strip Uber of its licence to operate in the capital at the end of September. 

No details have been revealed of the timing or location of the meeting because of its extreme sensitivity.

Industry watchers said it was indication of how high the stakes are in London that the Uber boss was prepared to quit dealing with a boardroom battle in San Francisco and fly half way round the world in a bid to patch up relation with TfL.

The Uber board is today expected to vote on reforms that could limit the power of former chief executive Travis Kalanick. Mr Kalanick, who is still one of the firm’s biggest shareholders, appointed two new directors in a surprise move on Friday.

The meeting comes the day after the tech giant’s UK boss Jo Bertram quit the company after four years.

TfL regulators ruled last month that Uber was not a “fit and proper” company to hold an operating licence citing concerns about how it carries out backgrond checks on drivers and how it reports serious criminal offences.

However, its 40,000 London drivers have been allowed to continue working pending an appeal of the decision.

Mayor Sadiq Khan authorised the “peace talks” after Mr Khosrowshahi issued a public apology in a letter in the Evening Standard. The letter said that “while Uber has revolutionised the way people move around in cities around the world, its equally true that we’ve got things wrong along the way.”

Source Evening Standard 

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Czech taxi drivers blockade Prague airport in protest against Uber

Another country where Uber thinks it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission 

Czech taxi drivers are blocking a major road to Prague's International Airport on Monday (2 October) to protest against Uber and other similar ride-hailing services.

The protest began with taxis driving slowly in both directions on a key road to Prague's Vaclav Havel airport, causing traffic delays.

The protest comes after inconclusive talks between the drivers and City Hall, which says only the government is in a position to address the complaints.

The drivers claim Uber and other ride-hailing apps are illegal because they don't meet all the requirements traditional taxi companies have to.

The airport has advised passengers to use public buses, which drive along a special route not open to other forms of transport.

Recently, Uber had its licence to operate in London withdrawn, although the taxi hailing app is appealing the move against it by Transport for London

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Uber's UK Boss Jo Bertram, Quits As Firm Battles To Keep London License

Fake Medicals, Fake Topographical Tests, Fake DBS Checks...And Now Fake Uber Drivers

First we had fake medicals!

Then we had fake topographical tests!

Then we had fake DBS certificates!

Then we had Uber's fake petition!

And now we have fake Uber drivers ? 

https://youtu.be/eqmcpyUVebw

It is alleged that the Uber drIver  in this program "Round Table" DAVID SINCLAIR, is actually a journalist and has a parallel profession as a singer guitarist in a rock group. 

 David Sinclair was born on October 24, 1952. He was educated at Eltham College, London and at Warwick University, where he graduated in 1975 with an honours degree in Politics.

We are being asked to believe that he is extremely happy working for Uber where he claims to be earning (on average) £10 an hour...

http://ift.tt/2fF6GSr

This guy is a published author, music critic, writes for several newspapers and has released the album "Hey"....and we're asked to believe he has to top up his income -earning just over the minimum wage- driving for Uber???

It's not hard to check...his name, doesn't show up on the TfL private hire driver check website.

So unless he is using a pseudonym, conclusive proof he's a plant a fake?

The program also mentions the direct link between driver and passenger, predator pricing and the erosion of traditional workers rights. The company has been red lined by TfL in London as not being fit and proper after news hit the nationals by way if the Sunday Times (thanks to the LCDC's work) that Uber were not passing on to the police complaints of serious sexual assaults by drivers on passengers. 

It's all about safety:

Officially an Uber driver sexually assaults a passenger every 11 days, but with the fact that over 85% of such attacks go unreported, the frequency could be as much as one assault every 15 hours. 

Over the week end, the tide of opinion has changed with London's agreeing with the TfL ban.

According to a YouGov poll for Queen Mary University of London, (published in the Guardian) 43% back the decision, while only 31% oppose it.

Another question we would ask... if Uber haven't done anything wrong, why then did their CEO say he was coming to London later this week to apologise to TfL for the way they've behaved. 

If you've 'done nothing wrong' why would you apologise. 

Perhaps this could top all the other fakes off nicely, as a fake apology.  

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UberRape, Getting National Coverage : Uber drivers’ ‘sex attacks’ across Britain

At last, the word about UberRape is getting out to the public. This article to day, appeared in the Sunday Times. 

Uber drivers have been accused of more than a dozen sex attacks, including at least two rapes, outside London.

Alleged sexual assaults were reported to six police forces outside the capital, according to data released under freedom of information laws, revealing the scale of the ride-sharing group’s security problems.

Forces in Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Avon and Somerset have recorded 13 alleged sex attacks by Uber drivers since 2015.

Greater Manchester police recorded three alleged sexual assaults and one alleged rape by Uber drivers, while South Yorkshire police investigated one alleged sexual assault and an alleged rape. West Yorkshire police recorded three alleged sexual offences involving Uber drivers, while Avon and Somerset investigated two and Warwickshire and Leicestershire each recorded one.

The true number of cases nationwide could be much higher, as 20 of the 45 forces across Britain asked by The Sunday Times for information on Uber’s public safety record either refused to provide figures on the grounds of cost or did not respond.

The 19 forces that did respond either had no cases reported against Uber drivers or recorded offences that were not of a sexual nature. Eleven forces in total revealed that they had recorded reported crimes by Uber drivers, including violence against the person, theft, handling stolen goods and drug offences.

The figures were released as Uber fights to keep operating in the capital after Transport for London (TfL) decided not to renew its licence. The announcement led to speculation that councils across the UK would follow London’s example.

TfL bosses accused the company of failing to ensure passenger safety after the number of alleged sex attacks involving Uber drivers in London rose 50%, to 48, in the 12 months to February 2017.

Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s chief executive, will be in London on Tuesday to meet regulators. He hopes to stop the revoking of his company’s licence, which was due to expire last night. Uber will be allowed to continue operating while it appeals against TfL’s decision.

The meeting, which TfL said was instigated by an approach from Uber, comes days after Khosrowshahi wrote an open apology to Londoners, saying “we have got things wrong”.

Uber said: “Drivers who use our app are licensed by a local council and have gone through the same enhanced DBS checks as black cab drivers and others. We take any allegations of this nature seriously, working with the police and preventing drivers using the app while any investigations take place. Our GPS technology means that every trip is electronically tracked and recorded.”

Source : Sunday Times

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Uber Given a Two Week Extension To Their Expired Extension ....

Uber Given a Two Week Extension To Their Expired Extension 

Yes, you read that right....as someone once said..."you couldn't make it up!"

Amazingly the only sounds coming from our saviours about this continuing saga, the one with the million pound war chest (what ever that is) is "it was all our work"...

Should go down well at the next meeting of the New United Trade (NUT) group.

As most are aware, Uber 4 month licence extension to operate expired at Midnight earlier today. 

No operator can operate without a current licence, which would have made every job dispatched to a Uber drivers illegal and therefore uninsured. 

The fact that Uber have appealed counts for nothing as previously stated its illegal to operate without a licence. 

So, the nice friendly people at TfL, behind close doors -presumably- and without announcement to the Private Hire or Taxi trade, have extended Uber's current extension by another fortnight. 

And will probably continue to issue extensions until the legal appeal has been heard, however long that may be.

So if your licence was held up in the renewal stage, and you were told you couldn't work, it may be a good idea to seek compensation through the court as it looks like you were discriminated against. The Prime Minister herself said she wants to see a level playing field, so if it's level for Uber to carry on with unlimited numbers of temporary extensions, then surely it's leve for us to expect the same.  

Even if you didn't have you're DBS certificate back to pass on, this shouldn't matter as currently Uber have 13,000 drivers with fake DBS certificates that TfL have known about since January and they have been allowed to carry on working as Minicab drivers on the Uber platform. 

This appeared on the TfL website earlier.  

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Letter to MP, Times, Economist, Evening Standard & Spectator....Geoffrey Whitehouse, London Cabbie

My letter to my MP, the Times, the Economist, the Evening Standard and the Spectator...

http://ift.tt/2fC1PoM

http://ift.tt/2yw9mcn

I find it incredible how the PM has become spellbound by the Uber propaganda machine in particular that 40,000 jobs will be lost

To put things into perspective;

Uber is a minicab firm the same as Addison Lee and many others in London.  In fact there are some 2,400 other minicab Operators Licences in the capital.  Many of these minicab firms have their own apps.  

Incidentally these apps comply with the law in that the fares are pre-booked. The Uber app has never complied as it facilitates instant hailing a right reserved in law for hackney carriages.

The crux of the withdrwal of the Uber licence as you know is its attitude to reporting/ not reporting serious offences, the disproportionate reports of sex attacks by its drivers and its approach to vetting its drivers. 

In the latter case Uber needs as many drivers as possible to flood the streets with its minicabs so as to put other minicabs and taxis out of business and have the monopoly and complete domination of the taxi/minicab market.  Uber realise that there are not the number of drivers with a 'clean' record to achieve this and this is why they have taken short cuts/lowered the standard of vetting and gone to an inferior agency. So its no surprise that there are a disproportionate numbers of crimes committed by Uber drivers.  And of course there is no regard to the pollution that they are creating as a result of added congestion. 

And what will women think and I'm talking potential voters here.  An average of one sex attack every 11 days.  Acceptable no, but the PM has a 'move on' attitude. Another example of politicians being out of touch. 

If other minicab firms can comply with regulation, why cant Uber? 

Lyft is another huge global minicab firm.  Why is it that Uber is constantly in the news for its clashes with regulators around the world, and yet we hear little adverse press about Lyft 

There are reports on social media that many drivers are starting to sign up with other minicab firms.  Most probably they will be treated more fairly and earn more than the below minimum wage that so many Uber drivers currently suffer.

700,000 members of the public have supposedly signed a petition yet many surveys on Twitter show that the majority of the public back Uber's licence being withdrawn.  There are many reports on social media where members of the public are complaining that they never signed any petition.  Again the Uber propaganda machine manipulating social media.  

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In fact on my own twitter feed my dropbox link which links to images of 1200 minicab/uber crashes and hundreds of other road traffic offences was disabled. I re-posted it with a message to leave the link alone.  It hasn't been disabled since!! 

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The PM and pro Uber politicians need to wake up to the power of the Uber lobbying and propaganda machine and not be hoodwinked. Uber is a rogue minicab service that will sink to any depths to achieve its goals. Uber behaves like a petulant child but on a galactic scale.  At the moment they are desperate.  After several years in the running Uber Investors are still not getting a return on their investments and have had to intervene hence the removal of CEO Kalanick earlier in the year and many executives including Rachel Whetstone family friend of David Cameron have now left Uber and its widely reported toxic culture.

London is the jewel in the crown for Uber and to lose London albeit through its own misdemeanours will devastate investors and that's why we are seeing the propaganda machine in breakneck mode.

Uber cannot be trusted. In 2012 they cajoled/bullied/hoodwinked TFL in granting them a licence when they didn't comply with the regulations which they said they would address.  They never did. 

I'm all for innovation and technology so Uber out Lyft in.  And lets not forget the other 2,400 minicab firms in London that the Uber drivers can also work for.

Regards

Geoffrey Whitehouse

London Cabbie

Putney

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