Uber loses licence in London

[AVB]

Breaking news. TFL have refused to renew Uber's licence in London for failing to demonstrate good corporate governance.

[grrclark]

Wow, that is a pretty big statement by TfL.

 

I wonder if Uber will challenge that in court?

 

That could be a very big can of worms

[Penelope]

No wonder every Black cab has a smile a mile wide.

[Twistedsanity]

i recall a few popular politicians have abpout ten million quid into uber which is why Boris stepped back and left them alone when he was mayor so i can't see this sticking

[Flashman]

i recall a few popular politicians have abpout ten million quid into uber...

 

Who? When did you read or hear this? From what source?

[AVB]

 

Who? When did you read or hear this? From what source?

 

 

It was the same source who said that Mrs May's Husband was a major shareholder in G4S. i.e. t'internet

[loriusgarrulus]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/uber-london-ban-live-updates-tfl-ride-hailing-app-prive-hire-licence-not-renewed-expires-taxi-a7960856.html

[dbob]

This is a shame and a bit of a shock. Yes Uber has it’s problems and their ethics are questionable, but the times i’ve used the service it has been extremely efficient and very good value. The same can’t be said for Black cabs and the Underground. How about a tube service that runs beyond midnight (it’s 2017 ***!) or a better value pricing structure for black cab fares? I feel far safer using Uber than a clapped out minicab. The drivers i’ve had are very polite and their vehicles are immaculate.

 

TfL and the cabbies are standing in the way of technological progress and will make life more difficult for a lot of Londoners, especially the lower paid workers that work anti social hours and need late night travel options.

 

Uber do need to address their mistakes, but putting 40,000 drivers out of work seems like a harsh decision by TfL.

[Lloyd90]

Would this follow suit into other cities?

 

Whilst Uber is undoubtedly dodgy at best, the taxi's in Bristol are unregulated and an absolute rip off. They tend to charge per person here often being about £4-5 per person, unless there are only a couple of you and then its just a big price.

 

Have been sat in a taxi about to leave for an agree'd price when another mate joins and suddenly instead of £20 its £25 for the exact same journey! **** take!

[Fatcatsplat]

Would this follow suit into other cities?

 

Whilst Uber is undoubtedly dodgy at best, the taxi's in Bristol are unregulated and an absolute rip off. They tend to charge per person here often being about £4-5 per person, unless there are only a couple of you and then its just a big price.

 

Have been sat in a taxi about to leave for an agree'd price when another mate joins and suddenly instead of £20 its £25 for the exact same journey! **** take!

I was in Germany yesterday and Uber is actually banned there - Luckily we found a rickshaw rider with very strong thighs!!!

 

I've got a lot of friends who are black cab drivers and I've been banging on for ages that they need to sharpen their act on availability, taking credit cards and most of all, price. I got an Uber home a week ago from a client dinner for 42 quid in a nice, new Merc - That's compared to 120 quid in a black cab for a 25 mile trip in a noisy, slow and draughty TX1, 2, 3 or 4

[Lloyd90]

I was in Germany yesterday and Uber is actually banned there - Luckily we found a rickshaw rider with very strong thighs!!!

 

I've got a lot of friends who are black cab drivers and I've been banging on for ages that they need to sharpen their act on availability, taking credit cards and most of all, price. I got an Uber home a week ago from a client dinner for 42 quid in a nice, new Merc - That's compared to 120 quid in a black cab for a 25 mile trip in a noisy, slow and draughty TX1, 2, 3 or 4

£42 just to get home after the expense of going out, food, drinks any entertainment, you must have been looking between £100-200 in London?

 

Bloody expensive to go out!

[figgy]

Rip off Britain.

[McSpredder]

Breaking news. TFL have refused to renew Uber's licence in London for failing to demonstrate good corporate governance.

Simple question (idle curiosity of a peasant who hasn't been to London for many years and wouldn't recognise an Uber cab if it ran him over):

"Does TFL itself demonstrate good corporate governance?"

[tx4cabbie]

 

Who? When did you read or hear this? From what source?

[tx4cabbie]

One if their biggest early supporters, George Osborne, who lobbied fiercely for their licensing, and personally called Boris to tell him to leave them alone when he was mayor -

on leaving the chancellor's job, went to work for blackrock, one of their major UK investors, on about £700k for 40something days work a year. He also went to work as editor for the standard, which shockingly enough is bemoaning the decision with everything they have - shouting about how 40k drivers will lose their jobs, even though uber themselves are embroiled in several court cases arguing that they do not employ any drivers, that their driver/partners are all self employed and free to work for the other 2445 private hire companies in London.

 

Cameron was also implicated in the cash/friendship for influence scandal exposed by guy Adams in the mail among other news outlets. Javid is supposed to be complicit, there are others but I can't remember who atm.

 

Lots of shouting about protectionism, few are mentioning that uber withheld information about several of their drivers being implicated in sexual and physical assaults, at least one of which led to another assault which the met could have prevented had uber not kept it from them.

 

Their greyball software identified members of the authorities so the app could avoid scrutiny, which the fbi are investigating currently.

 

They evade tax using the double dutch method, and give tutorials to their drivers on how to send money abroad to evade/avoid uk tax.

 

Finally, as I don't have time to write more, they are still not in profit - first Google and Goldman Sachs gave them money to allow them to offer fares at 41% of the true cost, to clear the market if competition. This took longer than expected, so the quataris (sic?) And Saudi's gave them a lot more. Their fares are artificially low because they're propped up by venture capital, and their drivers make so little that the majority are on working tax credits.

 

I'm a cabbie so am biased, but nothing I've said is guesswork, it's all been researched and it's veracity proven by journalists with no axe to grind. Their loss is no loss to london

[Sian]

I do live in London suburbia and I will always take a black cab, I feel safer. I don't have confidence in Uber's checks on their drivers. I like the traditional hackney cab, I like the fact the drivers have done "the knowledge". I also have a fondness for the hackney cab driver who took pity on me when I was a teenager in London, having lost my money and scared ****less in the dark who drove me home safe and never charged me.

[Flashman]

One if their biggest early supporters, George Osborne, who lobbied fiercely for their licensing, and personally called Boris to tell him to leave them alone when he was mayor -

on leaving the chancellor's job, went to work for blackrock, one of their major UK investors, on about £700k for 40something days work a year. He also went to work as editor for the standard, which shockingly enough is bemoaning the decision with everything they have...

 

Cameron was also implicated in the cash/friendship for influence scandal exposed by guy Adams in the mail among other news outlets. Javid is supposed to be complicit, there are others but I can't remember who atm.

 

BlackRock invests over USD 4.5 Trillion worldwide, but they and Osborne concoct a conspiracy with Cameron, who's former adviser's wife took a job at Uber?

 

It's embarrassing that grown-ups see a world-wide master plan. Perhaps they're all Kosher Freemasons as well..?

[Dave-G]

As an ex private hire car owner driver I'm glad to hear about the trouble UBER are having. Taxi fares in Leicester dropped to about the lowest in the UK with all the immigrant drivers here so my income became barely worth working - and yes I needed a small amount of tax credits to manage.

 

It's deplorable how they can even further marginalise drivers income by operating at a loss and further flooding cities with 'cabs' - which itself minimises income per driver. Few legitimate home grown drivers with mortgages can afford to work for such little take home earnings. The bulk of so called job losses will not occur as the decent drivers will work with orthodox firms.

[Highlandsjohn]

As an ex private hire car owner driver I'm glad to hear about the trouble UBER are having. Taxi fares in Leicester dropped to about the lowest in the UK with all the immigrant drivers here so my income became barely worth working - and yes I needed a small amount of tax credits to manage.

 

It's deplorable how they can even further marginalize drivers income by operating at a loss and further flooding cities with 'cabs' - which itself minimizes income per driver. Few legitimate home grown drivers with mortgages can afford to work for such little take home earnings. The bulk of so called job losses will not occur as the decent drivers will work with orthodox firms.

 

 

One if their biggest early supporters, George Osborne, who lobbied fiercely for their licensing, and personally called Boris to tell him to leave them alone when he was mayor -

on leaving the chancellor's job, went to work for blackrock, one of their major UK investors, on about £700k for 40something days work a year. He also went to work as editor for the standard, which shockingly enough is bemoaning the decision with everything they have - shouting about how 40k drivers will lose their jobs, even though uber themselves are embroiled in several court cases arguing that they do not employ any drivers, that their driver/partners are all self employed and free to work for the other 2445 private hire companies in London.

 

Cameron was also implicated in the cash/friendship for influence scandal exposed by guy Adams in the mail among other news outlets. Javid is supposed to be complicit, there are others but I can't remember who atm.

 

Lots of shouting about protectionism, few are mentioning that uber withheld information about several of their drivers being implicated in sexual and physical assaults, at least one of which led to another assault which the met could have prevented had uber not kept it from them.

 

Their greyball software identified members of the authorities so the app could avoid scrutiny, which the fbi are investigating currently.

 

They evade tax using the double dutch method, and give tutorials to their drivers on how to send money abroad to evade/avoid uk tax.

 

Finally, as I don't have time to write more, they are still not in profit - first Google and Goldman Sachs gave them money to allow them to offer fares at 41% of the true cost, to clear the market if competition. This took longer than expected, so the quataris (sic?) And Saudi's gave them a lot more. Their fares are artificially low because they're propped up by venture capital, and their drivers make so little that the majority are on working tax credits.

 

I'm a cabbie so am biased, but nothing I've said is guesswork, it's all been researched and it's veracity proven by journalists with no axe to grind. Their loss is no loss to london

 

 

DAVE G AND tx4cabbie are spot on. Eastern block migrants, mainly from Poland, flooded the Highland capital to the extent it was noticeable over a very short period. A Polish taxi driver told me how he had learned the geography of the Inverness town center and how to operate the taxi programmed sat nav by a recruiting company at evening classes in Poland. He was then recruited and financed to work for cut price rates, while paying them off while receiving social benefits to help support his family in Gdansk. Soft touches or just soft. THE COUNCIL (s) ALLOWED THIS TO HAPPEN BY PROVIDING LICENSES. I BELIEVE THIS HAPPENED IN EVERY TOWN IN THE COUNTRY.john

Edited September 23, 2017 by Highlandsjohn

[shaun4860]

£42 just to get home after the expense of going out, food, drinks any entertainment, you must have been looking between £100-200 in London?

 

Bloody expensive to go out!

It was a client dinner so either they paid or the company did, while since used a taxi but even up here £42 seems A bit steep even for London

[Dave-G]

 

DAVE G AND tx4cabbie are spot on. Eastern block migrants, mainly from Poland, flooded the Highland capital to the extent it was noticeable over a very short period. A Polish taxi driver told me how he had learned the geography of the Inverness town center and how to operate the taxi programmed sat nav by a recruiting company at evening classes in Poland. He was then recruited and financed to work for cut price rates, while paying them off while receiving social benefits to help support his family in Gdansk. Soft touches or just soft. THE COUNCIL (s) ALLOWED THIS TO HAPPEN BY PROVIDING LICENSES. I BELIEVE THIS HAPPENED IN EVERY TOWN IN THE COUNTRY.john

Correct, the boss of the last firm I worked with goes to Poland every few weeks to recruit. However there are now more non Europeans working the city. Councils make it very easy to pass local knowledge tests these days knowing most will use data despatch systems that include satnav and realtime navigation/tracking.

[Flashman]

I don't believe TfL have a real problem with Uber - this is Labour spin in advance of their conference.

 

I don't think Uber can compare with London cabbies, who in my experience all know the quickest route. Uber drivers don't have the knowledge and simply follow their free mobile phone sat-nav. Also, there are generally plenty of cabs in the City and West End, so hailing one down is quicker than booking through the app.

 

However, the rest of the country doesn't have the same quality of black cab drivers, so why shouldn't Uber compete with the existing firms? It's exactly the same service - following the sat-nav, etc. but with the convenience of booking via a phone app: what's not to like?

[AVB]

I don't believe TfL have a real problem with Uber - this is Labour spin in advance of their conference.

 

I don't think Uber can compare with London cabbies, who in my experience all know the quickest route. Uber drivers don't have the knowledge and simply follow their free mobile phone sat-nav. Also, there are generally plenty of cabs in the City and West End, so hailing one down is quicker than booking through the app.

 

However, the rest of the country doesn't have the same quality of black cab drivers, so why shouldn't Uber compete with the existing firms? It's exactly the same service - following the sat-nav, etc. but with the convenience of booking via a phone app: what's not to like?

 

 

It's an interesting one. From what I have seen the majority of people complaining about Uber loosing their licence are Millennials/snowflakes i.e. typical middle class labour voters. They must be wringing their hands "ooh how am I going to survive without Uber", "Uber are the nasty face of capitalism".