Users of Uber - be warned

I think this is very much a London TFL thing they have been against this for a while now.
Not that I would use an UBER as where I live in Yorkshire we have a few really great local firms.
I am all for firms like UBER but only if they give their employees full rights and all that goes with it instead of this gig economy thing.
 
never had a problem with Uber. Handy and very good service particularly late at night. I wish TFL would work with them to rectify the issues rather then taking this course of action which only seems to hurt the drivers and users
 
According to sources it is mainly about to many cars in central London, over 15,000 cars are UBER causing a lot of problems.
Also UBER undercut black cabs and I am all for people making a good living.
A lot of UBER drivers have day jobs and then go out in evenings and take extra money which again I feel is a bit rich.

I think much more regulation and a level playing field.
 
Mr Bump said:
Also UBER undercut black cabs and I am all for people making a good living.
A lot of UBER drivers have day jobs and then go out in evenings and take extra money which again I feel is a bit rich.
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To be frank so? If the black cabs can't compete tough. I don't need a guy who has done 7 years 'knowledge'. Sat nav made that obsolete. Its up to someone how hard they chose to work, not for you to say its a bit rich that they choose, or need, a second job.

Mr Bump said:
According to sources it is mainly about to many cars in central London, over 15,000 cars are UBER causing a lot of problems.
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Get rid of black cabs then ;) if you need to get 15,000 cars off the road.

At the end of the day UBER is far cheaper and more convient then a black cab, and for an alleged modern city London transport system is awful. There may well be problems with UBER but atlas they went some way to solving the issues. And they ain't the only company to mistreat its staff
 
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I see both sides of the equation and have never thought the best is the cheapest, maybe that is just me.
when it comes to people a fair price for a fair job, do I want some guy charging 3 pounds less but do I know if he even is who he says he is?
Is his car safe and have all the required insurances etc? I appreciate to some people price is everything, but not to me.

I want safe, secure, a professional driver not a tired shop worker driving me and my wife.
 
Mr Bump said:
I see both sides of the equation and have never thought the best is the cheapest, maybe that is just me.
when it comes to people a fair price for a fair job, do I want some guy charging 3 pounds less but do I know if he even is who he says he is?
Is his car safe and have all the required insurances etc? I appreciate to some people price is everything, but not to me.
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Is there a suggestion that UBER aren't any of this things? To suggest that they're unsafe and a threat to people is ridiculous... had much worse journeys on the tube or black cab. Every UBER journey (Ive ever had) has had a well presented, friendly driver in a modern vehicle. If only that were true of black cabs, what it really comes down to is they(the cabbies) have too powerful a voice in London. And it is very handy to use
 
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boyfalldown said:
Is there a suggestion that UBER aren't any of this things? To suggest that they're unsafe and a threat to people is ridiculous... had much worse journeys on the tube or black cab. Every UBER journey (Ive ever had) has had a well presented, friendly driver in a modern vehicle. If only that were true of black cabs, what it really comes down to is they(the cabbies) have too powerful a voice in London. And it is very handy to use
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I don't need or intend suggesting anything.
my point is I will pay for a guaranteed better service.
maybe in London you get a poor black cab service, in Yorkshire we don't realy have them we all use private hire in your local town.
 
Mr Bump said:
I don't need or intend suggesting anything.
my point is I will pay for a guaranteed better service.
maybe in London you get a poor black cab service, in Yorkshire we don't realy have them we all use private hire in your local town.
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But it’s not a better service. Black cabs will refuse your fair which Uber dont. You see how long they’ll be from request to pickup, who your driver is, they’re car details (you can pass that on) and they directly charge your debit card. Just cause it’s cheap doesn’t mean it’s inferior.
 
Mr Bump said:
According to sources it is mainly about to many cars in central London, over 15,000 cars are UBER causing a lot of problems.
Also UBER undercut black cabs and I am all for people making a good living.
A lot of UBER drivers have day jobs and then go out in evenings and take extra money which again I feel is a bit rich.

I think much more regulation and a level playing field.
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Black cab driver in London was on £70,000 in 2005.
 
shapeshifter said:
Black cab driver in London was on £70,000 in 2005.
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Blimey! now I understand why the "Guy down the road" drives to London everyday to drive his black cab!

I've never used Uber, though, I'm not even sure they are around this area....
Edit ..
Just searched and it appears that it'll cost me (min fare) £5 to get into "town" The company I use, costs me £3.50 ..
Nuff said :D
 
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What a total load of drivel some of my esteemed colleagues on here are spouting ,as a retired licensed cabbie I wouldn't dream of getting in a uber car . Let's start with proper taxi drivers either black cab or minicab/private hire ,for a starter you have to apply for and be checked by your local council to establish that you hold a clean licence ,2 you have to also be vetted to work with children etc 3 your also required to have a regular doctors check and opticians if you wear glasses ,a badge will not be issued if you fail any of these ,and most are at your own expense .
Next the cars ,most taxis and private hire will not only require a m.o.t even when brand new but also need a council taxi m.o.t every six months which are a lot stricter than normal ones ,the taxi office owners will also need to be vetted before they are issued a operating licence ,they will also have a two way radio system in case of either medical problems or even worse threatened of actual violence against the driver from the passengers .

Compare the above to a unlicensed unbadged uber driver who will probably not even have the correct insurance to cover the passengers in the event of a accident ,which are all to frequent the more mileage you cover , if you think it's a easy job try doing it for a couple of weeks .....

Uber I would rather get on Ali babas f*****g flying carpet
 
the black fox said:
What a total load of drivel some of my esteemed colleagues on here are spouting ,as a retired licensed cabbie I wouldn't dream of getting in a uber car . Let's start with proper taxi drivers either black cab or minicab/private hire ,for a starter you have to apply for and be checked by your local council to establish that you hold a clean licence ,2 you have to also be vetted to work with children etc 3 your also required to have a regular doctors check and opticians if you wear glasses ,a badge will not be issued if you fail any of these ,and most are at your own expense .
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Yet in London, Black cabbies were charge with 400 criminal offences last year, 120 odd of them violent crimes.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/cri...s-charged-with-crimes-last-year-a3226396.html

and I remembered this

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...ces-north-west-england-hundreds-a7660606.html

so what happened?



the black fox said:
Compare the above to a unlicensed unbadged uber driver who will probably not even have the correct insurance to cover the passengers in the event of a accident ,which are all to frequent the more mileage you cover , if you think it's a easy job try doing it for a couple of weeks .....
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Thats your speculation.

In all seriousness, why don't London cabbies use a convent app and system like UBER's?
 
the black fox said:
Compare the above to a unlicensed unbadged uber driver who will probably not even have the correct insurance....
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That's interesting, I assumed ( not that I've used them as above) that they were just *another* private hire company..

Although "Private hire" cabs are not all whiter than white ( no pun intended)
This was told to me by a guy that actually runs a private hire company, in Luton. A group of family or friends club together buy a car and run that car between them 24/7.
Now the interesting bit, a lot of these are "all beard and hair types" And yes they have their picture on the licence hanging in the window / nailed to the dash board,
However being ( usually) close family members, they do look similar, and who actually gives the picture more than a cursory glance?
The norm is that one has the licence, both driving and private hire, and the rest piggy back off of that..

No this is not a racist comment / slur or anything else, before someone starts getting offended, the guy that told me was also of a certain faith and "All hair and beard"
 
Just a political move by Khan.
Old fashioned labour protectionism.
 
After my step daughter in London was shall we say inappropriately touched by an uber driver who as later found out to be convicted of similar assaults in the past.. I am glad that they have potentially (they can appeal) lost there licence. Yes I feel sorry for the decent drivers that relied on the work, but the company needs to act to protect the customers properly. The driver was back working for them a few weeks later after the police were involved.
Yes it could have happened in a black cab but the chances are a lot less.

Play by the rules other have to and its fine
 
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Do Uber take cash fairs?
If not, they're no more use than ornament to me.
 
boyfalldown said:
Yet in London, Black cabbies were charge with 400 criminal offences last year, 120 odd of them violent crimes.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/cri...s-charged-with-crimes-last-year-a3226396.html

and I remembered this

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...ces-north-west-england-hundreds-a7660606.html

so what happened?





Thats your speculation.

In all seriousness, why don't London cabbies use a convent app and system like UBER's?
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No mate not my speculation at all I did the bloody job night and day for 20 years , what your also not taking into account is the sheer amount of garbage collecting that a taxi driver is expected to do ,drunks ,nutters,crackheads and smackheads ,creeps that take a dislike to your colour/accent/ religion etc ,up my end of the world the police not only ignore you they also appreciate the fact that we were cleaning up the streets for them at night .


I think I have seen it all from people having sex in the back ,to idiots pulling a knife to avoid the fare ,a woman sat next to me masturbating with a Heineken bottle whiled I'm driving .basically you have to ignore this s*** in case you lose your badge ,and just carry on cabbie cos if you kick off you'll always be labled the bad b*****d .could a unlicensed uber driver who basically has nothing to lose ignore those situations ??

Also reading your link the fault appears to rest more with TFL giving out badges willy nilly rather than anything else
 
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the black fox said:
What a total load of drivel some of my esteemed colleagues on here are spouting ,as a retired licensed cabbie I wouldn't dream of getting in a uber car . Let's start with proper taxi drivers either black cab or minicab/private hire ,for a starter you have to apply for and be checked by your local council to establish that you hold a clean licence ,2 you have to also be vetted to work with children etc 3 your also required to have a regular doctors check and opticians if you wear glasses ,a badge will not be issued if you fail any of these ,and most are at your own expense .
Next the cars ,most taxis and private hire will not only require a m.o.t even when brand new but also need a council taxi m.o.t every six months which are a lot stricter than normal ones ,the taxi office owners will also need to be vetted before they are issued a operating licence ,they will also have a two way radio system in case of either medical problems or even worse threatened of actual violence against the driver from the passengers .

Compare the above to a unlicensed unbadged uber driver who will probably not even have the correct insurance to cover the passengers in the event of a accident ,which are all to frequent the more mileage you cover , if you think it's a easy job try doing it for a couple of weeks .....

Uber I would rather get on Ali babas f*****g flying carpet
Click to expand...

I think you're getting wrong info. This afternoon there was a talk on bbc london re this issue. All Uber drivers has to apply their licence through tfl which involves all the same process as with black cab/minicab. They're fully vetted, medically checked, language tested and their vehicle fully MOT'ed. Every Uber car I've been had " private hire" sticker and all the drivers were badged. I highly doubt anyone could distinguish between local minicab and uber driver.

You do have valid point on 2 way radio system but don't think I've seen any in local minicabs these days.
 
Cobra said:
That's interesting, I assumed ( not that I've used them as above) that they were just *another* private hire company..

Although "Private hire" cabs are not all whiter than white ( no pun intended)
This was told to me by a guy that actually runs a private hire company, in Luton. A group of family or friends club together buy a car and run that car between them 24/7.
Now the interesting bit, a lot of these are "all beard and hair types" And yes they have their picture on the licence hanging in the window / nailed to the dash board,
However being ( usually) close family members, they do look similar, and who actually gives the picture more than a cursory glance?
The norm is that one has the licence, both driving and private hire, and the rest piggy back off of that..

No this is not a racist comment / slur or anything else, before someone starts getting offended, the guy that told me was also of a certain faith and "All hair and beard"
Click to expand...
I have a son who was a private hire driver a few years ago - correctly licenced, insured etc of course, as were all the drivers at that particular firm, but before getting his licence he worked as controller at a small firm in Bradford where he discovered that of the 40+ drivers, only 4 had a licence - the owner, one of his sons and 2 drivers. All of the others "shared" licences.

As for drivers with genuine licences that shouldn't have them, this seems to come down to inadequate I.D. checks carried out by the licensing authority, which allow people to get away with "borrowing" the identity of family members who have no convictions.
 
the black fox said:
a woman sat next to me masturbating with a Heineken bottle whiled I'm driving
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In a London black can? Do they have passenger seats in the front now?
Matt
 
MatBin said:
In a London black can? Do they have passenger seats in the front now?
Matt
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Nope I live in rural Wales ,normal cars are used as taxis
 
In London I'd just take the tube anyway...albeit I don't live there and I guess for 3am journeys they are super useful.
 
Raymond Lin said:
In London I'd just take the tube anyway...albeit I don't live there and I guess for 3am journeys they are super useful.
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I just use my own car. I've not been in a black cab in over 40 years and it's got to be over 35 yrs since I have been in a mini cab. I don't do buses or trains neither.
 
We needed to get somewhere in San Diego and the hotel suggested Uber. Th first car left after not telling us where he was; the next one didn't know the way, got lost and dropped us by fluke near where we wanted to go; he hit the kerb a couple of times... we caught the bus back!
 
Not really sure what an Uber is, sounds like a mini cab by another name and too many of them are dodgy or downright criminal.
 
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