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Post by n1david on Sept 22, 2017 22:36:35 GMT
Taxify's license was suspended as they took over another company's license rather than apply for their own And, technically, Uber are in the same breach. Last year Uber updated their T&Cs to riders to say that the supplier of services in London would now be Uber BV - a Dutch company. Previously it had been Uber London Ltd - which holds the operating licence. So technically when you book an Uber now, you are booking from a company that does not have a London carriage licence. That's partly what I mean about playing fast and loose with regulation - there are certain things that they just thought they could get away with because of their size and rider power. (Coincidentally moving to Uber BV reduces Uber's tax bill, but I'm sure that's irrelevant) |
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Post by Jan on Sept 23, 2017 8:10:44 GMT
The Labour party and GMB union protecting the employment rights of largely ethnic minority Uber drivers by firing the lot of them. Well done.
Black cabs are a big pain, I stopped using them from Heathrow because of the level of moaning from the drivers I had to face for asking them to only go 11 miles away from the airport for £50. Addison Lee far better.
A privately-run bike hire scheme has just been closed down by my local Labour council too - their first instinct is always to ban new ideas.
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Post by n1david on Sept 23, 2017 8:12:32 GMT
The Labour party and GMB union protecting the employment rights of largely ethnic minority Uber drivers by firing the lot of them. Well done. They don’t have any employment rights. They’re not employees. They’re not being fired because they’re not employed. That’s part of the point. |
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Post by Jan on Sept 23, 2017 8:26:24 GMT
The Labour party and GMB union protecting the employment rights of largely ethnic minority Uber drivers by firing the lot of them. Well done. They don’t have any employment rights. They’re not employees. They’re not being fired because they’re not employed. That’s part of the point. So they didn't have any employment rights before, and after this they still don't have any employment rights but they don't have any income either. Hard to see that as a triumph by the GMB. To be consistent your position presumably is that no-one in the country should be able to work as a freelance because they don't have any employment rights either - that is if you believe the GMB claim that employment rights were a big issue in them opposing Uber. Striking the ethnic disparity between Uber drivers and black cab drivers, isn't it ? |
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Post by mallardo on Sept 23, 2017 8:32:25 GMT
I have never had a problem with an Uber driver - always found them friendly, educated and intelligent - something I could never say of most London black cab drivers. The decision does seem to have a xenophobic/racial content, pandering to the basically all white, all British black cab lobby.
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Post by n1david on Sept 23, 2017 8:36:57 GMT
So they didn't have any employment rights before, and after this they still don't have any employment rights but they don't have any income either. Hard to see that as a triumph by the GMB. To be consistent your position presumably is that no-one in the country should be able to work as a freelance because they don't have any employment rights either - that is if you believe the GMB claim that employment rights were a big issue in them opposing Uber. Not at all. I'm a freelance worker myself. The difference is that I get to set my own pay; I get to choose who I work with; I get to choose which jobs I take and which I don't. None of these are the case for Uber drivers and that's why a London court found that they were not independent contractors but should be treated as employees. Uber, naturally, are appealing the decision. But it's worth remembering that the employment status of workers is completely irrelevant in this case as that's not why TfL have decided not to renew the licence: Given that the London mayor is a Muslim of Pakistani heritage, I'm not entirely sure the racism card is going to stick. |
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Post by joem on Sept 23, 2017 11:16:18 GMT
My experience with black cabs is laregly positive - 99% of the time they knew exactly where togo and how to get there, the Ubers of this world are the equivalent of the virtual coffee - which seems to have gone out of fashion - it is the internet era claiming everything can be done cheaper through new technology. It certainly can't be done better just because you use new technology.
I hope we never get driverless cars even though it would be very handy for me. I hate automated tills. Also, they are a wonderful weapon.
An uber-type nearly mademe miss a play at Stratford once but the worst service of my life - blackmail basically - was with Addison Lee. I wouldn't use them if they were the only form of transport in the world.
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 23, 2017 12:35:40 GMT
I have never had a problem with an Uber driver - always found them friendly, educated and intelligent - something I could never say of most London black cab drivers. The decision does seem to have a xenophobic/racial content, pandering to the basically all white, all British black cab lobby. I think I've only taken a taxi in London twice in my life so I don't know much about London cab drivers but are they really all white British? Because the taxi drivers in Cambridge seem to mostly be Middle Eastern. The only time in recent years we've had a white British cab driver he told us it was Ramadam so all the Middle Eastern drivers were on holiday. |
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Post by mallardo on Sept 23, 2017 14:07:01 GMT
I think I've only taken a taxi in London twice in my life so I don't know much about London cab drivers but are they really all white British? Because the taxi drivers in Cambridge seem to mostly be Middle Eastern. The only time in recent years we've had a white British cab driver he told us it was Ramadam so all the Middle Eastern drivers were on holiday.
Without exception every black cab driver I've ridden with in London has been white and English. Every Uber driver has been South Asian or Middle Eastern or African.
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Post by Marwood on Sept 23, 2017 15:27:48 GMT
I've ridden with a few black and Asian black cab drivers from East Croydon train station over the last few years, so its not as if the black cabs are run by some white only secret society.
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Post by poster J on Sept 23, 2017 22:43:03 GMT
I'm a single woman living outside zone 1 in London and I've never got an Uber home - I just get the Night Tube and before that existed a night bus or 3.
I really don't understand the argument that Uber is so much safer than night buses - for me it's the other way around, I feel safer when there are other people around and CCTV rather than in the back of a stranger's car in the middle of the night. Never had a problem with night buses, or with standing at a bus stop in Camberwell for half an hour at 2am waiting for one.
Then again I'm invariably sober when doing that, so maybe that makes a difference.
When I have got an Uber with friends in London they've generally been hopelessly reliant on their sat navs. I've had decent experiences with them in other cities, but I wouldn't use any form of taxi in London unless I was putting it on work expenses!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2017 2:42:24 GMT
Being a regular black cab user in Birmingham, the vast majority is now Asian descent. It's interesting to see that the London cabbies are still mainly white background despite London being such a diverse city.
If Uber are not screening their drivers the same that black cab and other private hire firms are expected to then I don't have a lot of sympathy for them.
Sadiq Khan is not solely responsible for this decision so I don't think too much blame should go on him - my political allegiance is more to the right than his btw.
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Post by lynette on Sept 26, 2017 18:13:26 GMT
I use black cabs in London in the centre of town. Of course! Incidentally go see The Knowledge at Charing Cross theatre. Quite fun. You will be surrounded by cabbies.
But where I live black cabs don't operate. Too far out. The nearest place to me where they operate is Golders Green. But if I wanted a black cab to take me home from there ( actually the bus is fine) it would cost a lot. I use uber for trips to places from my home to where there isn't parking so I don't drive e.g. The Finchley Road where my dentist is.
My local mini cab service often runs out of cars especially at peak times. They and Uber appear to use the same group of drivers i.e. Ethnicities and recent arrivals! They none of them know the way anywhere - the sat Nav is god - but they are all ok. Uber cars are clean and the drivers actually get out and open the door for me. Honest !
I wish they would sort this out because the Uber idea is brilliant and has made my life much easier. I don't consider them the devil tho they might have some dodgey drivers. My experience has been positive.
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Post by peelee on Sept 29, 2017 19:42:14 GMT
Without exception every black cab driver I've ridden with in London has been white and English.
A few years ago, several years before Uber came on the scene, I read that ten per cent of London cabbies were female. I'd been driven here and there by a few and found them pretty much as clued up with 'The Knowledge' and affable as the many more male black-cab drivers I'd hired. Over years of travelling around London I've still found plenty of jewish cabbies working behind the wheel, the occasional one flying an Israeli pennant, otherwise flags of St George, Arsenal, Chelsea or Spurs and drivers with a range of interests and sometimes studying for A levels, a degree or looking forward to moving out to Australia or Spain when retired to be near grown up kids and grandchildren. Never talking Sat-navs! I've had black or Asian-family background black-cab drivers on a couple of dozen occasions at least.
I sympathise with the case made by black-cab drivers in this campaign, and find them a godsend in London. It's also difficult to avoid noting who those prominent in organising for Uber in government, Commons, and mass media tend to be, and why they tend that way.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2017 18:04:04 GMT
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, I don't see it as a political decision by TFL. If anything you could argue that an Uber driver would potentially more likely be a Labour rather than Tory voter and that a Black Cab London Driver could be more right of Centre, so it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
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Post by theglenbucklaird on Sept 30, 2017 18:24:55 GMT
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, I don't see it as a political decision by TFL. If anything you could argue that an Uber driver would potentially more likely be a Labour rather than Tory voter and that a Black Cab London Driver could be more right of Centre, so it will be interesting to see how it all plays out. 'Could be more right of centre' is my favourite ever description of a black cab driver |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2017 19:18:45 GMT
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, I don't see it as a political decision by TFL. If anything you could argue that an Uber driver would potentially more likely be a Labour rather than Tory voter and that a Black Cab London Driver could be more right of Centre, so it will be interesting to see how it all plays out. 'Could be more right of centre' is my favourite ever description of a black cab driver We all know the Cockney Black Cab Stereotypes - so I was just trying to word it in a tactful manner. Probably saying they would have supported Farage era UKIP may have been more accurate. |
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Post by TallPaul on Feb 19, 2021 12:07:13 GMT
Interesting ruling from the Supreme Court this morning, which will have implications for not just its drivers, but also other freelancers and those working in the 'gig' economy. www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/business-56123668 |
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Post by juicy_but_terribly_drab on Feb 19, 2021 13:33:02 GMT
Having just spent half a year studying employment law I'm glad they came to the right decision though I think it would have been very hard to justify any other decision on the facts. I don't know what Uber's contracts with drivers look like nowadays though so it's entirely possible that they will be considered independent contractors and even if they aren't Uber might go out of their way to ensure that they don't ride the line between workers and contractors anymore.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Feb 19, 2021 17:02:04 GMT
Interesting ruling from the Supreme Court this morning, which will have implications for not just its drivers, but also other freelancers and those working in the 'gig' economy. www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/business-56123668Hurrah. First Facebook in Australia and now this. Good week for the masses. I'm chuffed |
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Post by theglenbucklaird on Feb 19, 2021 20:07:11 GMT
Interesting ruling from the Supreme Court this morning, which will have implications for not just its drivers, but also other freelancers and those working in the 'gig' economy. www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/business-56123668Hurrah. First Facebook in Australia and now this. Good week for the masses. I'm chuffed Masses siding with Rupert Murdoch now? Strange times we live in eh |
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