Taxi drivers hold protest, claiming business is being eroded

Members of the United Cabbies Group said they were frustrated with an “erosion” of business as a result of poor enforcement of existing rules barring minicabs from picking up passengers on the streets and regulating the use of smartphone apps, such as Uber.

“We are being deregulated by the back door enough is enough,” the group claims.

They said that the rules also made it less safe for passengers.

The group’s chairman Len Martin warned; “We have continually complained of a lack of enforcement creating a real and present threat to lone females at night”.

Every Tom, Dick and Harry minicab outfit has got e-hail
United Cabbies Group

Italy has become the latest country to restrict app-based taxi services.

A Milan court said the Uber POP service, which links private drivers with passengers through an easy-to-use smartphone app, created “unfair competition”.

The ruling, triggered by a petition from taxi associations, said using Uber POP was forbidden, as was the offering of paid car-ride services by unlicensed drivers in any other way.

In London, the cabbies chose Victoria Street in central London for their protest as the street’s Windsor House is the headquarters of Transport for London (TfL). But TfL, which called for the protest not to go ahead, insisted that it has already moved to address the cabbies’ concerns.

Its chief operating officer for surface transport Garrett Emmerson said: “We are determined to protect the livelihoods of all legitimate taxi and private hire drivers through robust enforcement action.

“There is absolutely no justification for this protest because we are already doing the very things they are calling for. Just like the previous protest on Oxford Street, it will achieve nothing other than to disrupt life and business in London.”

After the protest was called, TfL took the step of announcing early results of its programme to crack down on private hire taxi drivers who breaking the rules, called Operation Neon. It said it has reported 331 drivers in the first five days of the operation.

But, of those, only eight were reported for plying for hire; a lower rate than the average number for 2014.

We all went through years of the knowledge, missing time with our family and friends so we could become one of the elite
United Cabbies Group

Another 30 were reported for parking on taxi ranks, while 73 tickets were issued for parking offences and around 600 vehicles have also been moved on from outside clubs and late night venues, TfL said. It did not respond when asked how those figures compared with the period before Operation Neon was launched.

‘Disappointed’

The cabbies insisted their demonstration was not specifically aimed at Uber, saying it was about what they saw as poor enforcement of rules by TfL, rather than about any specific company. But they complained that “every Tom, Dick and Harry minicab outfit has got e-hail”.

They said: “We all went through years of the knowledge, missing time with our family and friends so we could become one of the elite, the best in the world. Since the Olympics, we’ve seen a steady erosion of our business.”

Jo Bertram, Uber’s regional general manager in the UK, said: “Every driver using Uber abides by the same regulations as everyone else; they are all fully licensed by TfL and covered by commercial, documented insurance.

“Hundreds of Black Taxi drivers use Uber to earn more and we have no wish to see the iconic cab disappear from London’s streets.”

Referring to the Italian ruling, an Uber spokesman said: “We’re obviously very disappointed by today’s decision regarding uberPOP, which we respect. We are currently looking into all appeal possibilities, to prevent hundreds of thousands of Italian citizens to be deprived of safe, reliable and affordable mobility solutions.”