Taxi Driver Online

Addison Lee chief executive slams TfL over Uber's rapid entry into London taxi market



Addison Lee's chief executive Liam Griffin has slammed Transport for London (TfL) for allowing Uber such an easy entrance into the London transport market.

Speaking to the Evening Standard, Griffin said TfL had "bottled" it and accused the regulator of "letting down" black cab drivers.

He argued TfL was failing to enforce rules and regulations on Uber that Addison Lee and black cabs have to comply with.

"They decided that they would fold and not enforce regulations that they have done to us for a long, long time on the basis that they are worried about being sued by Uber," he said.

Griffin added that TfL's actions had put its "credibility" in doubt. Uber faced the ire of London's cabbies back in June when the London Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA) organised protests across swathes of the capital.

The LTDA was joined by taxi unions across Europe, who resent the competition and gung-ho attitude of the San Francisco start-up. The protest was mainly targeted at TfL's decision to grant Uber a private hire license.

Tensions have simmered between Uber and the taxi unions over Uber's use of an app used to calculate fares, that critics claim is equivalent to a taximeter, which only licensed black cabs can use.

Boris Johnson waded into the row earlier this year branding Uber's attitude as "excessively bumptious". However, in a word of warning to London's cabbies he added:

The taxi drivers who rage against Uber, you have my sympathy but in the end there has been no more brilliant advocate of the services of Uber, no more powerful advertisers of that particular brand, than the black cab trade

Earlier this month, Uber was valued at a whopping $40bn after it completed a $1.2bn funding round. The taxi app company has been surrounded by controversy and has been banned in a host of cities across Europe.

France's latest backlash against Uber is unlikely to give its chief executive Travis Kalanick sleepless nights, as the company ends the year in 200 cities worldwide.

source: http://www.cityam.com/206201/addison-le ... axi-market

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

The black cab drivers friend.

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IDFIMH

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Was he scared to say half his drivers now use the app to top up the minuscule wages they earn with his company?

Order a minicab on the Uber app, get an AL car turn up.

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Impossible for an Addison Lee branded vehicle to be used on the Uber platform.

Relevant vehicle documents need to be submitted to Uber (i.e. V5, MOT, PHV licence), before a driver can use the car to work for Uber.

As an Addison Lee car is rented to the driver, purely for work given by them, the driver would have no requirement to have access to the vehicle documents, since Addison Lee themselves would be responsible for the licensing.



However, ex-Addison Lee vehicles are available to the public, for anyone to buy, and it is possible, for a prospective PH driver (for Uber, or any other PH firm) to buy one, get it re-licensed as a PHV, and away they go.

Many ex-Addison Lee cars continue to be used as private hire vehicles anyway.

There's one round here that's used as a Private Hire.

Pot, kettle, black cab.

That made me chuckle too !

Yes, I've been in one.

Look closely at the No Smoking signs on the windows (if they're still there), and the Addison Lee logo is still on there!