supermario wrote:
Hi,
I've just joined this forum, but have been a reader for a while now.
I'd just like to ask a question about, what probably most of you are sick of hearing about now, Uber In Cardiff.
They have been in Cardiff approx 2 months now and there wasn't much uptake from Cardiff Drivers, so now they have employed from all the local councils, Merthyr, Caerphilly Bridgend and Newport licensed cars have all been seen working with uber signs on in Cardiff. To anybody in the know, is this legal?
These other councils have different criteria to Cardiff in cars, ie no age limits and privacy glass allowed where as in Cardiff it isn't. Also they don't have to pass the same badge tests that we do ie local knowledge and routes.
Cardiff council don't seem interested in any questions to them about this, and the local press aren't either as I know a few drivers who have contacted them and not a single reply.
Is this a normal tactic by uber, and is there any defence against it?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Hi, What you are witnessing imo, providing a private hire and hackney service to the public is always evolving. We are at the moment at the next page of the book of life where ph is changing into something different from the past. It is my understanding that it is totally legal for drivers from one area to be given jobs in another area through using an app. It doesn't necessarily have to be uber, it can be any ph company that expands into different areas. It is obvious that over the next few years many problems are going to arise, the first being which council has authority over which vehicle when it is in a different area. Will the public still be safe?
The second obvious problem will arise when drivers realise there is no reason for them to be licenced in a city when they can move to another borough and operate at a reduced cost. The consequences then to the council will probably be a loss of revenue coming to them i.e. the city, which in turn will force them to increase their licencing fees, which in turn will encourage drivers to look for somewhere cheaper.
You will have natural wastage of drivers but new drivers will be pointed in the direction of what is cheapest and easiest for them. Standards for hackneys will remain but the standards for ph will be lost in the fog of confusion this will cause.
Who will lose out? The general public. Who will lose control? The city councils. Who eventually will be placed in the position of take it or leave it? The drivers.
Parliament needs to relook at how these apps work and how they will affect the councils and the public in
the future. What is for certain is that before or if this is sorted out the big fish will eat up a lot of the little fish, and the likes of granddad will find it harder and harder to survive. IMO.
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