Taxi Driver Online

Victory for cabbies as Uber fails in bid to roll out its cheap taxi app in Oxford after licensed drivers and private hire firms rallied together to block the application

Uber applied to operate in city after 50,000 tried to access service in a year
Two of city's firms merged and launched their own app to combat threat
Uber's bid rejected as it 'didn't get around to' submitting vital details in time

Taxi drivers are celebrating a victory over Uber after the firm was barred from launching in Oxford.

Uber applied to operate in the city after 50,000 people tried to access the service there in a year, despite it not being available.

But licensed drivers and private hire firms rallied together to try and block the firm, which allows users to request a car through its mobile phone app.

Two of the city's biggest private hire firms, 001 Taxis and Royal Cars, merged and launched their own app earlier this year to combat the potential threat.

They also raised concerns about the safety of Uber, questioning whether its drivers would abide by Oxford City Council's regulations.

A year after announcing its intention to move to the city, Uber's bid has been rejected as the company 'didn't get around to' submitting vital details in time.

Local cabbies are delighted at the decision.

Niaz Mohammed, managing director of Royal Cars, said: 'It's great news for us and our customers.

'We were very concerned about the safety of Uber and whether its drivers would abide by Oxford City Council's regulations.

'Their goal is to close down all the other companies and they would have disrupted the system that has been in place for many years.'

City of Oxford Licensed Taxicab Association secretary Sajad Khan added: 'I'm very pleased and I'm sure all the city's drivers are.

'It would have been devastating for our trade and they would have wrecked the current system.

'They charge awkward fares and there is also the question of safety. Our drivers go through very stringent checks but you hear some worrying stories about Uber drivers.'

A spokesman for Uber said it would not rule out reapplying in the future.

This comes as plans to ban Oxford's black cabs from a new road to the city's shopping centre were put on hold.

Oxford City Council said it did not decide to ban Uber from the city's streets, but their application lapsed.

A spokesman said: 'Uber's application was made a year ago and they did not complete meeting all required criteria for a Private Hire Operator within the permitted 12 month period.

'As such, they will need to reapply as a new applicant.'

Uber said: 'We applied for a licence and you have a year to complete that process.

'We put it in a year ago and that licence expired because we didn't get around to finishing the application.

'It is something we are going to do at some stage.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z4FGZ5mfF5

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

And what is to stop them operating London licensed vehicles in Oxford as they do elsewhere where they are not licensed ?

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Nothing.

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IDFIMH

lots of factual inaccuracies in this story:

uber applied but couldn't meet the licensing conditions i.e. telephone number and an office that could cope with the number of cars.

on top of that the drivers have figured out that they were going to get screwed even more and the type of customer that is attracted to uber isn't pleasant.

001 and royal cars have long since gone there separate ways,

if uber can meet the conditions they can have a license but they cant meet the licensing requirement, and that's why they let it void.