Taxi Driver Online

‘Is someone trying to bury Uber’s law breaking?’ Angry taxi drivers confront council

https://www.yorkmix.com/news/is-someone ... t-council/


Image: York Mix/Richard McDougall

Taxi drivers have demanded action from City of York Council over what they say is repeated law-breaking by Uber.

In March the gambling, licensing and regulatory committee recommended that the council prosecute the transport app company for alleged breaches of the law.

At the first meeting of the new council executive, taxi trade representatives asked why there was no sign of this happening, or even being considered.

Wendy Loveday, chair of York Private Hire Association, told councillors:
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"As a trade united, we have spent our own money doing your job for you.

"We have engaged legal professionals and have shown you the exact law that Uber are breaking.

"We have shown you that you have little to fear where Uber claiming any court costs against York is concerned.

"Councillors – what more can we do?

"For a council that was elected on a commitment to listen to residents as well as supporting openness and transparency, you have made a very poor start.

Vice chair of the association Barry Hamer said potential court action against Uber wasn’t on the executive meeting’s agenda or on the forward plan.

“Should we be asking ourselves is someone trying to bury this, and if so, who and why?” he asked

“The trade is not going to skulk away quietly just because the decision to prosecute Uber is not on today’s agenda.

“We expect you to act as any responsible council should and prosecute Uber for breaking the law.”

Four points:

1 Plenty of other threads on Uber and York, and this should really be tacked on to one of those, but there's quite a few and I couldn't make up my mind...

2 Suspect the problem is that while the trade has had advice stating that Uber is breaking the law, the reality is maybe a bit different, and the council has had conflicting advice. Of course, this aspect has been covered in previous threads, but isn't addressed in this piece.

3 There's a YouTube video of the meeting, but unfortunately it's over 45 minutes long, and no idea where precisely the Uber stuff is dealt with, but here's the link if anyone fancies a gander:

https://youtu.be/x9z5ujrLw_g

4 Photo is a bit big for the forum, but thought it interesting because it seems to show some sort of plate which seems little more than a sticker. Interesting

what about TFL and their window sticker ?

Might this be a cheaper way than physical plates ? As long as identifying features such as vehicle reg make and colour appear does it make any difference ?

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

Well indeed, but begs the question why such stickers aren't more widespread - any other council use them?

As for TfL, fair point, but suspect that's because minicab regulation there came quite a few years after the rest of the country. And wasn't the reason for the stickers because the black cab trade thought normal plates would legitimise the PHV trade too much, and cause confusion between HCs and PHVs?

Very much doubt the legal opinion was as clear cut as saying 'Uber are breaking the law', more long the lines of 'a case could be made that they might be'.

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IDFIMH

Our hackney and PH plates are stickers.

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IDFIMH

presumably there has to be some investment for example our council has equipment for making up mogo style plates in the grotsville office. Perhaps only one or two councils have decided spending money on the facility to print stick on plates was worth it BUT maybe a few more will in the future when the existing equipment gets a bit long in the tooth or they realise they can save money by changing

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

So presumably this is a relatively new innovation that might or might not become more widespread?



So presumably that's a relatively recent thing? Seen a few photos of Brighton HCs and PHVs online and pretty sure the plates have been bog standard plastic, or whatever.

Had stickers for at least 5 years.

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IDFIMH