Dear David,
I'm writing to you on behalf of the London Suburban Taxi-drivers Coalition and on behalf of the many taxi drivers we have spoken to in recent times….
Our members have voiced strong opinion on two issues.
Firstly is that we prefer a separate Taxi magazine away from Private Hire. We do not see ourselves as associated with them. Our members can appreciate the Private Hire are there to fulfil a role in London but with the constantly overwhelmingly open and illegal activity it is not something we feel we wish to share a platform with. In addition whilst our standards are very high their standards generally are very low. Again we do not wish to be associated with them.
Our members also voiced strong opinion that we do not wish to see Uber the non-British taxpaying minicab app that flouts laws and regulations and is partially responsible for the gridlock that occurs in London every day appearing in the online magazine as if they are "Part of the trade and our friends that we all work together with.”
They are not. Uber are our sworn enemies and we will never ever accept them. They will always be that.
Uber has been banned in over six countries.
Whether or not they have found loopholes in which to work is irrelevant. They are an unethical company. Many of their drivers claim in work benefits and use British taxpayers to subsidise their drivers.
Recently one of the drivers was convicted of rape.
Most of the private hire industry dislikes them intensely.
They charge using a digital” meter" which means if the satellite navigation system cannot find the shortest route (Which it can't) And the driver doesn't know where he or she is going (Which they don’t) then the customer is overcharged.
Whether it's legal or not is irrelevant. It’s a rip off and we all know that………….
If someone insists that Uber must feature in your online magazine please let us know who they are so we can make our objections known directly to them.
Thank you for your attention
Nick Gilbert/Alan Miller London Suburban Taxi-drivers’ Coalition
Dear Nick,
Thank you so much for your email, we welcome all feedback here at OnRoute.
To address your specific points:
TfL licenses the drivers and owners of taxis and private hire vehicles (minicabs) who operate in London and so must address both areas of the trade within OnRoute.
In the two issues of OnRoute that have been published so far, Uber has only ever been mentioned in one story – the High Court ruling on taximeters. As TfL, along with Uber, the licensed Taxi Driver Association, and the Licensed Private Hire Car Association, asked for this legal ruling we were obliged to publicise the result in the magazine.
We hope this answers your concerns. If you do any any ideas for aspects of the trade you wish us to cover in future issues, please do let us know.
Our next issue is out in February and the major areas we will be covering are compliance activity at Heathrow Airport and the suburban taxi driver roadshows.
Regards,
The OnRoute team.
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