Thriev is just another twist in the very competitive business wars. Uber has decimated the smaller outfits and made some serious inroads into AL. Uber drivers are now in revolt because Uber have cut commissions and only logging on when surge pricing is active.
Uber were offering £1000 per week to drivers to get themselves in the market, but they stopped that last year. Now lots of their drivers work only at weekends and some smaller local companies are seeing their drivers returning, albeit part time.
We may be better qualified to move people around, but that only goes so far and as a humble taxi driver I don't know anybody who regularly shops in Harrods, but I earn an awful lot more from tourists than locals.
If it is a fight we want to win, then we need to work together.
I think we need to fight back, unfortunately I am getting a bit old to rally the troops. But I will support the trade in anyway I can.
![]()
Of course human nature to maximise ones income is a major factor and minicab drivers will always turn a situation to their own advantage just like the rest of us.
Ultimately these companies with their new ideas are all chasing the same market and looking to increase their share, once they have a foothold they need to cut costs to improve their profitability because they have totally over sold their 'cheap' pricing to get market shsre.
This is when the squeeze on driver commissions begins. This is capitalism.
Uber were offering £1000 per week to drivers to get themselves in the market, but they stopped that last year. Now lots of their drivers work only at weekends and some smaller local companies are seeing their drivers returning, albeit part time.
We may be better qualified to move people around, but that only goes so far and as a humble taxi driver I don't know anybody who regularly shops in Harrods, but I earn an awful lot more from tourists than locals.
If it is a fight we want to win, then we need to work together.
* We all need to take card payments that would open many doors.
* It seems many Londoners still think we don't go south of the river, we need to stamp that idea out.
* Brooming is a major problem that affects every driver and it needs to stop completely.
* Every cab driver I know does fixed price fares at some point especially when going home. So why not get it organised at Heathrow and see if it cuts the wait down in the feeder park.
I think we need to fight back, unfortunately I am getting a bit old to rally the troops. But I will support the trade in anyway I can.
I think we need to open some eyes to what a woefully inadequate job TfL are doing. We should have more one hour demos, the last two closed central London down.
