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Uber banned in London? 11:09 - Sep 22 with 8738 viewsMrSheen

Not fit and proper, denied a renewal of their operating licence. I may never get to use it (assuming they don't just ignore it).
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Uber banned in London? on 16:53 - Sep 22 with 2153 viewsLblock

Uber banned in London? on 16:36 - Sep 22 by Nov77

how can you demand black cab fares be cheaper when the driver has to fork out £45,000 out of their own pocket for a cab. This will increase to £55,000 in January, or an obscene £68,000 if they have to buy on finance. this is on top of correct hire and reward insurance, road tax, all servicing, repairs, road tax and license fees etc. they get no holiday pay, no sick pay or pension.
it is not that black cab fares are artificially high, it is that uber fares are artificially low.
with uber passengers currently only paying 41% of the actual cost of a ride, ( https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2016/12/02/uber-losses.html) their fares would have to go up 150% just for them to break even. they are losing $billions, do people really think that will continue? that Uber are some charity case willing to Indefinitely subsidise their ride home?

think the saudis, Goldman Sachs etc are going to be happy with breaking even?
they're whole business model depends on them achieving monopoly and then ramping up prices far beyond what black cabs charge now.

predatory pricing, the selling of goods or services at a loss in order to eliminate the competition is illegal under UK, US and European law yet our government seemed happy to let this foreign company who pays no UK tax, no vat and employs drivers who earn so little that they have to get the UK taxpayer to top up their pay with tax credits, replace a workforce who do not claim any benefits, and do pay tax and vat (on vehicle purchase, servicing ,repairs, parts etc). in what world is that a sensible idea?

all that will happen is TFL will license another company like Lyft or Taxify, uber drivers will use their app instead of uber's, you will have the same drivers on the streets doing exactly the same thing as they are now.


I hear that

The industry that's effectively been a monopoly for decades, drivers paying nearly zero income tax and rude obnoxious attitudes towards picking and choosing if and where they take you.

Black cab drivers should therefore be campaigning against the price fixing within their own industry which still thinks it is in a monopoly position

Cherish and enjoy life.... this ain't no dress rehearsal

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Uber banned in London? on 17:18 - Sep 22 with 2121 viewsNov77

Uber banned in London? on 16:53 - Sep 22 by Lblock

I hear that

The industry that's effectively been a monopoly for decades, drivers paying nearly zero income tax and rude obnoxious attitudes towards picking and choosing if and where they take you.

Black cab drivers should therefore be campaigning against the price fixing within their own industry which still thinks it is in a monopoly position


ignorant bullshit

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Uber banned in London? on 17:19 - Sep 22 with 2118 viewspaesanu

I guess I've been super lucky that in the 20 times I've used Uber the last few years, it's been nothing short of brilliant.

Their front-end is brilliant and I wish blackcabs would catch-up. THE KNOWLEDGE, it's romantic, but ffs it's 2017 welcome to basic competence and satnav.

Can't condone the backend of Uber, terrible for tax / driver treatment. Not different to Nike and theirs sweatshops, as an average citizen I can't help but look for the cheapest and most convenient deal.

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Uber banned in London? on 17:41 - Sep 22 with 2097 viewsLblock

Uber banned in London? on 17:18 - Sep 22 by Nov77

ignorant bullshit


Ignorant - lacking knowledge or awareness in general; uneducated or unsophisticated.

Bullshit - stupid or untrue talk or writing; nonsense.

It may surprise you but, I consider myself fairly well educated and I'd like to think I can combine that with a bit of common sense. As for sophisticated that's a matter of opinion I suppose
You may find my post stupid and you also think it untrue and a load of nonsense and that may be due to your personal experience

I'm coming from my own experience and what I know. One of my ex girlfriends Dad was a cabbie, couple of friends were and friends of friends still are. All of them, and I mean ALL of them paid less tax than anybody else I know. Bill used to say to me he was riding around in a big black piggy bank that punters were filling up and his accountant thought he was skint.

As for the attitude of drivers I've found most to be opportunist and more than ready to expose your desperation. Don't fall asleep on the last Piccadilly heading Heathrow is my advice - you'll find a good few black cabs pitched up but the sneer of being told it's £60 for a £15 ride turns your stomach more than the 15 pints.

I know there's good and bad all over. I've had some brilliant rides in black cabs and also had some reasonable drivers (two) who have turned the meter off after the traffic has stood still on London Bridge for 12 minutes.

Sorry if my opinions don't sit with yours on this but such is life

Cherish and enjoy life.... this ain't no dress rehearsal

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Uber banned in London? on 18:15 - Sep 22 with 2077 viewsBlackCrowe

Uber banned in London? on 16:15 - Sep 22 by kensalriser

Unless you've got mobility problems, getting a taxi is a luxury not a necessity. You can't compare it to utilities. If you're that skint you need to use public transport, get a bike or walk.


Not true...if there's two or more of you, getting an Uber is often a lot cheaper than getting a train and half the price of a cab.

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Uber banned in London? on 19:48 - Sep 22 with 2015 viewsrobith

Good imo. They've been swerving the rules for too long (I've seen people saying Khan is in thrall to the cab unions when uber have gotten away with bloody murder via their close relationship to Cameron and Osbourne) which apply to everyone else. They've also put the public at risk by not vetting their drivers. It's time they were taken to task a bit.

It seems like a company in disarray with all their scandals. When they first came out it was actually amazing. But these days it's pretty shoddy with drivers who drive too fast and erratically, who all "hover" tourist areas trying ti game the surcharge
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Uber banned in London? on 21:25 - Sep 22 with 1945 viewskensalriser

Uber banned in London? on 18:15 - Sep 22 by BlackCrowe

Not true...if there's two or more of you, getting an Uber is often a lot cheaper than getting a train and half the price of a cab.


Maybe if you're going a short distance in central London, in which case you could walk for nothing.

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Uber banned in London? on 21:33 - Sep 22 with 1938 viewsWatford_Ranger

Uber banned in London? on 17:19 - Sep 22 by paesanu

I guess I've been super lucky that in the 20 times I've used Uber the last few years, it's been nothing short of brilliant.

Their front-end is brilliant and I wish blackcabs would catch-up. THE KNOWLEDGE, it's romantic, but ffs it's 2017 welcome to basic competence and satnav.

Can't condone the backend of Uber, terrible for tax / driver treatment. Not different to Nike and theirs sweatshops, as an average citizen I can't help but look for the cheapest and most convenient deal.


I must have been super lucky in the fifty or so occasions I've used it too. What luck!
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Uber banned in London? on 22:08 - Sep 22 with 1898 viewshubble

TfL setting the taxi fare is price fixing - and there's only one winner - TfL. They should allow black cabs to compete on price with Uber - then let the market decide.
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Uber banned in London? on 22:20 - Sep 22 with 1889 viewsBazzaInTheLoft

Uber banned in London? on 16:33 - Sep 22 by Lblock

Every UBER driver I've ever used has been quite happy and I've never found them to be "tax avoiding, market manipulating, raping, human slaves", in fact the last one I had was ecstatic about the flexability he had and VERY concerned any changes would mean his family could suffer and he wouldn't be able to afford his rent.

If you have a problem with the big business side and their approach to tax then I assume you don't buy coffee, dont watch Sky, dont follow a football club, don't ever google anything on your PC, etc, etc, etc.... there is not a company out there that won't look to mitigate their tax to nothing.

For me this decision is ALL about SadIQ Khant and TFL looking to be able to raise money via the tube, buses and black cabs which they control. I can see fare rises on the horizon with "for re-investment" guff trotted out yet again.
I'm amazed certain people are lauding 40,000 redundancies that will go along with this decision.

We'll see what happens in the next 21 days I suppose


Was having a pop the co rather than the drivers LBlock. 40,000 drivers is obviously devastating.

I have a iPhone too and buy clothes made by children in Vietnam, but I'm still going to celebrate brazen piss taker being taken down a peg or two.

Sadiq Khan had no bearing on this decision by the way.
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Uber banned in London? on 23:48 - Sep 22 with 1835 viewsBazzaInTheLoft

Uber banned in London? on 15:59 - Sep 22 by Northernr

Big expensive court case, few promises to smarten up act a bit, they'll get it back. Similar thing happened in Texas I think.

I did use them a lot at first but I've found the service has declined - response time slower, driver often tries to get to you for ten minutes then just cancels the job, the cars are getting worse, the drivers are getting worse and the routes they take/ability to take direction from either you or the sat nav is getting worse.

I'm no lover of Uber but as I've said on here before, for those of us trying to make ends meet at the end of the month the choice of paying £15-20 for something that somebody else is charging £30-40 for isn't a choice at all. You can't tell the electricity board or the water board or the gas board that you can't pay them at the end of the month because you made some moral high ground decisions earlier in the month that cost you twice as much and consequently you've now run out of cash sooner than you thought.

Ask anybody on the street whether they think it's a shame that lots of small, independent green grocers and butchers have gone to the wall and they'll all say yes. But they'll all also get their chicken breasts or mince beef from Sainsbury's in a three for a tenner deal, because most people in this city - even those of us reasonably well paid - are fcking skint.

This is different because black cab fairs are regulated by TFL, but they are simply too high. It is too expensive. Now Uber's are so low because of the backing they have from venture capitalists, they can do predator pricing and then when all the competition has been killed off they'll jack it up. But, again, I'm skint now. I can't think "oooh I'll pay £40 for this thing I could pay £20 for because otherwise in five years time I'll be paying £50 for it" however illogical that is and however immoral Uber are.

Markets don't work by protecting something that's outdated and expensive at the expense of a new and cheaper version simply because it's traditional. I've noticed that since Uber basically took over, black taxis suddenly have a card machine - one that works! After all those years of "it's broken mate sorry" or "cash only mate sorry" (cue the taxi drivers coming on here and denying it but that was absolutely the norm until the last 18 months) the market force has forced them to sort that out. Market forces should force black cabs to be cheaper - not to Uber levels obviously, because that's predator pricing and the service is better in black cabs anyway - but lower than it is.

And as pointed out in StraightR's post - here in zone four, if you go and stand on the main road and wait for a black cab with a light on you'll be waiting for a looooooong time.

This post has been edited by an administrator


We have to ask ourselves deep questions about what is "cheap and convenient" I am as hypocritical as the next person as I have used gig economy services but we have to take a breath and look at the bigger picture.
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Uber banned in London? on 07:38 - Sep 23 with 1750 viewsLblock

Uber banned in London? on 23:48 - Sep 22 by BazzaInTheLoft

We have to ask ourselves deep questions about what is "cheap and convenient" I am as hypocritical as the next person as I have used gig economy services but we have to take a breath and look at the bigger picture.


Bazza your earlier use of examples such as iPhones and clothes made in Thailand etc is spot on -- it is impossible to be 100% ethical in the modern world

You'll have possibly detected I'm a bit of a capitalist but I do have a bit of a social consideration in my day to day life. Unless the whole world becomes a commune there's always going to be a pyramid
I did note earlier that big business (any business) will use tax rules to their advantage so I'm not hung up on that angle. I do agree that safety checks need to be in place and this needs to be the case for ALL businesses and drivers of PSV's

I'll say no more and instead look forward to watching my tax avoiding football club of overpaid sportsmen playing this afternoon

Cherish and enjoy life.... this ain't no dress rehearsal

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Uber banned in London? on 07:43 - Sep 23 with 1746 viewsBlackCrowe

Uber banned in London? on 22:20 - Sep 22 by BazzaInTheLoft

Was having a pop the co rather than the drivers LBlock. 40,000 drivers is obviously devastating.

I have a iPhone too and buy clothes made by children in Vietnam, but I'm still going to celebrate brazen piss taker being taken down a peg or two.

Sadiq Khan had no bearing on this decision by the way.


"Sadiq Khan had no bearing on this decision by the way."

I think you're the only one that thinks that Baz. He is head of TFL.

Of course he's trying to flakily distance himself from responsibility because of the 100s of thousands of Uber users that are p*ssed off about the decision.

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Uber banned in London? on 08:58 - Sep 23 with 1704 viewsBazzaInTheLoft

Uber banned in London? on 07:43 - Sep 23 by BlackCrowe

"Sadiq Khan had no bearing on this decision by the way."

I think you're the only one that thinks that Baz. He is head of TFL.

Of course he's trying to flakily distance himself from responsibility because of the 100s of thousands of Uber users that are p*ssed off about the decision.


I work for TfL. He is not my boss.

Here is a Uber driver's thoughts on it:

http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/18070056
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Uber banned in London? on 09:01 - Sep 23 with 1698 viewsBlackCrowe

Uber banned in London? on 08:58 - Sep 23 by BazzaInTheLoft

I work for TfL. He is not my boss.

Here is a Uber driver's thoughts on it:

http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/18070056


TFL website suggests otherwise.

https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/how-we-work/corporate-governance/board-me

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Uber banned in London? on 09:26 - Sep 23 with 1676 viewsBazzaInTheLoft

Uber banned in London? on 09:01 - Sep 23 by BlackCrowe

TFL website suggests otherwise.

https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/how-we-work/corporate-governance/board-me


He's the chair. The licencing decisions are made by Surface. I don't think Tony Fernandes tells Jamie Mackie to bend his runs.
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Uber banned in London? on 09:49 - Sep 23 with 1646 viewsBlackCrowe

Uber banned in London? on 09:26 - Sep 23 by BazzaInTheLoft

He's the chair. The licencing decisions are made by Surface. I don't think Tony Fernandes tells Jamie Mackie to bend his runs.


No but he would have a big (probably final( say on major commercial decision on the running of the club.

Anyway enough of all that. At the end of the day i'd rather have Uber and you'd rather have black cabs. Finito.

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Uber banned in London? on 10:12 - Sep 23 with 1629 viewshubble

From an Uber driver:

"I’ve been an Uber driver for five years, so you’d expect me to be furious that Transport for London wants to stop the company operating in the capital. Not a bit of it.

I could not be happier with TFL’s ruling that Uber is not a “fit and proper” private car hire operator.

In the long run, drivers like me can only benefit. Yes, we’ll have to find other work, but the best of us won’t find that too hard as rival firms pick up the slack. Many of us have worked for minicab companies in the past, or still do shifts for them alongside work for Uber.

Uber’s model is perfect for customers, who have the convenience of being able to use an app to order a cab while still at home or sitting in a restaurant. Journeys are so cheap that if you’re travelling as a group you’ll sometimes save money by taking an Uber rather than a bus. What customers don’t understand is that we drivers have to work extremely long hours just to cover our overheads — which can lead to accidents as we become fatigued. Because we are self-employed, we don’t get holiday or sick pay. Every hour that we are off the road, we are not making money."



Full article here: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/23/over-uber-london-driver-fa
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Uber banned in London? on 10:27 - Sep 23 with 1621 viewszicoshoops

Uber........and.......Out

I speet on the Gig Economy Gringos.
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Uber banned in London? on 15:43 - Sep 23 with 1515 viewsBoston

Uber banned in London? on 10:27 - Sep 23 by zicoshoops

Uber........and.......Out

I speet on the Gig Economy Gringos.


You probably speet on a lot of things amigo.

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Uber banned in London? on 20:21 - Sep 23 with 1438 viewssmegma

Uber banned in London? on 10:27 - Sep 23 by zicoshoops

Uber........and.......Out

I speet on the Gig Economy Gringos.


I thought you'd be happy !!!

I recently had a young Italian lady miss her last tube home to East London from Holland Park station. She had only arrived in London the day before so trying to explain how to get home by two night buses was out of the question. So she phoned her friend who luckily had an Uber account. So I'm waiting outside my work with her when she gets a call from the driver. She couldn't understand him so I spoke to him and he said he was 'outside the station in the car'. I said 'where?'. He was parked 250 yards away on Holland Park Avenue claiming to be 'outside the station'. Although not as bad its like when Ryanair claim to fly you to Stockholm and you land 60 miles away.
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Uber banned in London? on 23:00 - Sep 23 with 1374 viewsLblock

So my UBER driver who took me to the game just shrugged his shoulders and said "what can you do?" I asked him if the ruling sticks will he work for another cab firm "Impossible! I will have to sell the car and do something else".

Post match our driver back further West was slightly more concerned. UBER is (was?) his second job that he was doing as another kid on the way. Again, all about the flexability the App gave him plus being able to work with a bit of comfort and security because in the main customers are calling him almost in person and they are totally traceable; so he's not really picking randoms up off the street.

By the way - both turned up, on time, to almost my toes, went exactly where they needed to and were reasonable (I would say cheap) and very, very pleasant blokes

40,000 you say?

Cherish and enjoy life.... this ain't no dress rehearsal

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Uber banned in London? on 23:20 - Sep 23 with 1357 viewsCliveWilsonSaid

Uber banned in London? on 20:21 - Sep 23 by smegma

I thought you'd be happy !!!

I recently had a young Italian lady miss her last tube home to East London from Holland Park station. She had only arrived in London the day before so trying to explain how to get home by two night buses was out of the question. So she phoned her friend who luckily had an Uber account. So I'm waiting outside my work with her when she gets a call from the driver. She couldn't understand him so I spoke to him and he said he was 'outside the station in the car'. I said 'where?'. He was parked 250 yards away on Holland Park Avenue claiming to be 'outside the station'. Although not as bad its like when Ryanair claim to fly you to Stockholm and you land 60 miles away.


It's clearly not practical to have lots of vehicles stopping directly outside busy stations or on busy high streets. It blocks the road and probably isn't very safe.

What would you have done before Uber?

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Uber banned in London? on 00:13 - Sep 24 with 1320 viewssmegma

Uber banned in London? on 23:20 - Sep 23 by CliveWilsonSaid

It's clearly not practical to have lots of vehicles stopping directly outside busy stations or on busy high streets. It blocks the road and probably isn't very safe.

What would you have done before Uber?


Do you know Holland Park station at 1am ?? The were no cars parked anywhere near the station. The driver simply didn't know where he was.
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Uber banned in London? on 03:16 - Sep 24 with 1274 viewsNov77

Uber banned in London? on 23:00 - Sep 23 by Lblock

So my UBER driver who took me to the game just shrugged his shoulders and said "what can you do?" I asked him if the ruling sticks will he work for another cab firm "Impossible! I will have to sell the car and do something else".

Post match our driver back further West was slightly more concerned. UBER is (was?) his second job that he was doing as another kid on the way. Again, all about the flexability the App gave him plus being able to work with a bit of comfort and security because in the main customers are calling him almost in person and they are totally traceable; so he's not really picking randoms up off the street.

By the way - both turned up, on time, to almost my toes, went exactly where they needed to and were reasonable (I would say cheap) and very, very pleasant blokes

40,000 you say?


Quote', "impossible, I will have to sell the car and do something else"


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