YORK UBERK

Newly released figures show that more than 80 per cent of the complaints against Uber in York came from the taxi trade in the city.

But drivers say there are very valid reasons why that is the case.

Members of the gambling, licensing & regulatory committee of City of York Council heard there had been 155 complaints against Uber in York at the meeting when they voted not to renew the company a licence.

A Freedom of Information request by John Lucker found that more than 83% of these complaints were “made by those employed by York taxi businesses”.

The number of complaints against Uber in York was one of the two reasons councillors gave for refusing a new licence.

The other was a massive data breach which affected 2.7 million UK users of its app.

Mr Lucker says that there were “just 26 complaints from the ‘public’ in the year against Uber”.

“Having watched the meeting, I don’t think councillors were correctly informed,” he writes.

“When those who stand to benefit from the refusal of Uber’s licence are the ones who ‘created’ the grounds for refusal, surely that negates the evidence?”

But secretary of York Private Hire Association Mike Palmer said there were two valid reasons why most complainst came from the trade.

Firstly, unlike the general public, the drivers are experts in the rules governing the taxi trade.

When an Uber driver is flagged down by a member of the public and paid in cash, taxi drivers are aware they are flouting the rules when others aren’t.

And second, taxi drivers are out on the roads day in, day out, and see more breaches of the rules. They also often have dashcam footage as evidence validating their complaint.

“Most people don’t understand the rules that cab drivers have to follow,” he said.

“We do. We see these offences being committed by multiple out of town Uber drivers, and report them to the licensing authorities.”

Mike added: “It’s an outrage there’s so many crimes being committed. But it is up to us to report them because the council and the police can’t do it because they don’t have the resources.”

Saf Din, chairman of the York Hackney Carriage Drivers’ Association, said: “Complaint after complaint has been proved to be justified.

“The council has looked into it and found there was sufficient evidence to uphold it.”

He also said the data breach was critical when it came to City of York Council’s decision to refuse Uber a new licence.

The fact that the app company concealed a hack that affected 57 million customers and drivers was more than enough reason for York to kick it out.

“We still hope every single UK authority will follow York’s lead and revoke Uber’s licence after this massive data breach,” he said.

Uber has said it intends to appeal against York’s decision.

There should be an update on the appeals process later this month.

YorkMix website comments: 

Robert Alexander

January 19, 2018 at 7.34 pm

This article says it all. Uber is good for the people of York. Taxi provision in the city is terrible. There aren’t enough taxis and those available are expensive, dirty and uncomfortable. You can’t even pay for a rank Taxi with a credit card – in 2018!

York Taxi drivers need to stand aside – the future is coming and they need to either adapt or die.

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FIFE

A taxi driver, on a school contract with a pupil in his car, lost control of his vehicle as he looked at his satellite navigation device and smashed into a set of traffic lights demolishing them.

Jon Aitken, distracted by his sat-nav, was seen swerving about the road for some time before the collision.

Fortunately, no-one was seriously injured but the damage to the traffic lights cost £10,000 to repair.

The incident led to Aitken, 23, of Cadzow Place, Glenrothes, appearing in the dock at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

He admitted that on 15 th May in Main Street, Lumphinnans, he drove a taxi without due care and attention, failed to keep control of the vehicle, repeatedly veered towards the centre line of the carriageway, collided with a set of traffic lights causing them to collapse, causing damaged to the taxi and the lights.

Depute fiscal Dev Kapadia said the incident occurred at around 7.40am when Aitken was driving a 13-year-old boy to school.

He went on, “A Fife Council employee driving behind his taxi saw it veering towards the centre line of the road. This happened on several occasions before the steering was corrected each time.

“This witness shouted to his passengers three times that the taxi was going to crash before it did collide with the traffic lights which toppled over.”

Defence solicitor Edward Cadden said the accident was caused by a “lack of concentration”.

Sheriff Pino Di Emidio said, “This was a lapse of concentration that went on for some time causing alarm to another driver.”

He fined Aitken £380 and endorsed his licence with six penalty points.


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