MONDAY IN PARLIAMENT

Caroline Lucas Green, Brighton, Pavilion (Hansard source)

(Citation: HC Deb, 26 February 2018, )

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to take urgent steps in primary legislation to create a statutory definition of cross border hiring whereby a journey must begin or end in the licensing authority area for which the vehicle, driver and operator are licensed; and if he will support this by the introduction of statutory England-wide guidance setting out minimum licensing standards; and if he will make a statement.

Reply:

Nusrat Ghani Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport), Assistant Whip (HM Treasury)

At a Westminster Hall Debate last year, the Rt Hon John Hayes MP announced the formation of a Task and Finish group to consider any regulatory issues and remedies. 

The group’s remit includes considering issues such as those on national standards and whether to provide a statutory definition of plying for hire.

The proposal to restrict the locations that taxis and private hire vehicles can carry passenger from or to will also be considered as part of its deliberation.

The group has decided that more time was needed to fully consider the issues but will submit its report shortly.

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LIVERPOOL

A black cab driver who watched videos on his mobile phone while transporting BLIND people around Liverpool has been taken off the road.

Cabbie Nazeed Hyseni has had his Hackney Carriage licence suspended for 28 days by the city council after being found to have failed to ensure the safety of his passengers.

Hyensi, 34, of Canon Road, Anfield, picked up a party of four outside Lime Street Station in March of last year.

Three of the party were registered blind, with one having a guide dog.

The passengers, who were all in their 60s, were travelling to Old Swan.

Licensing Committee members heard that during the journey, the fully-sighted member of the party became aware that Hyseni had his mobile phone switched on and was watching videos on his lap as he drove.

The passengers claimed that when they urged the cabbie to concentrate on his driving he ignored them.

When the party got out of the taxi they told Hyseni that he was not going to be given a tip because they were unhappy with his service, to which he replied: “It’s none of your business.”

One of the passengers immediately complained to the City Council’s Licensing Team.

Hyseni was asked to make a statement about the incident.

He denied the allegation, claiming he was unaware that his phone was on his lap and claimed that the passengers were rude to him.

The committee rejected Hyseni’s version of events, banning him from working as a taxi driver in the city for 28 days.

He initially appealed against the ruling to the City’s Magistrates Court.

When this was rejected he appealed to the Crown Court, which again rejected his appeal.

Presiding over the appeal, Judge Brian Cummings, QC, said Hyseni should never have appealed the Committee’s decision.

Judge Cummings went on to describe Hyseni’s conduct as ‘disgraceful’, before telling him to: “wake up to his responsibilities as a taxi driver”.

The Judge also praised the passengers for their public spirit in complaining which would help protect other passengers from experiencing a similar journey.

As well as being taken off the road, Hyseni was ordered to pay the council’s full legal costs.


Welcoming the decision, Chair of Liverpool City Council’s Licensing Committee, Councillor Christine Banks said: “This was clearly a distressing ordeal for the passengers. Hyseni’s actions put their safety and the safety of other road users and pedestrians at risk. As a consequence he has lost his livelihood for 28 days and will be faced with a hefty legal bill.”

Cllr Banks added: “We take incidents such as this extremely seriously and we hope it sends the message that we will not tolerate this sort of behaviour.”

http://bit.ly/2oCgS2e
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EASY RIDE JAPAN

  Field testing for the new robo taxi service being put together by Nissan and DeNA in Japan — which has been dubbed “Easy Ride” — will begin on March 5th, a new press release has revealed.

During initial field testing, service will be limited to the Minatomirai district of Yokohama (Kanagawa Prefecture), with service only available along set (but popular) routes, until further expansions.

The route in question, a 4.5 kilometer span between Nissan’s global headquarters and the Yokohama World Porters shopping center, was presumably chosen because of its utility to Nissan employees. It’ll be easier, of course, to collect detailed data and feedback from them than from the general public.

The Easy Ride pilot service will be monitored via a new, dedicated remote monitoring center — one utilizing both Nissan and DeNA tech.

The press release provides more:

“Nissan and DeNA will also test Easy Ride’s unique service functions. Using a dedicated mobile app, passengers can input what they want to do via text or voice and choose from a list of recommended destinations. An in-car tablet screen will show selections of nearly 500 recommended places of interest and events in the vicinity. 
Additionally, about 40 discount coupons for retailers and restaurants in the area are available for download on the participants’ own smartphones.

“Participants will be asked to complete a survey about their overall user experience, usage of content and coupons from local retailers and restaurants, and preferred pricing for the Easy Ride service. Nissan and DeNA will use the survey results as they continue to develop the offering, and for future field tests.”

This initial pilot program service will allow Nissan and DeNA to further develop and fine-tune its future service route plans, the hailing process and drop off process, best-practices regarding vehicle distribution, multilingual support, etc., according to the press release.

Full service is reportedly expected to be rolled out in Japan in the early 2020s, possibly in time for the Olympics.

http://bit.ly/2CO2NUu
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 SOUTHPORT

A taxi driver is wanted by police after a teenage passenger claimed she was sexually assaulted,

The 19-year-old victim had been out in Southport with a friend before getting into the taxi to go back home.

The alleged victim reported that during the journey, on December 23 at around 3am, she was sexually touched by the driver.

She was not injured in the assault but police said she was left “distressed” by the ordeal.

Detective Constable Dave Tweedle said: “We’ve issued the CCTV image of a man we believe could have crucial information to help us piece together the circumstances surrounding this incident.

“The young girl has been left feeling understandably vulnerable and violated and that’s why we need to establish exactly what happened that night and bring justice to the victim.

“It’s on occasions like this that we rely on the public to come together and help us with our enquiries. If you have any information or recognise the man from the CCTV, we urge you to get in touch.

“For those living, working and visiting all areas of Merseyside, we continue to advise you to always use licensed taxis, preferably arranging this before you travel, stay with your friends and let someone know where you are going, who with and when you’ve arrived safely.

“We hope this reassures the victim and the wider public that incidents like this are rare and we’ll do everything we can to protect all those who feel they are a victim of a similar crime.”


Anyone with information is asked to contact Merseyside Police social media desk via twitter @MerPolCC or Facebook Merseyside Police CC.

http://bit.ly/2t1RWGS



 



 

 

The boss of Addison Lee has written to Sadiq Khan in a call to maintain the congestion charge exemption for private hire vehicles, saying removing it will damage drivers and competition.

Transport for London (TfL) has been mulling ditching private hire vehicles' exemption from the congestion charge, and last week set out new ideas for ways to improve regulation for the industry including forcing firms to share their data.

Addison Lee said hitting private hire vehicles with the congestion charge would represent a cost to the industry of as much as £250 per driver per month. The company was also critical of a situation where the exemption is removed for private hire vehicles but not black cabs, saying that would be "anti-competitive".

Boland said levying the charge on private hire vehicles was "a blunt instrument" that would knock investment, distort competition and hurt drivers "to the detriment of passengers and the travelling public".

The firm said levying the charge on private hire vehicles works against TfL's own policy goals and will do nothing for the environment.

“Given the competitive nature of the market, fares would be unlikely to rise to reflect any imposition of the congestion charge. There would therefore be no change in demand, and no improvement to the environment,” Boland said.

Addison Lee said the industry was highly competitive, and innovative with businesses investing in cleaner vehicles. However, the company said it operates against "a backdrop of a marketplace in which some participants have pursued a policy of growing market share by offering fares substantially below cost".

It said those which have subsidised fares will most likely absorb the costs to hoover up greater market share and keep fares "artificially low", and to stay competitive in such a scenario, the likes of Addison Lee will have to pass the cost onto drivers. That will then hit their drivers' earnings.

http://bit.ly/2HNWR1t
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FERMANAGH

   A 53-YEAR-OLD man who defrauded the Western Health Trust out of over £9,000 by submitting travel claims for taxi journeys he didn’t make has been sentenced to four months in jail.

Vincent Barlow, of Blunnick Road, Florencecourt, was charged with fraud by false representation between January 21, 2013 and April 16, 2015, as well as a further charge of resisting arrest on December 2, 2015.

Barlow had denied both offences, but was convicted after a contest heard before Fermanagh Magistrates Court in January this year.

 When he appeared in court for sentencing on Monday, district judge Nigel Broderick observed that, given the “significant” amount of money defrauded, a custodial term was merited.

After a four-month jail term was imposed, the defendant was granted his own bail of £500 and released from custody pending an appeal.

Speaking after the hearing, Donna Scott, Assistant Director of Counter Fraud and Probity Services of the Business Services Organisation, said the amount of money dishonestly obtained could have been used for 10 cataract eye procedures.

She said: “Vincent Barlow’s actions were blatantly fraudulent and at a time when health service budgets face significant challenges any loss of resources to fraud is going to impact on services.

“This sentence should send a clear message that fraud against the health service will not be tolerated.”

http://bit.ly/2oCCawq 

SHEFFIELD

For Safraz, it was an unremarkable job on a busy but ordinary night of being a taxi driver in one of Yorkshire’s biggest cities, Sheffield.

Little did the father-of-three know the late-night journey would soon plunge him into a nightmare that would end with him in prison, convicted of a rape he had never committed. It took the tenacity of family and friends to eventually clear his name after he had spent 18 months in jail as they uncovered vital telephone records that proved he was on a conference call at the time of the alleged incident - evidence which South Yorkshire Police and the Crown Prosecution Service claimed did not exist and was never presented to the jury in his original trial.

Almost four years after his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal because of the new evidence and following the lead detective in the case admitting he had “made mistakes” in his investigation, Safraz has decided to come forward to tell his story to The Yorkshire Post.

Safraz, not his real name, has decided to tell his story following the CPS announcing a review of all rape and serious sexual assault cases last month in light of the collapse of a number of high profile trials because of evidence disclosure failures. He said he was particularly shocked by the case of Liam Allan, a 22-year-old student who was wrongly accused of rape and whose trial collapsed after the Met Police were ordered to hand over thousands of text message records that proved he was innocent but which had not been disclosed to lawyers.

Safraz says the parallels with his case have led him to speak out to highlight that similar investigative failings have been occurring for years.

He does not wish to disclose his identity as his original case never received any press coverage and does not want to affect his family or his future job prospects. But he has shared court documents and transcripts with The Yorkshire Post relating to his case that raise serious questions about how the investigation was handled.

Now 30 and a father-of-four, he tells his story in a Sheffield cafe on an overcast day with a mixture of righteous anger and weary disbelief. Safraz says the first he heard of the allegation was a couple of days after his shift on December 3, 2011 when he received a call from his taxi firm explaining the police wanted to speak to him.

“I had a knock at my door and I was arrested on suspicion of rape. I was in absolute shock, I couldn’t even remember which job they were talking about where this was supposed to have happened until I got to the Sheffield Parkway and they gave me some detail about what the allegation was. “It took me some time to remember who they were talking about as I had 25 to 30 jobs that night.

It had just been an ordinary job, just business as usual.” He learned the allegation was that while driving her home, he had stopped in a lay-by, climbed between the front seats into the back and raped her before getting back in the front seat and driving away and dropping her off at her home.

The entire incident was said to have occurred within two minutes and 50 seconds between the complainant ending one phone call with her boyfriend and then starting another one. Safraz says: “It was the first time I had ever been in a police station, I’m just an ordinary citizen. They did offer me a free solicitor but I refused to take one because I said I had nothing to hide. I answered every single question asked by the police, the interview lasted about two hours.

I had faith the police would find the truth and I wanted to find them information to help them find the real perpetrator if there had been one.” One of the key pieces he told police back in the December 2011 interview was that during the time when the alleged incident happened, he had been on a lengthy three-way conference call with colleagues who would be able to confirm nothing had happened.

Safraz was not charged until July 2012 and the trial took place in January 2013, over a year after the alleged incident and subsequent police interview. But a court transcript shows that the detective constable who led the investigation told the trial that the phone records relating to the potential conference were not available as the data gets overwritten after a year. He said he made enquiries about the matter a week before the trial was due to start.

The detective accepted under cross-examination that if records had shown the conference call was taking place during the alleged incident, it may indicate that Safraz “possibly wasn’t responsible” for a rape. When asked whether he was content with the way he had investigated the matter, the officer replied: “Clearly now that I have made mistakes, I have to accept that.”

The other two men on the conference call were called as witnesses in Safraz’s defence but were cross-examined on the basis “they had simply concocted this evidence to protect a friend”. After a ten-day trial, Safraz was convicted by a jury at Sheffield Crown Court of rape and subsequently sentenced to seven years in prison. He says: “You can’t understand how important this evidence was for the whole case - if I had been lying, it would have proved it. “You can’t really blame the jury because if this evidence was in front of them, their verdict might have been different. “But I had been let down by the police and let down by the justice system. I cried for half-an-hour, I couldn’t control my emotions. I knew I was going to prison for a very long time. “If I had really done something, I would have accepted it on the first day, I wouldn’t have gone through the trial, I would have taken 100 years in prison if that was the sentence. But there was never any guilt, I couldn’t accept something I hadn’t done

http://bit.ly/2GJamxY
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Rochdale Borough Council has refused to divulge how many local taxi drivers had been convicted of a serious criminal offence at the time of application for a licence.

In its response to a Freedom of Information request, the Council says it would take too long to search "approximately 1,600 files", claiming it would take 186 hours, well above the statutory limit of 18 hours provided in the Freedom of Information Act.

The refusal is based on the council claiming that it would require searching through 1,600 hard copies.

The council response goes on to explain an astonishing lack of organisation:

'The files vary in size. Some of the files are relatively slim, but others are extremely detailed. If a driver has been licensed fairly recently and therefore the files do not contain much information, there can still be up to at least 40 sheets of paper in the file. However, if it is an extremely detailed file, there can be hundreds and hundreds sheets of paper in each file. 

'There are no sections/categories within the files with different types of documents being in mixed order. The file not only contains a range of documents submitted by the driver but also includes documents generated by the Licensing Section.'

It is also quite surprising that in 2018 such records are not computerised - whereby a simple search query of a database would take minutes - and hence clarification was sought, 'are taxi driver records not computerised'?

Rather than answering the request for clarification with a simple yes or no, the Council decided the clarification request should be treated as a new Freedom of Information request giving it a further 20 working days to say yes or no!

http://bit.ly/2Clfjz6  
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 Leeds Amber taxi's windscreen smashed with block on Florence Mount A hard object was thrown through the back windshield of a taxi in Leeds this morning.

Officers responded to a report of criminal damage on an Amber cab on Florence Mount, Harehills, shortly before 1.30am. Nobody was hurt, West Yorkshire Police's Inspector Darren Brown said this afternoon.

A picture sent in to the YEP shows a concrete object lying over glass debris on the vehicle. No arrests have been made and police currently have no suspects, Insp Brown said.

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DUDLEY

A TAXI driver who helped officers arrest a violent robber who attacked a pregnant woman with a hammer in Dudley has received a West Midlands Police award.

Muhammad Ilyas was driving past when he saw the horror attack which left the woman - aged in her 30s - with a fractured skull in Dixons Green on 28 October 2016.

As a fellow passer-by went to comfort the victim - who had a child with her - Mr Ilyas joined another man in following the attacker to ensure he didn’t escape.

Officers arrived promptly and arrested the 49-year-old attacker where it emerged he had tried to snatch an elderly woman’s handbag just minutes earlier.

He went on to be jailed for a minimum of 10 years at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
Mr Ilyas , aged 25 from Dudley, has been awarded a Chief Constable’s Good Citizens Award in recognition of his bravery and public-spirited actions.
This was recently handed over at an awards ceremony at the force’s Tally Ho! base.

http://bit.ly/2GKoS8E

BOLTON

TWO taxi drivers have had bids to have their licence renewal refused due to concerns over the public's safety.

Bolton Council's Licensing Sub-Committee heard the cases of two men who were applying to renew their private hire licence.

The first applicant had his bid refused after councillors heard how he had been arrested on three separate occasions for common assault and also for a separate allegation of assault.

An allegation of assault was made on November 2, 2007 after an argument resulted in him headbutting a man to the head and face before the victim retracted his statement.

In July 2009 the man was arrested after he grabbed his wife around the neck and pushed her violently before she later contacted police saying she did not wish to pursue prosecution against him/

In May 2011 he was arrested for common assault in relation to a domestic incident and then in September 2017 was arrested again after he pushed his mother-in-law to the ground and during the same incident allegedly slapped his wife to the back of the head and hands.

His wife again retracted her statement but told the sub-committee the incident did happen, but she did not wish to prosecute her husband after reconciling with him.

The applicant admitted to the sub-committee he had hit his wife on three separate occasions and councillors refused the licence.

The second driver was refused an application after he received a caution for battery in 2015 after he reportedly punched and kicked his wife, something he denied to the committee.

A letter from the wife said she had exaggerated the allegation but the sub-committee rejected the licence application.

Another man had applied for street trading consent and was rejected after the sub-committee heard how he had a conviction for assault by beating from May last year.

He said the injury occurred by accident when he got off a couch but the sub-committee did not accept this.

http://bit.ly/2CH61ce

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 SANDWELL

 A taxi driver has had his licence suspended after he was caught using a Costa Coffee cup lid as a fuel cap.

The driver's vehicle was stopped in January as part of safety checks - but inspectors found diesel was seeping through the makeshift cap.

Several other problems were discovered by DVLA inspectors, including the tyres being close to the legal limit, the airbag light being on and a headlight not working.

The taxi was immediately taken off the road.

The driver, who cannot be named, has had his Hackney Carriage licence suspended for 24 weeks.

The driver can appeal the suspension at Magistrates' Court.

The DVSA inspector who carried out the checks said: "The clear conscious decision to fit a Costa coffee cup lid to the fuel filler neck was inexcusable."

He said he was "shocked at the level of non-compliance and the blatant disregard to road safety."

Sandwell Council's cabinet member for public health and protection Councillor Elaine Costigan said: "This was a really serious and potentially very dangerous thing to do.

"Generally we see very good standards of vehicle maintenance when we make these checks - it's rare to see something quite this irresponsible."

http://bit.ly/2EUiKKN 

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BOURNEMOUTH

 A brute who posed as a taxi driver and raped two young men has been jailed for six years.

The attacks happened four years apart but were identical.

Anderson Cerqueira, 44, offered a lift to a 20-year-old who believed he was getting in a cab after drinking in a nightclub.

The hulking six-foot driver stopped his car in a quiet part of Bournemouth and pinned down his slightly built victim.

The shocked lad was allowed to leave the car 10 minutes later.

The sobbing victim texted his mum to say: “Please help. I just got raped by a taxi driver.”

Bournemouth Crown Court heard that in 2013 Cerqueira, a supermarket shelf stacker, used the same ploy to rape another drunk young man.

The 21-year-old victim refused to go ahead with a prosecution.

But police re-interviewed him after the ­latest attack and he agreed to give evidence.

Cerqueira, who has dual Portuguese and Brazilian nationality, has lived in the UK for 10 years.

He was found guilty of rape and two counts of ­sexual assault.

http://bit.ly/2F3kep6 

A Harrogate taxi company is claiming Leeds Bradford Airport have lowered the height restrictions at their main short-stay car park.

The short-stay car park is one of the few options at the airport, where people can drop passengers off.

This costs £3 for a vehicle - which according to Harrogate's Elite taxis, a taxi driver would normally pay for this out of his own pocket.

It's claimed that the barriers on the car park at Leeds Bradford Airport have been lowered to 1.9 metres, however the airport says nothing has been changed.

For most cars this isn't a problem, but for people travelling in larger vehicles or some SUVs, it means they need to go into the long-stay car park.
This adds an extra £4 to the cost.

Tim Hargreaves is an operator for Elite taxis:
"What concerns us more than anything is that a lot of Range Rovers and SUVs are higher than 1.9 metres, which means if you're travelling to the airport in one, you aren't going to fit into the car park.

"A few weeks ago it was absolutely fine, and then just suddenly over the last few days the height restrictions have been lowered.

"Nobody is expecting Leeds-Bradford to do it for free, for years and years they've charged, we don't always like it, but we have to accept it.

"Now because they've lowered the barrier, and the long-stay car park costs £7, the taxi companies can't forfeit the money so it's going to have to be passed onto the paying passengers."

However, Leeds Bradford Airport have said that the access height to their 'Express and Short Stay 1 Car Parks' is 1.9m (6ft2in) and that this height is clearly advertised on the restrictors and has been for years.

http://bit.ly/2HEiwsF
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YOKOHAMA (Reuters) - Facing a future in which self-driving cars may curb vehicle ownership, Nissan Motor Co is taking its first steps to becoming an operator of autonomous transportation services, hoping to break into a segment set to be dominated by Uber Technologies [UBER.UL] and other technology firms.

In partnership with Japanese mobile gaming platform operator DeNA Co, the automaker will begin public field tests of its Easy Ride service in Yokohama next month, becoming among the first major automakers anywhere to test ride-hailing software developed in-house, using its own fleet of self-driving electric cars.

Easy Ride, which Nissan plans to launch in Japan in the early 2020s, is meant to feel more like a concierge service on wheels, making - for example - restaurant recommendations while the car is on the move.

The announcement follows an agreement by Nissan and its automaking partners Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp earlier this month to explore future cooperation with Chinese transportation services conglomerate Didi Chuxing.

These moves mark a push by the automaker to avoid becoming the “Foxconn of the auto industry”: a mere vehicle supplier to ride- and car-sharing companies.

“We realise that it’s going to take time to become a service operator, but we want to enter into this segment by partnering with companies which are experts in the field,” Nissan’s chief executive, Hiroto Saikawa, told Reuters in an interview this month.

A person close to the deal has said that the agreement is intended to explore opportunities for Nissan and others to supply battery-electric cars to Didi Chuxing for a new electric car-sharing service it is setting up in China.

He noted however that Nissan and its alliance partners could explore a broader agreement, which might possibly involve Nissan providing self-driving taxi technology to the dominant Chinese ride-hailing service.

http://reut.rs/2CDHV22

Gett Together. London and Manchester.

Manchester Hackney drivers could not understand the Gett Together function here in Manchester.

Paying drivers to sit along the Wilmslow Road/ Oxford Rd Corridor picking up one or two people along that route for a couple of quid.

It seemed obvious that this was a 'sprat to catch a Mackerel'.

There had to be another motive in a bigger game. Today we find out what that is.

City Mapper, Gett partner and provider of London Hackneys have now been issued a P.H. Operators License and now intend to replace those Hackneys with 8 Seater Minibuses.

London-based transit app Citymapper is today launching Smart Ride, a hybrid bus and taxi service that will take riders around a fixed network in the capital.

The company is operating the service under a private hire licence from Transport for London, following a pair of  in the capital. The new licence limits the firm to operating vehicles that can carry eight or fewer people, but frees it to run future routes that can change dynamically as demand shifts, rather than being legally mandated to stick to specific timetables and stopping patterns.

“We believe in the future of shared transportation in cities, there is no way we’re going to solve for congestion and pollution otherwise,” Omid Ashtari, Citymapper’s president and head of business, told the Guardian. “But the regulations we see are not stacked in the favour of the bus industry to make sure that works.

“We decided to take on a different service, and launch something else. So we’re launching Smart Ride. It’s a shared-first service, the only one in London.”

The Smart Ride service will run eight-seater people-carriers driven by licensed private hire drivers, operating in a fixed network that spans the city.

Ashtari said: “It’s a bit like a bus because it has stops, it’s a bit like a cab because you book it and it has guaranteed seats, and it’s a bit like a metro because it has a network of roads.”

Citymapper had hoped to be able to offer similar flexibility with larger buses, the company said, but was ultimately stymied by London regulations that restrict the size of vehicles licensed as private hire vehicles.

“Carry nine-plus people in London and you’re a bus and have to follow strict regulations on fixed routes, schedules and service frequency,” . “Carry eight people or fewer, and you’re a private hire vehicle that can go wherever you want, however you want, how often you want.”

The company clashed with London regulators over its desires taking nine months to obtain the private hire license. In the blogpost, Citmapper attributed some of TfL’s hesitation to the organisation’s previous bad experiences with Uber. It said: “The first generation of transport tech has often given cities a headache. This makes it hard for other players to engage in a meaningful manner.”

Other would be transport firms with more traditional taxi models, such as Taxify and Via, have also struggled to obtain licenses from TfL.

Uber is currently fighting in the courts against TfL’s decision to suspend its license on the grounds that the San Francisco-based firm was not a “fit and proper” operator.

If Citymapper didn’t have the regulatory constraints imposed by TfL, Ashtari said, the company’s offering would be substantially the same – just using the previously trialled larger, more efficient vehicles that proved “flexible enough to get down small streets, unlike a larger bus”.

Despite principally operating as a free transit planning app in 39 cities worldwide, Citymapper has been experimenting with being a transit provider.

In May 2017, the company launched its first bus service, a free circular route in central London that ran for two days. That was followed in July by a longer-term trial route in northeast London, which Citymapper said served a need it had discovered through analysing data harvested from its app users.

In September, the company launched its third “bus” trial partnering with black cab app Gett. It saw London taxis, branded as “Black Buses”, running on a semi-fixed route between north and south central London, carrying commuters between any two spots on the route for a fixed £3 fare.

Taxis, , “have spare capacity (ie multiple free seats) that could be better utilised. The hard part is matching people together. Running fixed routes is one way to solve this.”

The Smart Ride launch comes as leading policymakers said cities should prepare to embrace “demand responsive transport” such as Citymapper’s into their public transport systems.

Lilli Matson, strategy director at Transport for London, said TfL should be “setting the framework for companies like Ford and Citymapper to come to London: we will be confident in welcoming newcomers but they have to be ready to contribute to our objectives.”

But significant legislative barriers remain, according  published by Arup and TfL, which urged authorities to be open to sharing data with private firms.

“Ultimately we recognise public and private entities must work together to maintain the mobility upon which our cities depend,” said Sam Mullins, director for London Transport Museum.

http://bit.ly/2HAhyh2 

WREXHAM

A former North Wales Police Superintendent, Rob Kirman, has been fined after pleading guilty to a public order offence, a criminal damage offence and a common assault on an Apollo taxi driver.
These were offences which occurred whilst he was off duty in Wrexham on Saturday, August 12th last year.

At sentencing at Mold Magistrates Court on Monday Mr Kirman was fined £733, ordered to pay £366 compensation to the taxi company, £200 compensation for loss of earnings to the taxi driver and £85 court costs.

As well as the criminal investigation, North Wales Police also conducted an internal misconduct investigation and although Mr Kirman has resigned from the force last week, a public misconduct hearing will take place at North Wales Police Headquarters, Colwyn Bay, at on March 1st

The circumstances of this incident have also been referred to, and shared with, the Independent Office of Police Conduct (formerly the Independent Police Complaints Commission / IPCC) .

Assistant Chief Constable Richard Debicki said on Monday: “North Wales Police Professional Standards Department responded quickly to the allegations in this case conducting a thorough criminal investigation in order to gather the evidence which was put before the court.

Mr Kirman subsequently pleaded guilty to offences of public order, criminal damage and common assault connected with the incident, and the court has passed sentence on those matters today.”

“He has since resigned his position from within the organisation and he is no longer serving with North Wales Police.

http://www.wrexham.com/news/former-police-superintendent-fined-after-off-duty-criminal-damage-and-taxi-driver-assault-145005.html

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WARRINGTON

TAXI drivers could be required to have mandatory child sexual exploitation (CSE) training as part of extra safeguarding measures to help 'protect vulnerable members of society'.

Council officers will carry out an eight-week consultation on an updated hackney carriage and private hire licensing policy following approval from the licensing committee at the Town Hall on Monday.

Since June 2016, cabbies have been required to have CCTV fitted in their vehicles to improve the safety of drivers and passengers.

The authority also confirmed it has a 'strong commitment' to continue with the CCTV, although it will be monitoring changes at the national level closely.

In its report, the council said: "It is important that we keep our policies under review.
"CCTV now forms an important part of our commitment to safeguarding people and to detecting and preventing crime.

"The use of CCTV in licensed vehicles is continuing to evolve and develop at both a national and local level.

"It is important that our approach is flexible enough to respond.

"It is important that everyone takes responsibility for the protection of vulnerable members of our society and that sufficient steps are taken to safeguard their welfare and safety.

"A number of our drivers have attended voluntary training on CSE and continue to act in a responsible way.

"It is proposed to take further actions to protect the interests of our drivers, the safety and welfare of their passengers and to raise overall public confidence.

"A number of additional safeguarding measures are proposed, including mandatory CSE training to all existing and new licence holders."

http://bit.ly/2HuJjrs
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IPSWICH

Furious taxi drivers have forced parking firm NCP to back down after they were hit with a blizzard of tickets for dropping passengers off at train stations.

The wave of fines came after new high-tech cameras were installed in the private car park outside Ipswich Station, in Suffolk.

Cameras recording vehicles using the drop-off area, with a '20-minute max' waiting time, were confused by the returning cabs, flagging them for automatic fines.

While a lack of width in the cameras' vision meant departing cars were not always picked up by sensors.

But taxi chiefs threatened to stop ferrying passengers to the busy station as the penalty notice storm turned into a full-blown crisis.

NCP, the UK's largest private car park operator, has now promised to tear up the tickets and rejig their CCTV enforcement system.

http://dailym.ai/2CzGqBS

MyTaxi Bypass Manchester and choose Nottingham

A taxi revolution is underway in Nottingham – with new-look eco-friendly hackney cab vehicles and a new user-friendly app set to be unveiled in the city from 1st March.

Nottingham City Council is taking steps to make the city’s hackney cab fleet one of the best and most modern in the country. Having already introduced a Driver Improvement Penalty Point Scheme to drive up standards for passengers, the council will be placing orders for a small number of stylish new Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV) models and investing in supporting charging infrastructure.

A smart new black-and-white livery will replace the existing green cabs, as well as for the first time allowing full wrap advertising and new digital media on the cabs. The aim is for all 411 hackney cabs in the city to be ULEV or Euro VI by 2020 to help the city achieve air quality standards and support any potential Clean Air Zone. Some of the cabs will have free Wi-Fi, mobile phone and laptop charge points.

Accompanying the introduction of new vehicles is the roll-out of a new hiring app for Nottingham’s hackneys. The City Council has teamed up with MyTaxi which allows passengers to book a hackney from their smart phone, use cashless payment and have their journey and driver logged – making it easier and safer for everyone. They also have some very vivid and fun graphics to put on the cabs that are sure to make them stand out from the crowd.

MyTaxi are the leading taxi app provider in Europe and operate in over 70 cities. London currently has almost 18,000 drivers signed up to the app and Nottingham will be the first city outside London to get the new service. The company intend to roll-out to other cities this year making it easier for passengers to move about more freely.

Hackneys will still be able to be hailed in the street or caught at one of the city’s taxi ranks, while minicabs will continue to need booking in advance.

The council is carrying out a range of activity to make it appealing for taxi drivers to convert to ULEV – with fuel cost savings of up to £100 a week a big incentive:

A dedicated taxi charge point network in eight locations will start to be developed across the conurbation from this spring

A  bus lane exempting  ULEVs along Daleside Road will be complete soon
Some ULEV only taxi ranks and a drop-off point in the new Broadmarsh car park are being considered.

Portfolio Holder for Community and Customer Services, Councillor Toby Neal, said: “For too long, taxis have been the poor relation in Nottingham’s integrated transport network. That’s all changing now, with better customer standards, smart new vehicles and a brand new app to make it safe and easy for modern passengers to use the city’s large fleet of hackney cabs. This is a really exciting transformation of taxi services in our city.

“It means we will no longer have cabs churning out exhaust fumes while sitting in the rank, so it benefits everyone in the city, not just taxi passengers. It ties in with our investment in the tram system and in one of the largest fleet of green buses in the UK to help improve the air quality in Nottingham. The new app will really help to bring hackneys into the 21st century as it gives passengers a great deal of confidence about journey safety as well as making it simple to book a cab.”

http://bit.ly/2EEeE9o
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Waymo is moving forward with a driverless taxi service after Arizona became the first US state to approve it for commercial operations without a human driver.

The move will put Google’s driverless spin-off company in direct competition with Uber, which itself began autonomous trials in Pittsburgh in 2016.

Waymo has been testing its technology for several years, but a commercial service has not been rolled out so far.

In addition, all of the test vehicles needed to have a human driver at the wheel so that they could take control at a moment’s notice should the autonomous software drive in a dangerous fashion.

The Arizona service represents the first time such a requirement has not been stipulated.

“As we continue to test-drive our fleet of vehicles in greater Phoenix, we’re taking all the steps necessary to launch our commercial service this year,” a Waymo spokesman told Bloomberg.

It recently struck a multi-million dollar deal with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to provide it with thousands of Pacifica Hybrid minivans.

The Arizona Department of Transportation approved Waymo for a permit on 24 January following an application for the company on 12 January.

The application reportedly contained images of the autonomous Chrysler Pacifica minivans.

Waymo hasn’t revealed details of the service or the price that it will charge riders, but without human drivers the cost is likely to be competitively pitched against ride-sharing business rivals such as Uber and Lyft.

Uber recently paid Waymo $245m to drop a court case over its driverless technology.

Waymo alleged that Uber stole some of its driverless car secrets in order to gain a foothold in a technological race that it was losing.

In a July 2016 interview, Uber’s then CEO Travis Kalanick said: “The minute it was clear that Google was getting into the ride-sharing space, we realised we needed to make sure there was an alternative, because if there is not, we will be out of business.”
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Tomorrow in Parliament

Recent Question in Parliament:

Stephen Doughty Labour/Co-operative, Cardiff South and Penarth:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with Welsh Government ministers on cross-border issues in the taxi and private hire industry.

Hansard source

(Citation: HC Deb, 7 February 2018, cW)

 Nusrat GhaniNusrat Ghani Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport), Assistant Whip (HM Treasury)

Officials from the UK and Welsh Governments are in regular contact on a range of issues. The Welsh Government has recently consulted on proposed changes to the licensing of taxi and private hire vehicles and once a response is issued an informed discussion of any cross-border implications issues can be held.

There have been no recent Ministerial discussions between the Department for Transport and the Welsh Government regarding regulation of this sector, but I will be happy to engage fully with Welsh minsters on these issues.

Uberk split the UK into their Interpretation of what Licensing in the UK should really mean.

( Arrogant Barstewards)

https://www.uber.com/en-GB/blog/changes-to-where-drivers-can-receive-trips/

A statement from the Brighton Unite Branch highlights Uberk's attempt at a "whitewash"

Splitting the UK in to 'REGIONS' which will still mean that a Portsmouth.. Southampton... Havant.. Chichester... and any vehicle with the 'South East REGION' will continue to work in Brighton & Hove although we will no longer see Wolverhampton/Sefton cars working in Brighton.

At the moment there is no specific details on how big this 'Region' is and Uber has be very vague in providing full details.

It appears that TfL PH will be restricted to London only so all the TfL ph drivers who live in Brighton and predominantly work in the city because they either failed the high standards that the city requires or who just could not be bothered to even attempt to go for a B&H licence will not only be able to work in London... so it seems.

The upshot of this is that all of those TfL drivers who obtain TfL licences over the last few years but have never actually worked London will have to head back to London.. and we have been told this figure by Uber is 40,000.... so good luck to all of those who hope to earn a decent wage with decent hours!

The question is why has Uber suddenly taken this change in direction? Is there something that Uber knows will be happening in the future with regard to Cross border Hiring? Uber has not done this as a favour.. this is not how Uber works.

In the bumf uber has put out it states
“Some local authorities – the people that give us our operator licence – have told us that the way the app works can make it hard for them to do their job. One way the app can be difficult for them is by overseeing what private hire drivers are doing in their jurisdiction. We hope that this change will help to make us a better and more responsible presence in cities.”

So is this a case of Uber becoming scared of what the Local Government Association has been pushing for and Uber is trying to act quickly before there is a change in Legislation to actually try and stop any drastic changes.

Is Uber saying to itself:

”We must look like we are changing the way we work to ensure there are no changes to Legislation that will completely stop the way we work!”

However this does not go far enough and this is only to appease local licensing authorities because it doesn’t matter whether a ph is working predominantly in Brighton & Hove from over 250 miles away or just 50... the fact is that Uber is still encouraging PHV's to predominantly work in areas that they are not licensed in.

This announcement should not make people think it is all over as it certainly is not.

What Uber should have stated was:
“From March 14 2018 you will only receive work from the area that you are licensed in”

Do not be fooled by Uber!

The fight goes on to fully change Legislation!

Andrew Peters
Secretary
GMB Brighton & Hove Taxi Section
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Further Comment from Leeds.

Hi Les,
Hope you are in good health and keep up the good work.

Uber are offering driver's £1,000 to help them obtain a licence in another area of there choice where they wish to work but the condition is that it will be paid after you complete 250 trips.

In Leeds they are telling drivers if they are licensed by an authority based Yorkshire they can basically work anywhere in Yorkshire. This means that they will go to the less demanding authority within Yorkshire region to obtain the licence.

The good thing is that Leeds, kirklees, Wakefield, Bradford, Harrogate and York (known as the Combined Authorities) have more or less finalised a delegated power sharing agreement meaning any of the authorised officers can stop and check a vehicle from each others area.

Furthermore they are also trying to standardise all the livery, byelaws and driver training standards.
Progress is slow but changes will happen.

I have attached some screen shots about the information uber are giving their drivers or should I say partners. (may not be in order)

Kind regards,
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Comment from London:

Good news for you in Manchester as Uber change their MO but here in London  it’s bad news. Lyft are in talks with TfL and Uber looks set to get its licence renewed without going to court. 

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Their will no doubt be several updates over the next few days

 LONDON

A taxi driver has died after a drive-by shooting, which saw suspects approach him in a van before firing shots at the victim.

The Metropolitan Police has said it needs "any fragment of information" about the incident in Barnet in which a 41-year-old man was killed.

Police were called at 11.44pm on Monday (February 12) to Mount Pleasant, at the junction with Edgeworth Road, to reports of shots having been fired.

Officers, including a specialist firearms team, attended the scene and found the man having suffered gunshot wounds.

But despite the best efforts of London Ambulance Service and London's Air Ambulance medics, he was pronounced dead at the scene at 12.15am.

'Number of leads'

Detective Chief Inspector Noel McHugh from the Met's Homicide and Major Crime Command said: "Our investigation is in its early stages but already we are pursuing a number of leads.

"We believe the victim was driving a silver Mercedes, which he had been using in his work as a taxi driver.

"He was approached by the occupants of a blue van; a number of suspects then got out and fired at the victim, who had also got out of his vehicle."

DCI McHugh added: "The suspects then got back into the vehicle and fled the scene in the direction of Edgeworth Road, turning right into Park Road.

"It is critical that we hear from anyone who witnessed this incident; any fragment of information could be vital to our investigation. Please do not assume that we already have your information."

The victim's next of kin have been informed but the man has not yet been formally identified.

A crime scene remains in place, with some limited local road closures remaining. Motorists are advised to avoid the area.

No arrests have been made since the incident, a post mortem examination will take place in due course.

http://bit.ly/2o6RelL 

NEXT WEEK IN THE LORDS

The Electrifying Speed (pardon the Pun) this bill is passing through Parliament means it must had serious Government support

A PDF version of the Bill can be found here.

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/lbill/2017-2019/0082/18082.pdf 

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Plymouth cabbies could be indefinitely banned from wearing jeans, football tops, hoodies and trainers - in a bid to “enhance the professionalism" of the trade.

A new dress code forms part of the new Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy hoped to be brought in by Plymouth City Council, which sets out a number changes to be adopted by the city’s taxi drivers.

The changes have already been debated by a committee, and they're going forward to the council's ruling cabinet at a meeting being held from 4pm today for further discussion before a final decision is made.

And it could mean an end to taxi drivers wearing what they like to work.

As a 'minimum standard', drivers would be expected to wear collared shirts, collared polo shirts or collared blouses which have a full body and short or long sleeves as well as smart long legged trousers (no denim), knee length tailored shorts, knee length skirts or dresses.

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/ban-jeans-english-tests-taxi-1203852

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A taxi driver in Grimsby had his licence revoked after he carried on smoking in his car despite multiple warnings.

Smoke-free legislation introduced in 2007 requires all vehicles used to transport members of the public are to be smoke-free at all times.

All taxi drivers must comply with this legislation and not smoke in their vehicles at any time – including the use of e-cigarettes.

If a licensed driver is seen smoking in their vehicle they are given a written warning on the first occasion.

If a licensed driver is witnessed again, they can have their licence suspended or revoked if they continue to repeat the offence.

North East Lincolnshire revoked the driver’s licence after giving him a number of warnings and suspensions.

The driver, Raymond Robinson, 66, of Hainton Avenue, Grimsby, appeared before Grimsby Magistrates’ Court to appeal the decision but the Magistrates upheld the committee’s decision and agreed the revocation of his licence should stand.

The case comes after a campaign to keep taxis in North East Lincolnshire smoke free had seen the number of warnings issued fall by more than half in only two years.

Cllr Gaynor Rogers, chair of the North East Lincolnshire Hackney Carriage Sub Committee, said: “We care about the health of taxi passengers and want them to have a journey of the highest standard.

“The majority of licensed taxi drivers in North East Lincolnshire are committed to giving their customers a first class service, but in this instance the driver failed to meet the standards expected of them.

“We’ve made it clear to all drivers that smoking in their vehicles is not acceptable and I’m pleased the Magistrates have backed our decision and revoked the driver’s licence.”

https://lincolnshirereporter.co.uk/2018/02/council-bans-taxi-driver-smoking-car/

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NOTTINGHAM

A man was stabbed in the face while trying to stop a group of men from stealing a taxi.

Six men got into a taxi at TST Tyres in Hartley Road, Radford, and threatened the driver with a knife. A man who was working at the premises approached them and was slashed to the face.

It happened at about 9.10am on Sunday 11 February 2018.

The injured man was taken to hospital and has since been discharged.

http://bit.ly/2EEJcLe

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ROTHERHAM

A taxi driver who raped a teenage grooming victim has been jailed for nine years.

Ashgar Bostan, 47, raped the girl twice at a flat in Wagon Road, Rotherham, when she was about 14 or 15-years-old.

Sheffield Crown Court heard the girl had been groomed by a woman who lived at the flat and was given alcohol and drugs before she was assaulted.

Bostan of East Bawtry Road, Rotherham, was convicted by a jury of two counts of rape by a majority of 11 to one.

The court heard the victim had been "groomed and manipulated" by a woman called Shafina Ali who was living at the flat in Wagon Road.

The girl said both times she was raped by Bostan she had been given alcohol and drugs and that afterwards he had gone to talk to Ali - who died in 2009 - before leaving.

In statement read to the court on behalf of the victim she said her childhood and teenage years had been "destroyed" by Bostan.

She said: "I often wonder what my life would have been like if I had finished my education, gone on to college and become the teacher I had always dreamed of being.

"I might have had a loving family, husband and children and not have to stay awake every night unable to sleep because of the damage done to me."

http://bbc.in/2sqQj5d

Uber has won a legal battle in France over the employment status of one of its drivers after a labour tribunal said the ride hailing app was “in the business of intermediation and not that of a transportation service” and therefore did not act as an employer.

The decision from the industrial tribunal highlights the complexity of defining and regulating the service even after Europe’s top court said in December it should be treated as a traditional taxi company instead of a technology group.

On Thursday the French tribunal ruled in favour of Uber against a driver, Florian Menard, who argued he was not self-employed and that his service contract with the company should be reclassified as an employment contract. He argued for compensation in lieu of paid holidays and “concealed work”.

The tribunal said Mr Menard had been free to drive the hours he chose and to refuse trips. “The tribunal holds that the parties are bound by no employment contract and that this is in fact a commercial contract concluded between Mr Menard and Uber,” the ruling said. Mr Menard has one month to appeal.

Uber has faced widespread protests in France over working conditions and low pay. Protests have also swept the UK where Uber lost a key legal appeal in November after a London tribunal upheld a ruling that it must treat drivers as “workers” entitled to the minimum wage and holiday pay.

source : FT.

Knowsley Council’s ‘Intended UsePolicy’ is unlawful.

Delta Taxis wins battle to operate throughout Merseyside.

The High Court has ruled that an ‘intended use policy’ requiring Private Hire Drivers to work “predominantly” in the  area of the Knowsley licensing authority is unlawful.

Knowsley Borough Council had amended its Private Hire Vehicle Driver’s Policy so as to require applicants for PHV drivers licences to sign an undertaking that they would work predominantly within the Knowsley controlled district.

The policy created a presumption of refusal of a PHV driver’s licence to any applicant who did not demonstrate a bona fide intention so to work.

Kerr J quashed the policy as unlawful on the ground that section 51 of the LGMPA 1976 provides that a driver’s licence “shall” be granted to an applicant who is a fit and proper person and has held an RTA driving licence for at least a year. Where he ultimately drives is immaterial.

It is well established that, provided vehicles and drivers used to fulfil a PHV booking are licensed by the same authority as licensed the operator, the actual journey undertaken may lawfully pass through, or may even begin and end in, an area wholly unconnected with the licensing authority.

Knowsley council nonetheless sought to persuade the High Court that an applicant who had little or no intention of working within its boundaries was not a fit and proper person within the terms of section 51, because he would be undermining a principle of “local licensing” that has been recognised as central to the private hire regime provided by the 1976 Act.

The judge rejected Knowsley’s submission as contrary to the decided cases on the meaning of “fit and proper person” within that section (McCool v Rushcliffe (1998) and Leeds City Council v Hussain (2002)), namely, that the ‘fit and proper’ criterion relates to the personal characteristics and qualifications of the driver.

Generic licence

The judge agreed with Delta’s submission that a PHV driver’s licence is generic in nature – i.e. it is a licence to drive private hire vehicles generally, rather than to drive a specific vehicle.*

It follows that the enquiry made by a licensing authority as to an applicant’s fitness and propriety is an enquiry restricted to his fitness to drive private hire vehicles in general. The locations in which a PHV driver might lawfully work are not relevant to that enquiry.

Other grounds

Once the ‘intended use policy’ was held to be unlawful, it was not necessary for the Court to rule on the other grounds of appeal raised by Delta. The judge, however, indicated (without ruling on the point) that it was strongly arguable that the policy was a disproportionate measure to meet the council’s expressed aims of vehicle/public safety; but he remarked that he was yet to be persuaded that the intended use policy was so uncertain of meaning as to be unenforceable

Judicial review brought by Uber Britannia limited
A judicial review of the ‘intended use policy’, brought by Uber  on overlapping but by no means identical grounds, was heard at the same time as Delta’s appeal, and was equally successful in its principal arguments.

Licence conditions: geographical considerations?

Although Delta and Uber were ad idem with regards to their primary contention that Knowsley’s intended use policy was ultra vires, the two firms parted company on one potentially important issue  – which, although it was academic in the instant case, the judge said might arise for decision in future litigation.

The issue surfaced in oral argument, which tested the limits of whether it would be lawful to import geographical considerations into PHV licence conditions.

Delta accepted that an appropriately worded condition which promotes the principle of local PHV licensing (as identified  by the courts) is capable of being lawful; Uber, on the other hand, argued that such a condition would in all cases offend the principle in Padfield because it would curtail the ‘right to roam’ – which, it was Uber’s contention, is fundamental to the legislative scheme for private hire vehicles given by the 1976 Act.

Mr. Justice Kerr expressly demurred from deciding the point, but towards the end of his judgment he commented that he was “fortified” by what he had heard in thinking that a fit and proper person might, in principle, be required to abide by a condition (otherwise lawful) imposed in order to meet any perceived erosion of localism.
 
Gerald Gouriet QC and Charles Streeten appeared for Delta Merseyside Limited

Instructed by Keith McKinney of Aaron & Partners LLP


http://licensing-lawyer.co.uk/knowsley-intended-use-policy/

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A 24-year-old Uber driver stopped and searched by cops was found with a “lethal” lock knife “precariously clenched in between his buttocks”.

Police pulled over Kareem Worthington of Providence Court, Islington, after he was spotted driving his silver Mercedes “erratically” in New North Road yesterday afternoon.

Worthington appeared “nervous and agitated”, and when cops saw some white powder which they believed could be a controlled substance, they took him to Stoke Newington Police Station.

During a strip search officers noticed “something coming out of his backside”.

“It was the knife,” said Det Insp Paul Ridley.
“I’ve come across knives concealed and stored everywhere, but never before behind someone’s backside, it’s ridiculous.”

Worthington told police he keeps the knife in his car all the time, and when cops pulled him over he decided to hide it.

He appeared before Thames Magistrates Court today and pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon.

He was immediately sentenced to six months imprisonment.

Worthington was convicted for possession of a bladed article in 2011 and 2012, and was imprisoned for affray in 2014.

Two other men were found with knives during stop and searches by police in Hackney yesterday.

“That’s the scale of what we are dealing with,” said Det Insp Ridley.

“That’s why it’s so crucial we continue stopping and searching people. There are lots of people out there who are carrying knives.”

http://bit.ly/2nNW9ZB
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Prague taxi drivers staged their biggest protest so far in the centre of the city against what they describe as unfair competition from drivers using Uber and other similar applications.

An estimated 1,500 to 2,000 drivers congregated on the edge of the city on Thursday morning with the aim to stage a go slow snail protest in the centre in the early afternoon. The protest ended around the middle of the afternoon.

Minister of Transport Dan Ťok condemned the protest and said he would not meet protest leaders before an already agreed date later in the month.

The latest protest is part of a series undertaken by so-called official drivers who have to pay the city for their licenses and obey other rules. They say competition from unofficial drivers is undercutting their business.

The drivers have been pressing city and national authorities to put both types of taxi drivers on the same footing.


http://bit.ly/2sgJmnl