LONDON


A new ride-hailing app called Miwhip is taking on Uber in London. And customers could end up travelling in a gold supercar.

The supercar surprise applies once every 100 rides. That means that for every 99 people who call a cab, the 100th will have a McLaren, Lamborghini or something similarly exotic turn up.

   
If you’re a loyal solo rider, your 100th trip will also be in a supercar. That’s around six rides a year if you’re booking a journey twice a day, as we’re sure some hard-working, high-powered Londoners do.

Miwhip is looking to capitalise on London supercar culture. On its fleet are a Lamborghini Aventador, Ferrari 488 GTB, Rolls-Royce Ghost, Mercedes G-Class and McLaren 720S – all gold-wrapped. The cars will be located throughout the city, in ‘every London postcode and address’.

The less exotic members of the fleet are Smart cars, although they too are gold-wrapped. If you’re hailing a ride in zone one to another address in zone one, it costs just £5.

The company will be taking 15 percent commission, which it says is much less than many other ride-hailing apps.

Miwhip is hoping to have 10,000 drivers on its books by the end of next year, with 5,000 existing private-hire drivers joining by January. The MiWhip app is available to download now.

https://goo.gl/WHTteG
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LONDON

An Uber driver who sparked a major terror alert when he ploughed into a crowd of tourists had been driving around London uninsured and without a licence for two years.

Tanzanian Juma Omar, 48, floored the throttle of his Toyota Prius outside the Natural History Museum and careered over the pavement, sending pedestrians flying into the air as others ran screaming from his path.

He claimed the brakes had failed, but he was convicted of dangerous driving by a jury at the Old Bailey.

The court heard Omar came to Britain as an asylum seeker in 1995, but was told to get out the country in 1998.

He met his wife shortly afterwards and they had four children together.

Omar applied for a replacement passport in another man's name and used that identity to pass his driving test.

He got a job with Uber using the fake documents and did not have insurance when hit the pedestrians in on October 7 last year.

Up to 11 people suffered non-life threatening injuries and Omar was wrestled to the floor and detained by members of the public, including Pixie Lott's boyfriend, Oliver Cheshire.

Dozen of armed police arrived fearing another terror attack was in progress in the aftermath of the London Bridge and Westminster attacks earlier that year.

https://goo.gl/6DAkXx