LONDON

Kapten, the French ride-hailing app backed by Daimler and BMW, has today launched in London, coupled with a feisty ad campaign taking a swipe at Uber’s tax arrangements.



It follows Kapten (formerly called “Chauffeur Prive”) obtaining a license from TfL, London’s transport regulator, to operate its private-hire vehicle (PHV) service in the U.K. capital city. The company first launched in France in 2012, growing quickly in Paris, and has since expanded to Lisbon and Geneva.

Specifically, Kapten’s new billboard ad campaign calls out Uber for avoiding local sales tax: “Others avoid paying VAT in the UK – that’s not uber cool.” In contrast, Kapten says it pay taxes locally in every market in which it operates. The ad then goes on to tell Londoners that using Kapten “might just be your best decision today.”

In a press release driving home the point, Kapten notes that Uber has faced criticism in the U.K. for paying little tax to the U.K. government and avoiding VAT on top of its service fee due to the U.S. company’s Dutch tax location.

“Uber had an estimated £1bn of ride bookings in the U.K. in 2018. If 20 percent VAT was added to its 25 percent commission, the U.K. Exchequer would get an additional £50m per year,” says Kapten.

Meanwhile, Kapten’s newly launched London service should be available in zones 1 to 5 as of today. The ride-hailing app is also launching with a 50%-off offer on rides. After launch, Kapten claims that its low pricing will still mean fares are on average 20% cheaper than competitors.

“Trips in the congestion charge zone will be at least £2 cheaper than Uber due to congestion and clean-air fees,” says the French company, promising to cover the congestion charge on behalf of its drivers for the rest of 2019.

Adds Mariusz Zabrocki, London general manager of Kapten, in a statement: “There has been one dominant, over-confident ride-hailing player in London and it’s time to shake things up. We believe London’s private-hire drivers, commuters and residents deserve better. Each time a Londoner takes an Uber ride, 60p is lost that could finance the NHS, schools and other parts of the U.K.” economy.
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The New York City taxicab industry has been suffering, with a series of suicides plaguing taxi drivers over the past year as they struggle with debt and financial strife.

 While New York City has long blamed Uber and Lyft for the industry’s woes, a New York Times investigation found the fault lies with industry leaders.

An investigation by The New York Times shows industry leaders artificially drove up the price of taxi medallions. From 2002 through 2014 the paper found the price of a medallion increased to more than $1 million from $200,000. During that time frame, around 4,000 drivers purchased medallions.

They left a bubble that eventually burst in their wake. During the course of more than ten years, the paper reported the industry leaders ushered taxi drivers into loans that they couldn’t pay back and took hundreds of millions of dollar before the bubble collapsed. The bankers, brokers, lawyers, fleet owners, and debt collectors made tons of profits, with medallion brokers able to buy yachts and waterfront properties. But their actions resulted in taxi drivers, many immigrants, losing their life savings, suffering under crushing debt they couldn’t pay back.

 The New York Times noted that more than 950 medallion owners have filed for bankruptcy while thousands more are barely surviving. “The whole thing was like a Ponzi scheme because it totally depended on the value going up,” said Haywood Miller, a debt specialist who has consulted for both borrowers and lenders in the report. “The part that wasn’t fair was the guy who’s buying is an immigrant, maybe someone who couldn’t speak English. They were conned.”

The paper likened the practices in the taxi industry to the housing bubble that ultimately led to the Great Recession in 2008 and 2009. Mortgage lenders and brokers put people in mortgage loans they couldn’t afford to pay back. When the interest rates on the loans reset foreclosures skyrocketed. Taxi drivers took on debt they couldn’t afford and didn’t understand the terms to get the medallions and are now paying the price.

https://www.pymnts.com/loans/2019/taxi-medallion-loans-uber-lyft-drivers/
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 NEWCASTLE (STAFFS)

Cabbies have warned of further strikes if controversial licensing changes go ahead.

Taxi drivers in Newcastle say they could also register with other local authorities to get around Newcastle Borough Council’s new taxi policy.

The council is due to approve the re-written policy on June 11, It includes new rules for vehicles testing, a reduction in the age-limit for vehicles and a new English language test, to be provided by the council.

Black cab and private hire drivers brought chaos to Newcastle town centre when they refused to pick up passengers on a Friday night in March.

Drivers and managers warn there could be further disruption if the council does not listen to their concerns.  

Trevor Colclough, right, of Sid’s Private Hire in Chesterton says drivers have ‘no confidence in the council’ to provide the English test and feels the current BTEC examinations at Stoke-on-Trent College are sufficient.


“We’ve completely lost trust in the council,” said Mr Colclough. “We’ve got no confidence in the council and we want the college to do the test because they’re unbiased. It should not be done in-house by the council.”

Mr Colclough added: “I’m fearful of more industrial action after June 11 if this doesn’t get sorted.

The council’s income from taxis last year was £360,435. Sid’s says it contributes about £50,000 a year to that, and warns a large chunk of public money could be lost if there is a mass exodus of cabbies.

Taxi drivers claim to have the following issues with Newcastle Borough Council's new taxi licensing policy for 2019/20:

    Operators claim they will have to keep logbooks of service history for self-employed drivers - at a great cost of time and effort to their businesses;
    Vehicles can't be licensed past four years old for their first time and beyond seven years in total;
    Switching to electric vehicles is too expensive and they'll lose money when charging;
    A new type of testing system won't be as efficient as the Stoke-on-Trent College BTEC qualification they already have;
    They don't like the penalty points scheme;
    They say they'll have to wait between five and eight weeks for an appointment to renew their licences;
    It'll cost customers more;
    It will reduce service and safety standards;
    It will send drivers out of the borough for licences.

Shahraz Yaqub, business development manager at Autocab, says passengers will also be affected by the changes. He said: “Public safety will be impacted because there is now going to be drivers going out of the borough to get registered in places like Wolverhampton.

“Because there’s no restriction on cross-border operating, Newcastle Borough Council will have no say on the drivers operating in their borough.

“Ultimately, the costs of all this will be passed on to the customer.”

Stephen Sweeney, cabinet member for finance at the borough council, said: “The council is committed to communicating with all stakeholders involved in developing the new taxi licensing policy and has gone to great lengths to keep an ongoing and open dialogue with representatives from the Hackney carriage and private hire trade.

“The council has met with taxi drivers on numerous occasions, extended the consultation twice at their request and officers have amended some of the proposals.

"Councillors agreed to a further meeting before they make a decision on 11 June and are allowing two representatives from the trade to address councillors and put forward their points at the meeting.

“In these circumstances, and as the draft policy is still being finalised, the council feels that threats of further strike action are premature and unfortunate.”

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-news/taxi-drivers-warn-more-strikes-2877094 
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Blackpool's landau fleet has lined up for its annual inspection with all 44 cabs bar one passing stringent safety and mechanical tests.

All the resort's famous horse-drawn carriages must pass MoT-style examinations while the horses are checked over by vets before operators can be licensed to work on the Promenade for another year.

Master wheelwright Phill Gregson examined the carriages on behalf of the council at Blackpool South car park.

Blackpool Council licensing officer Ryan Ratcliffe said: "They all passed the inspection bar one which didn’t attend the inspection, however there were some mitigating circumstances and it will be tested at a later date.

"A few had to come back with a few bits and pieces that had to be rectified, but apart from that it all went smoothly."

The fleet is made up of 24 Cinderella-style carriages and 20 traditional carriages.

Colin Nicholls, who operates a Cinderella landau, said : "The inspections are important and are similar to having an MoT done for your car.

"The inspector looks at things like the axels and makes sure the hood is intact and also checks the harness fittings for the horse.

"All the horses are micro-chipped and checked over by the council's vet. As well as the annual inspection, they carry out spot checks.

"We're more than happy with this and it keeps us on our toes. We all help each other out and everyone is now looking forward to the season."

Conditions of the licence include that horses cannot work for more than seven hours a day which includes an hour's break.

The animals are all micro-chipped so inspectors can check each horse is only working its permitted hours.

All carriages must be fitted with a dung catcher when they are on the public highways to prevent manure spilling onto roads.

All horses must have been examined by a vet in the previous 12 months and issued with a certificate of fitness approved by the council.

Vets papers relating to the horse in harness should be available for inspection on request by an authorised officer.

A horse which is harnessed to or used in connection with a licensed hackney carriage shall not be used for more than seven hours of work in any one day.

If in harness for seven consecutive hours, the horse shall during that period have a break of not less than one hour and shall be fed and watered.

No horse shall be harnessed to or used in connection with the licensed vehicle unless it is fitted with an identifying microchip, the number of which has been notified to the licensing service.

All carriages must be fitted with a dung catching device while the carriage is in use on any public highway.

Lights and signals (where so directed) should be fitted to the carriage at all times and should be capable of being lit by the driver.

The table of council-approved fares must be displayed in the carriage.

When carrying fare-paying passengers, only the licensed driver is allowed to accompany them. 

Src- Blackpool Gazette