A Peterborough taxi company is offering Thomas Cook staff free trips to interviews as the city continues to unite around the employees who have lost their jobs today following the travel giant’s collapse.

Peterborough Cars posted on Facebook: “To anybody who has lost their jobs today with Thomas Cook our hearts at Peterborough Cars go to you. We will be offering you free taxis to any new interviews you may have as long as we have proof that you were a part of Thomas Cook and correspondence on interviews. We support you all and hope you all land on your feet sooner rather than later. DM us for more info.”

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St Albans Catholic High School assistant headteacher Jason Horne sent out a letter on Friday, January 11 informing parents of the incidents and asking them to speak with their children so they are aware of the potential safety concerns.

He said a man driving a silver car had first tried to tempt a student into a vehicle on Monday, January 7.

Mr Horne said: “This apparent taxi did make contact with a year-seven student along Digby Road after school on Monday.

“We initially found out about it on Tuesday morning.

“We spoke to students about it and having invited the student involved to give some details.”

He also said the police had been contacted.

Mr Horne said the students were told to be vigilant and extra staff were put on after school.

“Then on Thursday after school, we had another student approached - which we assume was the same car - at a bus stop in Woodbridge Road East,” he said.

“One of our students was stood on the pavement and a silver car pulled over, wound down the window and a man said: ‘I’m a taxi, your mum has called because your bus is late.’

“Because we had already alerted the students about the issue, that helped her realise this was not right so she ran off.”

The school found out about the latest incident on Friday, prompting a letter to be sent out.

Mr Horne said the purpose of the letter was to be transparent with parents, so they knew what had happened and could speak to their children.

The school also contacted other schools in the area to make them aware of the incidents.

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NEWCASTLE

A taxi driver back at work for another day after driving until 3am in the morning ploughed into the back of stationary traffic at full speed.

Daniel Beraki worked until 3am, then started work again at 11am and smashed into traffic at 70mph with two passengers in his car at 5pm that evening.

Beraki crashed on the A167 Central Motorway heading towards Newcastle after picking up two passengers at Newcastle airport on July 1 this year.

The 38-year-old, of Westgate Court, Newcastle, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, reports ChronicleLive. 

Lee Poppett, prosecuting, said the driver at the back of the queue had tried to get out of the way.

He said: "Seeing Mr Beraki's vehicle approaching in her rear view mirror, she believed the vehicle was travelling at high speed and didn't appear to have made an attempt to stop.

"She describes taking her hand break off and attempting to move out of the way, then feeling an impact to the rear of her vehicle which caused her airbags to deploy.

"As is perhaps not unusual for 5.30pm on Monday afternoon, the traffic was stationary when Mr Beraki's motor vehicle collided with it.

"That caused a knock on effect in terms of further collisions with four other motor vehicles subsequently getting involved in the collision." 

Five cars were seriously damaged with drivers suffering minor injuries, and the road was closed for three hours.

Mark Richardson, representing Beraki, said he may have experienced "micro-sleep" due to exhaustion.

"This was a serious road traffic collision, however it didn't involve any prolonged bad driving, there was no element here of him being pursued by the police, there was no danger to pedestrians, he was not under the influence of drink or drugs," he said.

"The most likely explanation for this offence is a momentary lapse of concentration.

"We've heard he was working as a taxi driver: at the time he had finished his shift at 3am but returned to work at 11am and worked continuously until 5.30pm when this accident took place. He has pushed his body and mind to the limit."

Mr Richardson said churchgoer Beraki has seen his marriage collapse after the crash.

Magistrate Stephen Groves sentenced Beraki to 12-weeks in prison, suspended for a year and Beraki was ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work and banned from driving for 18 months.


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Austria’s Federal Competition Authority (BWB) are to launch an investigation in to the taxi and private hire industry after concerns the sector was becoming ‘distorted’.

The BWB announced that they are to carry out general investigations of the industry as there may be suggestions that competition within the sector is restricted or distorted.

The taxi and rental (private hire) markets were merged with the amendment of a new traffic law. This means the same regulations now apply to both trades, which the BWB say could lead to disruption of innovative business models.

The objective of the study put forward by the BWB is to create an objective market analysis and recommendations that will enable sound and sustainable decision-making for regulatory action.

They claim that on the one hand, regulation should allow for innovative business models of the shared economy and, on the other hand, ensure security for consumers. In particular, the associated effects on consumers and a possible restriction of the innovation potential in this market are of central importance.

The industry survey is based on requests for information from market participants, economic analysts of the BWB, scientific literature as well as reports and investigations by national competition authorities. In addition, intensive discussions are held with companies, interest groups and other institutions active in the taxi and rental business.

"Connecting old and modern business models in one market is a challenge. This can be well observed by the taxi market. In order for companies to retain their capacity for innovation, the right level of regulation is important. BWB is pleased to make its expertise available with regard to the long-term effects on competition and the ability to innovate. ", Explains CEO of BWB, Dr. Ing. Theodor Thanner.
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BASILDON Council will decide next week whether to write to online taxi firm Uber and ask it to either ‘withdraw from Basildon’ or apply for a specific licence to operate in the borough.

A council report said an influx of London-licensed Uber drivers was damaging the earnings of local drivers – and added that the London drivers were not subjected to the same checks as local drivers.

The document, to be considered by Basildon’s Licensing Committee next week, said it was ‘not unlawful’ for London Uber drivers to operate in Basildon.

However, it added that the council was powerless to take action against Uber drivers who behaved improperly, because it is not responsible for their licences.

It said: “Drivers are not under the same level of scrutiny when operating away from their licensing area…This may result in private hire vehicles flooding the market and Basildon Council being unable to undertake enforcement and compliance checks to secure the safety of the travelling public.”

The committee will also decide next week whether to write letters of concern to Government and to Transport for London (TfL), which is responsible for Uber licences.

The report said Basildon had ‘witnessed an increase in private hire vehicles licensed by other local authorities working within the borough boundary over the past two to three years’. Most of them were Uber drivers licensed by TfL.

It stated: “The feedback from local licensed Hackney Carriage and private hire trade is that this operation is significantly impacting their business activities and therefore their income.


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