Boardroom crisis for Hailo as taxi app names third boss in four months

Under pressure London taxi app Hailo is facing a crisis of leadership, after appointing its second chief executive in four months.

Carphone Warehouse’s former chief operating officer Andrew Pinnington is taking the helm at the start-up, replacing former Starbuck’s executive Tom Barr who took charge of the business in October.

Hailo said Barr “was finding it increasingly difficult to fulfil his obligations to a young family while managing London-based Hailo”.

Barr decided not to move from his home in America when he took the role due to family commitments and instead commuted from the US.

Barr himself replaced Jay Bregman, one of the company’s co-founders, who left at the same time as Hailo announced it was pulling out of the US due to a “price war” between Uber and Lyft.

Ron Zeghibe, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Hailo, said: “Andrew brings the perfect skill set to help us drive Hailo through the next stages of our international growth and development.

“He understands e-commerce, has great experience of managing a multi-national business through a period of rapid growth and has operated in both large corporates and start-ups. He is a welcome addition to our team and I look forward to working with him.”

Pinnington spent 12 years at Carphone Warehouse, leaving in 2011.

He said: “I am excited to join Hailo and to lead the company as it builds on its success. As a long-term user of the product, I look forward to working with the team to continue driving the company’s growth strategy in the European and Asian markets, where Hailo has a strong point of differentiation against its peers.”

Despite the management shake-up and withdrawal from the US, Hailo said today that its last quarter was its strongest ever for sales.

The company, which is backed by Sir Richard Branson and Facebook investor Accel Partners, operates in 10 cities around the world.

Hailo was founded in 2011 as an app for booking black cabs but has branched out into other private hire vehicles amid pressure from rival apps, a move that angered many black cab drivers.

http://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/boardroom-crisis-for-hailo-as-taxi-app-names-third-boss-in-four-months-9975707.html
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Bishops Stortford

A TAXI driver told a jury today (Tuesday) how he had sex with a young woman who got into his vehicle in Bishop's Stortford on Christmas Eve.

But Tadas Bumbliauskas said that he had not raped her and that she had consented to what happened.

He was giving evidence at St Albans Crown Court, where he pleads not guilty to a single charge of raping the woman in Stortford late on the night of Christmas Eve, 2013 - a month after he had qualified as a cab driver.

Yesterday (Monday), the woman, who was 21 at the time of the alleged offence, told the jury she had gone into town that evening with friends and family members and had drunk in pubs and bars.

At the end of the night she got into a taxi on her own and thought the driver would take her straight home. She said that when the driver pulled up close to her home and attacked her, she just "froze", telling the jury: "I remember clenching my teeth."

Moments earlier she had been sitting in the front passenger seat singing Driving Home For Christmas and told the jury: "I was too drunk to be consenting to anything."

Today, Bumbliauskas, 28, of Northolt Aveue, Bishop's Stortford, who is Lithuanian, told the court he had arrived in the UK in 2008 and for five years had worked in coffee shops at Stansted Airport.

But he wanted to become a taxi driver and spent £2,000 taking the necessary tests before taking up his first job in November 2013.

He said that when the woman got into his cab outside a town centre pub he could tell she had been drinking. He told her the price for the journey and they set off.

He said that because he was new to the job, he asked her for directions as they got near her home. On the journey he said she told him she was short of money, but he said it wasn't a problem. As they got close to her home, he said she gave him directions, but suddenly told him to pull up.

He said she lent forward in her seat, wishing him merry Christmas.

"I thought she was going to give me a peck on the cheek, but she kissed me on the lips. There was a tongue involved as well.

"First of all I was shocked by the fact that she was kissing me. My natural response was to kiss her back as a gentleman. I don't know why it happened, I am not proud that it happened, but at the time I was behaving as a man with a woman."

He said they began kissing and touching, and eventually got into the back of the car, where they had sex.

Afterwards, he said, she got out of the car and walked off.

The case continues.

http://www.hertsandessexobserver.co.uk/Stortford-taxi-driver-accused-Christmas-Eve-rape/story-25847668-detail/story.html?
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Wellingboro

A taxi driver has been prosecuted by Wellingborough Council for driving without a valid licence or valid insurance.

The taxi firm he worked for was also taken to court for allowing the unlicensed driver to work for them.

David Lettin of Finedon, and Road Runner Taxi Ltd of Wellingborough, were caught during a routine inspection of the company by licensing officers from the council.

During the inspection at the firm’s base in Mill Road on May 21 last year, the officers saw from company records that Lettin had continued to drive for Road Runner despite his private hire driver’s licence expiring on 30 April, three weeks previously. Not having the licence also meant that his vehicle insurance was invalid.

David Lettin turned up for work while the inspection was taking place and the licensing officers saw him driving his taxi.

Both Lettin and Road Runner were prosecuted and appeared at Northampton Magistrate’s Court yesterday (January 12) where they pleaded guilty to two offences each.

Road Runner Taxi Ltd was fined £500 for allowing Lettin to drive the licensed vehicle without a valid private hire driver’s licence and £500 for invalid insurance cover on the vehicle.

They were also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £50 and the council’s full costs of £656, making a total of £1,706.

The company had previously accepted a formal caution for similar offences in 2012, whilst under different ownership.

Lettin was fined £220 for driving a private hire vehicle without holding a valid private hire driver’s licence and £325 for driving with invalid insurance cover on the vehicle, as well as a victim surcharge of £32 and £85 towards the council’s costs.

He was also issued with six penalty points on his driving licence.

Amanda Wilcox, licensing manager at Wellingborough Council, said: “A valid licence and valid vehicle insurance are essential to keep the public safe when they travel by taxi.

“This case came about simply because neither the driver nor the operator checked the expiry date of Mr Lettin’s licence.

“We send out renewal documentation to drivers several weeks before expiry, and we expect operators to have controls in place to prevent unlicensed drivers working for them, but if they don’t comply we won’t hesitate to take formal action against them.

“All drivers are required to wear their licence badge prominently when working.

“If passengers can’t see the driver’s badge, or are not shown the badge on request, they can contact our licensing officers on 01933 231 966.”

http://www.northantstelegraph.co.uk/news/top-stories/finedon-taxi-driver-fined-for-driving-without-valid-licence-1-6518567
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