by News Desk | Jan 30, 2015 | London News
- Abdel Baisar, 34, picked up his victim on June 20 2014 in Leicester Square
- Put in the cab by her friend who wanted to make sure she got home safely
- He drove the 23-year-old to her address in London and then attacked her
- Baisar was traced through a match on National DNA database and arrested
- Sentenced to 10 years at Woolwich crown court after found guilty of rape
- If he gets taxi licence again, must say he is a rapist to single female fares
An illegal taxi driver has been jailed for 10 years for raping a young woman put in his cab by her friend who wanted to make sure she got home safely.
Abdel Baisar, 34, picked up his victim in the early hours of June 20 last year in Leicester Square, central London after she was on a night out with friends.
Baisar, who already had a conviction for taxi-touting, was driving in the area when he picked up the victim.
Abdel Baisar, 34, (pictured) has been jailed for 10 years for raping a woman put in his cab by her friend
A well-meaning friend feared the 23-year-old was too drunk to make her own way home so put her into the back of Baisar’s cab.
He drove the woman to her address in south east London and then attacked her.
The victim woke up to discover she had been raped.
Baisar was traced through a match on the National DNA database and arrested on July 16. He was charged the following day.
Baisar, who already had a conviction for taxi-touting, picked up the victim in Leicester Square (pictured)
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison at Woolwich Crown Court (pictured) after being found guilty of rape
Baisar of Tulse Hill, south London pleaded not guilty to the offence but the jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict.
He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment at Woolwich Crown Court after being found guilty of rape on January 19.
He must also sign the sex offenders register for life.
In the unlikely event he is ever granted a minicab licence again, the court ruled he must declare himself a convicted rapist to any single female fares.
Detective Constable Mark Azariah of the Metropolitan Police’s Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said: ‘I would like to praise the bravery of the victim in coming forward to the police in this distressing case and supporting the investigation.
‘I would urge anyone to come forward to the police in such cases and work with us to convict these predatory males who target women when they are at their most vulnerable.
‘I hope that the sentence handed down by the Judge goes some way in helping the victim recover from this ordeal.’
Source: Daily Mail
by News Desk | Jan 30, 2015 | London News
So, firstly, this isn’t a review that’s going to focus on ‘Uber employ rapists’. Whilst the topic of vetting of drivers is a critical one, its something that I understand Uber do take steps to ensure and ALL criminals will attempt to beat ALL systems and some will always get through ALL of those systems. I see that as a separate issue that is very serious but not part of the Tech that Uber bring to the market and the overall general customer experience which I’ve chosen to focus on.
For the past few weeks, I’ve undertaken several rides with Uber in London. I’ve been a user of Black Cabs for a number of years so feel that I can objectively compare the two. Having tweeted about issues with Uber, the outcry from some cabbies has been huge and I’ve received a deluge of ‘nightmare’ journeys showing Uber routes around London which are just mind blowingly awful and clearly deceitful. How true any of these are I have no clue and the ‘Uber Urban Myth Machine’ does appear to churn very well.
I must also admit that my sample size for the review isn’t huge but I like to think that all of the journeys I took give a broad spread of off-peak, peak, long and short journeys and are representative. So, here goes.
THE TECH
PROs
My first understanding of what Uber is, as a service, was using them with Adam Christianson and Paul Wheatley at Macworld in San Francisco in 2014. I have to say I was impressed with the App, impressed with the ease of acquisition of the service and impressed with the whole experience but that experience was based in a city with a lot of wide streets in the main thoroughfares and we only took short journeys, apart from one to the airport. it was very obvious though that the Uber App is a ‘wow factor’ for sure.
It appeals to the basic instincts of all geeks. You get an ability to call for something using an app and then watch a graphic as the car moves through the local streets to your pickup point. It is overflowing with ‘Cool’. Add in the ability to have a charge sent straight to your Credit Card or PayPal (My Paypal account wouldn’t set up with the App) and an instant ‘Star-Based’ customer rating system for drivers and customers and it ticks an awful lot of boxes.
In comparison, the UK Black Cab system requires you to contact Transport for London (TFL) with any complaints about drivers, licensing or charges and whilst this is very good and ‘internet based’, its not an instant thing and the correct taking of badge numbers and lack of ‘evidence’ can make it a tough process.
There are also several apps in The App Stores for Black Cabs and these work pretty well but are more disjointed than the Uber experience and are ‘Foreign’ to tourists, many of whom will land with the Uber App already installed from their home town and ready to go.
CONs
So, how many of you haven’t been able to get a Black Cab in CENTRAL London for a prolonged period?
From my experience, its one of the easiest things in the world to do. I stick out my arm when I see an Orange light and then climb in. Sure, I get the ‘This is my cab’ argument once in a while and at peak times and if there is a Tube Strike, then things can get a little more sparse but generally I get a cab when ever I want to and to be honest, the Black Cab Apps aren’t much help over and above that.
The Uber App doesn’t work outside of the cities where there is an Uber service. I had an issue with a trip and started to try and complain when I got to my home in Birmingham but couldn’t. My Location wouldn’t show and none of my trips would show up either. In order to raise an issue, I had to resort to Twitter to initiate the complaint and then email to get my refund. Complaining within London was very easy however.
THE CHARGES
This cuts right to the heart of the issue.
Uber is expensive and VERY expensive at times in London. ‘More than Black Cabs’ you say? So why?
TRIPLE CHARGES
This is something which kicks in during peak demand for the service. Having watched this on the App it feels like a ‘time of day’ thing more than a ‘demand’ and ‘lack of cabs’ thing. When it was on, I called for an Uber knowing full well that Triple Charging was in place and a Car came instantly. To be honest I think that this is just a ‘BS’ charge and lots of drivers sit around waiting for a fare at triple rates as a lottery.
At these periods Uber can’t get close to Black Cabs on costs. The same black cab journey at the same time would have cost me half what I was quoted for the journey. The other issue is that at Peak Traffic times Uber’s ‘Meter’ ticks over rapidly and the drivers get themselves bogged down or take ridiculous routes.
At ‘Off-Peak’ Uber has the edge on pricing with a journey from Euston to Archway costing around £12 compared to £15 in a Black Cab. But by ‘off-peak’ I do mean late on weeknights or after 5pm on weekends.
THE ROUTES
OK, heres the rub. Uber drivers take the crapiest routes going at the wrong times
The problem is that they don’t have a good enough knowledge of the back streets in London. I’m sure that will come in time but they try and navigate The Capitol using a ‘Sat Nav’. Having driven in London for work on many occasions, I can tell you that a Sat Nav is bugger all use…even with traffic management functions. The tendency is to take youalong main arterial routes when the majority of Black Cabs will seek to cross arterial roads and stick to the back streets.
The London Cabbie has to pass a test called ‘The Knowledge’ and they spend hours on small motorbikes driving the lesser know streets to build a knowledge of the best routes from A to B. This pays dividends at peak periods as nearly all Black Cabs will duck and dive through streets to avoid sitting with the meter running and not making progress. Uber drivers won’t do this and as a result, in heavy traffic, the Black Cab is invariably cheaper.
I think also there is a bit of a ‘no win’ for Uber drivers. As their pricing is based on Mileage and Time, should they divert to another route to save time, the costs are pretty much the same due to the higher distance, also if passengers complain and they have deviated from ‘The Uber Route’ then they end up losing out on the refund.
Definitely in Peak Periods when the pressure is on, I have seen greater expense using Uber over Black Cabs
CUSTOMER SERVICE
If you are talk about personal aspects, then I can’t tell the difference really.
The majority of London Cabbies I’ve had a ride with have been lovely affable chaps and always up for a good conversation, and whilst a lot more quiet, the Uber Drivers have been decent folk as well.
Uber take a slight lead in that with a large bag, the driver will get out to assist you whereas a London Black Cab has a driver that is a lot more ‘sealed in’, although they do get out if you are struggling. The access to London Cabs is also greater through the door which makes this less necessary.
I’ve had one Uber Driver who sat in an adjacent street telling me that I was in the wrong place right up until I cancelled the journey. All the other drivers have been fine.
The App for Uber provides for instant feedback on drivers and routes and as such is very convenient….BUT
REFUNDS
In all of the journeys I took, on 60% of those journeys I had to ask for a refund for overcharging on the estimated price by the Uber App. Now I know that what they provide is an estimate but on one journey quoted at £42, I ended up paying £72 and through a protracted exchange on twitter and email, I eventually got a refund of £27 but the cost of that was still way more expensive than a Black Cab would have been.
Uber seems to give refunds pretty easily, I’m guessing because they just don’t pay the driver. I got refunds in all the cases where I complained but the point is, that I shouldn’t have to complain. If you want to offer a good customer experience, then the service should ‘Just work’ at least 99% of the time and with Uber it doesn’t.
I’ve never had cause to complain about a Black Cab route or charges…Simple!
SUMMARY
I’ve put the Uber app away on the back page of all my apps in my iPhone.
To be honest, I didn’t see a benefit in the use of Uber in London and the increase in aggravation was higher in over half the journeys I took. The effort of submitting for refunds to my card and the fact that the App didn’t sync with my PayPal account or work correctly in Birmingham left a nasty taste that just isn’t there with Black Cabs.
Uber needs a LOT of work to improve its presence in London. It will always grab the geek because of the app but in time people will just return to what they can rely on.
In only a few short trips.
- I didn’t save money
- I didn’t save time
- I ended up making work for myself
I have genuinely not found it to be a better experience over London Black Cabs…I’m Gone!
Ewen
by News Desk | Jan 29, 2015 | World News
New Delhi:
Delhi Transport Department on Wednesday rejected Uber’s request for licence in the city. The sources within the department said that incorporation of company does not include the mandated to provide public transport services.
US online taxi-hailing service Uber had applied for a radio taxi licence to restart operations in India’s capital, after it was banned following allegations that one of its drivers raped a female passenger.
Uber had promised to improve passenger safety by introducing additional safety measures including more stringent driver checks, an in-app emergency button and a dedicated incident response team.
But even with all the so called improvements, Delhi Transport Department decided that Uber were not fit and proper to hold a Radio Taxi Licence.
by News Desk | Jan 29, 2015 | London News
We’ve seen how disruptive these innovations in transportation has been with Smartphone apps like Uber, it seems that the minicab market is flooded with apps to match up people with cars in a seamless experience that cut out traditional taxis altogether.
Today’s Taxi trade in London is suffering from shell-shock as drivers who thought they had a job for life, now start to realise they are going to have to fight for survival.
It’s devastating sitting on a rank with six other Taxis outside a popular venue, seeing one time regular Taxi users standing beside the entrance glaring at their phone. Then a Prius pulls up, double parks next to the rank and whisks them away.
Minicab apps have now become a craze, like texting, FaceBook, WhatsApp, it’s the latest fad. People like to think they have all the answers and a couple of taps on a smart phone will get them a quick and easy no fuss cheap ride home. But reality is now beginning to kick in as they get taken for a ride.
Surge pricing, sexual assaults, following ridiculous Sat Nav routs resulting in unbelievably inflated prices.
But we are set to see a complete reversal:
Small Tech teams have been busy beavering away and we will shortly be seeing the launch of a number of Licensed Taxi Black Cab only apps.
Cabb:App, MaaxiCab and TaxiCab, are soon to hit the street to join the like of TaxiToo and Get Taxi.
But we must never compromise as was the case with Hailo. If a certain app can’t supply a vehicle, the technology is there to share work with other apps. The backup service should be “if we can’t get you a cab, we will send you one of our partners Taxis, but you will only ever be sent a black cab”.
What would make our apps attractive, would be the ability to open an account using a credit/debit card. No one wants to give card details over the phone, card payment bookings should be automatic just by account/membership number.
Every Uber journey is a card payment and it’s just that fact that really makes them look desirable to so many passengers, regardless of cost. Remember the old “User friendly” label that came with the first computers.
The uptake of Taxi app working needs to be substantial. Just think, with 20,000 Taxis on smartphone apps, our professionalism could run Uber out of town. Their drivers cannot compete with our knowledge, even with a Sat Nav.
Of course there will always be the tourist and dedicate Taxi rider who love to flag down a cab, but there is not enough to keep 25,000 Taxi drivers in the black. Even these casual riders are now starting to download apps, enticed by what is perceived to be a cheap rate.
Most modern passengers have been attracted by the easy use, easy payment flow, where they tap for a car, arrive at the destination, get out and walk away. Fare taken with no time lost processing a card payment, no money changing hands…to them this is the modern way.
Parents are opening accounts which their kids can use to get home safe…but that’s the key, how safe is an Uber Driver.
With the right advertising and promotional push we could take back a hefty chunk of this work. Look how successful Hailo was at first. Every passenger loved the free run ins, free waiting time plenty of availability. It was like walking out of your door and flagging down a cab.
There is also localised markets crying out for this type of service. I was recently introduced to a company Tap-Black-Taxi who have an app that works mainly in south west London.
Licensed Taxi smartphone apps are the way forward, even the radio circuits have some form of app but not enough is spent in promoting. Uber have flooded the market and we just don’t have Uber’s money.
What we do have is 50,000 bill boards. Every tip up seat should carry an advert for a licensed Taxi app, every driver should give out promotion material. When I first worked for Dial a cab 35 years ago, I spent many hours carding up areas I liked working, mainly Maida Vale and St a Johns Wood. Every time I arrived at a pick up, I would slip cards through the letter box of adjacent properties. Most of the drivers back then were happy to do this and it worked.
Yes these people are already in a cab but they could soon be enticed away. If people want an easy book, easy ride, easy pay experience, then let’s make sure it’s in a licensed black cab.
It’s 150 years since the knowledge was first introduced. Why is this not plastered all over the media.
Last year was the year of the Bus!
2015 should’ve been the year of the Taxi.
by News Desk | Jan 29, 2015 | London News
The London Taxi trade is currently engaged in a fight for its life on multiple fronts.
Under attack from a billion dollar multinational company, out to destroy the worlds Taxi trade. A technology company with no respect for Taxi regulations anywhere in the world, who also believes theirselves to be above the law.
Under attack from environmentalists who see our only manufactured, only authorised vehicle as the devils child. With a Mayor about to introduce (in 2018) conditions of fitness that no current produced vehicle can meet.
Worse of all, Under attack from our own licensing authority who have bent over backwards to make legitimacy easy for big money operators, who do not meet required conditions of fitness and operate in a grey area outside the Private Hire Act 1998.
Sir Peter Hendy’s present directorate, refuses to accept responsibility for adequate on street enforcement, which has seen minicab related crimes, including serious sexual assaults, spiral out of control.
To add insult to injury, they have manipulated statistic in an attempt to justify their lame actions. The Met Police have openly admitted that sexual attacks that go unrecorded have gone from 80% in 2010 to 90% at present. This gives a false reduction in recorded statistics.
TfL presently have a team of 68 cab enforcement officers. In a 12 month period last year, they were responsible for a pitiful 34 convictions for illegal touting. Other cities around the country realise this figure over a busy weekend.
We have seen the line between Taxi and Private hire eroded in the media to such an extent that the BBC inside out London documentary, presented by Louise Hulland, found 90% of night revellers don’t know the difference between licensed Taxis on a rank and a line of un-booked minicabs outside a night venue.
(One of the major causes of minicab predator sexual attack).
After a mass of complaints, the GLA held a review of TfL’s handling of the Taxi and Private Hire trades. The transport committee’s report found TfL “Woefully inadequate” and has submitted 19 serious recommendations.
If the situation continues as at present, we could see the complete demise of the worlds best taxi service (a title awarded to London’s taxi trade for the last six years running). The London Taxi service is the gold standard that other Taxi services around the world aspire to.
Since TfL took over the responsibility of administering the Taxi trade from the Met, the trade has more or less suffered in silence. But the worm has finally turned. Their seems to be a new fire in the belly of the rank and file driver and 2015 is about to become the year the trade fought back.
After five years of carrot and stick management where TfL, with the help of an unfair engagement policy, managed to keep the trade representative orgs and unions fragmented, their greatest fear is about to be realised as the Orgs and Unions finally strive to achieve unity. A historic meeting took place at the LTDA’s Taxi House on Monday, where previously excluded groups were invited in for talks.
If TfL fail to respond to the GLA recommendations by March and the Mayor pushes the trade for a 5 year reduction in the present 15 year Taxi age limit, our drivers will have no option other than to use the only weapon left in their arsenal.
We have the ability to bring the working Capital to a complete full stop, on a regular basis. Obviously this is the very last thing we want to do, but we will if we have to. The next few months are critical to our survival. We will not go down without the fight of our lives.
Our trade is self-financing and drivers have gone through the arduous knowledge of London, a process that turns out Taxi drivers of the highest standard. The Knowledge is completed at the drivers own expense and carries no cost to the tax payer. The trade receives no government subsidy, unlike other modes of transport.
We do this to win the sole right to ply for hire and all we ask in return is for our right to ply be protected and policed by our licensing authority.
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