Former Transport Minister Steven Norris, after using Uber from Terminal 5 to Central London, recently tweeted that “apps are the future”. Norris has now firmly nailed his colours to the mast and jumped aboard the minicabit boat.
Following its recent success to win a £75,000 investment on Dragons’ Den, minicabit announced that Steven Norris is to join them as Advisor to the Board.
(Gonna need a bit more than 75 grand then)
Norris was previously a Minister of Transport, Board Member of Transport for London, Mayor of London candidate and has also held a number of top executive roles across the UK transport sector.
Currently Norris is President of ITS (UK), the public/private sector body, that promotes developments in transport technology.
Regarding his role at minicabit, he said :
“As we move deeper into the digital age, the UK private hire sector still remains one of the last transport modes to be bookable online. At the same time, the app and web market for booking cabs is pretty fragmented, with some options if you’re in central London but little else for the rest of the UK”.
In the past allegedly, the minicab app circumnavigated the need for a PH licence by claiming not to be a minicab operator. They operate as a third party middleman, similar to a price comparison website, with an app.
The company have a history of disregarding the laws and legislation when it comes to the use of the words Taxi and Cab in their promotional material.
After complaints were made about this sign at the O2, LTPH said nothing could be done as at the time of the complaint, the company was not licensed as a PH operator and was in fact only a third party booking agent.
