by News Desk | Feb 27, 2020 | London News
Just heard a frightening story in one of my WhatsApp groups. A driver on point of Harrods Rank, picked up an oriental lady with her two daughters.
She gave him her destination but before he could drive off, the doors were opened again by a small group of men similar in appearance to the Lisson Green Mob. One of the men came to the driver window and was asking to be taken to another destination.
But as we’ve seen before, this was no more than a distraction tactic, because another of the men got inside the taxi and proceeded to try to mug the lady. As luck would have it, the lady put up quite a fight and the man made off with just the lady’s watch which he managed to pull from her wrist.
On the way to her destination she explained to the driver that she was unhurt and really didn’t want to go to the police station. She said the watch was in fact just a cheap fake. She just wanted to get her daughters back to her hotel as they were both quite shaken up.
Trouble is I’ve only heard the story second hand, and have no idea who the driver was.
I just hope he reads this… as it’s imperative he goes to the police and reports the incident in full detail. This is not the first time something like this has taken place at a Taxi rank.
We can’t have our customers being mug inside our Taxis.
When passengers are picked up it is now extremely important the all doors are locked as soon as possible.
This is what London has become under a Mayor who would rather spend money on two rappers… than on victims of crime.
by News Desk | Nov 25, 2019 | London News, UK News
Transport for London have today announced that they will not be renewing Uber’s Private Hire operators license. After initially being granted a 15 month probationary license by Westminster Magistrates Court and then a further 2 month temporary license by TfL, the regulator are still not satisfied that Uber are fit and proper to hold an operators license in the Capital.
Uber now have 21 days to appeal TfL’s decision during which they can continue to operate, if they do appeal then they will be free to continue until the appeal has been heard.
Surely now it is time for TfL to revoke Uber’s license and prevent them from operating to protect the travelling public from the issues raised for the refusal.
TfL’s email can be found below.
Dear Customer,
Transport for London (TfL) has concluded that it will not grant Uber London Limited (Uber) a new private hire operator’s licence in response to its latest application.
As the regulator of taxi and private hire services in London, TfL is required to make a decision on Uber’s fitness and propriety before its current licence expires. Safety is TfL’s number one priority.
Uber has made a number of positive changes and improvements to its culture, leadership and systems in the period since the Chief Magistrate granted it a licence in June 2018. This includes interacting with TfL in a transparent and productive manner. However, TfL has identified a pattern of failures by the company including several breaches that placed passengers and their safety at risk.
Despite addressing some of these issues, TfL does not have confidence that similar issues will not reoccur in the future, which has led it to conclude that the company is not fit and proper at this time.
In September Uber was granted a two-month licence as further information was required on these issues, some of which emerged late in the process of its reapplication.
A key issue identified was that a change to Uber’s systems allowed unauthorised drivers to upload their photos to other Uber driver accounts. This allowed them to pick up passengers as though they were the booked driver, which occurred in at least 14,000 trips – putting passenger safety and security at risk.
This means all the journeys were uninsured and some passenger journeys took place with unlicensed drivers, one of which had previously had their licence revoked by TfL.
Another failure allowed dismissed or suspended drivers to create an Uber account and carry passengers, again compromising passenger safety and security.
TfL recognises the steps that Uber has put in place to prevent this type of activity. However, it is a concern that Uber’s systems seem to have been comparatively easily manipulated.
Other serious breaches have also occurred, including several insurance-related issues. Some of these led TfL to prosecute Uber earlier this year for causing and permitting the use of vehicles without the correct hire or reward insurance in place.
While Uber has worked to address these issues, they highlight the potential safety risk to passengers of weak systems and processes.
This pattern of regulatory breaches led TfL to commission an independent assessment of Uber’s ability to prevent incidents of this nature happening again. This work has led TfL to conclude that it currently does not have confidence that Uber has a robust system for protecting passenger safety, while managing changes to its app.
Legislation means that Uber now has 21 days to appeal, during which it can continue to operate pending any appeal and throughout any potential appeals process. Uber may seek to implement changes to demonstrate to a magistrate that it is fit and proper by the time of the appeal.
While Uber continues to operate, TfL will continue to closely scrutinise the private hire operator, which includes the need for Uber to meet the 20 conditions set by TfL in September 2019, and particular attention will be paid to ensuring that the management have robust controls in place to manage changes to the Uber app so that passenger safety is not put at risk.
Helen Chapman, Director of Licensing, Regulation and Charging at TfL, said: “As the regulator of private hire services in London we are required to make a decision today on whether Uber is fit and proper to hold a licence. Safety is our absolute top priority. While we recognise Uber has made improvements, it is unacceptable that Uber has allowed passengers to get into minicabs with drivers who are potentially unlicensed and uninsured.
“It is clearly concerning that these issues arose, but it is also concerning that we cannot be confident that similar issues won’t happen again in future. If they choose to appeal, Uber will have the opportunity to publicly demonstrate to a magistrate whether it has put in place sufficient measures to ensure potential safety risks to passengers are eliminated. If they do appeal, Uber can continue to operate and we will closely scrutinise the company to ensure the management has robust controls in place to ensure safety is not compromised during any changes to the app.”
Yours sincerely,
Graham Robinson
Interim General Manager of Taxi and Private Hire
by News Desk | Nov 11, 2019 | London News
In 2009 14 Taxi drivers decided to help veterans get the Cenotaph after TFL, under Peter Hendy decided to shut down the Underground Network for Maintenance despite fears it would hinder the veterans getting to the remembrance Sunday parade. The day proved to be such a success that the 14 drivers decided to do it again the following year, coordinated by Mike Hughes.
Over the next 10 years those 14 Taxis grew to over 150 in 2019 which give over 1000 free rides to veterans from all of the mainline railways stations, various services clubs and Victoria Coach Station to the top of Whitehall so that they can participate in the parade.
Also many of the companies associated with the taxi trade in London help out on the day by providing marshalls at all of the mainline railway stations. Mike gives a briefing to all taking part at GSS at 7:00am on the day where the marshalls are provided with high-vis vests kindly sponsored by the London Cab Drivers Club.
Poppy Cabs even got the recognition that they deserved this year with Sky News coverage and and lots of praise from celebrities and presenters on numerous media channels.
Mike Hughes, Independent Coordinator Poppy Cabs and London Taxi Driver, said: “The Poppy Cabs service is an integral part of Remembrance Sunday, involving hundreds of proud London taxi drivers coming together to support our country’s veterans.
Over 500 veterans have made use of the free service have in recent years and this initiative perfectly demonstrates the amazing spirit and generosity of kind-hearted London cabbies.
The generosity of London’s Cabbies has been replicated around the country with the Poppy Cabs initiative entering Edinburgh.
On social media a spokesperson said: “We are finally up and running! 2019 is our first year providing free fares to our Veterans to get to the Remembrance Day service. We hope we with support we can provide this every year”
Just like the service in London, taxi drivers will volunteer to take part by identifying themselves to veterans using poppy signage in their windscreen.
Swindon also saw Taxi drivers giving free rides to veterans in their area.
London’s taxi drivers do not provide this service for any Kudos, they do so out of the kindness of their hearts and to give a little back to those who gave so much for our future.
London’s Taxi drivers were also joined by the London Vintage Taxi Association who also provided free rides to the veterans from Waterloo Station.
Mike Hughes is the man behind the organisation of Poppy Cabs
After the ceremony the Taxi line up on Westminster bridge to p[provide transport for the veterans back to the various clubs and railway stations.
Mike also oprganised a special Poppy Cabs Pin badge this year of which there are still some available if you would like one, you can pick one up from various places around London with a suggested donation of £6.00
Many thanks got to Mike Hughes for the tremendous effort it takes to organise Poppy Cabs and thanks to Jon Cox for the great pictures of the day.
by News Desk | Oct 19, 2019 | London News
Mike Brown to leave transport group next May
Transport for London boss Mike Brown is set to head up the £4bn restoration of the Palace of Westminster.
London’s travel authority announced today that transport commissioner Brown (pictured) will be leaving the organisation to take up the role of chair of the delivery authority for the restoration and renewal of the Houses of Parliament.
He will remain at TfL for the remainder of Sadiq Khan’s current term as mayor – meaning he will take up his new role next May.
Brown became TfL commissioner in July 2015 and has led the delivery of the mayor’s transport strategy and multi-billion pound transport investment programme.
He first joined London Underground in 1989 and became chief operating officer in 2003.
Brown then left to run Heathrow Airport during a massive transformation and passenger improvement programme and later returned as the managing director of London Underground.
More recently Brown has come under scrutiny for overseeing the late-running Crossrail scheme, which has seen its budget grow by £2bn.
Brown’s appointment to the delivery authority comes a week after it was announced that HS2’s corporate sponsorship director Sarah Johnson had been chosen to head up the sponsor board for redevelopment of the Palace of Westminster.
Johnson was named as the chief executive of the shadow sponsor body, which was established in 2018 to set the scope, budget and timescale of the Restoration and Renewal Programme, and oversee the delivery authority, which is set to have the technical expertise to commission and execute the work.
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