Minicabs and others should also be able to use bus lanes and pick up passengers from the street
BLACK cabs could be at the end of the road — as the Knowledge Test faces calls to be axed.
An influential think tank says drivers for ride-hailing apps including Uber should be allowed the same privileges as black cabbies.
A report by the Adam Smith Institute recommends the world-famous London map test should go — which licensed taxi leaders warned last night would be a “disaster”.
Minicabs and others should also be able to use bus lanes and pick up passengers from the street to make services cheaper and easier, the institute recommends.
Ministers are currently mulling over more regulation by introducing an Ofqual-certified test for all potential cabbies.
But the ASI and Tory MP Greg Smith are calling for greater deregulation.
Mr Smith said reform is “long overdue”, adding: “The revolution in consumer choice that services like Uber brought needs to be matched with the way the state sees taxi services.”
Steve McNamara, of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association, blasted the idea.
He said: “This report seems to advocate for a race to bottom, which would undermine the quality of the important service licensed taxis provide and seriously jeopardise passenger safety.”
He said it was exploring “how the Knowledge could be modernised” but scrapping it “would be catastrophic for the industry and passengers”.
London Stalling – a report on London’s congestion by the GLA
Holding the Mayor to account and investigating issues that matter to Londoners Over a decade ago, London led the world by introducing a Congestion Charge in the centre of the city. The scheme has proven successful, keeping a lid on private motor traffic and creating...
Blockade at the bank Day 4 : New Day, New Plan…. By Jim Thomas
After the police slapped a section 14 on the Demo at the Bank, organisers decided to throw a curve ball in retaliation to the 30 minute restriction and changed the venue for day 3 to Parliament Square. The Met Police had already put into operation restriction around...
Bank Junction Blockade Day 3 : Plans Kept Off Social Media Leaves City Police In The Dark.
It gets worse!.... By Dave Davies. The Planning and Transport Committee have given permission for two massive sky scrapers, just a couple of hundred metres away from Bank Junction. Chair of the committee, Chris Haywood, claims Taxis are to be banned from Bank...
Major Victory For The Taxi Trade, Over Who Can Call Themselves A Taxi….. By Jim Thomas
Seems a Minicab company can no longer pretend to be a Taxi! Well done to everyone who made the effort to put in a complaint to the ASA, after it was shown Addison Lee had changed the heading on their download sites for their minicab app. Well Done to Advertising...
I Have A Fishing Rob…Doesn’t Mean I Can Fish…. By Lee Ward.
I have continued to work on my theory (knowledge actually) of the Uber App being illegal, and have continued to search for further evidence. Some information that I was intrigued to read was from the TfL Press Releases that are found online. For online press releases,...
TfL’s Woeful Inadequacies Partially Responsible For Our Exclusion From Bank Junction…by Sean Paul Day.
This type of accident, should not be recorded as Taxi and Private hire. A document from Camden's Lawyers' to the LTDA re: Tottenham Court Road taxi exclusion, has made grave reading. Camden did consider the inclusion of taxis in their redevelopment scheme, but the...
UBER DRIVER ATTACKS PASSENGER WITH WEAPON
An Uber driver and a passenger brawled in the middle of Wandsworth Road, while a female attempted to break them up. Its alleged that the passenger lashed out at the driver who retaliates by violently swinging a weapon, during this fight on Friday night. But on closer...
If You Have Tears, Prepare To Shed Them Now …………..by Semtex.
Not my own words, but the words of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Act 3 Scene 2. Those words could just as well been my own, last night at the Bank Junction. Whether a fan of the legendary Bard or not, you will not need me to outline the act of Betrayal in the story of...
The Truth About TfL’s Responsibility In Regards To Cross Boarder Hiring, From HM Government, No Less.
TfL have always claimed they have no jurisdiction over their licensed vehicles working in other areas....but that's not true and now we've just been told it's not true by the The Petitions team, UK Government and Parliament. Here are the important paragraphs....
TfL Licensed Uber Driver, Convicted Of Touting In Cheltenham, Keeps His TfL Licence.
Editorial News Extra: Uber driver arrested in March 2016, convicted of touting on January 2017, carried on working with TfL blessing. A London Uber driver has been found guilty of unlawfully plying for hire in Cheltenham, during the National Hunt Festival. Abdifatah...
European Parliament Discusses Ride Sharing Services and the Regulatory Framework for Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles
We have been advised that the European Commission are to investigate and debate passenger transport by taxi, hire car with driver and ridesharing in the European Union! A leaked email has come into our possession with details of a European Commission study into taxis,...
Cheap cab ride? You must have missed Uber’s true cost
When tech giants such as Google and Uber hide their wealth from taxation, they make it harder for us to use technology to improve services A striking French taxi driver protests against Uber in Paris. To understand why we see so few genuine alternatives to US...
French court ‘orders Uber to compensate’ Paris taxi rival
Image copyrightReuters Image captionThe arrival of Uber has caused much resentment among France's traditional taxi drivers The app-based taxi service Uber is reported to have been ordered by a French court to pay €1.2m (£911,000) to a rival taxi group after a...
Uber CEO Blocking Drivers on Twitter for Protesting Fare Cuts
"I was paying Uber to drive people around Maui basically" By Sage Lazzaro • 01/25/16 1:56pm (Photo: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images). Uber recently cut fares in over 100 cities, and while users are enjoying cheaper rides, drivers are scrambling to make ends...
Uber driver ‘pulls gun’ on passenger who warned he might vomit in car
An Uber driver has been accused of threatening a passenger, who warned he might be sick, with a handgun Uber driver Patrick McDonald is alleged to have grabbed a AR-10 rifles Photo: Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Well that escalated quickly… An argument between an...
Revealed: The incredibly close links between Google and Downing Street that go back decades
David Cameron and the Conservatives have links to the very top of Google PM has enjoyed special relationship with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt Cameron's once-closest political adviser also has links with the web giant Steve Hilton's wife was a vice-president at the...
French PM bows to pressure after taxi drivers protest
Who says demos don't work! Tuesday morning saw France hit by yet another taxi strike, with drivers furious over what they claim to be unfair competition from private hire companies and web platforms like Uber. Prime Minister Manuel Valls met with a delegation...
London Taxi Trade Reps In Talks with Euro Taxi Orgs In Paris, Day Before French Taxis Go On Strike.
London Taxi representatives from the UCG, LTDA LCDC and Unite Cab Section , are currently in Paris to dicuss international action with Europian Taxi orgs, ahead of tomorrow's planned Taxi strike by Parisian Taxi drivers. Organisers are predicting massive support from...
Mother slashed a taxi driver’s face with a wine glass and chased him around his cab, will be taking Hydrocodone
Kelly Battye, 24, was sipping red from a glass in the back seat of the taxi Factory worker attacked driver when he refused to take her any further She ripped Ghazunfer Ali's glasses off before throwing them out window Battye, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, escaped...
Hull taxi firm 57 Cars installs CCTV in cabs after ‘false Facebook accusations and attacks’
MALICIOUS RUMOURS: Kevin Marsh, manager of 57 Cars. Pictures: Richard Addison A HULL taxi firm is to install CCTV cameras in all of its vehicles after false accusations were made about drivers on Facebook. Kevin Marsh, manager of 57 Cars, says there has also been a...
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