Uber licence 'not renewed' in London - thoughts?

unholyangel

greengiant00 wrote: »

Does Uber not do background checks on its drivers??
Surely that's a must for anyone providing a taxi service.
I wouldn't feel safe getting into a taxi otherwise.

Every taxi or minicab driver in the uk will undergo an enhanced DBS check when applying for a licence/renewal by the licencing authority. So no Uber don't do checks, but theres not really a need for them to.

Uber were criticised for not doing background checks in california (and hiring murderers & sexual offenders), not in the UK.

ETA: That being said, I think some districts were only requiring a standard check - which doesn't flag up spent convictions. And I know of a few instances where the system was abused/flawed - perhaps using a variant of their name or the identity of a family member to obtain their licence which didn't flag up their convictions.

DoaM

greengiant00 wrote: »

:spam:

Yes ?

[Deleted User]

Everytime I try to book an Uber, the driver usually sends a cheeky message via the app to ask where I'm going. If it's just a local journey then he will be just decline it with no reason. I assume they only want big money fares.

Prefer to use real local private hire firms as they always turn up.

unholyangel

Deleted_User wrote: »

Everytime I try to book an Uber, the driver usually sends a cheeky message via the app to ask where I'm going. If it's just a local journey then he will be just decline it with no reason. I assume they only want big money fares.

Prefer to use real local private hire firms as they always turn up.

It may be he's having to travel some distance to get to you. So 15 mins to get there just to go around the corner isn't worth their while.

It would be like the rest of us being offered a job which requires 1 hour commute each way only to work 10 mins.

[Deleted User]

unholyangel wrote: »

It may be he's having to travel some distance to get to you. So 15 mins to get there just to go around the corner isn't worth their while.

It would be like the rest of us being offered a job which requires 1 hour commute each way only to work 10 mins.

No, the Uber car is less than 5 minutes away usually parked on an estate within my town (I assume where the driver lives). It's no longer than a local private hire company would have to travel.

Anything longer and no Uber car shows up on the app.

Arklight

I use Uber all the time in the US. It's a godsend for getting around quickly and cheaply in areas you don't know. Several times I've not bothered to rent a car because I can use Uber instead. It reduces anxiety about how you will get back to your hotel after an evening out down to zero.

You don't need to know where you are, find a way of phoning a company you know nothing about, and then explain yourself to some barely intelligible dispatcher who may send a beaten up yellow cab with no rear seat belts within the next 2 minutes to 3 hours while you wait in the dark on a street corner wondering if they're coming.

All you need is a data connection and a smart phone that turns on. You can see exactly where you're going, where your ride is, who they are, and what their number plate is. When you are in the car the journey is 100% tracked. All the cars in the US must be no more than a few years old.

The worst Uber ride I've had in the US has been no worse than the average ride in a dodgy licensed London minicab. Some of them have been great. It tends to either be young guys or retired people driving. I've been picked up by brand new Dodge Chargers and Lexuses. I've had genuinely fascinating rides with drivers who are blues musicians between tours who supported famous acts, retired University professors, and decent young men and women paying off the depreciation on cars they couldn't otherwise afford.

I've never given anyone less than a 4/5 rating and I've never once been driven by some grunting neanderthal waving a copy of the Sun in my face and ranting about immigrants.

So no, I have never used Uber in London but unless they have completely ruined the model they have for the rest of the world, I don't think banning it so some licensed taxi !!!!! can charge £18 to drive around the corner then not take a credit card, is a step forward.

Stoke

Fantastic news in my opinion. Good to see healthy competition back. Hopefully black cabbies will up their game now. I've been unfortunate to have to use black cabs in London and 9/10, they're utterly disgusting.

The whole "uber lack principals" was simply a red herring. Black cabbies have never wanted to change, up their game, improve their pricing, improve their methodologies, sort out trivially simple things etc.

Cracking news. I still hate visiting London, but I now hate it a little less.

daveyjp

Deleted_User wrote: »

No, the Uber car is less than 5 minutes away usually parked on an estate within my town (I assume where the driver lives). It's no longer than a local private hire company would have to travel.

Anything longer and no Uber car shows up on the app.

You do know the cars on the Uber app maybe aren't the actual location or number of their vehicles don't you?

[Deleted User]

daveyjp wrote: »

You do know the cars on the Uber app maybe aren't the actual location or number of their vehicles don't you?

It's often parked up for long periods at the same address on the app. And it's not a city so Uber cars are a bit few and far between.

I complained to Uber about the driver sending messages before accepting the fare asking for the destination but they weren't interested. They just gave me BS about heavy traffic and nonsense.

[Deleted User]

Arklight wrote: »

I use Uber all the time in the US. It's a godsend for getting around quickly and cheaply in areas you don't know. Several times I've not bothered to rent a car because I can use Uber instead. It reduces anxiety about how you will get back to your hotel after an evening out down to zero.

You don't need to know where you are, find a way of phoning a company you know nothing about, and then explain yourself to some barely intelligible dispatcher who may send a beaten up yellow cab with no rear seat belts within the next 2 minutes to 3 hours while you wait in the dark on a street corner wondering if they're coming.

All you need is a data connection and a smart phone that turns on. You can see exactly where you're going, where your ride is, who they are, and what their number plate is. When you are in the car the journey is 100% tracked. All the cars in the US must be no more than a few years old.

The worst Uber ride I've had in the US has been no worse than the average ride in a dodgy licensed London minicab. Some of them have been great. It tends to either be young guys or retired people driving. I've been picked up by brand new Dodge Chargers and Lexuses. I've had genuinely fascinating rides with drivers who are blues musicians between tours who supported famous acts, retired University professors, and decent young men and women paying off the depreciation on cars they couldn't otherwise afford.

I've never given anyone less than a 4/5 rating and I've never once been driven by some grunting neanderthal waving a copy of the Sun in my face and ranting about immigrants.

So no, I have never used Uber in London but unless they have completely ruined the model they have for the rest of the world, I don't think banning it so some licensed taxi !!!!! can charge £18 to drive around the corner then not take a credit card, is a step forward.

Not all taxi drivers read the scum and not all taxi drivers have a problem with immigrants.