to be furious they have banned Uber from London?

[Acidophilus]

WTF?

Uber has itsbissues but this is ridiculous.

TFL have bowed to Black cab pressure and we will all pay massively for it. Or get mini cabs that are less safe and treat heir drivers worse.

And after they've worked a 10 hour day, then what?

Does Uber stop them working more hours?

No, it doesn't. It encourages them to risk their, their psssngers and other road users lives by carrying on working because they earn such poverty wages and need to chase all the hours they can get.

Unlike other platforms and companies which log their drivers off and don't let them carry on working.

What Uber koolaid have you been drinking to come out with this shit?
I'm embarrassed for you

Sheridanflamingo
@flowerpot i don't care

So you make some wild accusation that Uber drivers could cause fatalities if they work 10 hours a day (and strangely do not make the same point about mini cab drivers or black cabbies), and I point out that this is perfectly safe according to government rules, and instead of admitting you got that so very, very wrong, you write "I don't care"? What are you, 5?

"I don't care". The weakest retort of all. I almost feel embarrassed for you.

Don't make me laugh. The gig economy is freedom. Your old school ideas will soon be dead and buried.

My old school ideas might soon be dead and buried. That true. I won't argue with that. They will be dead and buried with humans too. That's kind of the problem I have with it.

Which is rather sad if you think this is progress and something we should be aiming for as a society or human ambition.

In terms of length of time of working, that's the problem - Uber SHOULD be restricting the number of days one of their EMPLOYEES works during a day because its the law and they are responsible for this as EMPLOYERS.

Tell me again, why were the courts not satisfied that Uber were complaint with Working Time Regulations?

But hey ho, you carry on there promoting and selling and defending exploitation of workers by large corporations.

@sparechange exactly. I feel sorry for anyone who can take uber's claims of enforcing regulation seriously. Batshit.

Yes, vested interests from black cabs. Love to see the tax returns for most black cab drivers

Humans have always divided into these two camps. I am for liberty and personal responsibility and others are socialists. Luckiily Labour did not win the last election but sadly Khan won in London. Hopefully pressure can be brought and the will of the 40,000 Uber drivers and 3.5m Uber users will prevail.

Oldie I think that's a pretty pathetic and false dichotomy

I'm really annoyed about this. I use Uber to get my 79 year old Mum about, we tried for years with mini cabs, Addison Lee etc it was a disaster and became too costly, meaning she would totter off by herself rather than use a taxi. Uber changed everything for us.

I'm so pissed off at them for not running their company properly, and I'm equally pissed off at TfL for not working with them to fix it.

Presumably you agree we are divided on here however as indeed is the nation even if you not agree what the divide is about? We are pro or anti Uber. We can agree on that at least.

Uber, I hate them. they come to my town from all over the country and take the work from the local drivers. Wouldn't be so bad if the uber drivers were local, at least their earnings would go back into the local economy but they don't even live here, they take their money back to where they came from.

They don't know their way around, ripping off customers by using their sat nav and going the long way round. Endless complaints of bad driving and abusive drivers, even a couple of assaults.

Why the hell should uber be able to work in London without doing the knowledge first? Some of them even get away with having to go through disclosure and barring service and only need a reference to say they are ok. What better place for a criminal to hide? Yeah, get a job with uber

I hope to god they are not successful with their appeal. I hate them with a passion.

I felt safer in an uber than on a filthy drunk infested train at night when I had to visit my husband in hospital most nights for a month last year. Stick that up your open end tfl. Drunks, beggars, crowds of out of order teenagers, litter, leering men, people really getting to beat you to a seat the list is endless. None of it happens in an uber so why is it TFL get the say so but don't have to put their own house in order. I hate train journeys I've had loads of trouble on them. My sister was beaten up by 2 girls, I had a wanking man watching me I had to get off, all in a train or tube. Uber is safer than all the other types of transport mayor Khan needs to get real we're not all fit young travellers some of us are old and bloody nervous. Black cabs still won't come south of the Thames and their charges are ridiculous

So get a mini cab Gill.

Who are all these people who can get Ubers but can't get mini cabs?

It's complete lie that black cabs won't go south of the Thames.

Surely if Uber is enabling more people to take taxis who couldn't afford them previously, it is contributing massively to congestion and pollution in London? Many of those people would have had to use public transport instead. In the 21st century, local and central governments need to be promoting a sustainable system of transport and moving far away from dependence on the car. More people using cars is not a good thing for big cities like London.

I use Uber to get my 79 year old Mum about, we tried for years with mini cabs, Addison Lee etc it was a disaster and became too costly, meaning she would totter off by herself rather than use a taxi

My parents are 80 and get about by themselves. They're perfectly capable of getting a mini cab.

I rely on mini cabs in London and I can tell you Uber are not cheaper, they're often more expensive and take longer to arrive.

For short journies, if there's no traffic, black cabs are often cheaper than Uber.

I'm pro honest and decent behaviour by businesses and individuals.

Uber can decide which side they want to be on.

Do they want to be fit and proper?

No doubt if they clean up their act they'll get their licence back.

'Humans have always divided into these two camps. I am for liberty and personal responsibility and others are socialists.'

Total load of bollocks, Oldie. Socialists aren't for social responsibility? What are they for?!

I hope they can keep the appeal going until the next mayoral election then we can vote SK out and get a capitalist back running the city.

I rely on mini cabs in London and I can tell you Uber are not cheaper, they're often more expensive and take longer to arrive.

I think one anecdote is not indicative of anything, especially considering the market share they now have in London.

For a counter balance, whenever I am in London I use Uber the same as I do in my local city, all my colleagues from London wax lyrical about how much cheaper/quicker and in some instances cleaner than the mini cabs or black cabs. Our company and many others I know use Uber as it can offer a centralised audit trail for expenses purposes, but then again we are multi national tech firms which I am sure someone like RedToothbrush hate.

I think they will get there stuff together and get re-licensed, if they do and do not get re-licensed it shows how a lot of people are seeing it that it is purely a political move, which could backfire.

Also I will add a caveat that I'm not too keen on Uber as company but I admire that they are trying to be first to market as there business model is based on driver less cars, if they do not take off then the business model collapses. As for a pp trying to scaremonger about them saving journey data, there a millions wilfully giving it up anyway with the location data on phones, checking in to places via facebook and if TFL get the backside in gear they will be offering an App that does the exact same thing which will be farmed off to some third party big data vendor, its the way of the world now.

I am for liberty and personal responsibility and others are socialists.

I am for liberty and personal responsibility but I'm definitely not a socialist.

The notion that there is only two camps is a current political device.

No doubt if they clean up their act they'll get their licence back.

Not if the black-cab dinosaurs and their friends in high political places have their anti-competitive way.

I know use Uber as it can offer a centralised audit trail for expenses purposes, but then again we are multi national tech firms which I am sure someone like RedToothbrush hate.

Gosh you make me sound like a right Leftie socialist. I can assure you I'm not. Nor do I have a problem with big corporations.

I just see that unless big corporations have checks and balances they become a problem.

I'm just not a libertarian capitalist.

For a counter balance, whenever I am in London I use Uber the same as I do in my local city, all my colleagues from London wax lyrical about how much cheaper/quicker and in some instances cleaner than the mini cabs or black cabs.

It turns out, from people who've posted here and people who've commented in media reports, that they are many people using Uber who don't use mini cabs regularly and only have a very vague idea of mini cab prices.

Uber have done a great job of convincing Londoners that they're cheaper than other mini cabs but they're not.

If you don't believe me - check it out for yourself. I'm doing mini cab journeys regularly all over London and when I compare with Uber I was shocked by their prices.

I am shocked, not I was shocked.

*So get a mini cab Gill.

Who are all these people who can get Ubers but can't get mini cabs?*

Getting minicab is not always easy. A few months ago I was in the stupid position of being almost late for an exam (had less than 1/2 hour to get to there) I phoned up a local minicab number. Was told car will be there in 20 mins. Looked on Uber app. There were 6 cars between 2 and 4 mins away. No brainer which one I chose. Had a lovely driver who took side roads to get me there quickly and wished me luck. Got to my exam with 5 mins to spare.

I prefer the convenience of having 1 app which pretty much covers all areas. Phoning a minicab, sometimes being told theres no drivers or having to wait for a long time in an emergency. Plus having to pretty much know where you are at all times, means in convenience terms Uber wins.