Taxi Driver Online

Usual stuff about Uber acting illegally, and usual nonsense about 'taxis' and cross-bordering, but not clear at all from this precisely what Uber supposedly doing wrong.

And this is an official Unite news release


Gatwick taxi drivers demand Crawley council enforce licensing laws against Uber

https://www.unitetheunion.org/news-even ... ainst-uber

Gatwick airport taxi drivers will protest outside a full Crawley council meeting on Friday to demand councillors do more to enforce licensing laws against Uber, which is destroying their livelihoods.

The protest comes after Gatwick airport began advertising Uber services to passengers and introduced Uber-reserved bays at the airport.

Currently, Uber has an unfair advantage over Crawley’s private hire taxis because it can circumvent the local authority’s licensing laws, resulting in Uber cars registered in London entering the town and waiting for passengers. Private hire taxis, on the other hand, cannot pick up fares outside of their licensing areas unless they have been pre-booked.

The situation has led to an in-flux of London-based Uber cars into Crawley which are then parking up to poach private hire car business. Uber’s growing encroachment into Crawley’s taxi sector is damaging livelihoods and undermining the local economy, which is heavily dependent on Gatwick.

Unite regional officer Dominic Rothwell said: “Gatwick airport should not be hand in glove with a race to the bottom employer like Uber. Our members are fighting back against the airport and Uber but Crawley council’s lack of action in enforcing its own taxi licensing rules is leaving them at an unfair disadvantage.

“Ultimately, it is Gatwick and Uber that are causing this through the business model they have set up at the airport. Crawley council has the power to stop this by sanctioning Gatwick and Uber for deliberately breaking their taxi licensing laws.

“Crawley council must clampdown on London-based Uber cars picking up fares booked while they parked up in Crawley and clampdown hard.”

Purely coincidentally, no doubt, there's also this today on TaxiPoint about the LTDA mumping about PCNs for Gatwick parking/drop off stuff

https://www.taxi-point.co.uk/post/taxi- ... -drop-offs

They are doing nothing wrong, and TBH I rarely see TfL Uber's waiting, and I'm always at Gatwick.


And the beauty of them is that non-Uber drivers licensed elsewhere can park in them gaining a nice easy place to park up when picking up one's punters.

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IDFIMH

Taken from the article.

highlighted that the fines can take time to be issued, often weeks or months.

If you are given a PCN weeks or months after the event they are basically unenforceable.

Just reply saying you are the keeper, but as you are not required to name the driver under the requirements of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, you won't.

I have automatic payments linked to my vehicle, but about 10% of the time the cameras don't pick it up, so in short I get a £6 tip.

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IDFIMH

Well indeed, Sussex, a piece in the, er, Sussex Express (that'll be your PHV's nickname ) suggests that nothing's changed at all recently, except for an advertising/sponsorship deal at Gatwick.

And confirms that the pick-up zone is shared for all 'ride-hail' vehicles. You didn't say you were now doing ride-hailing

This on the ITV News website makes it sound like Uber being accused of plying for hire, but it's not clear precisley what the accusation is, and obviously the cross-border stuff is nonsense. But the Gatwick drivers seem to think (or at least are claiming) that Uber can't pick-up at Gatwick without a pre-booking, by which I think they mean they can't actually wait at Gatwick without a definite booking, which is nonsense.


So I think the claims in this piece are a bit more credible than the Unite statement above, but still nothing concrete.

There's a brief video of one of the Gatwick drivers. Difficult to doubt what he's saying about Uber taking work from them, but the stuff about the council just needing to 'apply the rules' is just misinformed, in my opinion.

https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2024- ... ring-rules

You can see some of the signage in one of the photos. And also the marked 'Uber' bays at the start of the video. (Although once you've viewed the video you need to reload the whole page to see the parking bays again - was looking for the image of the bays, but couldn't remember where I'd seen them, until I realised )

No one is waiting at Gatwick as it's £10 an hour in the car parks, nor is anyone plying as there is nowhere to ply even if a driver wished to.

When I use the Uber parking bays in the car park I'm often the only one there. Now they may be dotted around the surrounding area, but isn't that what every PH does?

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IDFIMH

Gatwick Cars, who have a highly lucrative franchise, at both the South and North terminals, have clearly got the hump with the new signage that has been put up by the airport authorities promoting Uber. TBH I'm surprised the airport did that as they take quite a high % off every job undertaken by Gatwick Cars.

But the problem, if indeed it is a problem, isn't down to Uber. Thousands of non-Crawley, non-Uber, cars pick up there every day. In my view far more than Uber.

Gatwick Cars charge a premium, possibly 50% more than the average, and because of the internet punters are a lot wiser and don't want to be, in their view, ripped off.

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IDFIMH

And I'll bet the drivers are being charged an absolute arm and a leg for rentals

Anyone remember another airport not that long ago where the drivers were mumping about being charged an absolute fortune, and the figures were quoted? Thought it was maybe Gatwick, but can't find it, although there are a couple of threads from 2022 about a strike over zero-hours contracts and union representation

Most cars operating out of Gatwick are driver/owner, and places on that circuit are bought and sold. It may be the only place in the UK where PH plates are sold at a premium.

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IDFIMH

Gatwick taxi drivers demand Crawley Borough Council to enforce licensing laws against Uber at protest

https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/busines ... st-4644660



‘Uber out!’ was the cry from Gatwick taxi drivers as Crawley councillors arrived for the annual meeting of the borough council.

More than 100 drivers and supporters gathered in a loud, good-natured gaggle outside the town hall on Friday (May 24). They were there to demand the council did more to enforce licensing laws against Uber, saying the firm was ‘destroying their livelihoods’.

Drivers reported that Uber cars registered in London were taking around half of the fares at Gatwick – twice the amount they used to take before starting to advertise at the airport.

And there were huge concerns for the livelihood of the local drivers. Don Barnes, Unite branch secretary, who works for Airport Cars, said Uber was not licensed to operate in Crawley.

He added: “I work 12 hours a day, six days a week, and I’m doing three jobs a day. It’s affecting most of the drivers. People have got mouths to feed, they’ve got mortgages.”

Nick Venes, a licensed driver and Unite the Union representative, said the drivers were angry with the airport but also with the council, which serves as the licensing authority.

He added: “The effect it’s having on Unite members is devastating.”

In 2020, 16 councillors signed a letter calling on Uber to ‘geofence’ Crawley out of its app as the firm ‘does not currently have the licence they need to safely operate in our area’.

The problems started in 2015 following changes to the law via the Deregulation Act. It used to be that drivers had to return to the area in which they were licensed between jobs. But now they do not have to live or operate in the local authority area that grants his or her licence.

A council spokesman said: “We are aware of the complaint and have been actively investigating. We anticipate producing findings in the near future.”

A London Gatwick spokesman added: “Airport Cars, London Gatwick’s official taxi partner, continue to operate from directly outside the terminals.

“Passengers who choose to use Uber or other private hire vehicles can do so from designated pick-up zones designed to reduce congestion on local roads and provide a smooth passenger experience.”

It was pointed out that the advertisement agreement was open to other companies, while the pick-up bays were not exclusive to Uber drivers.

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IDFIMH