Taxi Driver Online

Yet another screed from the P&J

This one's certainly a bit more interesting than the mostly reheated other stuff.

Anyway, looks like they've changed their mind on taking back drivers who've defected to Uber but want to come back into the tent.

But Rainbow also say they wouldn't take on drivers who haven't passed the knowledge if it's abolished.

Aye, right. That means they'd never take on any new PHDs if the knowledge was abolished?

If the knowledge for PHDs was abolished on a permanent basis, it would certainly change things a lot. But I can't believe they wouldn't take on any new PHDs thereafter, despite the claim here.

(Usual pile of photos and images, but have just included a couple here, since can't recall seeing them before...)


Aberdeen taxis boss: ‘We have lost drivers to Uber – and we won’t welcome them back if knowledge test is scrapped’

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/ne ... -way-back/

Bosses are also ruling out working with drivers who gain a private hire licence without sitting the street knowledge test, if the council votes through that change.

Bosses of two Aberdeen taxi firms have ruled out hiring any driver who doesn’t pass a controversial exam — while blacklisting those who have already left them for Uber.

Rainbow City Taxis managing director Russell McLeod previously denied claims he had threatened to blacklist those who left his fleet for Uber.

But he’s now told The P&J that drivers who left for Uber’s big-money incentives “made their bed”.

A number of Uber drivers have shared complaints that introductory boosts to fares have dried up as the San Franciscan app becomes more established.

An Aberdeen City Council consultation will soon end on potential changes in the taxi trade, which explores ideas to boost the number of drivers and end long queues at busy peaks in the city centre and at the airport.

It includes plans to free private hire drivers, who take pre-booked fares away from taxi ranks, from needing to sit the controversial Street Knowledge Test.

You can take part in the official consultation until April 24, here.

Will Uber drivers be blacklisted from Aberdeen taxi firms?

We first reported on an apparent threat to blacklist drivers in May 2024, before ride-hailing giant Uber was granted an Aberdeen licence.

It came out of a meeting of industry reps who sit on the council’s Taxi and Private Hire Consultation Group.

At that time, Mr McLeod distanced himself from the threat, which was made by independent driver rep Luke Hulse on Whatsapp.

https://wpcluster.dctdigital.com/wp-con ... zrhln1.jpg

“If Uber does manage to get in, the big three companies [at that time Rainbow, Comcabs and Aberdeen Taxis] said they’ll work together… as in, if any driver joined Uber, they’d NEVER get to work for [them] again.”

Rainbow City Taxis has since absorbed ComCabs.

Back in 2024, managing director Mr McLeod then wrote it off as a “load of nonsense” and “not an accurate reflection of the meeting”.

But now?

Speaking to The P&J now, he has changed his tune.

“There was never anything hard and fast agreed between us then,” Mr McLeod told me.

“But speaking for Rainbow at present — this is a fact — if the Street Knowledge Test is removed then Rainbow would not take any of those who left back.

“We’ve lost quite a number of drivers to Uber.

“They have made their bed… and you can use that.”

Mr McLeod stressed that even drivers who had previously passed the exam to gain their licence, and then left for Uber, “wouldn’t be welcome to come back if the test is scrapped”.

Rainbow City Taxis operates a training school to prepare would-be drivers for the tricky exam.

‘We employed untested drivers and it was an absolute disaster’

On top of closing the door to a comeback, Aberdeen Taxis director Chris Douglas has ruled out taking on drivers who haven’t passed the test.

He told The P&J: “Aberdeen Taxis did it before, we did it 10 years ago, and it didn’t work. It was an absolute disaster.”

Licensing chiefs briefly opened the door to private hire drivers working without first passing the exam more than a decade ago.

In 2015, the courts ruled the requirement for pre-booked drivers to have passed the test was “illegal and unenforceable”, and that Aberdeen City Council had “exceeded its remit”.

Private hire drivers could then gain a licence until new rules were brought in reinstating the need to have passed.

https://wpcluster.dctdigital.com/wp-con ... 953157.jpg

Mr Douglas added: “Aberdeen Taxi took on drivers who hadn’t passed the street knowledge test then, and I would say we would never do it again.

“Hundreds applied to have licences during that time.

“We took 38 of them and that number rapidly declined because they just didn’t have the aptitude to do the job.”

Rainbow’s Mr McLeod also ruled out a “two-tier” system, making use of untested drivers should the rule changes be approved.

Possibly more to do with the fact that abolishing the knowledge encouraged the gig economy element, (as it's now called) thus part-timers, seasonal workers, those looking for a temporary job etc.

Meant to mention this the other week, when the student/journalist was moaning about card payments and the like...

But, as I recall it, historically the knowledge in Aberdeen applied equally to both HCD and PHD badges. A law student who wanted to do the job on a part-time basis challenged it in court because the legislation didn't allow knowledge test for PHD badges. The court agreed, so Aberdeen had to dump the knowledge for PHDs

But the Scottish Parliament later amended the legislation to allow knowledge test for PHDs, and then Aberdeen City Council reinstated it for both codes

So although a knowledge test for PHDs is allowed under the framework legislation, it's optional for councils to have one, and not compulsory (and not compulsory for HCDs either, obviously).

But you can see here how section 13(5) here has been amended to accommodate PHD knowledge tests, thus allowing Aberdeen to reinstate it:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1982/45/section/13

In fact, somehow I suspect you didn't *employ* them. As opposed to self-employed

Anyway, that's maybe more interesting in how all this is related to the question of employment status

Effectively, if you can't work for more than one circuit then that maybe suggests you're not really self-employed at all.

But let's not go there

When the test was reinstated the drivers who never passed the test got 3 years to pass it not all of them passed it and had to give up.

Aren't there laws about that kind of cartel behaviour?

_________________
IDFIMH

I see what you're getting at Sussex. But a cartel would require active collusion between the other firms, whereas if they all just unilaterally say they wouldn't take back Uber defectors then that wouldn't really amount to collusion.

On the other hand, it could certainly be deemed anti-competitive, and in restraint of trade, sort of thing. There's something in competition law about abuse of a dominant position, which is maybe more the kind of thing that they could be caught out by.

And it's all tied in with the employment status thing as well - tying drivers in with one platform, or not allowing them back on if they leave then change their mind, or wanted to work under dual-platforms - is hardly consistent with treating them as self-employed/freelance/independent contractors, or whatever

Problem is, in competition law terms this is relatively small beer, and not the kind of thing the authorities would actively pursue, I suspect. Nor is employment status thing likely to be litigated, and there's no official government 'inspectorate', or whatever, for this kind of thing.

That's another interesting thing perhaps from a legal perspective. I'd guess the courts would take a dim view of granting a badge without the knowledge test, then requiring it retrospectively.

But, again, it probably needed someone to mount some sort of legal challenge. Which we all know isn't easy, especially for those in the trade well down the pecking order

(For example, the relevant subsection of the amended legislation refers to the *grant* of a licence and an application, which sounds like something required before it's actually granted, and thus not during the currency of the licence, nor on renewal.)

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1982/45/section/13