UBER UPDATE UK
UBER DRIVER’S STAIRWELL BLUNDER IN BATH
A taxi driver has been compared to a wan- nabe action hero Jason Bourne follow- ing a rogue stairwell mishap. According to Somer- setLive, the taxi, which seems to have Uber branding, was spotted halfway down a flight of steps in the city of Bath on June 27. It left dozens stunned as theywondered howon earth it had become lodged. Paul Roles, 54 and a fellow cabbie, came across the taxi driver and his predicament. He said: “It must have been stuck there for around an hour. I guess the driver must have seen cars atthe bottom of the stairs and presumed it was a ramp. It was honestly one of the most ludicrous sights I have ever seen.” Mr Roles, who works for Abbey Taxis said: “It just shows you how much these Uber drivers rely on sat nav. It clearly told the driver to make a turn and it’s taken him right down these steps. Taxi drivers need to have local knowledge so things like this do not happen. You can’t just rely on sat nav.” This area of the city is currently under development so it’s likely mapping systems have not quite caught up with it yet. This is an issue another resident picked up on. Andrew Fulgoni saw it all unfold right in front of his eyes. He said: “I went down to check ifmy sat nav still saw that part of the city as a road and it did. It must be because this area is still under construction. I can only assume that the driver thought it was a ramp, but only noticed it was a stairwell upon entering.” Fortunately for the taxi driver, there were a large number of builders in the areaworking on the Riverside development. They quickly came to his aid. Mr Fulgoni added: “The builders brought across a forklift truck andmanoeuvred the car back to the top of the stairwell. It was all thanks to them that the car was able to get away. They were the heroes of the day. They’ve stuck a concrete block at the stop of the stairwell now to stop other vehicles suffering the same fate.” . Addressing the incident, a spokeswoman for Bath and North East Somerset Council said: “Thank you to the member of public for spotting this, which we will be investigating.” Uber said it was also investigating the incident.
UBER DRIVER JAILED FOR RUNNING HAND UP PASSENGER’S THIGH
An Uber driver who took a passen- ger on a detour and ran his hand up her thigh has been jailed for seven months. Metro reports that Dorin Visanu, 30, picked the woman up in Clapham last September, and within minutes asked if she had a boyfriend. Married father-of-two Visanu kept asking her out despite her rebuttals and molested her as the Uberpool drove to her house in Shoreditch, east Lon-
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don. The woman began panicking when Visanu drove down ‘back streets’ after dropping off two other fares in Shoreditch High Street, not far from her home. He then lingered at a set of traffic lights that had already turned green, and when the woman asked him why he had stopped Visanu replied: “Oh, I thought you were asleep.” “That’s when I really started to worry, because he wasn’t even look- ing at the road, he was looking at me,” the complainant said. “After the lights had changed and he drove off, while he was changing gear he leaned over to brush my leg. “I had this dress on that he also pulled on to brush the top of my thigh.” An Old Bailey jury took just two hours to convict Visanu, from Har- low, of sexual assault. The judge also imposed a sexual harm prevention order for a period of seven years. For two weeks after the incident the victimwould not leave her flat, and if anyone touches her in any way she ‘recoils’ from it.
LONDON CABBIES PLOT £500 MILLION LEGAL ACTION AGAINST UBER
Dorin Visanu
A group of London black cab drivers has hired solicitors to explore whether they can pursue legal action against Uber, in an effort to claim more than £500m in alleged lost earnings. The Financial Times reports that the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Associ- ation, which represents 11,000 cabbies in London, has engaged Mishcon de Reya to determine if its members have a case against the ride-hailing app. The cabbies’move is the latest stage in a protracted battle between the taxi drivers and Uber, as London’s transport authority struggles to strike a balance between the interests of the traditional taxi industry and newer tech-based transport companies. Lastmonth, the chiefmagistrate overturned a ban on Uber that was put in place by Transport for London last year, awarding the ride- hailing app a 15-month licence to operate in the capital. Uber appealed against the initial ban and kept providing its services in London ahead of last month’s decision. The LTDA believes its black cabbies, who have average earnings of £50,000 a year, have each lost approximately £10,000 a year in the five yearssince Uber began operating in London. Steve McNamara, general secretary of the LTDA, said: “We’ve been approached by a number ofmembers to help themexplorewhether there would be grounds for a potential class action on behalf of all taxi drivers against Uber. “We are in the very early stages of obtaining legal advice fromlead- ing law firm Mishcon de Reya on whether this is a possibility.” It is unclear on what grounds the LTDAmay sue Uber. A spokesman for the ride-hailing app declined to comment on the matter last month, saying there was no apparent basis for legal action. Gavin Foggo, head of litigation at solicitors’ firm FoxWilliams, said: “The cabbies have no obvious cause of action against Uber. You can’t normally sue a competitor merely because they are a competitor.” Aspokesperson forMishcon de Reya could not be reached for comment. Should the taxi drivers proceed, the legal fight is expected to go ahead in the autumn backed by a litigation funder,with costs fromthe case potentially running to tens of millions of pounds. A source said litigation funders – which contribute to court costs in return for a share of any payout – would not be involved without a strong chance of success. London black cab drivers have long alleged that Uber’s presence in the UK capital has caused themmore problems than sim- ply having a new competitor that offers lower fares to passengers. The LTDA previously took unsuccessful court action against Uber, arguing that the ride-hailing service was in effect running off a meter, contrary to its licence. London is Uber’s largest European market, with 3.6m users and about 45,000 drivers.
AUGUST 2018
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