AND DEACTIVATIONS
FREEDOM - WHY CCTV IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST until the point where the driver quite rightly stopped the journey and asked them to leave. The passenger version in their report to Uber and the council was that the driver sexually assaulted them, physically dragged them out of the car, and had taken them to some remote location to sell them as sex slaves!! The CCTV showed the truth!
• Union rep in Yorkshire accused of rape simply because the passengers wanted a refund. CCTV saved him.
• Driver accused of being abusive and slamming on his brakes causing the rear passengers to crash into the head- rests causing whiplash. An insurance claim was submitted and a complaint to council. The truth? The passengers were racially abusive towards the driver throughout the journey and assaulted him whilst driving.
DEACTIVATIONS
This is currently a hot topic in the private hire industry, but most specifically relating to drivers working on app platforms such as Uber. This is when a passenger makes a complaint directly to the operator which results in the driver being kicked off the platform without any notice, and in many cases, for far too long, before the driver is even made aware of the nature, date and time of the complaint.
We have all seen posts by drivers asking: “My account has been deactivated what can I do?” This issue was highlighted recently when a Brighton driver was accused of sexual assault. Fortunately, his CCTV proved his innocence to the council BUT Uber took over a month to reactivate his account.
Where there is CCTV present, every effort must be made by both the council and the operator to resolve the matter as quickly as possible by making use of the evidence available. Whilst, we of course accept that there are public safety responsibilities, it must be appreciated that this is the
FACEBOOK AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Customers regularly use social media to both praise and complain. Positive reviews are great whilst negative com- ments are unfortunate but mostly subjective and generally harmless. However, we have also seen vindictive posts about drivers, with hearsay information, which are rapidly shared and twisted which can turn into a serious problem for a driver.
We know that many of these posts are completely false, but the fact remains, those posts can be seen directly by opera- tors and licensing officers or can be screenshot and sent in as an official complaint to the council. Without evidence to the contrary, these posts can result in a driver being removed off a track or platform or even worse losing their licence for nothing more than a fabricated story!
NR3 DATA-BASE
Remember, with the introduction of the NR3 - (National Register of the three licences) – database, if your licence is revoked or suspended by one authority, this information is shared to all other councils using this database.
It is NOT as we have recently heard a council say: “an anti-fraud database”, it is a national register of licence holders which will reduce your ability to get licensed by a different council if you have been suspended by another council. Therefore a suspension or revocation of your licence is serious and will have consequences
drivers’ livelihood on the line and there must be a duty of care towards BOTH the accuser AND the accused.
Remember, until the evidence is reviewed adequately, it is unclear who is the true victim of an allegation - the accuser has had a refund and is happy but the accused is out of work and in many cases doesn’t even know why!
DECEMBER 2021
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