CAPITAL NEWS
ROAD DANGER REDUCED WITH NEW 20MPH SPEED LIMITS
From Monday 2 March TfL brought in lower speed limits across central Lon- don in a significant move to reduce road danger across the capital. The new 20mph speed limits will be enforced across all TfL roads within the Congestion Charg- ing Zone following strong public sup- port for the pro- posals. The 20mph speed limits are supported by new signage and
road markings, with raised pedestrian crossings being in- stalled in prominent locations where a high number of peo- ple walk. TfL will recalibrate all the speed cameras in central London and will work closely with the Metropoli- tan Police to ensure that drivers are complying with the new speed limits. From April, a new speed enforcement team from the Met- ropolitan Police,
equipped with the newest laser video speed enforcement technology, will be deployed to known high-risk locations for speeding, and will respond to com- munity concerns about drivers speed- ing in their area. Achieving lower speeds in London is vital for achieving TfL’s Vision Zero commitment
to
eliminate deaths and serious injuries from the transport network by 2041.
SEX OFFENCES BY LONDON DRIVERS RISE BY 81% IN ONE YEAR
A total of 294 sexu- al offence alle- gations against taxi and private hire drivers in London were recorded by police in 2018 – an 81 per cent increase on the previous year. Twenty-five of those cases were rapes, down from 34 in 2017. Other offences included intentional sexual touching of another person without their con- sent, a driver at- tempting to kiss or grope a passenger, and a driver grab- bing a passenger’s hand to kiss it.
TfL said the increase in reports were “anticipated and welcome” after the government body issued guidance to all private hire op- erators in 2017, emphasising the im- portance of report- ing criminal conduct to the police. Data provided by the police showed 17 individual drivers were charged with 21 offences, with two drivers charged for more than one offence each. Fif- teen were private hire drivers, one was a taxi driver and one was unlicensed.
Their cases resulted in six convictions, while six were cleared and five are awaiting court out- comes. Uber’s UK and Ire- land general man- ager Melinda Roylett said in a statement: “There is nothing more important than the safety of the rid- ers and drivers who use the Uber app. “Since 2018, Uber is the only operator TfL has required to report every serious incident to the Metropolitan Police and the new statis- tics reflect that requirement.”
NEW OWNERSHIP AND FUNDING AT ADDISON LEE GROUP
Addison Lee Group confirmed
last month that it will be entering into new long-term funding arrangements with a consortium of in- vestors,
led by
Cheyne Capital and Liam Griffin, to sup- port the future of its UK business. At the same time, the Addison Lee US business has been acquired by RMA Worldwide Chauf- feured Transport- ation.
Under the new ar- rangements, Ad- dison Lee’s overall debt will be more than halved, and substantial new cap- ital made available to the business. This will provide the busi- ness with additional funding and an appropriate capital structure to enable further growth, in- vestment and sup- port cash genera- tion. On completion of the transaction, Ad- dison Lee’s UK
business will be sold by The Carlyle Group to a consor- tium of investors. At that time, Cheyne will become the Group’s
largest
shareholder and Liam Griffin will return as CEO, re- placing Andy Bol- and, who has led the business for the last four and a half years. Completion of the transaction will take place in March 2020, following the receipt of custom- ary approvals.
OLA LAUNCHES IN LONDON WITH SAFETY FEATURES
Ola is now live in Lon-
don, operating with three categories: Comfort, Comfort XL and Exec ride. Ola now has over 25,000 drivers regis- tered on the London platform. The company will maintain its focus on drivers, safety and a collaborative ap- proach with local authorities and reg- ulators. Ola was also pleased to announce last month three part- nerships with estab- lished leaders in their fields to raise
driver standards across the market. Ola has teamed up with DriveTech (part of the AA), Mercer and Pearson in groundbreaking ini- tiatives to ensure the highest standard of driving skills, driv- er customer service and communication. Every Ola driver in London has passed the Versant spoken English test, ensur- ing a high level of communication in English as well as Ola’s Customer Ser- vice Test. London drivers join- ing the platform will benefit from six
weeks of zero com- mission and market- leading commission rates thereafter. In a number of pio- neering moves for the UK, Ola is launching its flag- ship global safety feature, ‘Guardian’, which uses AI and machine learning to automatically detect irregular vehicle act- ivity, a ‘Start Code’ feature to ensure customers
and
drivers are correctly matched, 24/7 voice support for riders and drivers, and a cap of six penalty points for drivers on its platform.
48
MARCH 2020
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