{"id":13020,"date":"2017-08-15T13:19:31","date_gmt":"2017-08-15T12:19:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=13020"},"modified":"2017-08-15T15:06:59","modified_gmt":"2017-08-15T14:06:59","slug":"uber-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=13020","title":{"rendered":"Uber out"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Police have slammed the ride-sharing app Uber in London for failing to report sexual assaults by its drivers, among other serious crimes, leading Unite to call for an end to Uber’s operating licence in the capital.<\/p>\n

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In a damning letter obtained by the Sunday Times this week from Inspector Neil Billany, head of the Metropolitan police\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00c2\u00a0(MPS) taxi and private hire unit, Uber was accused of \u00e2\u20ac\u015bdeciding what crimes to report\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d those that would \u00e2\u20ac\u015bbe less damaging to [its] reputation\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and failing to tell police about more serious crimes.<\/p>\n

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The letter, sent to Helen Chapman, head of taxis and private hire at TfL, highlighted several incidents in which Uber failed to report to police.<\/p>\n

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TfL said Uber\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s failure to communicate with police was \u00e2\u20ac\u015btotally unacceptable\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and would form \u00e2\u20ac\u015bpart of the consideration\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 as it decides Uber\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s long-term licence renewal in London in September.<\/p>\n

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Among the most worrying incidents noted in the letter was an alleged sexual assault by an Uber driver early last year. The victim was made to believe that, upon reporting the incident to Uber, the company would go straight to the police. Instead, Uber only spoke to the driver, who denied the offence and continued to work for Uber.<\/p>\n

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Just months later, the same driver committed a second \u00e2\u20ac\u015bmore serious\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 sexual assault against a different passenger, according to Inspector Billany. Again, while Uber didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say to the victim that the company would contact the police, the victim said that she was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bstrongly under the impression\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 that they would.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe second offence of the two was more serious in its nature,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Billany wrote in the letter. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bHad Uber notified police after the first offence, it would be right to assume that the second would have been prevented.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Delays<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Billany noted that the MPS was made aware of six sexual assaults, two public order offences and one assault in 2016 which were first reported to Uber and subsequently reported to TfL but were initially kept from police.<\/p>\n

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This caused a delay in police being informed from anywhere between a few weeks to seven months. Because of this delay, some cases, like the two public order offences, could not be pursued \u00e2\u20ac\u015bdespite both having clear evidence of an offence taking place\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 because a six-month prosecution time limit had passed.<\/p>\n

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Uber has itself admitted that it reports incidents to TfL as per regulations but it is not a matter of its policy to inform the police. Billany claimed that in one alleged road rage incident involving a driver using pepper spray, which is technically classified as a fire arm, Uber refused to give information to the police unless they submitted a formal request under the Data Protection Act.<\/p>\n

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Passenger safety<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s London Cab Section chair Jim Kelly slammed Uber\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s refusal to cooperate with police.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTheir behaviour demonstrates what we have known for some time \u00e2\u20ac\u201d that Uber sacrifices passenger safety at the altar of the profit motive,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bUber is driving this race to the bottom in the private hire market \u00e2\u20ac\u201d where the safety of its passengers does not even register as a priority \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and it must stop.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Kelly explained that the incidents highlighted in Billany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s letter also expose a loophole in private hire legislation.<\/p>\n

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While complaints against black cab drivers are reported straight to TfL, in private hire, the victim or complainant is left to sort out the matter with the operator \u00e2\u20ac\u201d in this case Uber \u00e2\u20ac\u201d first.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe at Unite argue that all complaints against private hire drivers should be directed straight to TfL and not to the operator,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kelly noted. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is so that all passengers, no matter what mode of transport they take or which company the operator is, are in a position where their safety comes first and complaints are dealt with in a streamlined way.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Licence<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Kelly added that the latest news revealing Uber\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s failure to protect passengers adds to the reasons why Uber\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s licence in London should not be renewed in September.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFrom the way it treats its passengers with wanton disregard to the way it sees its workers as expendable robots with virtually no employment rights or protections, Uber has shown itself to be a company that does not deserve to operate on the streets of London,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFrom iconic black cabs to buses and the tube, TfL and its predecessor\u00c2\u00a0have a proud history of putting passengers first and we cannot allow this history to be sullied by a company only concerned with the relentless pursuit of profit.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe at Unite urge the Mayor of London and TfL to not renew\u00c2\u00a0Uber\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s operating licence when it comes up for review next month.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Police have slammed the ride-sharing app Uber in London for failing to report sexual assaults by its drivers, among other serious crimes, leading Unite to call for an end to Uber’s operating licence in the capital.     In a damning letter obtained by the Sunday Times this week from Inspector Neil Billany, head of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[192,772,33,238,718],"wps_subtitle":"Unite joins call against licence renewal amid scandal","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13020"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13020"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13029,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13020\/revisions\/13029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}