INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Uber and similar services could be facing caps on the number of licenses for vehicles that can operate ride-hailing services in London and
other UK cities under rule changes being recommended to the government.
CCTV being universally installed inside licensed taxis and private
hire vehicles for safety purposes is another suggestion.
A working group in the UK Department for Transport has published a report urging a
number of changes intended to modernize the rules around taxis and private hire vehicles to take account of app-based technology changes
which have piled extra pressure on already long outdated rules.
In addition to suggesting that local licensing authorities should have the
power to cap vehicle licenses, the reportincludes a number of other recommendations that could also have an impact on ride-hailing
businesses, such as calling for drivers to be able to speak and write English to a standard that would include being able to deal with
&emergency and other challenging situations&; and suggesting CCTV should be universally installed in both taxis and PHVs (&subject to strict
data protection measures&) — to mitigate safety concerns for passengers and drivers.
The report supports maintaining the current two-tier
system, so keeping a distinction between ‘plying for hire& and ‘prebooking&, although it notes that technological advancement has
&blurred the distinction between the two trades& — and so suggests the introduction of a statutory definition of both.
This definition
should include reviewing the use of technology and vehicle ‘clustering& as well as ensuring taxis retain the sole right to be hailed on
Government should convene a panel of regulatory experts to explore and draft the definition,& it suggests.
Legislation for national minimum
standards for taxi and PHV licensing — for drivers, vehicles and operators — is another recommendation, though withlicensing authorities
left free to set additional higher standards if they wish.
The report, which has 34 recommendations in all, also floats the idea that how
companies treat drivers, in terms of pay and working conditions, should be taken into account by licensing authorities when they are
determining whether or not to grant a license.
The issues of pay and exploitation by gig economy platform operators has risen up the
political agenda in the UK in recent years — following criticism over safety and a number of legal challenges related to employment
rights, such as a 2016 employment tribunal ruling against Uber
(Its first appeal also failed.)
The low pay and exploitation of some, but not all, drivers is a source of concern,& the report notes
&Licensing authorities should take into account any evidence of a person or business flouting employment law, and with it the integrity of
the National Living Wage, as part of their test of whether that person or business is ‘fit and proper& to be a PHV or taxi operator.
UK MP
Frank Field, who this summer published a critical report on working conditions for Deliveroo riders, said the recommendations in the working
group report put Uber &on notice&.
In my view, operators likeUberwill need to initiate major improvements in their drivers& pay and
conditions if they are to be deemed ‘fit and proper&,& he said in a response statement
&The company has been put on notice by thisreport.
Though the report recommendation on this front do not go far enough for some
Also responding in a statement, the IWGB UPHD branch chair, James Farrar — who was one of the former Uber drivers who successfully
challenged the company at an employment tribunal — criticized the lack of specific minimum wage guarantees for drivers.
While thereporthas
some good recommendations, it fails to deal with the most pressing issue for minicab drivers — the chronic violation of minimum wage laws
by private hire companies such asUber,& he said.By proposing to give local authorities the power to cap vehicle licenses rather than driver
licenses, the recommendations risk giving more power to large fleet owners like Addison Lee, while putting vulnerable workers in an even
more precarious position.
Just days after the New York City Council took concrete action to guarantee the minimum wage, thisreportfalls
short of what needed to tackle the ongoing abuses of companies operating in the so-called ‘gig economy&.
We&ve reached out to Uber for
comment on the report.
Field added that he would be pushing for additional debate in parliament on the issues raised and to &encourage the
government to safeguard drivers& living standards by putting thisreportinto action&.
In the meantime, individual licensing authorities have
an important part to play by following New York lead in using their licensing policies to guarantee living wage rates for drivers,& he also
said.
London transport regulator, TfL, has beenlobbying for licensing authorities to be given the power cap the number of private hire
vehicles in circulation for several years, as the popularity of ride-hailing has led to a spike in for-hire car numbers on London streets,
making it more difficult for TfL to manage knock-on issues such as congestion and air quality (which are policy priorities for London
current mayor).
And while TfL can''t itself (yet) impose an overall cap on PHV numbers it has proposed and enacted a number of regulatory
tweaks, such as English language proficiency tests for drivers — changes that companies such as Uber have typically sought to push back
against.
Earlier this year TfL also published a policy statement, setting out a safety-first approach to regulating ride-sharing
And, most famously, itwithdrew Uber licence to operate in 2017.
Though the company has since successfully appealed, after making a number of
changes to how it operates in the UK, gaining a provisional 15-month license to operate in Londonthis summer
But clearly any return to Uber ‘bad old days‘ would be dealt very short shrift.
In the UK primary legislation would be required to
enable local licensing authorities to be able to cap PHV licenses themselves
But the government is now being urged to do so by the DfT own working group, ramping up the pressure for it act — though with the caveat
that any such local caps should besubject to &a public interest test& to prove need.
This can help authorities to solve challenges around
congestion, air quality and parking and ensure appropriate provision of taxi and private hire services for passengers, while maintaining
drivers& working conditions,& the report suggests.
Elsewhere, the report recommends additional changes to rules to improve access to
wheelchair accessible vehicles; beef up enforcement against those that flout rules; as well as to support disability awareness training for
drivers.
The report also calls on the government to urgently review the evidence and case for restricting the number of hours that taxi and
PHV drivers can drive on the same safety grounds that restrict hours for bus and lorry drivers.
It also suggests a mandatory national
database of all licensed taxi and PHV drivers, vehicles and operators, be established — to support stronger enforcement, generally, across
all its recommended rule tweaks.
It not yet clear how the government will respond to the report, nor whether it will end up taking forward
all or only some of the recommendations.
Although it under increased pressure to act to update regulations in this area, with the working
group critically flagging ministers& failure to act following a Law Commission review the government commissioned, back in 2011, writing:&It
is deeply regrettable that the Government has not yet responded to the report and draft bill which the Commission subsequently published in
Had the government acted sooner the concerns that led to the formation of this Group may have been avoided.
