News

Angry taxi drivers brought traffic to a standstill at South London’s busy Elephant & Castle junction on Monday afternoon as part of a week-long series of protests against Transport for London’s handling of Uber’s private hire licence.

Uber has been granted a licence to operate in Aberdeen. The controversial US-based taxi operator said it was looking to launch in the city “as soon as possible”.

Network Cars, one of the largest private hire operators in Scotland, has signed up with Autocab as its technology supplier, moving from a fixed system to a cloud-based dispatch system.

Daimler Mobility Services has increased its push into the chauffeur sector by acquiring a majority stake in the largest French private hire company, Chauffeur Privé, for an unspecified sum.

Leeds-based Arrow Cars has scrapped a plan to introduce 30 electric Tesla cars in the city after the local council refused the company’s request that electric private hire cars should be able to use bus lanes.

Uber is facing a billion pound VAT bill after the European Court of Justice ruled the company was a transport service, not an “information society service”, as it had claimed.

Up to 30% of taxi and private hire journeys could be served by autonomous vehicles by 2025, according to Addison Lee chief executive Andy Boland.

Leeds taxi drivers could face a daily £12.50 ULEZ charge unless they upgrade their cabs to cleaner vehicles – and local driver trade associations fear that many will not be able to afford to upgrade.

Around 80 taxi drivers brought Loughborough town centre to a near standstill last week with a go-slow protest against cross-border sub-contracting.

The total number of sexual offences in London’s taxi and private hire cars rose from 136 in 2015 to 164 in 2016 – and almost half of those convicted were Uber drivers, according to Metropolitan Police data.