SheffTF

The company has to sanction the price through categorising the job for it to be charged at whatever rate and the driver has no control over the price. The driver can explain to his office to change the category of course, but the price displayed on the data-head is the price the customer needs to pay and not the price drivers just says so. Only time the extra is put on a job is when either an estate has been requested or in the driver’s judgement an estate would have been required anyway.

Not always the case the overseas call centre is used as an overflow for regular call centre here, so during the not so busy periods there is every chance you’ll speak to someone in Sheffield office. I agree with *_ash_* however that there may be a booking charge for the estate, that is normally the case if the customer requests an estate for what ever reason. Same for any specialist vehicle such as a six or an eight seater. It’s a different topic if customer feels they should not be charged extra for requesting the extra service, but they are the best people to ask for an explanation.

lol thanks for the advice, but these old bones have taken all the hits it was possible to take, time to put the old hoss to pasture methinks 😊 old dog, new tricks etc etc

Having been in the taxi trade for almost 4 decades and (if it was a good paying job I might be doing something else by now) was looking to continue working for another ten years, not now. What are the chances of a 61 year old getting a £50k loan and further being able to pay it off at the earning of today? There will be quite a few in my situation, so thank you Sheffield Council for one of the most manipulative campaigns/scams ever.

Yes they can use them as the permission is granted on condition of being licensed and a licensed vehicle doesn’t stop being licensed when it’s not carrying passengers. Half of the working day is spent empty, either going to pick up passengers or going back to rank after dropping off passengers.

Sorry to disagree, you are misinformed if you think anyone can get a licence anywhere and work anywhere else, there are other conditions attached to every licence. So you know what conditions need to be fulfilled in order to work elsewhere?

I appreciate your perspective and our trade dispute with Uber is very much only limited to the taxi trade and technically how jobs are despatched and who according to the law is supposed to accept the booking, the company or the driver, but that is legal stuff not for this forum. The list of court cases against them should be an indication not of their popularity but their cavalier attitude towards rule of law and established regulation developed over the years for safety of the public from unscrupulous taxi drivers. I also accept you have had a better experience from some uber drivers but that is more coincidence than training as their qualification is no superior to any other Sheffield licensed drivers. As for their success after two yeas of being in Sheffield they are still offering £150 to drivers and £150 to who ever refers the driver, that is desperation and not a sign of a growing company that is in demand. City and other companies have grown and increased their market share, with a couple of Rotherham companies also setting up office here. They are all now offering app based service and all offer payment by card very much like Uber. A new app is due to be launched "Riide" which is just like uber only using locally licensed drivers so things are already tough and set likely to get tougher come September when Riide is launched. Anyway you must use who ever provides you a service to your liking, I merely wanted to point out the anomalies in the claim that somehow drivers are different to regular taxi drivers. ---------- Post added 29-06-2017 at 16:45 ---------- Doing well thanks, hope you are well and not too inconvenienced by my setting the record straight ?

Indeed I do drive a private hire and no axe to grind , only pointing out the obvious error in your statement which suggests Uber cars or drivers are somehow different. The despatch system and their algorithms for charging is the only difference which like the holiday companies goes up with demand and no difference in drivers or cars. Many of the Sheffield drivers were working for other local companies before being swayed by offer of £800 inducements. If Uber didn't bring in drivers licensed elsewhere they would not be able to provide a viable service. The reason most Sheffield drivers rejected uber is precisely their method of using out of town drivers to circumvent local by laws where the local council cannot check or regulate them as they are licensed by another authority. The unfairness of that had lead to uber strugglingbhere not that I personally have an axe to grind. Their rating system is excellent and drivers love the price surge as that makes up for the little mundane runs where they don't even make minimum wage. Try running a 5series on minimum wage to get a better idea of who's paying for it, not uber lol

So where was the 5 series licensed or was it not licensed at all like those in France? How come only licensed private hire are allowed and various cars exist on all firms that you insinuate Uber somehow only use 5series and the rest ropy toyotas, do you seriously feel you are making a fair comparison or just defending your original claim? Also it is no longer a theory, conspiracy or otherwise once the claim can be proven by observing what has happened elsewhere such as London and Manchester and even Leeds. Once they dominate the market their prices go up and their commission also increases so the driver receives less of his own money. Just take a closer look at the market rather than jump on the uber soap box.

I've known drivers being asked to promote them on social media and drivers being paid to join them so it's not a huge leap of imagination to see sponsoring would be just in line with what they do and how they do it, underhandedly

Clearly Uber are trying the social media plant angle after failing in the market place here. They have tried throwing money at the drivers, up to £800 a time and thrown money at the customers in form of free trips and yet are still failing to attract drivers or customers apart from some students. The reason being they are required to use licensed drivers ie regular taxi drivers same as City or Excel or any licensed and regulated taxi firm. The example of France is a moot point as there they are using unlicensed drivers with no regulatory overheads or insurance burdens, so of course they are going to be cheaper. The only expense they've got is the sat nav', but that's not the case here. So very surprised if our Uber plant here has suddenly noticed Uber drivers in Sheffield to be a breed apart, since many of them are ex City or Mercury drivers:). The taxi industry is in turmoil because of Uber using drivers licensed in Rossendale and London to work here because those places have less stringent testing for cars and drivers. Yet the Uber sponsored members here put a positive spin in desperation in order to salvage their dwindling business. Their chief has quit last week and their investors are having a baby about the future so this post is a one last ditch attempt gain some support from Sheffield folk to muse them....... Can't see the company lasting but the technology they introduced will no doubt live on.

You are welcome and thanks for a civil conversation

lol so it seems you haven't learned anything from the interaction and those of us in the industry see the changes and development from within rather than being compared to curriers and lorry drivers etc, each industry has it's own regulations and as you wouldn't want your plumber to be qualified by watching YouTube videos we don't want the travelling public to be transported by sat nav jockies, so as we are so far away in our approach we have to agree to disagree

what a bizarre statement? since when have taxi drivers called for tighter regulations on themselves? they have been calling for equal treatment for all and for some drivers not to be able to flout the law whilst they have to abide by them. You seem to have totally misunderstood the situation and pigeonholed all taxi drivers into being a single entity. That is perhaps the tragedy of the trade that people who are ignorant of the trade are making rules to govern and regulate the taxi trade.

Uber is a private hire company and not a separate category, so it's not Private hire and Uber but just private hire and hackney carriage two tier system and both expected to conform to regulations of testing their vehicles and insurance and maintenance etc. PH also paying the private hire company such as Uber or City taxis, but they don't have to buy a particular type of vehicle. The black cab or the hackney carriage has a captive market still at stations and the Wheelchair access trade, so they have more organised competition but are a long way from finished As for not many cities using black cabs, I disagree, most of the larger cities are using black cabs type vehicles with wheelchair access as a standard hackney carriage licensed taxi, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, Birmingham, Liverpool, Reading to name a few ---------- Post added 30-04-2017 at 14:51 ---------- TBH it's the other way around in Sheffield, with Uber using out of town drivers who quite often haven't a clue where they're going ---------- Post added 30-04-2017 at 15:00 ---------- You would not get the half the service if the organised taxi bases are taken out of the equation and without any benefit of reducing prices as many are already earning less than minimum wage. Bulk of the costs are fixed licensing maintenance, Insurance and fuel etc plus the need for driver to earn a living so £100/Week taken away from the bases will have the opposite of the desired effect.