Tighten legal loophole that Uber slips through
YOUR readers will have seen the current controversy over Uber taxis playing out in the media, following the decision by Transport for London (TfL) not to renew Uber’s licence to operate in London.
I write to let your readers know about the situation regarding Uber here in Coventry.
Uber is not licensed to provide taxi services in Coventry. Uber has never applied to Coventry City Council for a licence to operate.
I have no way of knowing the reasons behind Uber’s decision not to apply for a licence here, but it is worth stating that Coventry City Council sets taxi operators a higher bar than most other licensing authorities.
In order to be licensed in Coventry, taxi drivers need to have child sexual exploitation awareness training, disability awareness training, good levels of English skills, pass a knowledge test of Coventry’s roads, submit their vehicle for tests every six months and obviously they also need to be DBS cleared.
Currently there are Uber cabs operating in Coventry – but they are registered elsewhere, often Wolverhampton, where the bar for licensing taxis is lower.
In this way Uber is exploiting a loophole in the law. I, as cabinet member with responsibility for taxis, call on the government to tighten the law to stop this. It’s crucial local authorities take back control over taxis operating in their area.
I’m also calling on distant local authorities to bring an end to licensing taxis for drivers who are resident in Coventry. It is not credible that Coventry-based taxi drivers want to drive 35 miles to Wolverhampton to work. I have written to Wolverhampton City Council, asking that they end this practice.
Coventry City Council continues to do all we can to ensure we provide safe professional taxis for local people. By choosing a Coventry-licensed taxi, you continue to benefit from this. Councillor Jayne Innes (Whoberley ward) Cabinet Member for City Services
Memories of work at Triumph Motors
I WORKED at Triumph Motors from 1969 to 1987 when it closed.
I worked as a security officer and, apart from the shift patterns being changed to 12-hour shifts, it was OK.
The nightshift was as busy as the day. We had body lorries in and out of B Gate (Tile Hill Lane) all night from the Tile Hill factory. We also had Harpers lorries from Liverpool bringing bodies down all night. Christmas times were the worst, although there were workmates who would have worked the shifts for you, the managers refused to let us swap. It did cause resentment.
By and large, the workforce were a decent lot and only a few times was there any animosity toward Gate staff. Canley Road gates were the ones to watch as some of the workforce would leave the shop early and we were told to chain the gates. When the bell went to finish they would surge toward the gates.
At B Gate the foreman would be at the bottom of the drive and hold workers until the bell sounded. At C Gate – Tile Hill Lane they would wait inside the shop until the bell. At D Gate they would walk up from the factory and arrive at just about the correct time, same with E Gate.
The track TV operators who placed the cars onto the tracks were fascinating to watch. The bodies were on the top floor of the New Assembly Hall Canley Road and they were in the basement. The screens were black and white and they knew which colour body to send down by the hue of each one.
If people could have seen the cars in the modelling studio that were never put into production they would be amazed. Alas, weak management and not being prepared for the future put paid to it. It’s a shame it has disappeared.
I moved to Gaydon in 1987 and completed my 31 years service as a test driver with a grand lot of workmates. G Daffron Radford
Can you help us find cousin John?
MY wife is trying to trace her cousin John Charles from Bedworth.
If anyone can help, please text her on 07729 741356. Thank you. J Clark Wyken