"Arrogant" Uber deserves London licence loss, black cab union chief says

25 November 2019, 14:58 | Updated: 25 November 2019, 15:02

Steve McNamara told James O'Brien that Uber is the "biggest safety scandal in London" in this "millennia".

The General Secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association (LTDA) Steve McNamara told James O'Brien that he backs TfL's decision to refuse Uber a licence to operate in London.

McNamara said: "The reality is that this decision has been made by the mayor and TfL purely and utterly on the grounds of public safety.

"How anyone could even attempt to argue against it, it's just beyond belief.

"14,000 incidents, you spoke about uninsured but the driver will have been unlicensed.

"Nobody would have known anything about it. He could have come out of prison at nine o'clock in the morning and have been driving Uber at 10 o'clock under these circumstances.

"It is the biggest safety scandal in London. Certainly, this millennia. It is unbelievable.

TfL have done the only thing available to them and what strikes me as absolutely incredible is that Uber thought they would actually get a licence under those circumstances."

He later said: "Uber is spinning this morning that the Mayor's against technology, absolutely untrue.

"There are now a plethora of Uber type apps that are running and licensed in London, I'm certainly not going to name them, that the mayor has licensed that he's confident are safe.

It's this one particular company, their arrogant attitude to regulation, an attitude that we 'are the biggest'."

Uber is said to have allowed 14,000 trips occur in which passengers were picked up by unlicensed drivers.

James O'Brien put it to McNamara that most Uber drivers are not guilty of this offence.

McNamara responded: "Absolutely right, James, and all they've got to do is going to work for another company that follows and abides the law and carries the same ethos and same regulation that they do."

James thought this was a good idea.