Hero cabbie chased down and caught thugs who snatched his takings, court hears

A taxi driver has told the Old Bailey he chased and caught a teenager who had snatched his takings as he felt “violated”.

Gary Cox, above, was flagged down in Marylebone by two men who asked to be taken to Victoria on December 3. 

He told the court that one man then pounced “like a gazelle” to steal his cash bag and they tussled before the thieves fled with about £35. Mr Cox gave chase, grabbing one thief by the hood before he struggled free. 

“I must say for a fat bloke he ran really fast,” he said. 

Mr Cox later picked out a 17-year-old in an identity parade. 

The teenager, who cannot be identified, is also accused of taking a moped at knifepoint in St John’s Wood.  He denies two counts of robbery. 

The trial continues.

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Basildon taxi firm forced to expand into Canvey as Uber arrives

A BASILDON taxi firm has been forced to expand into Canvey and Castle Point to combat the influx of Uber drivers taking their business.

Uber drivers, excluded from operating in Chelmsford, Southend and Rayleigh, have been accused of zoning in on Basildon instead.

In March, the ridesharing app was “geo-fenced” from Southend, Chelmsford and Rayleigh, which prevents the driver operating in those locations.

Chris Cowley from Laindon, who manages the office of Basildon’s A & B Taxis, claims that Uber’s decision to make these Essex towns no-go zones is driving their business to Basildon.

“Poor old Basildon is excluded from this zone,” he said.

Mr Cowley, 67, whose company has 170 cabs in their fleet, said: “You see them a lot at Festival Leisure Park, and more and more at the station.

“There are lots more at weekends, because people drive for Uber as a part time job.

“Our drivers are very disgruntled. A lot of them assume that Uber is illegal.

“We are having to go into new ventures and expand because of Uber, as in Basildon, business is getting tight.”

Uber’s decision to restrict their drivers from operating in Southend, Chelmsford and Rayleigh comes as Uber is poised to appeal a decision by Transport for London decision to withdraw its operating license. In order to appease TfL, Uber has responded to concerns about it operating outside London by restricting its business in certain areas.

The withdrawal of Uber from Southend has proved to be good news for the town’s minicab drivers, who report that business is now booming for them.

One said: “Down on the ranks now it’s much busier, and at weekends you notice it the most - I just hope they don’t come back.”

Meanwhile, in Basildon, taxi drivers are now struggling to eek out a living.

“Business is definitely slower,” said Peter, a driver for Laindon Taxis.

“A lot of our old passengers are now trying Uber out now for the first time, it’s like a new toy on their phone. People coming out of the station are now ignoring the taxi cabs waiting there, they walk right past us and hop straight into an Uber.”

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More Than 100 Uber Driver Have Been Accused Of Sexual Assault In Last 4 Years

More than 100 Uber drivers have been accused of sexually assaulting or abusing their passengers in the past four years, shocking investigation reveals

More than 100 Uber drivers have been accused of sexually assaulting or abusing their passengers in the past four years.

The drivers were arrested, are wanted by police, or have been named in civil suits relating to the incidents, a CNN investigation has found.

At least 31 drivers have been convicted for crimes ranging from forcible touching and false imprisonment to rape, and dozens of criminal and civil cases are pending.

An investigation has found that 103 drivers have been accused of sexually assaulting or verbally abusing passengers 

Last year Uber driver John David Sanchez was sentenced to 80 years in prison after pleading guilty to 34 charges including rape and sodomy of an unconscious person.

Sanchez was initially arrested about a month after a woman told police she was raped by Sanchez in February of 2016.

he was fired by Uber but investigators later found a number of other women said they were also sexually assaulted by him in 2007, 2011 and 2013, but had not reported the attacks.

CNN found that that Sanchez is just one of at least 103 Uber drivers in the U.S. who have been accused of sexually assaulting or abusing their passengers in the past four years.

The network said its analysis came from a review of police reports, federal court records and county court databases for 20 major U.S. cities.

Five drivers across various states told CNN they were not provided any kind of sexual harassment or assault training.

In a statement, Uber said: 'These stories are horrific and our hearts go out to the victims.

Uber driver John David Sanchez was sentenced to 80 years in prison after pleading guilty to 34 charges including rape and sodomy of an unconscious person

'We worked with CNN to understand their findings and determined that Uber did 2.4 billion trips in the U.S. in that same period.

'But even one incident on our platform is too many which is why safety is Uber's top priority for 2018 and beyond.

'We recently strengthened our safety approach with new features including an emergency button, driver screening improvements, and the addition of the former Secretary of Homeland Security to head up Uber's Safety Advisory Board.

'This is just a start and we are committed to doing even more

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More Good News As It Looks like the gig is up for Uber in California

The California Supreme Court has issued a decision with major implications for Uber, the gig economy, and the question of worker classification more broadly. 

In Dynamex Operations West, Inc., the court holds – for purposes of California wage orders (which govern minimum wages, maximum hours, and meal and rest breaks) – that the appropriate test for determining whether a worker is an independent contractor is the so-called ABC test. 

Under that test, a hiring entity that wants to classify workers as independent contractors has the burden of establishing each of the following three things:

(A) that the worker is free from control and direction of the hirer in connection with the performance of the work, both under the contract for the performance of such work and in fact;

(B) that the worker performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business; and

(C) that the worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as the work performed for the hiring entity.

All three factors are difficult for a firm like Uber to establish (my view is that they lose on all three), but the second prong ought to be impossible for Uber to satisfy. Meeting prong (B) requires Uber to prove that its drivers are performing work outside the usual course of Uber’s business. Since Uber’s business is all about providing transportation services to passengers, driving people is in the usual course of Uber’s business. Indeed, the only way Uber can win on prong (B) is to convince a judge that it is not in the transportation business, but is instead a technology company. Uber has been making this argument, but the appropriate response to it has already been offered. The U.K Uber tribunal, for example, called the idea “faintly ridiculous.” Judge Chen deemed it “fatally flawed.” As Chen put it:

Uber is no more a “technology company” than Yellow Cab is a “technology company” because it uses CB radios to dispatch taxi cabs, John Deere is a “technology company” because it uses computers and robots to manufacture lawn mowers, or Domino Sugar is a “technology company” because it uses modern irrigation techniques to grow its sugar cane. Indeed, very few (if any) firms are not technology companies if one focuses solely on how they create or distribute their products. If, however, the focus is on the substance of what the firm actually does (e.g., sells cab rides, lawn mowers, or sugar), it is clear that Uber is most certainly a transportation company.

Being a transportation company, Uber will fail to satisfy prong (B). 

That means under the California Supreme Court’s test, Uber drivers are employees

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