TfL under fire for signing 'amazing' number of non-disclosure agreements with departing staff

Transport for London (TfL) has been criticised for signing more than 800 "gagging" agreements with departing members of staff in one year.

TfL signed 848 non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) – a legal contract that binds former employers to confidentiality restrictions – during the course of 2016 to 2017, the latest year for which data is available. That year, 2,100 members of staff left TfL, meaning NDA's were levied on 40 per cent of the employees that left.

London Assembly member Caroline Pidegon, who asked Khan about the NDAs, said she was "amazed" at the numbers.

“While non-disclosure agreements and confidentiality clauses can have a role in protecting commercially sensitive information, I am amazed that TfL considers such agreements to be necessary for over 40 per cent of their departing staff," she said.

“TfL needs to justify this high level of agreements and reassure the travelling public that they are not gagging former staff who should have every right to comment on an organisation they once worked for.”

A TfL spokesperson said: “We are delivering huge savings in our operating costs while delivering safe, reliable and affordable transport services and one of the biggest programmes of capital investment anywhere in the world.

"Part of this involves merging functions and reducing management layers enabling net savings of over £500m over the course of our five-year business plan and recurring savings every year thereafter. This proactive management of cost is helping us turn an operating deficit into a surplus over this period.”

In May the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, launched a review into senior staff severance pay after TfL admitted spending £50m on departing staff over the past year.

Anyone earning over £100,000 now has to have their pay packet signed off by Khan.

The transport body has been tasked with shedding management layers and cutting its reliance on agency workers as part of a cost-cutting drive.

Among the big earners at TfL are commissioner Mike Brown, whose total remuneration for the year was £374,959, and Crossrail boss Andrew Wolstenholme, who collected £736,157.

Last month Khan sparked criticised after he refused to sit on TfL's remuneration committee to have oversight of the generous payouts, arguing that the launching of the review made it unnecessary.

Previous mayors Ken Livingstone and Johnson both sat on the committee – Livingstone as chair throughout his time on the board and Johnson as a member during his time as mayor.

Source : CityAM

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Cabbie Group Action : Are we being led down the wrong valley to protect Mike Brown's TfL ?

When Tennyson penned the searing words about the disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade, he was – like the poet laureate’s angry readers – demanding answers to one of the most pressing questions of the day: who/what led to the slaughter. 

Capt Nolan was the messenger who conveyed Lord Raglan’s written orders to Lord Lucan,

But, Captain Louis Nolan thought he was a battle tactician and led the charge down the wrong valley.  Ring any bells here???

Funny, the man who thought the three drivers taking Uber to court, (who eventually settled out of court), were wasting their time has suddenly had a changed of mind !!!

Any bells ringing yet. 

Try this one: No action can be taken against Mike Brown’s TfL while the case against Uber is running because it might prejudiced the case....in the eventuality of Uber settling out of court, probably for a lot less than the £500m stated this morning, no case against TfL would be viable. 

Are we being led down the wrong valley to protect TfL ?

TfL are the guilty party here as they allowed Uber to continue to operate for six years knowing that it was the driver who accepted the booking (admitted in court), Uber’s  operation was illegal ? 

Another question you might like an answer to before signing up for this action...Uber made Deloitte sign a non disclosure agreement over their second report ? 

You can’t see it, even the LTDA can’t see it ?

TfL cannot themselves dissect it ?

People are rushing in to sign up but wouldn’t it be a good idea to take some form of legal advice first?

Looking at the FAQ's : If you decide this action’s not for you after you’ve initially committed, it may incur a cost ?

Who large a cost????

Who remembers this email?

It is not about 'loss of earnings' - it's about recovering what was stolen from us.

Our Group Litigation should be for £1.5bn.

It was announced on Wednesday that this 'unelected' group would sue for £1bn.

Now it's down to £0.5bn.

We should be suing TfL. We are charging down the wrong valley. 

Let’s do the maths:

It's not rocket science.

CwP or Ernst &Young would do it this way.

As a professional with own vehicle (or rented) a professional is recognised in these matters as at £30 ph.

They'll gauge that at "gentleman's hours"; 40 hours pw.

x 52 weeks

× 6 years.

Then gauge how much work Uber has done in London (Uber say 2m pw)

We would judge this to be 40% (LTDA say 30%).

Whichever it is, Uber owe every driver that percentage.

The sums come out around £1.5bn (£1.7bn).

Every Taxi driver who was badged for those six years should receive £70k+

This is NOT loss of earnings!

Some drivers didn't lose earnings. They worked longer hours and lost valuable family time causing stress, having to work 40% longer. Some lost houses, wives, their kids once a fortnight, and some their lives.

Many have left the trade because of the hardship!

PH, garages, apps, etc., must take a different suit to ours. For damage to their livelihood and business and shouldn’t be included in any claim made by the drivers. 

Is the reason McNamara wants to sue Uber, so that it will be settled out of court for a great deal less! And to protect TfL ?

Is he using the other Orgs to give himself legitimacy.

News this morning from the  ITA, who have said, they will take an injunction against this suit, if need be!

WE SHOULD BE SUING TFL!

TAXI LEAKS EXTEA BIT : from LTR’s Sean Paul Day

Cabbies didn’t study The Knowledge of London for three years to operate on an equal playing field.

The LTDA should be calling on Transport for London to reinstate the demarcation between taxis and PH, and drivers should be recompensed for losses and damages incurred as a result of Über’s  operation being licensed illegally. 

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Nissan e-NV200 Taxi Saves Fleets So Much Cash That It’s Like Getting A License To Print Money

British taxi company C&C Taxi from St. Austell was already featured by Nissan as one of the LEAF and e-NV200 pioneers. 

Now, it turns out that by switching to EVs, C&C acquired a license to print money (no, not really), saving over €79,000 in 18 months on fleet costs.

According to the press release, the annual savings per car on fuel alone in the UK stands at €11,374 (£8,500) or over $12,000.

To make savings like that you need to drive a lot, and to drive a lot you need to charge a lot, and to charge a lot you need to do it fast so C&C installed two DC quick chargers – one at its office and one in an industrial estate. The result is 77,000 miles (123,000 km) in just 12 months for one of the cars, which translates to some 6,400 miles (10,250 km) a month!

Neither C&C Taxi nor Nissan provided the total payback period for the cars (including fast chargers) compared to conventional cars, which maybe would convince more taxi companies to switch to EVs.

Nissan’s Director of Electric Vehicles, Jean Pierre Diernaz explains the significance of C&C’s experience, commenting:

“C&C Taxis proves once again that Nissan electric vehicles work extremely well as taxis with huge cost savings for the business and big benefits to CO₂ emissions and air quality. These cars work hard, averaging 40 taxi fares and 240 km (150 miles) per day with zero reliability issues. It just works!”

C&C Taxi Fleet Manager Mark Richards commented:

“We have had such a positive experience with our Nissan LEAF fleet, even the drivers, who were anxious to start with are now very happy to drive a 100 percent electric car. They tell us a 10 hour shift is less tiring with an EV and the e-NV200 we have now means we can extend that experience to the drivers who were previously in diesel minibuses.”

“People often say that electric cars are just for cities, but we are in one of the most beautiful and rural counties of England with no cities or even motorways and they are working amazingly well for us. We are a family owned business and this is not a vanity project, this is something that is that is saving us money and getting us extra business.”

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