Uber court defeat could cost it London drivers

A High Court ruling against Uber in the UK could cost the firm some of its drivers in London.

Uber has roughly 30,000 drivers operating in London, which has caused no shortage of tension between the firm and the traditional black cab drivers in London.

In October, Uber lost another case when a tribunal ruled that it had to provide two of its drivers with at least minimum wage and also holiday pay.

This time Uber was fighting against proposals from public body Transport for London (TfL) which wants to enforce a standard for English reading and writing skills for drivers that the company believes is too high.

High Court Judge John Mitting ruled that TfL is entitled to require private hire drivers demonstrate English language compliance.

"Writing an essay has nothing to do with communicating with passengers or getting them safely from A to B," Uber's General Manager in London Tom Elvidge said, reports the Reuters News Agency.

"We intend to appeal this unfair and disproportionate new rule."

Written by: James Delahunty @ 3 Mar 2017 13:46

hearme0

"Writing an essay has nothing to do with communicating with passengers or getting them safely from A to B," Uber's General Manager in London Tom Elvidge said, reports the"

This guy should be bitch slapped into retirement from EVER making a decision again.

What an ASSHOLE for saying this.

It's not about "writing an essay" and Tom Elvidge would do best to RECOGNIZE that Uber drivers (or Taxi drivers) are generally not the brightest bulbs in the box as driving requires little intelligence.......but none-the-less.....if Uber drivers can't deal in essential communication then BE GONE WITH THEM.

This guy's just pissed because he probably has a bunch of f'ing foreigners that are either illegal or barely speaking English.

Those that can't understand proper English need to BE REMOVED FROM THE ROAD.........PERIOD!

3.3.2017 14:07 #1

scorpNZ

Won't be long before on the fly translation apps make learning a new language irrelevant.I am curious however as to how a non english speaking driver knows wtf some english speaking passenger is saying,i'll assume the gps street maps takes care of how to get there

http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/
http://www.realmodscene.com/

3.3.2017 20:25 #2

pmshah

Originally posted by scorpNZ: Won't be long before on the fly translation apps make learning a new language irrelevant.I am curious however as to how a non english speaking driver knows wtf some english speaking passenger is saying,i'll assume the gps street maps takes care of how to get there I am post graduate Engineer who has lived in US for 6+ years AND traveled across the world quite widely. In fact I must have made more than 20 trips to the UK. Even I sometimes have a problem understanding the so called "white native English" people.

3.3.2017 21:03 #3

pmshah

Originally posted by hearme0: "Writing an essay has nothing to do with communicating with passengers or getting them safely from A to B," Uber's General Manager in London Tom Elvidge said, reports the"

This guy should be bitch slapped into retirement from EVER making a decision again.

What an ASSHOLE for saying this.

It's not about "writing an essay" and Tom Elvidge would do best to RECOGNIZE that Uber drivers (or Taxi drivers) are generally not the brightest bulbs in the box as driving requires little intelligence.......but none-the-less.....if Uber drivers can't deal in essential communication then BE GONE WITH THEM.

This guy's just pissed because he probably has a bunch of f'ing foreigners that are either illegal or barely speaking English.

Those that can't understand proper English need to BE REMOVED FROM THE ROAD.........PERIOD! Do you expect the drivers to recite an essay to prospective clients? Why not apply the same rule to ALL the EU - non English understanding - workers? With a taxi driver you might end up in a wrong location but with other workers you might wnd up with a whole lot od wrong work costing an arm and a leg!

Believe me quite a few of them are doing this out of sheer necessity.

3.3.2017 21:07 #4

scorpNZ

Originally posted by pmshah: Originally posted by scorpNZ: Won't be long before on the fly translation apps make learning a new language irrelevant.I am curious however as to how a non english speaking driver knows wtf some english speaking passenger is saying,i'll assume the gps street maps takes care of how to get there I am post graduate Engineer who has lived in US for 6+ years AND traveled across the world quite widely. In fact I must have made more than 20 trips to the UK. Even I sometimes have a problem understanding the so called "white native English" people. You mean something like this..lol..

http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/bl...g-slang-sermon/

http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/
http://www.realmodscene.com/

4.3.2017 02:02 #5

onan

Originally posted by hearme0: "Writing an essay has nothing to do with communicating with passengers or getting them safely from A to B," Uber's General Manager in London Tom Elvidge said, reports the"

This guy should be bitch slapped into retirement from EVER making a decision again.

What an ASSHOLE for saying this.

It's not about "writing an essay" and Tom Elvidge would do best to RECOGNIZE that Uber drivers (or Taxi drivers) are generally not the brightest bulbs in the box as driving requires little intelligence.......but none-the-less.....if Uber drivers can't deal in essential communication then BE GONE WITH THEM.

This guy's just pissed because he probably has a bunch of f'ing foreigners that are either illegal or barely speaking English.

Those that can't understand proper English need to BE REMOVED FROM THE ROAD.........PERIOD! Yeah! They should use the language correctly as you so ably demonstrate. ;)

onan

4.3.2017 10:09 #6

blaster4

5.3.2017 03:41 #7

ddp

& what is "proper English" as you also have slangs & accents involved in countries that speak English?

5.3.2017 21:17 #8

dikbozo

The ability to write complete sentences would be valuable when making statements to the police or when compiling complaints against uber. I see clearly why this man is so opposed to it.

8.3.2017 07:40 #9

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