On 2016-06-08 08:11:26 +0000, d said:

So they just drive around an area waiting for a radio call to pick someone up?
I doubt that.

No, they park up in strategic locations waiting for such calls.

Even if they did , its still a call from a central dispatch
office, not a direct call from a customer which is the crucial difference.

Uber has a "central dispatch office", it's just electronic. The call
is not direct, it goes via the servers which allocate the vehicle. You
can't choose which one you get.

Neil
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Neil Williams
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On 2016-06-08 09:23:38 +0000, d said:

https://help.uber.com/h/9a5b1660-9de...3-62569c3cd749

Quite a number of minicab companies (certainly the one I use locally in
MK) now offer the ability to call the driver direct in case, for
example, you've just seen him shoot past the end of your road (as
happens to me a lot, my house is a bit hard to find). This has nothing
to do with dispatch or booking, and is not illegal.

No different for Uber.

Neil
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Neil Williams
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On 2016-06-08 08:13:16 +0000, d said:

The Border force should take a trip down there and check the documents of
some of these drivers. I can guarantee they'll find some illegals and
overstayers driving MOT failure cars rescued from the scrap yard.

They might well find that of the minicab companies too. Uber is just a
minicab company. The thing the black cab companies are so concerned
about is that it's quite a big and well-organised one, unlike the
smaller ones that typify London. They are no doubt concerned about the
balance of power tipping towards that in the smaller provincial towns
and cities where the minicab is the usual thing people are talking
about when they talk about a "taxi", and black cabs are very few indeed.

Neil
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Neil Williams
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On Tue, Jun 07, 2016 at 08:18:37AM +0000, d wrote:

Because you're essentially hailing a cab on the street rather than pre-booking

Nonsense. To hail one on the street the cab has to be on the same street
as you to start with.

Its no different to if a minicab firm has its cars driving around waiting for
messages on the radio to go pick up someone nearby.

Right, and there's nothing wrong with that. All minicab companies can do
that.

--
David Cantrell | Enforcer, South London Linguistic Massive