In message , at 02:42:32
on Tue, 4 Apr 2017, remarked:
My point was to highlight how seriously the law takes
lack-of-insurance offences.

Not seriously enough to routinely stop the cars and ask, though. They
could start with the illegally parked ones - that'll get through the
fleet in no time!

The reasons for the stops vary but checking on the insurance is just an
online look-up job. It's amazing how many cars stopped for whatever
reasons are then caught for lack of insurance as well.

The problem with the current model of ANPR and lookup for insurance
is that the cars do have insurance, just not for "reward/hire".

I assume the online lookup can find such details.

Maybe, maybe not. Then there's the issue of whether the insured is
driving, or has he lent the car to a mate to do a bit of freelancing.

Drivers get done for insurance offences. We used to get a steady stream
of them before councillors because getting as many as 6 points at once
was a trigger for a licence review.

--
Roland Perry

In message , at 02:42:33
on Tue, 4 Apr 2017, remarked:

I'm sorry but you've made the mistake. Uber's customers are the
passengers because Uber debit their credit cards. The passengers
do not pay the drivers.

You misunderstand the nature of Internet intermediaries.

If it was as you say, then there would be no doubt whatsoever that
Uber as a transportion company and the drivers were employees. Uber
deny both vociferously.

When you buy something online from a retailer, and they charge you
via your credit card and Worldpay, you are in no sense a customer of
Worldpay. They are just a collecting agency, and to the extent that
the fares go from you to Uber to the driver, then they are just a
money collecting agency.

Where it starts getting mucky is that they are also a booking agency,
and just as you don't expect Amazon to be letting people sell
handguns and child abuse images on their platform, you shouldn't be
expecting Uber to match you up with an unlicenced or uninsured driver.

To take hire car bookings in the UK Uber have to be an operator as well.
That is an activity that has to licensed by a local authority and they have
obligations, especially to keep records of hirings.

The loophole seems to be the way they take bookings, but then outsource
the driving to subcontractors.
--
Roland Perry

On Mon, 03 Apr 2017 09:27:52 +0100, e27002 aurora
wrote:

Have you ever tried to manoeuvre on the Underground with a large
suitcase and a sizable piece of hand baggage, i.e. a pilot's case? I
only tried once. :-)

Yes, but in later years it's been two suitcases and a carry-on
backpack, and often a large shoulder bag added when going home.

bus - Walthamstow Central Vic - Picc change at the obvious place -
Heathrow.

--
jhk

On 2017-04-04 08:05:50 +0000, Roland Perry said:

The loophole seems to be the way they take bookings, but then outsource
the driving to subcontractors.

That's what basically every minicab company does. Uber is just a
minicab company. The only difference from a regular one is that
dispatch is automatic rather than a person doing it.

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the @ to reply.

On Tue, 04 Apr 2017 11:12:51 +0200
Jarle Hammen Knudsen wrote:
On Mon, 03 Apr 2017 09:27:52 +0100, e27002 aurora
wrote:

Have you ever tried to manoeuvre on the Underground with a large
suitcase and a sizable piece of hand baggage, i.e. a pilot's case? I
only tried once. :-)

Yes, but in later years it's been two suitcases and a carry-on
backpack, and often a large shoulder bag added when going home.

Why do some people feel the need to take half their wardrobe with them when
they go on holiday? If I can't fit everything into a medium sized hold-all
when I go away then I chuck stuff out until I can.

--
Spud

In message , at 10:16:06 on Tue, 4 Apr
2017, Neil Williams remarked:
The loophole seems to be the way they take bookings, but then
outsource the driving to subcontractors.

That's what basically every minicab company does. Uber is just a
minicab company. The only difference from a regular one is that
dispatch is automatic rather than a person doing it.

But maybe a regular minicab company has a fleet insurance policy.
--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 23:33:00 on Mon, 3 Apr 2017,
Anna Noyd-Dryver remarked:

If a train is stranded without a functional driver then the situation
can serious especially if the signalling is such that the signaller
doesn't know exactly where the train is. I dread to think what might
happen if this is somewhere without mobile coverage.

It's a balance between what might go wrong once a year, and the cost of
all those guards.

Taking the recent concrete example of introduction of DOO, I'm pretty sure
the agreements on Southern (for now at least) involve a member of staff
being on every train (with limited exceptions), and I'm pretty sure they
were re-employed on their new contracts with no loss of pay. Obviously
both
of these things may change in the future, but at present, where does your
huge cash saving come from?

The ongoing training programme, training of new guards, and as you suggest
the employment of new on-train staff at a different grade, despite not
"demoting" the grandfathered-in existing guards.

That's what BA did when it hired in new starters (on lower salaries) to work
new routes from LGW.

and look what happens

a couple of years later they go on strike because they aren't earning the
same as legacy workers flying from LHR.

tim

"Jarle Hammen Knudsen" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 03 Apr 2017 09:27:52 +0100, e27002 aurora
wrote:

Have you ever tried to manoeuvre on the Underground with a large
suitcase and a sizable piece of hand baggage, i.e. a pilot's case? I
only tried once. :-)

Yes, but in later years it's been two suitcases and a carry-on
backpack, and often a large shoulder bag added when going home.

if you're paying 200 pounds in excess baggage fee, the cost of the taxi is
immaterial

tim

On 2017-04-04 09:53:31 +0000, Roland Perry said:

In message , at 10:16:06 on Tue, 4
Apr 2017, Neil Williams remarked:
The loophole seems to be the way they take bookings, but then outsource
the driving to subcontractors.

That's what basically every minicab company does. Uber is just a
minicab company. The only difference from a regular one is that
dispatch is automatic rather than a person doing it.

But maybe a regular minicab company has a fleet insurance policy.

Typically no it does not unless it owns the fleet.

Normally, minicab drivers drive their own car and arrange their own insurance.

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the @ to reply.

On Tue, 4 Apr 2017 11:21:10 +0100, "tim..."
wrote:

if you're paying 200 pounds in excess baggage fee, the cost of the taxi is
immaterial

How did you arrive at that conclusion?

And it's about £25 per extra bag with one bag included.

--
jhk