In message , at 22:50:11 on Fri, 22 Apr
2016, Mizter T remarked:
The complaint is they claim minicabs are plying for hire around St
Pancras and KX.

More specifically, uninsured minicabs.

Wrong, that's not the complaint.

Private hire cars (aka minicabs) are not allowed to ply for hire on the
streets, only taxis can do that.

I'd suggest that you'll find very few, if any, TfL-licensed but
uninsured minicabs out on the street in London - being uninsured means
they'll lose their licence.

No, the complaint is that because Uber has roughly doubled the number of
minicabs in London, the TfL compliance department has been overwhelmed
and can no longer adequately police whether the cabs do have proper
insurance. That's insurance for being a minicab at all, not insurance
for pretending to be a hackney.

There's a secondary gripe, about Uber cars lurking around hot spots like
Kings Cross, blocking the streets as they don't have any ranks to use,
so that they can pick up their fares in seconds. One of the changes
that's being asked for is a period of purdah (5 minutes perhaps) between
someone ordering a Uber and it being allowed to pick them up.
--
Roland Perry