In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at
12:29:00 on Sun, 2 Apr 2017, remarked:
https://www.uber.com/en-GB/drive/lon...-requirements/

The main complaint is that they don't (do much checking). And
reportedly the problem with insurance is they don't track
cancellations

I'm not even sure there's a mechanism for that even if they wanted
to

They could do spot checks on the drivers, say once a month on
averagefor each, and blacklist the ones without insurance.

I think you mean take them to court to get 6 points on their licence?

No, but the licensing authorities and police are.

Why would Uber snitch on their customers (and make no mistake, Uber's
customers are the drivers, passengers are the customers of the
drivers).

Because the consequences of them being found out covering up such illegality
will have far more serious consequences for their business than jettisoning
the odd driver or two.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Sun, 2 Apr 2017 01:15:45 +0100, Graham Nye
wrote:

On 2017-04-01 11:07, e27002 aurora wrote:
e27002 aurora wrote:

OK, so I have had it with the Woking RailAir coach link. I need an
alternative means of reaching the airport. Train from the South Coast
to Woking is fine. But what are the alternatives for reaching the
airport?

Starting from the Portsmouth area.

The national rail journey planner suggests a number of options - Waterloo,
Paddington, Heathrow or Southampton, Reading, the other railair coach.

If you're going to do part of the journey by coach you could do the whole
journey by National Express - half an hour longer but a quarter of the
rail price. That's what I do from the West Country rather than messing
around at Reading.

(Travelling off-peak from Portsmouth Harbour seems to save a whole 3%
off the anytime fare. How generous.)

Using Portsmouth Harbour would mean travelling in the opposite
direction, probably be rail! But that one might be doable.

The sanest suggestion is to travel to Waterloo, then taxi to
Paddington, then Heathrow Express. But, if I use a taxi to cross
central London, I may as well use one from Woking and save an hour.

On Sat, 1 Apr 2017 12:15:44 +0100, "D A Stocks"
wrote:

"e27002 aurora" wrote in message
.. .


Uber first became available in Brighton and Hove about a year ago but when I
tried it soon after the launch there were never any drivers available, so I
have always used one of the local taxi firms booking by phone from home or
by taking a taxi off the rank from a local station. However, when I arrived
at Brighton Station last Thursday evening the length of queue at the rank
suggested it would be at least 10-15 minutes before I would get a ride (for
a 5 minute journey); this is because the daft queuing system only allows 1
or 2 taxis to load at a time, leading to long queues of both passengers and
taxis at busy times.

I fired up the Uber app and there were cars available within a couple of
minutes from a pick-up point just outside the station so I went for it. The
driver told me there are now around 90 drivers operating in the area, and
the fare was quite a bit less than a metered taxi. I may well take another
look at Uber when I make the reverse journey at 5.00 am on Monday morning:
no more messing about with cash and and, if my initial experience is
anything to go by, nicer cars, nicer drivers and cheaper. What's not to
like?

App now installed on my Android.

"Graham Harrison" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 2 Apr 2017 15:55:48 +0100, Graeme Wall
wrote:



I think you need to update your knowledge. Flybe operate
Southampton/Charles de Gaulle.

But it's not a good idea booking a transatlantic fight (any long haul) using
a non-inline connection

the costs of your local flight being late/cancelled are too large

tim

"Recliner" wrote in message
...
tim... wrote:


"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message
-septe
mber.org, at 20:19:18 on Sat, 1 Apr 2017, Recliner
remarked:
The point about Uber's model is that they don't own them

but that doesn't mean that the driver does either - he could be
"borrowing"
it

(FTAOD - I'm not making some pedantic point about Lease-Hire)

The driver can't just turn up in a random borrowed vehicle. Uber must
approve, and knows exactly what car he drives. It presumably does some
checks on its ownership, suitability, whether it's licensed and insured
for
private hire, etc.

https://www.uber.com/en-GB/drive/lon...-requirements/

The main complaint is that they don't (do much checking). And reportedly
the problem with insurance is they don't track cancellations

I'm not even sure there's a mechanism for that even if they wanted to

Yes, they apparently contact the insurance company the driver claimed to
have a policy with,

well I guessed that they could do that

I just thought that doing that for 10,000 drivers, once a month (say) was
going to be too much aggro for both parties

and they could ask to be informed if the policy lapsed.
That may be even be available online.

It was this that I didn't thing was available

tim

"e27002 aurora" wrote in message
news
On Sun, 2 Apr 2017 01:15:45 +0100, Graham Nye
wrote:

On 2017-04-01 11:07, e27002 aurora wrote:
e27002 aurora wrote:

OK, so I have had it with the Woking RailAir coach link. I need an
alternative means of reaching the airport. Train from the South Coast
to Woking is fine. But what are the alternatives for reaching the
airport?

Starting from the Portsmouth area.

The national rail journey planner suggests a number of options - Waterloo,
Paddington, Heathrow or Southampton, Reading, the other railair coach.

If you're going to do part of the journey by coach you could do the whole
journey by National Express - half an hour longer but a quarter of the
rail price. That's what I do from the West Country rather than messing
around at Reading.

(Travelling off-peak from Portsmouth Harbour seems to save a whole 3%
off the anytime fare. How generous.)

Using Portsmouth Harbour would mean travelling in the opposite
direction, probably be rail! But that one might be doable.

The sanest suggestion is to travel to Waterloo, then taxi to
Paddington, then Heathrow Express.

why would you get a taxi from Waterloo to Padd when there's a direct tube
line?

tim

On 03/04/2017 09:00, tim... wrote:


"Graham Harrison" wrote in
message ...
On Sun, 2 Apr 2017 15:55:48 +0100, Graeme Wall
wrote:



I think you need to update your knowledge. Flybe operate
Southampton/Charles de Gaulle.

But it's not a good idea booking a transatlantic fight (any long haul)
using a non-inline connection

the costs of your local flight being late/cancelled are too large


That was the advantage of the original service, it was operated by Air
France so I could book through to Buenos Aires via CdG in safety. Ten
the service was taken over by BA an operated initially by Manx Airways
and switched to Orly. As Graham has pointed out, Flybe now serve CdG so
it is worth looking at again.



--
Graeme Wall
This account not read.

On Sun, 02 Apr 2017 12:54:42 +0100, Graham Harrison
wrote:

On Sat, 01 Apr 2017 09:47:12 +0100, e27002 aurora
wrote:


OK, so I have had it with the Woking RailAir coach link. I need an
alternative means of reaching the airport. Train from the South Coast
to Woking is fine. But what are the alternatives for reaching the
airport?

Has anyone used Uber? How does it work? What is the service like?

There are very good reasons to go to Heathrow - I still go there to
catch long haul flights. I'm prepared to put up with GWR to Reading
then the bus to get a non stop flight. Equally Gatwick sometimes via
Reading.

That said, going from Bristol, Southampton or Exeter (all
possibilities for me) means a shorter and easier journey at the UK end
but for long haul will mean a chage of plane somewhere.

Are you in a position to make somekind of trade off and use either
Southampton or Gatwick?

Gatwick would be wonderful. Unfortunately, my destinations are
usually easily available from Gatwick.

So, two weeks back my Air China ' plane touched down just before 16:00
after a 12-hour flight from Beijing. I had risen at 5:30 CST in Hebei
province to reach the airport in plenty of time. 5:30 CST is 21:30
GMT the previous day.

By 17:00, having cleared immigration, picked up my baggage and passed
thru customs, I was at the Heathrow Central bus station. There I had
a thirty-five-minute wait for the express to Woking.

Customarily the driver stows one's baggage. That evening he told his
passengers to stow their own baggage. I would add my back was not in
good shape.

At Woking, I caught a delayed fast train at about 18:16. Unfortunately
someone used it to terminate his earthly life between Worplesdon and
Guildford. And, we were held outside Guildford for 2.5 hours. At
Guildford, not unreasonably all passengers had to alight. Within ten
minutes we were on a stopping service to Portsmouth. I walked into my
UK home at about 23:00.

It is very likely a minicab, or taxi, would have gotten me to Woking
considerably earlier. There are three trains an hour on the
Portsmouth direct. So, chances are I would have caught an earlier
train and been home by 20:30 - 21:00.


As an aside, the events of that evening showed the value of having a
guard on board. Apparently, the driver went into shock. The card
called the BTP, and Network Rail. He saw that the driver was given
tea and comfort. As we lost heating and the lighting the guard dealt
with a sick passenger and a lady going into labour. The issue of the
role of guards needs careful attention before they are eliminated.

On 03/04/2017 09:04, tim... wrote:


"e27002 aurora" wrote in message
news
On Sun, 2 Apr 2017 01:15:45 +0100, Graham Nye
wrote:

On 2017-04-01 11:07, e27002 aurora wrote:
e27002 aurora wrote:

OK, so I have had it with the Woking RailAir coach link. I need an
alternative means of reaching the airport. Train from the South
Coast
to Woking is fine. But what are the alternatives for reaching the
airport?

Starting from the Portsmouth area.

The national rail journey planner suggests a number of options -
Waterloo,
Paddington, Heathrow or Southampton, Reading, the other railair coach.

If you're going to do part of the journey by coach you could do the
whole
journey by National Express - half an hour longer but a quarter of the
rail price. That's what I do from the West Country rather than messing
around at Reading.

(Travelling off-peak from Portsmouth Harbour seems to save a whole 3%
off the anytime fare. How generous.)

Using Portsmouth Harbour would mean travelling in the opposite
direction, probably be rail! But that one might be doable.

The sanest suggestion is to travel to Waterloo, then taxi to
Paddington, then Heathrow Express.

why would you get a taxi from Waterloo to Padd when there's a direct
tube line?


IIRC Adrian has a medical condition which may make humping suitcases on
and off the tube rather onerous. He is probably right in saying that a
taxi from Woking is probably better than taxi and Heathrow Express from
Padd. There are also a number of specialist airport service car hire
companies in the Woking/Guildford area that might work out cheaper than
a taxi off the rank.

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read.

On Mon, 3 Apr 2017 09:04:24 +0100, "tim..."
wrote:



"e27002 aurora" wrote in message
news
On Sun, 2 Apr 2017 01:15:45 +0100, Graham Nye
wrote:

On 2017-04-01 11:07, e27002 aurora wrote:
e27002 aurora wrote:

OK, so I have had it with the Woking RailAir coach link. I need an
alternative means of reaching the airport. Train from the South Coast
to Woking is fine. But what are the alternatives for reaching the
airport?

Starting from the Portsmouth area.

The national rail journey planner suggests a number of options - Waterloo,
Paddington, Heathrow or Southampton, Reading, the other railair coach.

If you're going to do part of the journey by coach you could do the whole
journey by National Express - half an hour longer but a quarter of the
rail price. That's what I do from the West Country rather than messing
around at Reading.

(Travelling off-peak from Portsmouth Harbour seems to save a whole 3%
off the anytime fare. How generous.)

Using Portsmouth Harbour would mean travelling in the opposite
direction, probably be rail! But that one might be doable.

The sanest suggestion is to travel to Waterloo, then taxi to
Paddington, then Heathrow Express.

why would you get a taxi from Waterloo to Padd when there's a direct tube
line?

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. :-)