Professional Driver Magazine April 2021

VOLUME 15 ISSUE 02 £4.95

Mercedes-Benz EQS

All-electric luxury

GETTING BACK TO BUSINESS

As lockdown eases and work returns here’s our guide to staying Covid-19 safe

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Delivery Point

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COVER STORY

ELECTRIC LUXURY – First look at the new Mercedes-Benz EQS

B usiness News

The latest from around the UK private hire sector

N ews Analysis

How drivers are falling through the loopholes and missing out on Covid-19 payments

N ews Analysis

Financial swings and roundabouts of the Budget and cuts to plug-in car grants

N ews Analysis

The Supreme Court has ruled that Uber drivers are Workers.

How will that affect you?

Self Drive Hire of PCO Licensed and Unbusiness Licensed Exe

26 R esuming safely The lockdown is easing, but Covid-19 is still Mercedes S-Class , Mercedes V-Class , Mercedes with us. Here’s how to resume work in safety Tesla Model S32 , Nissan Leaf P roDriver Congress Live report of our webinar 01707 649Full 090 exploring how deliveries could saved the day for the private hire sector : info@chauffeurrentals.com REGULAR FEATURES 40 The Knowledge 41 The Advisor Daily , Weekly Hires 42 or The Monthly Negotiator 43 The Insider

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VOLUME 15 ISSUE 02 £4.95

Mercedes-Benz EQS

All-electric luxury

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Mark Bursa 01932 858575 markbursa@prodrivermags.com

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As lockdown eases and work starts to pick up, it’s wise to be aware that Covid-19 is still with us. Here’s Professional Driver’s guide to staying safe as the business recovers

Seven points to keep you safe

Mark Bursa

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HE LOCKDOWN IS EASING, AND some aspects of our old life are returning to our world. We can socialise, and enjoy a drink in a seasonably chilly pub beer garden. We can’t yet travel internationally, but that will come.

And as the vaccination programme continues to roll out, the road map back to normality means operators, especially those with a predominantly business clientele, will start to see business coming back – roadshows, trade fairs, conferences, and sporting events.

A note of caution needs to be sounded, though. We might finally be taming the Coronavirus, but it hasn’t gone away. Nor is it likely to. Moving forward, we will have to live with Covid-19, as we do with influenza and other diseases.

The death rate has dropped significantly – currently it’s in a range of 20-50 people per day. But every day, more than 2,000 people are still contracting the virus. At least, finally, the UK is now ahead of the curve. After handling the pandemic dismally in 2020, the UK government’s vaccination programme has been a great success.

As work returns, it is vital for operators and drivers to remain vigilant. Let’s not forget the grim toll the Pandemic took on our sector in 2020 – according to Office of National Statistics data, 209 taxi or private hire drivers died of Covid-19 between March and December. And we know that several more have died in 2021.

Drivers are still on the front line, and operators have a duty of care to their drivers to protect them as far as possible.

And drivers must be aware of the risks they take every day, and act accordingly to

ESTABLISHED SINCE 2005 GETTING BACK TO BUSINESS

As lockdown eases and work returns here’s our guide to staying Covid-19 safe

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minimise them. So what should you do to make your working environment as safe as possible? Here is a simple guide to some of the steps every driver or operator can- and should – take.

1: GET VACCINATED The vaccines work. The figures prove it.

At the time of writing, 30 million people – almost half the UK population – have had their first jab, with around 8m having had their second as well.

The vaccines – whether they are AstraZeneca, Pfizer or Moderna - offer protection from contracting Covid-19 of between 80 and 90%. But, crucially, they reduce the risk of dying from the virus to almost zero. So you might still get ill for a couple of weeks, but you almost certainly won’t end up on a ventilator.

You cannot force your employees –

APRIL 2021

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Triumphs, tragedies and sideshows

OR A BUSINESS THAT HAS BEEN KICKED AND punched repeatedly for the past 12 months, the taxi, private hire and chauffeur sector has proved mighty resilient.

And there’s a lot going on right now. Consolidation is an inevitable consequence of hard times, and those companies that are doing better than others are taking the opportunity to grow.

For the takeover targets, becoming part of something bigger may be the only way to ensure survival. No doubt we’ll see more of this activity as the months roll on.

Meanwhile a gradual easing of lockdown is starting to spread positive thoughts among the hardest hit – those with predominantly B2B clients. Foreign travel may be some way off, but the return of some events and roadshows will be most welcome.

Not least here at Professional Driver, where we are working hard on getting our big events of the year back up and running in 2021. We couldn’t hold our Car of the Year Judging Days or our legendary QSi Awards dinner last year, but we will be back this year. We know you’ve missed them as much as we have!

As a sideshow to 2021, Uber’s journey through the British legal system continues to entertain. The record in the past few weeks is “won one, lost one”, and the ramifications of those decisions will be felt across the sector.

The two judgements are linked. With Uber being forced to classify all its drivers as “workers”, its existing direct business model now faces increased costs and regulation. And that could accelerate the new avenue presented to the company through the Competition and Markets Authority’s decisive ruling that Uber’s purchase of Autocab is not anti-competitive.

Anyone believing the CMA might believe otherwise was frankly naïve. Business takeovers happen all the time, and not liking the new owner is not a genuine reason for complaint. If you don’t like the supplier you use, switch to another one. Frankly, the dispatch system sector is so competitive that the incentive you might get from one of Autocab’s rivals to switch your

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business would almost certainly cover the cost of paying off your outstanding contract.

No doubt some Autocab users will do just that. Others might see that there is a genuine opportunity to pick up new work as Uber backs away from hiring “workers” and puts more jobs through Autocab’s iGo network.

Doing so would be a fast track to national coverage for Uber, and would ultimately pull it away from the nitty-gritty of driver recruitment, dealing with councils, and fielding customer complaints. Leave that to the operators, and just become a transport platform for taxi services, like Expedia or Booking.com.

Let’s face it, in its nine-year history in the UK, Uber hasn’t endeared itself to the sector. It came in to the market with a brash and confrontational style, and a preparedness to ride rough-shod over the rules – with armies of lawyers to make sure it got its way.

We’ve seen evidence that the new management that has been in place for the past few years has softened its approach, but Uber is no less ruthless a business. It wants to dominate, and it isn’t going away.

There are certainly plenty of experienced voices prepared to voice an opinion on Uber. You’ll find them in the pages of this issue, offering a variety of perspectives across the spectrum of opinion.

At Professional Driver we’ll continue to present all sides of the story and help you make a rational judgement based on facts, not shrill hyperbole. And we’ll continue to engage with Uber – because that’s our job.

I spoke to a senior manager at a large private hire fleet – and a vociferous critic of Uber – and asked him what would happen if the industry had included Uber in its discussions with national and regional authorities over legislation of the sector. His reply?

“We would win every time.”

I’m not convinced that accepting bad legislation as a “lesser evil” than an aggressive competitor makes any sense. We shall see.

Finally, on a personal note, allow me a brief toot on the trumpet. Professional Driver’s coverage of the sector over the past 12 months has earned me three major national awards from the Guild of Motoring Writers, the professional body for automotive journalism.

Our coverage of the hardships and triumphs of this industry through the pandemic, plus our comprehensive coverage of whether Uber presents a threat or opportunity, earned me Business Writer of the Year, Editor of the Year and the coveted overall prize of Journalist of the Year, 2020. I’m immensely proud of these awards, and hope you’ll agree they reflect the exceptional efforts we make to cover this industry to the highest standards of professionalism.

Mark Bursa Editor markbursa@prodrivermags.com

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DG Cars partners with Walsall’s 247 Cars to acquire Lichfield-based City Cars business Mark Bursa Nottingham’s DG Cars, one of the strongestperforming private hire fleets over the past 12 months thanks to its strong diversification into the delivery market, has made a major acquisition in Lichfield, in partnership with another major fleet, 247 Cars of Walsall.

The two companies have jointly acquired City Cars Lichfield, in an innovative deal that sees both become shareholders in the firm, whose territory is situated between Nottingham and Walsall.

The move creates a Midlands giant, with a combined fleet across the three businesses of more than 2,000 cars. DG has 1,250 cars in the Nottingham area, and earlier in the year we reported it had increased its fleet by 175 during the pandemic to cope with demand for delivery work, which has grown rapidly.

247 Cars CEO Shaz Ali says the City Cars operation is likely to be the first of several joint purchases as the companies look to fill the area between their two centres. Ali describes the joint business as “the third entity” – which means the two companies are still able to make individual purchases in and around their own towns, while using the third entity to serve “the houses in between the edge of Birmingham and the edge of Nottingham”, which includes major towns such as Tamworth, Burton and even Leicester.

Ride-hail car supplier WeFlex rebrands as focus shifts to EVs Mark Bursa WeFlex, which supplies cars to private hire drivers on a rent-to-buy basis, has switched to supplying only batteryelectric cars. The company has announced a rebrand to coincide with the change in strategy, with a new green ‘lightning bolt’ logo.

WeFlex was founded by former Climatecars boss Nicko Williamson (pictured). Climatecars was a pioneering “green” private hire operator with an all-hybrid fleet, launched in 2007, which was acquired by Addison Lee in 2015.

Williamson said the change was being driven by a number of factors in the London market. “When

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“We’re very careful about who we approach,” Ali said. “We want people with a thirst for growth and collaboration. He said 247 and DG were also looking for synergies, in areas such as training and quality control.

Walsall’s 247 Cars has 700 vehicles and has also grown in the pandemic thanks to a move into north Birmingham, which has added around 250 cars in the past 12 months. The acquisition of City Cars adds a further 50 vehicles to the combined group.

Before the Coronavirus pandemic, DG Cars had been acquisitive, buying Western Cars in Derby, which added 170 vehicles, and Z Cars in Newark, which added 30 vehicles. The company has also been a pioneer of electric taxis, a move

that won it the Professional Driver Environmental QSi Gold Award in 2019.

247 Cars, which started in 2013, operates a largely Toyota-based fleet across a large area of the suburban West Midlands to the north of Birmingham, covering Walsall and surrounding towns of Bloxwich, Pelsall, Willenhall, Darlaston, Aldridge and Brownhills. The company’s fleet includes more than 100 minibuses with 6-16 seats, and also operates courier van services.

DG and 247 have a history of working together – at one point 247 ran a call centre operation on behalf of DG. The City Cars business will be managed by 247 as Lichfield is much closer to its operating base than DG’s Nottingham head office.

the congestion charge rose to £15 a day, the mindset of drivers suddenly shifted to electric vehicles,” he said. “EVs went from not being easy to sell to everybody wanting one.”

Forthcoming changes to the congestion charge later this year will see plug-in hybrids lose their exemption too, which is “really accelerating the adoption of pure EVs”, he said. The availability of EVs with higher ranges of above 200 miles is also a major factor, he added.

The Uber Clean Air Fund, which offers weekly discounts to Uber drivers wanting to go electric, has also been a major driving force, he added. “Over last summer we saw that drivers were ready to switch to electric, so we decided to stop buying ICE cars.”

WeFlex is working closely with Uber, but not exclusively. The focus at the moment is on ridehailing drivers. “We don’t have a product aimed at

private hire fleet operators at the moment, but we’re working on it,” he said.

Currently around a third of the 700 cars being supplied via WeFlex are EVs, and that percentage is rising as existing contracts come to an end. “We’re working with Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Jaguar and MG,” Williamson said, singling out the MG5 estate for special praise. “It’s just great for the sector. Basic but nicely made and with a 200-plus mile range – and so much cheaper than other EVs.” WeFlex took delivery of its first MG5 two weeks ago, and the car is keenly priced. Currently WeFlex offers the MG5 for £135 per week, considerably cheaper than Nissan Leaf Accenta (£146), Hyundai Ioniq Electric (£165) or Kia e-Niro (£199).

WeFlex is also carbon-offsetting all its own costs, and is planting a tree for each car it supplies.

Williamson believes a market recovery will drive strong growth for WeFlex, and he plans to expand the number of cars on rent-to-buy to around 1,200 within 12 months.

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StreetCars continues its Manchester expansion with ScottsCars acqusistion Mark Bursa StreetCars, Manchester’s largest private hire operator, has acquired local competitor ScottsCars, based in Hale, adding a further 200 cars to its fleet.

The move, the latest sign of consolidation in the private hire sector as it starts to recover from the Covid-19 crisis, increases the dominance of multiple QSiAward-winning Street Cars in the local market.

In a statement, StreetCars managing director Aqeel Arshad (pictured) said: “StreetCars is elated to report we have taken over the well-known and successful local taxi firm ScottsCars. Not only have we effectively added 200-plus cars to our fleet in a single move, but we are now in a position to serve the Manchester community more efficiently than we have ever had the power to do before. The resources this initiates into our possession will ensure we remain a cut above the industry.”

StreetCars has kept working throughout the pandemic, transporting key NHS workers to and from hospitals and, like a number of other big fleets, diversifying into food.

Previously StreetCars’ growth had been organic, including the major 2019 win of the Manchester Airport contract. Arshad continued: “Over the past few years our business has expanded exponential-

ly, driven by the hard work of every single one of our staff members, drivers and of course, customers.”

He concluded: “We at StreetCars have a lot of pride over the fact that we got where we are organically. We planted these trees with our own hands and we have nurtured the saplings long enough to enjoy the shade they provide.”

In a statement, Scotts Cars said: “After so much success serving our local community, we are now being taken care of and managed by another more established taxi company, StreetCars. With our shared values and commitment to local areas, this next step for Scotts Cars will mean we can serve our communities better than ever. “

Veezu makes a B-Line for Pudsey with third West Yorkshire acquisition Veezu Group’s Leeds subsidiary Amber Cars has made another local acquisition, adding Pudsey B-Line’s 50 cars to its West Yorkshire fleet.

Amber Cars is the biggest taxi and private hire operator in Leeds, and the Pudsey B-Line fleet will now operate under the Amber brand.

Chris Neary, Amber Cars Regional Director (pictured), said: “This is great news for Pudsey B-Line drivers and their passengers. Residents and businesses will benefit

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from increased capacity and more ways to book journeys.

Amber Cars has marketleading technology and excellent service standards.”

It means Pudsey B-Line

customers will be able to book via the Amber Cars app as an alternative to the existing telephone numbers for Pudsey B-Line.

Cashless payments via AirPay

are also now available.

Amber Cars was also one of the first privatehire operators to introduce additional Covid safety measures in 2020 to make journeys as safe as possible for both passengers and driver-partners. The measures include specialist cleaning regimes, trialling invehicle protective screens, and making available more than 270,000 face coverings to driver-partners, free of charge, for their own use while driving.

The deal to acquire Pudsey B-Line is the third acquisition by Amber Cars within 13 months. In early 2020, Gee Gee Cars of Beeston, and Premier Cars of Moortown, joined Amber Cars.

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news

Travelhire takeover sees Brunel join Green Tomato Cars in London group Travelhire said the acquisition of Brunel fitted perfectly within the Group’s core values. “The combined Group will operate with a strong ethical focus and will be a compelling choice for the corporate market with a clear focus on industry-leading account management and customer service together with an uncompromising commitment to operate sustainably.”

Green Tomato Cars managing director and founder Jonny Goldstone welcomed Brunel to the group, saying: “By adding another quality operator and long-established brand to the Travelhire Group, we are further cementing our position as the only sustainable operator in London, and the only genuine alternative when it comes to providing city – and nationwide – ground transport services to London’s corporate market.”

Europcar bought Brunel from the founding Edwards family in 2016, and announced plans to develop the brand internationally, signing up chauffeur partners across Europe to grow the operation.

However there has been a major reorganisation at Europcar Mobility Services in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and this is thought to have led to a reappraisal of the business.

Mark Bursa Car hire giant Europcar has ended its venture into the UK executive chauffeur and private hire market by selling its Brunel operations to the Travelhire Group for an undisclosed sum.

It is the second major acquisition for Travelhire, which bought Green Tomato Cars in 2019, making it a major player in the London private hire market. Brunel operations director Beth Sampson (pictured) said: “This will provide Brunel with a platform to develop its brand as part of a more sustainable and socially conscious organisation.”

Travelhire has been one of London’s leading providers of premium car services to the corporate market for more than five decades – much the same as Brunel, Sampson added. Travelhire group acquired Green Tomato Cars from Transdev, another large European corporation that had tested the water in the private hire market before exiting the sector. Green Tomato Cars was established as an environmentally friendly service in 2006 and operates a large fleet of zero-emissions and low-emissions vehicles.

Prestige chauffeur firm Berkley Executive closes as Covid-19 kills off entertainment and corporate work High-end chauffeuring firm Berkley Executive, the company backed by pop singer John Newman, which went live just before the March 2020 lockdown, has become a high-profile casualty of the coronavirus pandemic.

Berkley Executive, which pitched its services to wealthy people in the entertainment and corporate markets, closed at the end of February and has disposed of its fleet of six bespoke Range Rovers and a Mercedes-Benz V-Class Senzati conversion. Managing director Mark Butterfield (pictured) has now taken a job outside the chauffeur sector.

Butterfield said: “This extended third lockdown was the final straw. It was always going to be a brave project but who could have foreseen the events of the past 12 months? Having hard-launched our business in March 2020 - to an incredible fanfare at a fabulous party at The Yard, Shoreditch - the first lockdown came at a bad time for such a young company.”

He added: “With all live events cancelled, plus very little in the way of hospitality, entertainment and luxury travel for the best part of a year, survival as a startup business was clearly going to be tough.”

Berkley Executive was originally set up in 2019 by chauffeur Rob Andrew, with backing from singer New-

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man, a car enthusiast who had worked as a mechanic before finding fame. Andrew left the business before the March 2020 relaunch, with Butterfield, formerly at The Chauffeur Group, taking over.

The Berkley fleet comprised six Range Rover 4.4-li-

tre diesel LWB models, with a customised two-tone black and green paint job and extras including a bar in the centre of the back seats. The MercedesV-Class Senzati conversion is a factory-approved upgrade with a bespoke interior.

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Take Me expands further with takeover of Cambridgeshire-based Steve’s Taxis Mark Bursa Fast-growing taxi group Take Me has made another acquisition, adding Cambridgeshire-based 4X Ltd, trading as Steve’s Taxis, to its growing portfolio.

The acquisition is backed by investment holding company MBH Corporation, which has made 25 acquisitions around the world in a range of industries, including the taxi sector.

In the UK, its taxi portfolio is centred around the former ADT Taxis business, based in Leicester, which has made a number of acquisitions already and is consolidating all its operations under the Take Me brand.

Take Me managing director David Hunter said the group was working on further acquisitions and would be adding further companies “at a rate of one per month”.

Steve’s Taxis is a long-established

company with a fleet of more than 100 vehicles operating in and around Huntingdon and St Neots in Cambridgeshire. It has a broad range of contracts with local schools, hospitals, prisons and local businesses, and these contracts have been invaluable as a steady revenue stream for the company throughout the past 12 months.

Despite the pandemic’s impact, Steve’s Taxis unaudited turnover to July 2020 was £1.8m with an EBIT of £0.2m. The operator is also planning

to replace petrol and diesel cars with electric models, and is offering driver incentives for switching to EVs. The total price for the acquisition of Steve’s Taxis is between £1.0 million and £1.4m, which will be settled by way of a listed bond in accordance with the MBH bond programme.

Steve Woodham, managing director of Steve’s Taxis, said: “This is a pivotal moment as the team looks to evolve and grow under new leadership from Take Me to meet new challenges

after an extremely testing year. It’s enormously exciting to be joining the MBH family and I know how much David Hunter and his team at Take Me have already benefited from the experience and counsel of other principals within the portfolio.”

Callum Laing, CEO of MBH Corporation, said: “We’re delighted to expand our transportation vertical and welcome 4X onboard. We have been hugely impressed with their proactive solutions to the challenges presented over the past 12 months, plus their commitment to EV and environmental concerns.”

Last month, Take Me added Birmingham-based TC Cars to its portfolio, in a separate £2m deal not funded through MBH. And last November, Take Me bought Farnborough-based Victoria Gosden Travel Limited (VGT) for a price between £1.3million and £2m, in a deal that was backed by MBH.

in running my own company. I conducted market research and included all my findings in my business plan, which was scrutinised by the Development Bank of Wales.”

The loan was arranged on behalf of the Development Bank of Wales by Investment Executive Claire Vokes (pictured above with Carl Harris).

She said: “It has been a pleasure working with Carl through his funding application. With his dedication and help from Business Wales he was able to provide a robust business plan, which secured funding from the

Development Bank of Wales for his start-up costs. He has a wealth of experience in professional driving and we look forward to seeing Luxstar and Carl flourish.”

Business Wales’ adviser Melanie Phipps helped Harris with his market research, legal set-up, pricing, insurance and bank accounts: “It has been a pleasure working with the Development Bank of Wales and Newport Council to help Carl get the necessary help, business skills and financial support to launch his dream venture.

With his experience and despite the challenges we are all currently facing, I am convinced he will make Luxstar a success”, said Phipps.

Luxstar has also signed up to the Business Wales Green Growth Pledge, committing to reducing his impact on the environment by preventing waste and pollution.

Harris secured his operator’s license thanks to Alan Leen from the Newport licensing team, and he has passed a local knowledge test to enable him to gain a private hire license in Newport.

Newport-based chauffeur defies pandemic with Luxstar start-up Mark Bursa Newport entrepreneur Carl Harris is looking beyond the Covid-19 pandemic by launching a new chauffeur business called Luxstar, with the backing of a £24,000 micro loan from the Development Bank of Wales, and support from Business Wales, Newport Council and UKSE. Harris was faced with redundancy due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and decided to start his own business.

With eight years’ professional driving experience, he has worked with the American Embassy providing services to congress, NATO, the US Coastguard, presidents and former presidents.

“I’ve been researching setting up my own business for a number of

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years. The rapports I had gained with people over the years, the knowledge taken from the clients I had driven, and the trust I was given led me on to explore opportunities to start my own chauffeur business with the high standards I was used to. Faced with redundancy because of the Covid 19 pandemic I decided now was the time to take the plunge and become my own boss,” he said.

“My first challenge was coming up with a robust business plan. I had a lot of knowledge of working in the transport industry but no experience

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news

Hyundai Ioniq Electric

Hyundai Kona Electric

Hyundai Motor partners with Uber to offer discounted prices on electric cars for Uber drivers Mark Bursa Hyundai Motor has formed a strategic partnership with Uber in Europe that will offer Uber drivers discounted prices on its Ioniq Electric and Kona Electric, as well as future Hyundai electric vehicles.

The agreement is another step in Uber’s plan to become a zero-emissions mobility platform by 2030.

Last year it announced a similar arrangement with the Renault-Nissan alliance that will give discounted prices on cars such as the Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe. Uber has set a target of making 50% of its total mileage across seven European capitals by electric vehicles by 2025. These cities – Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Lisbon, London, Madrid and Paris – will

make up 80% of Uber’s European business by the end of 2021. Customers in these cities will be able to select a zero-emissions vehicle when booking a trip.

“Through this exciting partnership, we will utilise our leadership in electro-mobility to help Uber’s partner drivers make the switch to BEVs and help electrify their customers’ journeys in Europe,” said Michael Cole, President and CEO of Hyundai Motor Europe.

“This agreement also gives Hyundai the opportunity to showcase the benefits of our Ionioq Electric and Kona Electric models to an even wider range of people, as well as contribute to decarbonisation efforts in major cities across Europe.”

Anabel Diaz, Uber Regional Manager for EMEA, said: “With our responsibilities to drivers, riders and cities in mind, we have made a series of ambitious

commitments to support drivers switch to electric vehicles, and this partnership will enable us to continue this momentum. Professional drivers such as those on the Uber app will be the early mass adopters of electric vehicles, which will help to drive the mass market in the years to come.”

In the future, Hyundai and Uber intend to launch joint marketing and education plans to promote electric cars and their associated benefits to Uber’s partner drivers, as well offering test drives that will allow drivers to experience ZE vehicles first-hand.

Hyundai Motor aims to sell more than 670,000 zero-emissions vehicles annually and to be among the top three EV manufacturers globally by 2025. In 2020, more than 13% of Hyundai cars sold in Europe, or nearly 60,000 units, were zero-emission vehicles.

Uber adds all-electric option to its central London ride-hailing service Uber customers in central London can request an all-electric vehicle instead of a regular petrol, diesel or hybrid car. The ride-hailing giant has launched a new service called Uber Green, operating initially in London’s Zone 1 travelcard area.

It is the next step in Uber’s stated plan to be fully electric in London by 2025. Uber Green journeys must start in Zone 1, but destinations are unrestricted.

In a statement, Uber’s European general manager Jamie Heywood said: “We continue to partner with drivers to help them make the switch to elec-

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tric and today we are excited to start offering riders the option to select an electric vehicle at no extra cost, allowing everyone using Uber to play their

part in cleaning up urban transport.”

Uber has raised funds to help drivers switch to EVs through a 15p per mile clean air surcharge on non-EV

journeys, a scheme introduced in January 2019, which has so far raised £125 million. This has so far allowed Uber to increase its EV fleet from 100 cars to 1,600.

Uber has also set up an agreement with Renault-Nissan to give Uber drivers discounted prices on electric cars made by the group, including the Nissan Leaf. Nissan Fleet director Peter McDonald commented on the Uber Green deal, saying: “This is an excellent game-changing initiative to give consumers choice in London.

I imagine many will watch this with interest.”

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Operators angry as south coast towns vote to remove cap in Bournemouth licensing revamp Mark Bursa Taxi operators and drivers in the south coast towns of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole are angry at local council plans to introduce sweeping changes to taxi and private hire policies in the area.

Despite the massive downturn in trade resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, BCP Council is pressing ahead with new policies that could cost local drivers thousands of pounds. The council’s licensing committee has backed three controversial new policies including removing the cap on licence numbers, as well as a new white colour scheme for cars and stricter vehicle age limits.

The council wants to increase the number of licences issued “with the clear aim of a total removal of limits” in 2025. There is no cap in Christchurch but in Bournemouth and Poole there are only 249 and 89 Hackney carriage licences respectively. The council wants a unified policy across the three towns.

“We’re here to ensure standards and public safety, we’re not here to stop someone starting up their own business and that’s one of the reasons we started to look towards derestricting it,” said BCP council’s licensing manager Nananka Randle.

“But rather than just derestrict it straight away, which we accept would have quite a devastating impact on the trade, we felt a gradual approach would be fairer.”

The new policy would allow the council to issue 15 extra licences each year for four years, solely for wheelchair-accessible vehicles. Cllr Toby Johnson, a member of the working party set up to create the new policies, said the aim was to avoid “a sudden glut of taxis overfilling our ranks”.

“This isn’t saying there must be 15 extra taxis in each area over the next five years. We may only get two or three applications but we felt it was best to remove the limit and that this was

the most sensible way to do it,” he said.

But the proposal has attracted opposition from existing licence holders and taxi firms. They have warned of a “significant” financial impact and increased congestion in town centres. Kevin Diffey, PRC Streamline Taxis chairman, said the move would reduce the quality of service, particularly in the towns’ suburbs.

“This decision will impact on the travelling public and on the livelihoods of the many taxi and private hire companies,” he said. “We are horrified at the proposals and frankly scared of the effect it will have on our companies.”

David Lane, of the Poole Taxi Association, said it would result in “overprovision” of taxis. However, the committee backed the draft policies, saying market forces would improve standards and ensure vehicles are available in the area they are needed.

“We don’t stop Tesco and Sainsbury’s opening up just because there’s a Waitrose down the road,” councillor David Kelsey said. “It’s supply and demand. We can’t change the way the world’s moving and it will be a case of new taxis when they’re needed.”

The policies will now go before the full council for final approval.

Bolt launches operations in Peterborough as 200 local drivers sign up to the ride-hailing app Ride-hailing operator Bolt has launched operations in Peterborough. London’s second-largest ride hailing app, behind Uber, Bolt said its plan was to bring greener transport to the city.

So far almost 200 drivers have signed up in Peterborough, and the firm hopes the number will grow in the future.

Sam Raciti, Bolt general manager - UK (pictured), said: “We know people in Peterborough are desperate to enjoy their city again, to see

12

loved ones and to support the economy. As lockdown lifts, we’re delighted to bring Bolt to Peterborough.

“With the city set to see growth as a result of the government’s Oxford-

Cambridge Arc plans, alongside the council’s recent climate commitment, Peterborough is a natural home for Bolt’s safe, easy and affordable approach to transport.”

He said all Bolt rides in Europe were 100% carbonneutral as part of Bolt’s Green Plan, a long-term commitment to reduce the ecological footprint of the company.

APRIL 2021

news

Blacklane launches chauffeur hailing service in 21 cities across 11 countries Mark Bursa Blacklane has launched a ‘chauffeur hailing’ service in 21 cities across 11 countries, allowing customers to book an executive car on demand in real time.

New York was the first city, launched on March 1, with London the second to go live on March 2.

In London, on-demand cars are Jaguar I-Paces or Teslas provided by Havn, the electric chauffeuring brand acquired by Blacklane from Jaguar Land Rover last month.

The global chauffeur service already offers scheduled rides in 50 countries. Blacklane’s new ondemand service maintains the same quality, health and safety standards, fixed competitive fares, and sustainability as its pre-booked trips.

“People need trusted local transportation now more than ever as cities reopen,” said Blacklane CEO Dr Jens Wohltorf (pictured). “Many companies have built ride-hailing platforms with little quality control and confusing costs. But Blacklane has built a global chauffeur-hailing service with clear, consistent rates and the highest quality standards.”

All 21 cities were live by March 26. The full city list is: n AUSTRIA: Vienna n FRANCE: Paris n GERMANY: B erlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, and Munich n IRELAND: Dublin n ITALY: Milan n PORTUGAL: Lisbon

Singapore SWITZERLAND: Zurich UAE: Dubai UK: London US: B oston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, and Washington DC. As with its scheduled rides, Blacklane partners with local chauffeur companies and offers allinclusive fares based only on distance. Guests do not pay extra for higher demand, traffic or tolls, providing the same cost certainty for all types of trips. n n n n n

Blacklane takes on $26m of new finance to expand sustainable chauffeur services Mark Bursa Blacklane has raised $26 million in new funding to help it expand its global chauffeur service. The Berlin-based company has recently launched an app-based ride-hailing service add-on, and in February 2021 it bought Londonbased Havn, an electric chauffeur service developed by Jaguar Land Rover.

Blacklane said it would use the latest round of funding to continue expanding sustainable travel initiatives, and to continue expanding its existing business with more flexible options.

The investment is coming from existing investors, including German carmaker Daimler.

“The global travel and mobility industries have suffered, with several players struggling between drastic cuts, hibernation or

APRIL 2021

ceasing operations. Blacklane has taken the opportunity to cater to travellers’ emerging needs,” said Blacklane CEO and co-founder Dr Jens Wohltorf. “Thanks to this financing, we will continue to fast-track our innovation, with zero layoffs.”

Blacklane provides on-demand chauffeur services in Berlin, London, Dubai, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Singapore and 16 other cities.

As a business-focused platform, Blacklane has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, with some monthly revenues dropping 99%.

Last year Blacklane launched a city-to-city service in the UK, with fixed rates for doorto-door journeys between major cities such as London and Birmingham or Manchester, at prices that look highly competitive against first-class train travel.

Private and business customers can book on Blacklane’s iOS app. Chauffeurs clean and sanitise vehicles before and after each journey. They greet guests with a slight bow instead of a handshake, maintain maximum distance, and provide hand sanitizer and masks. Guests can call or chat with Blacklane’s 24/7 customer service team in the app.

Blacklane’s scheduled service continues as usual, with rides booked 30 minutes to months in advance on its website and apps. Guests can reserve private and sanitised door-to-door airport transfers, hourly rides and inter-city trips.

Gett rumoured to be set for IPO Ride-hailing app service Gett could follow Uber and Lyft to the stock market after it emerged that the Volkswagen-backed company is in merger talks with a special purpose acquisition company – one route to an Initial Public Offering (IPO).

According to a Sky News report, merger talks are at an early stage, and other options are being considered, including a conventional IPO. Gett, based in London, does not compete directly with Uber, but operates as a ground transportation platform, partnering with private hire fleets, including black cabs, and other apps, such as Ola, focusing on business clients.

The firm has raised more than $850 million in funding, largely from private venture capitalists, as well as more than $300m in investment from Volkswagen in 2016, and $115m from investors including Pelham Capital in January 2021.

On flotation, Gett is likely to be priced higher than the $1.9 billion quoted in the annual accounts of one of its shareholders.

—Mark Bursa

13

news

Chauffeur operators Crawfords and Chabé launch high-end bespoke delivery services Mark Bursa Diversification into delivery services has provided a good alternative revenue stream for private hire fleets during the Covid-19 pandemic, but executive chauffeur fleets have struggled to find a way into the sector.

Now two of London’s leading chauffeur fleets have launched “white glove” delivery services, delivering high-value items to clients, using chauffeur-driven cars.

Both Crawfords of London and French-owned Chabé have launched similar services, aimed at a wealthy clientele. Crawfords operates a fleet of courier vans and motorbikes, so it has experience in goods deliveries. The service was launched in London Fashion Week, delivering clothing items for clients such as Burberry.

Chabé, which opened a UK subsidiary in London last year, has launched its Bespoke Delivery service in France, Switzerland and the UK. Vincent Grenard, sales director for the luxury division at Chabé, said: “When the second lockdown was announced, our luxury customers had to rethink how they sell, switching to distance

selling for the most part. While the brands do everything possible to maintain the link with their customers, the traditional delivery methods seemed to be out of step with the rest of their customer experience.”

“This is why we came up with the idea of offering a bespoke transport service, in line with the brands’ image. And then, we also thought about all the luxury collection launches – fashion, jewellery,

haute couture – which are now delivered digitally.

We asked ourselves how we could help brands serve their customers during a virtual event. If customers can no longer travel to the event venue, why not deliver a meal, cocktail or a gift to be enjoyed while watching the show from their living room?”

Items are handled with care from the boutique shop or warehouse to the customer’s door. Items can be packed as they would be if bought directly from the shop. They can be handed over to customers with personalised attention or messages.

Crawfords has a similar focus on high-end brands. Patrick O’Sullivan, Crawfords commercial director, said: “Over the Covid-19 Pandemic we, like most businesses have had to look at various ways to keep our wheels moving. Our white glove delivery service combines luxury and reliable travel paired together with our delivery experience. The service gives our clients the opportunity to have their products delivered in style which helps them extend their brand’s luxury appeal.”

“We have always prided ourselves on customer satisfaction, professionalism and reliability which gave us a great foundation when we were putting this idea together,” O’Sullivan said.

cupancy blocks. The free what3words app is available for iOS and Android as well as online, allowing people to find, share and navigate to what3words addresses in more than 40 languages.

Cordic CEO Tom Peyerl said: “There’s noth-

ing more frustrating than getting lost trying to find a meet-up and missing out or arriving late and stressed. We have built this integration to enable using what3words addresses with our systems so that our community can find exactly where they need to be with no confusion.”

Cordic integrates what3words geocoding technology into dispatch system and white label apps Mark Bursa Cordic has become the first despatch system provider to offer what3words geocoding as part of its white-label apps for improved location accuracy. Geocoding is the process of encoding GPS coordinates: what3words has encoded the coordinates of every 3-metre square in the world with a combination of 3 simple words.

Cordic has integrated the next-generation location technology from what3words to its core system, potentially increasing accuracy for millions of taxi and private hire passenger bookings per month, as well as via white-label apps for taxi, PHV, courier and other transport operators.

The what3words system allows very specific locations such as building entrances, street corners or park gates, or flats in multiple oc-

14

APRIL 2021

news

BP targets ride-hailing drivers and plans massive investment in EV hubs Mark Bursa BP has launched a number of major initiatives designed to increase its presence in the electric vehicle market, and in particular, with the private hire market. The move signals a major shift from the oil majors, who are having to react to global government directives to move away from internal combustion engines and into cleaner energy sources, including electric power and hydrogen.

BP has launched a service called EV Pro, which offers short-term rentals to drivers in London working for ride-hailing apps such as Uber, Bolt and Free Now. Through the service, drivers can rent a PCOlicensed Nissan Leaf N-Connecta 40kWh for £260 a week (600 miles a week) £280 a week (800 miles a week), plus a refundable deposit of £500, split over the first 2 weeks. Other car models are expected to be added to the service.

The rental period can be anything from four to 12 weeks, and during the period, drivers have access for no extra charge to the BP Pulse EV charging network, which has more than 1,000 AC Fast charging points (7kW), over 400 DC Rapid charging points (50kW), and over 20 DC Ultrafast charging points (150kW) within the M25 alone.

A BP spokesman said: “We believe that electric vehicles are the future of private hire. They’re gaining

popularity with customers, offer a lower total cost of usership, and give drivers a more efficient, reliable way to earn on the road.” Nissan estimates cost savings of around £73 per week from driving a Nissan Leaf through BP EV Pro compared to a rented Toyota Prius hybrid on a 12-month contract.

As well as access to charging points, BP EV Pro includes insurance and breakdown and routine maintenance cover , including tyres.

Cars are delivered within 72 working hours of the driver’s application being approved. All BP EV Pro vehicles qualify for TfL’s cleaner vehicle discount, so there’s no Congestion Charge or ULEZ charges to pay. BP says it will register the car with TfL before it is delivered.

Meanwhile BP pulse is to expand its ultra-fast EV charging infrastructure significantly across the UK, with a series of new charging hubs developed in partnership with The EV Network (EVN).

The oil giant is aiming to double the size of the BP Pulse network in the UK to 16,000 charge points by 2030, with a particular emphasis on ultra-fast chargers. The total amount of charging on the BP Pulse network is set to grow 30-fold by 2030.

High-traffic locations re being targeted, including the UK’s motorway network, and BP Pulse’s first EV charging and convenience hub with 24 ultra-fast charging points – a similar concept to the Gridserve electric service station opened in Essex last year - will open later in 2021. The BP Pulse sites will be developed by EVN, some will be designated EV convenience and mobility hubs with food, drink and other facilities on offer to drivers as they charge.

BP has also bought a 33.3% stake in BMW and Daimler Mobility’s Digital Charging Solutions (DCS), one of Europe’s leading developers of digital charging solutions for automotive manufacturers and vehicle fleet operators, subject to regulatory approval.

New taxi-dedicated EV charging infrastructure will help Wales hit zero emissions targets Electric car infrastructure provider Swarco eVolt has won a contract from Cardiff Capital Region (CCR) to install rapid chargers dedicated to taxis at 31 locations across 10 local authorities in south-east Wales.

The deal will also help the Welsh Government meet its target for zero emissions from taxis by 2028. The installation work is expected to be completed by June 2021.

The 31 charging locations will enable taxi drivers to charge their vehicles at local taxi ranks. A total of 34 50kW chargers will be installed at the 31 sites by Swarco, which will also manage the subsequent operation and maintenance of the infrastructure.

Justin Meyer, managing director

APRIL 2021

of Swarco eVolt, said: “CCR’s well thought-through and strategic approach to building a network of charging infrastructure that is reliable and convenient for taxi drivers, combined with the tangible support it is giving taxi drivers and operators through a ‘try before you buy’ scheme and educational webinars, will make this initiative a success.”

The funding for this project comes from the Welsh Government, which in May 2020 awarded £1.296m from its Ultra Low Emission Vehicle Transformation Fund to the CCR. The award was the highest award made in Wales and will fund a number of initiatives intended to help Wales reach a target of zero emissions from buses and taxis by 2028.

15

news analysis: council grants

Falling through the loopholes Mark Bursa

T

Who are the drivers who can’t get local authority Covid-19 support?

he deregulation act of 2017 made

taxi and private hire licensing into a competitive market – and drivers took advantage in their thousands.

But now, all those drivers who got licensed in Wolverhampton and other lowcost areas are finding they are missing out on much-needed coronavirus support schemes.

The government devolved responsibility for Covid-19 support to local authorities.

This has created a “postcode lottery” of grants, with massive variations from council to council.

But many drivers are missing out completely as a result of council rules that only offer payments to those who live in the same local authority area in which they are licensed.

As a result, many thousands of drivers who took advantage of cheaper licensing through councils such as Wolverhampton, despite neither living nor operating in

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their chosen licensing authority area, are finding they are not eligible for handouts.

Wolverhampton has in fact been one of the most generous in terms of grants. Taxi and private hire drivers who have been significantly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic can apply for a £2,000 grant via the Additional Restriction Grant – Taxi and Private Hire Grant scheme.

But the one-off payment of £2,000 will not be available to drivers from other towns and cities who have taken advantage of Wolverhampton’s low licensing rates and operate Wolverhampton-licensed cars elsewhere. To qualify, drivers must have lived in Wolverhampton for the past 13 weeks and must have notified Licensing Services of their current address. They must also present a driving licence showing a Wolverhampton address.

There is a good reason for Wolverhampton doing this. According to DfT figures, there were 18,110 licensed taxi and private hire drivers registered in the city at the start of the pandemic in March

2020, far more than in the much bigger neighbouring city of Birmingham, which had only 6,340 licensed drivers. But fewer than 4,000 of Wolverhampton-licensed drivers actually live in the city.

This means Wolverhampton would be facing a bill of more than £36 million if every driver it licensed was able to claim the £2,000 grant. So while the council was happy to take the drivers’ money for their licenses, it has found a loophole to avoid the bailout.

However, the numbers simply don’t add up for the council. Wolverhampton raised an estimated £3.7m in licence fees in 2019, and a total of £8.7m between 2017 and 2019, as it issued licenses to drivers from as far away as Truro in the south-west and Perth in Scotland, as it is allowed to do under the terms of the Deregulation Act. In 2019 a total of 11,461 applications to Wolverhampton Council came from drivers based in Birmingham, while there were 2,457 from Manchester, 1,926 from Coventry, 1,279 from Leicester, 1,102

APRIL 2021

news analysis: council grants from Nottingham and 432 from Telford, according to a Freedom of Information request by the BBC. But the £3.7m of revenue would barely cover a tenth of the amount it would have to pay out if it had to bail out all the drivers it licensed.

Drivers should apply to the local authority where they live, says Wolverhampton council. But most authorities are only bailing out drivers who actually live in their areas, so thousands of drivers are missing out.

Inevitably, unions are unhappy with the situation. Shafaq Ahmed of the App Drivers and Couriers Union is one of those who has missed out. “If you take the money from your drivers for their licences you are responsible to support them,” Ahmed said.

Ahmed is an Uber driver licensed in Wolverhampton, but living in Birmingham.

Thus, he was refused the £2,000 Additional Restrictions Grant scheme by both Wolverhampton and Birmingham City Councils as both are only supporting those drivers who are both local residents and licensed in the city.

The grant also stipulates that drivers must also confirm they are self-employed and do not receive a salary from an employer through the PAYE scheme, and must have held a taxi license since November 4, 2020.

Cllr Stephen Simkins, cabinet member for city economy, said: “Trade for Wolverhampton taxi drivers, like many other businesses, has been significantly impacted by the current lockdown and this new grant will provide a lifeline to them.”

He added: “Working within the Government guidelines, we will ensure these grants get allocated as swiftly as possible as our city looks to recover from the financial impact of Covid-19.”

Other councils have also announced multi-million pound support packages to help struggling taxi and private hire drivers, though the amounts on offer vary dramatically.

Leeds Council has made £2.5m available to fund free three-year taxi and private hire license renewals for drivers, while drivers and operators with a Leeds business address will also be able to apply for £500 grants following the reopening of a coronavirus support scheme for businesses with low fixed property costs.

Schemes being put in place by the council mean more than £7.5m worth of support is on offer to taxi and private hire drivers and operators, whose business has been significantly hit by Covid-19.

APRIL 2021

Cllr James Lewis, leader of Leeds City Council, said: “The pandemic has had a major impact on people working in many different sectors across Leeds, with taxi and private hire drivers among those most seriously affected. In addition, many people, especially those with mobility needs or a disability, rely on taxis and private hire vehicles to get around. Supporting drivers means we are supporting those people as well.”

The free three-year license renewals will be worth £450 to most taxi and private hire drivers who need to renew their Leeds license between March 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022. They must also meet the council’s current licensing standards.

Grants are also on offer to taxi and private hire vehicle owners who have switched to low-emissions vehicles.

Owners who bought an eligible vehicle on or after February 28, 2020 can apply for a transitional grant worth £2,100.

The £1.9million funding for the transitional grants has been retained by the council after originally being secured as part of Leeds’ Clean Air Zone (CAZ) scheme, even though it was decided last October that improvements in air quality and a rise in the number of cleaner vehicles meant the CAZ scheme would not go ahead.

Taxi and private hire vehicle owners who switched to low emission vehicles on or before February 28, 2020 will also be offered free three-year license renewals.

Across the Pennines in Bolton, local taxi and private hire licence holders will each

Drivers in Leeds can apply for a £500 coronovirus support grant

receive a £700 Covid-19 support grant to meet a range of vehicle-associated costs.

A spokesperson for Bolton Council said: “We would like to thank the taxi trade representatives for supporting the council in developing this financial package over the past few weeks. We know this will be very welcome and thank them for their commitment to assist the council to deliver the support over the coming months ahead.”

The move has been welcomed by Bolton drivers. Charlie Oakes of the Hackney Drivers Association, said: “The trade is going through hard times, we thank the council and staff for all their hard work and being upfront with us, the money will help.”

Yasif Khan of the Bolton Private Hire Association added: “We would like to thank the councillors and the licensing officers for the help they have given through this pandemic.”

With many councils now offering some support, it’s vital to contact local authorities or visit council websites to find out how to apply. Most of the grants are designed to cover costs such as licensing charges, rather than being direct payments, which could conflict with other central support schemes.

But for drivers who don’t live and operate in the same area, it may be a case of making an individual plea to either – or both – councils involved in order to make a successful claim. And with councils strapped for cash, it’s highly unlikely the response will be a generous one.

17

news analysis: picg and budget

Sting in the tail Government cuts plug-in grant after Sunak’s budget extends fuel duty freeze while Furlough and SEISS schemes continue, prompting accusations of inconsistency Mark Bursa

T

here was a sting in the tail for the motor industry

following a relatively tame Budget. Pointedly missing from the annual fiscal statement was any real mention of government policy on electric cars.

Eyebrows were raised – and with good reason, as just a couple of weeks later, the sting in the tail was delivered not by the chancellor, but by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, who announced, to widespread criticism, a cut in the Plug-in Car Grant, the Governmentbacked incentive programme designed to get motorists to switch to electric cars and vans.

The move prompted widespread redrawing of EV prices by manufacturers such as Nissan, Vauxhall, Peugeot and Hyundai, after the Government slashed the PiCG from £3,000 to £2,500 and making it available only for EVs costing up to £35,000.

The DfT claimed more than half of EVs currently on sale would remain eligible for the grant, with the proportion of models

18

costing under £35,000 almost doubling since 2019.

This provoked an angry reaction from the industry. The RAC’s head of roads policy Nicholas Lyes said: “Ministers seem to talk-the-talk when it comes to encouraging people into cleaner vehicles, but cutting the plug-in car grant certainly isn’t walking the walk.”

SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said the government’s decision was “the wrong move at the wrong time”, adding: “New battery electric technology is more expensive than conventional engines and incentives are essential in making these vehicles affordable to the customer.”

“Cutting the grant and eligibility moves the UK even further behind other markets, markets which are increasing their support,

making it yet more difficult for the UK to get sufficient supply.”

The DfT said in a statement that the reduction was intended to “target less expensive models and reflect a greater range of affordable vehicles available”, spreading subsidies further and helping more drivers switch to EVs. The SMMT called for bigger rather than smaller incentives. Private buyers in Germany receive a €€9,000 grant towards a new EV, while Dutch drivers do not pay VAT on EV purchases, equivalent to a purchase cost saving of around a sixth.

The SMMT estimates that maintaining the PiCG at the old level and exempting consumer electric vehicle purchases from VAT would increase uptake by almost two-thirds by 2026 compared to current predictions.

MOTORING ISSUES IN THE BUDGET Earlier, Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Budget included a freeze on fuel duty and an extension of job support schemes set up

APRIL 2021

news analysis: picg and budget to counter the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The freeze on fuel duty charged on petrol and diesel sales has now been in place for eleven years, and Sunak said it would not be right to increase the tax during the coronavirus pandemic.

The move has been welcomed by motoring associations. RAC’s Nicholas Lyes said: “Drivers will breathe a sigh of relieve that the Chancellor has decided not to ‘rock the fuel duty boat’. We feared this would only pile further misery on drivers at a time when pump prices are on the rise and many household incomes are being squeezed as a result of the pandemic.”

He continued: “If the Chancellor had raised fuel duty, he could have risked choking any economic recovery as it would have led to increased costs for consumers and businesses.”

Howard Cox, Founder of FairFuelUK and secretary for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Fuel, said: “Motorists will be pleased at this protracted decision from the Chancellor. They will hope this is just the start of more pro-motoring policies, which have been sadly lacking in this Parliament.”

Future fuel duty rates will be considered in the context of the UK’s commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, the government said.

The budget was light on detail on motoring issues. Sunak has decided to leave insurance premium tax unchanged, while there was no further commitment to road repairs beyond the 2020 Budget commitment of £500 million a year in pothole repairs over the life of the parliament, and only one new road upgrade was mentioned, a £135m upgrade of the A66 trans-Pennine road.

Vehicle Excise Duty was also not mentioned, but VED rates for cars, vans and motorcycles will be increased in line with the retail price index from April 1, 2021. From April 6, 2021, fuel benefit charges and the van benefit charge will increase in line with CPI.

EMPLOYMENT ISSUES AND COVID-19 HELP The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme – better known as the Furlough scheme – which was scheduled to finish at the end of April, will be extended until the end of September, chancellor Rishi Sunak announced.

And the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme will also continue, with fourth and fifth grants available to cover the period until the end of September.

Employees on furlough will continue to

APRIL 2021

receive 80% of their salary for hours not Sunak’s Budget: short on detail for worked, up to £2,500 per month, until the motoring issues scheme ends. However, from July employers will be asked to contribute more to the scheme. Between now and the end of June, the state will pay 80% of wages for hours not worked, while employers will only be asked to cover national insurance and employer pension contributions.

But in July the state will only pay 70%, with employers asked to pay the remaining 10%, and in August and September the state will pay 60% and employers will have to pay 20%. The scheme is otherwise unchanged.

The extension to the SEISS is more complicated, and it will now be offered to some people who were not previously eligible.

The fourth SEISS grant will be worth 80% of trading profits for three months, capped at £7,500. The grant, which is supposed to cover February, March and April, will be worth 80%. Applications will open in April.

More than 600,000 newly self-employed people will now be eligible to apply. While previously you must have filed a tax return for 2018-19 to apply, those who have filed a 2019-20 return may also be eligible.

As with previous SEISS grants, applicants must state they are either be currently trading but are impacted by reduced demand due to coronavirus; have been trading but are temporarily unable to do so due to coronavirus; intend to continue to trade; and reasonably believe there will be a significant reduction in your trading profits due to reduced business activity.

A fifth SEISS grant, available from late July, will cover the May to September period, but its value will be linked to a change in turnover. If the applicant’s turnover has fallen by 30% or more, they will be able to claim the full grant worth 80% of three months’ average trading profits, capped at £7,500.

But if turnover has fallen by less than 30%, the applicant will only be able to claim a grant worth 30% of three months’ average trading profits, capped at £2,850. It is not clear over which period the turnover change will be calculated.

TAXATION AND OTHER CHANGES Elsewhere, a £20 uplift in Universal Credit worth £1,000 a year will be extended for another six months, Sunak announced. And Working Tax Credit claimants will receive a £500 one-off payment. The chancellor also said the Minimum Wage would increase to £8.91 an hour from April.

There are no changes to rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT. The Income Tax Personal Allowance will be frozen at £12,570 from 2022 to 2026, and the higher rate income tax threshold will also be frozen at £50,270 over the same period.

However, Corporation tax on company profits will rise from 19% to 25% in April 2023. The rate will be kept at 19% for about 1.5 million smaller companies with profits of less than £50,000.

Stamp duty holiday on property sales will be extended to June, with no levy on sales of under £500,000. No changes have been made to inheritance tax or lifetime pension allowance or capital gains tax allowances.

19

news analysis: uber workers

More questions than answers The Supreme Court’s decision that Uber drivers are “workers” leaves unanswered questions on drivers’ pay and freelance status within the gig economy

Mark Bursa

U

BER’S DECISION TO CHANGE ITS BUSINESS MODEL AND give benefits such as minimum wage, holiday pay and pensions to its drivers appears to have given the ride-hailing giant a first-mover advantage in the sector.

And the decision to change its employment terms means Uber appears to have complied with most – but not all – of the recent Supreme Court ruling that its drivers are “workers” rather than selfemployed contractors.

Uber will also be contacting drivers in coming days with “settlement offers” to make up for shortfalls in past pay – which is likely to be a bill running into hundreds

20

of millions of pounds. Earlier speculation had suggested a sum of £12,000 per driver might be owed.

But the decision, which was hailed by the GMB Union but criticised by the IWGBbacked App Drivers and Couriers Union, which brough the initial case against Uber, still leaves much unanswered.

In particular, Uber is only proposing to pay its workers from the time they accept a

job to completion, and not for waiting time, The court ruling had stipulated that the “worker” was working from the moment the driver turned on the app and was available to take on jobs.

However, with many London Uber drivers also signed up to other ride-hailing services such as Bolt, Ola and FreeNow, the question remains as to who would be responsible for paying them while they are waiting, with a number of apps turned on, for a job from any of the companies.

Industry consultant Dr Mike Galvin, who works for Bolt, said the ruling, and Uber’s subsequent decision, might not be in the drivers’ interest. “It’s a solution

APRIL 2021

news analysis: uber workers

UBER’S NEW DEAL: driver benefits in full n When driving with Uber in the UK

all drivers will receive:

n At least the National Living Wage

n

n

n

n

n

after accepting a trip request and after expenses. On average, drivers earn £17 per hour in London and £14 in the rest of the UK on the same basis when driving on Uber.

All drivers will be paid holiday time based on 12.07% of their earnings, paid out on a fortnightly basis.

Drivers will automatically be enrolled into a pension plan with contributions from Uber alongside driver contributions, setting drivers up over the long term.

Continued free insurance in case of sickness or injury as well as parental payments, which have been in place for all drivers since 2018.

Continued support from Uber’s Clean Air Plan in London, which has so far raised over £120m for drivers switching to an electric vehicle.

All drivers will retain the freedom to choose if, when and where they drive.

Source: Uber

APRIL 2021

looking for a problem,” he said. “It’s not mission impossible to work out how to apportion waiting time among companies, but it’s pretty clear that a driver with three or four apps on the go is definitely an entrepreneur, not a dependent contractor.”

Galvin believes the majority of drivers do not want to be considered as “workers” and prefer the flexibility of self-employment, though he wondered whether the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic might have changed attitude.

“I don’t believe there is any appetite for worker status among private hire drivers, though it is possible that Covid has changed things, and drivers might prefer to have some employment protection,” he said.

Uber said it had consulted “thousands” of its drivers over the changes, which are now in force, and the drivers said they wanted these additional benefits “but without any loss of flexibility”.

The changes affect more than 70,000 drivers in the UK who have signed up to the Uber app. All – whether in London or elsewhere - will be treated as workers, earning at least the National Living Wage “when driving with Uber”.

In a statement, Uber said this was “a floor and not a ceiling, with drivers able to earn more, as they usually do”. Drivers will be paid for holiday time, and those eligible will be automatically enrolled into a pension plan.

“This means drivers will earn with greater security, helping them to plan for their futures while maintaining the flexibility that is integral to the private-hire

industry,” said Uber’s statement.

By moving quickly, Uber is now calling on the rest of the private hire sector to follow suit.

Jamie Heywood, Uber’s regional general manager for northern and eastern Europe, said: “Uber is just one part of a larger private-hire industry, so we hope that all other operators will join us in improving the quality of work for these important workers who are an essential part of our everyday lives.”

The response is likely to be mixed. Uber had argued that the Supreme Court ruling affected only the 25 drivers named in the original 2016 Employment Tribunal case, and its decision to change the status of all its drivers to “worker” is a way of heading off a number of further scheduled court cases on the same issue.

The other ride-hailing app companies, including Bolt, Ola, FreeNow and Via, have yet to respond. Likewise, large fleets such as Addison Lee, which operate a different business model, will also take a stance. It is clear that the Supreme Court ruling does not automatically make all private hire driver workers.

Indeed, Uber has excluded Uber Eats delivery drivers from the new arrangements, and the rest of the gig economy – from food delivery drivers to couriers and other “freelance” workers – are likely to have to fight individual court battles on the worker status issue.

Courier firm DPD offered its drivers the opportunity to become “workers” in 2018.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 22

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news analysis: uber workers CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

James Farrar, the former Uber driver who brought the case against Uber in 2016 and now runs the App Drivers and Couriers Union, said minimum wage, holiday pay and pensions were a step in the right direction but drivers were still being shortchanged. Farrar maintained drivers should accrue minimum wage and holiday pay from when they log in not just from when a trip is accepted, saying about 40-50% of drivers working time was still not being paid or protected.

“If you go to work for Starbucks and no customers come into the shop should you still be paid, of course you should,” Farrar said. Uber simply has to do this, this is not difficult to understand. Waiting is working.

This is a step in the right direction but we are not there yet.”

The GMB is also claiming victory: “It’s a shame it took GMB winning four court battles to make them see sense, but we got there in the end and ultimately that’s a big win for our members,” national officer Mick Rix told reporters.

“Uber’s announcement should mark the end of the road for bogus self-employment,” Rix continued. “GMB’s battle with Uber now opens the door for workers, and their unions, to win the fight for better pay and

conditions at companies across the gig economy.”

Matthew Taylor, author of the Government-funded Taylor Report into the gig economy, called on the government to introduce legislation to clarify the grey area of employment status for gig workers at all companies.

He supported the Uber decision, but added a note of caution, telling the Evening Standard: “On balance it is better that people have worker status and lose some flexibility, but some people will not agree.”

In the longer term, the decision could accelerate a move away from direct driver recruitment and toward greater use of its recently-acquired dispatch system provider Autocab’s technology. In particular, Uber announced last year it planned to use Autocab’s iGo platform to give Uber jobs to private hire operators in towns where Uber is not present.

Doing this takes Uber out of the employment equation, as the drivers would be employed by local operators that agree to take on the work. It looks likely that Uber will move away from direct recruitment outside London, though it is so well entrenched in London with a direct recruitment model that that is unlikely to change.

Jamie Heywood, Uber Regional General Manager for Northern and Eastern Europe

Police to eject Uber drivers from York in cross-border crackdown on app giant Uber drivers attempting to pick up bookings in York are likely to be escorted from the city by Police, as the city looks protect local operators. The move is likely to give Uber further reason to shift its focus from direct operations to use of the iGo platform, acquired through the Autocab deal.

Doing so would effectively remove Uber as an operator – and any jobs booked via the Uber app in York would be handled by a local company that was on the Autocab/iGo platform.

York is one of a number of councils that has taken a hard line against ride-hailing. It removed Uber’s operator’s licence in December 2017 when the City of York council gambling, licensing and regulatory committee voted by seven to three, with two abstentions, not to renew it. But Uber drivers registered in other cities, such as Leeds, have been operating in the city.

Now, following meetings between the York Private Hire Association and North Yorkshire Police, the police looks set to crack down on out of town Uber drivers in the city.

Police now argue that as Uber doesn’t hold a local licence for York it is breaking the Local Government (Miscellaneous

22

Provisions) Act 1976 (Section 46). This states: “No person shall in a controlled district operate any vehicle as a private hire vehicle without having a current licence under section 55 of this Act.” Wendy Loveday, the chair of the Private Hire Association, said it means that Uber drivers from out of town should not be picking up fares in the city because they do not hold a proper licence to work in York.

According to local reports, police officers will be briefed to engage with any Uber driver, or other out of town operators’ drivers, that they suspect to be breaching Section 46 of the 1976 legislation, and will ask them to leave York immediately.

Loveday claimed Uber could legally bring a customer into York, but cannot pick up in the city – so the car would have to return to its licenced area empty. A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “North Yorkshire Police is working with City of York Council on this matter, as taxi licensing and licensing enforcement sits with local authorities rather than the police.”

—Mark Bursa

APRIL 2021

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news analysis: uber autocab

Merger grumbles CMA clears Uber-Autocab takeover, but the arguments rumble on Mark Bursa

I

N A LANDMARK RULING, THE COMPETITION AND MARKETS Authority has cleared Uber’s acquisition of Autocab following a Phase 1 merger investigation, stating that it found “no competition concerns” with the deal.

The takeover allows Uber to grow its UK presence through the Autocab iGo network, allowing it to pass jobs to Autocab users in towns and cities where Uber has no direct operation.

The decision has significant implications for the taxi sector, and looks likely to signal a major change in Uber’s strategic approach to the market. Uber’s expansion will come passing jobs to operators on the iGo platform rather than through further launches in other towns and cities where it currently has no presence – as explained in our exclusive interview with Uber’s European boss Jamie Heywood last year.

In this, Heywood went as far as to describe Uber’s original approach of opening its own operations as “our previous model” – pointing out that the last time Uber actually moved into a new town with its own operation was in 2016.

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He said: “It’s been almost four years since we launched in a new city, and we currently have no plans to launch with our previous model in any more. I can see a world where almost all the future expansion with Uber, particularly in the UK, will be in partnership with local taxi and private hire companies.”

The strategy appears to be go direct in major cities, but use established operators elsewhere. In a separate release about electrification, Uber underlined the importance of major European cities to its plans. Just seven European capital cities – Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Lisbon, London, Madrid and Paris – will make up 80% of Uber’s European business by the end of 2021, Uber claims, and in these cities, it makes sense to go direct.

But elsewhere, it seems Autocab’s iGo offers a more rapid route to growth.

Autocab certainly sees the potential. In a statement issued immediately after the CMA’s judgement, an Autocab spokesperson said: “By working with Uber, we can scale up our ambitions, and provide hundreds of thousands of additional trips for our customers, and help cement the place of licenced operators in their local community.”

It’s unclear where this leaves Uber’s operations in the 17 cities, including Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where Uber launched services between 2013 and 2016.

While some of these were substantial businesses pre-pandemic, none of them achieved a pre-eminent position in their cities, in the same way that Uber has in London. Indeed, the strength of big, established fleets in those cities has made it difficult for Uber to gain a foothold. Highly professional and market-savvy firms such as StreetCars in Manchester, Amber Cars in Leeds and Blueline in Newcastle have better fleets, a solid driver base and can compete with Uber on price – leaving Uber with a motley collection of older cars and part-time drivers in some cases.

Furthermore, if Uber jobs became available via iGo, operators such as StreetCars have indicated they would be interested in handling that work. For Uber, it would remove the obligation to treat drivers as “workers”, deal with licensing or driver

APRIL 2021

news news analysis: analysis: uberpandemic autocab engagement, with its associated problems (DBS checks, customer complaints, and so on).

Having been through a bruising battle in London to retain its licence, and with the effects of the pandemic still being felt, Uber may be keen to wind down its direct regional operations and go all-in with iGo. When we asked Heywood this question last year, his reply hinted that was the thinking. Could Uber scale back in cities where it operates and use local firms instead? “I wouldn’t rule it out,” he replied.

“I think we need to earn the trust of the industry and show that our growth can support the growth in the local industry.

It’s not impossible that we could start to change the model in some of the cities in which we currently operate, but it’s early days.”

Autocab’s competitors can see this happening too. iCabbi’s co-founder Bob Nixon, one of the most vociferous critics of the Uber-Autocab deal, believes the change from operator to platform is highly likely now the CMA has given the deal the green light.

In an extensive post on social media network LinkedIn, Nixon wrote: “I’ve never had an issue with Uber giving trips to the taxi and PH industry as an ‘arms length aggregator’. In this model, as any other aggregator can, Uber would feed trips into partner taxi and private hire companies without having any undue level of control.”

“I think it would be a natural evolution for a ride-hailing company. That is to remove the massive costs and legal and regulatory hassles of sourcing and maintaining a driver base by becoming a pure demand generator like Booking.com is for the hotel industry.”

Nixon is still concerned that Uber is simply planning to use the Autocab deal as a way of building a presence in local

APRIL 2021

markets, and once that demand reaches a suitable level, it will simply take the work itself.

He wrote: “Despite some supportive words from Uber and Autocab saying otherwise, from what I’ve seen so far there’s nothing in contract form to say if these same companies do a fantastic job in helping build the Uber brand in their area that Uber won’t just set up their own drivers in their town and channel the trips through them.”

In response, Autocab said if it were to do this in a single town would damage trust in Autocab among global users of the iGo platform. And Heywood’s response suggests this is far from Uber’s mind now.

Nevertheless, Nixon believes the trend will be for passengers to default to the Uber app rather than the local operator’s app, resulting in operators becoming highly dependent on Uber for work, and this will negatively impact the value of the operator’s business.

Nixon wrote: “It will be similar to taxi or private hire companies that base their business model around airport-based contracts. It’s valuable but they are extremely vulnerable when contracts are set for rebidding and their company valuation is largely determined by this work.”

Of course, iCabbi itself could be vulnerable to a takeover, as could other dispatch systems providers such as Cordic. iCabbi is owned by Renault, which has said that it bought the dispatch company as it wanted to sell more cars to the private hire and taxi sector.

But if Uber’s takeover of Autocab is a success, the CMA ruling means other ridehailing operations such as Bolt, Ola or giants currently not present in Europe such as the US operator Lyft or China’s Didi, might want to go down the platform route too rather than setting up direct operations.

The CMA ruling The CMA’s ruling was clear and concise.

In a statement, Joel Bamford, CMA’s senior director of mergers, said: “After a thorough investigation, the CMA has found no competition concerns as a result of this deal. This is because the companies are not close competitors, the two businesses will continue to face competition from rivals and Autocab’s customer taxi companies can switch to credible alternative providers if they wish.”

The CMA investigation considered the deal’s possible effect on competition in the supply of dispatch software systems (referred to as ‘BDT’ in the CMA report), as well as referral networks, and any potential impact of the merger on taxi companies that are Autocab’s current BDT customers.

The report stated: “After thorough scrutiny, the CMA has found that there is only limited indirect competition between Uber and Autocab, and the CMA did not find evidence to indicate that Autocab was likely to become a significant and more direct competitor to Uber in the future.”

The CMA also considered whether Autocab and Uber could try to put Autocab’s taxi company customers that compete against Uber at a disadvantage by reducing the quality of the BDT software sold to them, or by forcing them to pass on data to Uber. However, the CMA said there were other credible suppliers of BDT and referral networks that these taxi companies could switch to if Uber were to reduce the quality of the Autocab service or force them to share their data.

Bamford added: “Millions of people across the UK rely on taxis every day and technology has transformed the way this industry works. It is therefore important that mergers like these are properly scrutinised to ensure that customers aren’t negatively affected.”

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covid: ready for business

As lockdown eases and work starts to pick up, it’s wise to be aware that Covid-19 is still with us. Here’s Professional Driver’s guide to staying safe as the business recovers

Seven points to keep you safe

Mark Bursa

T

he lockdown is easing, and

some aspects of our old life are returning to our world. We can socialise, and enjoy a drink in a seasonably chilly pub beer garden. We can’t yet travel internationally, but that will come.

And as the vaccination programme continues to roll out, the road map back to normality means operators, especially those with a predominantly business clientele, will start to see business coming back – roadshows, trade fairs, conferences, and sporting events.

A note of caution needs to be sounded, though. We might finally be taming the Coronavirus, but it hasn’t gone away. Nor is it likely to. Moving forward, we will have to live with Covid-19, as we do with influenza and other diseases.

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The death rate has dropped significantly – currently it’s in a range of 20-50 people per day. But every day, more than 2,000 people are still contracting the virus. At least, finally, the UK is now ahead of the curve. After handling the pandemic dismally in 2020, the UK government’s vaccination programme has been a great success.

As work returns, it is vital for operators and drivers to remain vigilant. Let’s not forget the grim toll the Pandemic took on our sector in 2020 – according to Office of National Statistics data, 209 taxi or private hire drivers died of Covid-19 between March and December. And we know that several more have died in 2021.

Drivers are still on the front line, and operators have a duty of care to their drivers to protect them as far as possible.

And drivers must be aware of the risks they take every day, and act accordingly to

minimise them. So what should you do to make your working environment as safe as possible? Here is a simple guide to some of the steps every driver or operator can- and should – take.

1: GET VACCINATED The vaccines work. The figures prove it.

At the time of writing, 30 million people – almost half the UK population – have had their first jab, with around 8m having had their second as well.

The vaccines – whether they are AstraZeneca, Pfizer or Moderna - offer protection from contracting Covid-19 of between 80 and 90%. But, crucially, they reduce the risk of dying from the virus to almost zero. So you might still get ill for a couple of weeks, but you almost certainly won’t end up on a ventilator.

You cannot force your employees –

APRIL 2021

covid: ready for business drivers or anyone else – to take the vaccine.

But you should encourage them to do so.

Thankfully, the take-up is good, though there are still issues, especially surrounding BAME people. And the taxi sector relies heavily on people from a BAME background.

According to a poll by the Royal Society for Public Health, only 57% of respondents from minority ethnic backgrounds said they would take up the vaccine, compared to 79% of the white population.

The reluctance stems from a variety of sources: religion-based superstitions, general distrust of authority, and ill-advised conspiracies and rumours spread via social networks. It’s unfortunate because at the same time, BAME people are at greater risk of contracting Covid-19 than white people.

According to parliament’s rapid response report, “Impact of Covid-19 on different ethnic minority groups”, people from BAME communities are three times more likely to contract Covid-19 and five times more likely to suffer a “serious outcome,” such as death. Higher incidence of diabetes and hypertension within the BAME population also puts them at increased risk from the virus.

So how can you address these fears?

The best way is to find a trusted source of guidance. The British Islamic Medical Association provides a guide to Covid-19 vaccinations, addressing concerns relating to the ethical nature of the vaccines, their ingredients and suitability for religious dietary requirements, as well as effectiveness and safety. It communicates simple facts and dispels myths which have grown up around the vaccines from both a medical and a religious standpoint. Answers are provided in a number of Asian and European languages too. https://britishima.org/operationvaccination/hub/covidmyths/ 2: KEEP TESTING It’s easy to check if you’ve inadvertently picked up the vitus. Quick and easy swab testing kits are widely available now, which allow drivers to self-test on a regular basis, allowing them to discover if they have picked up the virus without showing symptoms – which could take

two weeks to manifest themselves.

Screen supplier Driver Bubble offers a simple and affordable, CE certified, rapid antigen home test kit called 20test.

This contains a testing card, a sterile disposable swab, a sample treatment solution and a simple, self-explanatory guide. Prices start at £4.30.

The 20test kit provides 96.9% accurate test results within 15 minutes.

Specifically, it correctly identifies 92.0% of people with Covid-19 and 99.26% without the virus. https://driverbubble.com/ 3: W EAR A MASK AND USE PPE Government guidance was slow and vague at first, but drivers and passengers should always wear face coverings while in the car together.

In fact it took five months from the start of the pandemic for the Government to make it a legal requirement for passengers to wear face coverings in taxis and private hire vehicles. If necessary, the police and Transport for London (TfL) officers have enforcement powers including issuing fines of £200, halving to £100 if paid within

14 days, but doubling up to a maximum of £6,400 for repeated offences.

However, the rules do not mandate that taxi and private hire drivers have to wear coverings. According to DfT sources, taxi and private hire drivers are not legally required to wear a face covering while in their workplace, but are urged to wear face masks where possible.

Face coverings do not stop you from contracting Covid-19, but they greatly reduce the risk of someone carrying the virus from spreading it. And you could be incubating the virus for up to 14 days without displaying any symptoms, spreading it through your breath and by touching surfaces, while being totally unaware that you have the virus in your system.

Wearing a face covering means that if you cough, or even when you speak or breathe, the water particles that carry the virus get no further than the face covering.

So wear a mask, and ensure that drivers have an adequate supply of clean masks.

Good quality, low-cost face coverings can CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

“Face coverings do not stop you from contracting Covid-19, but they greatly reduce the risk of someone carrying the virus from spreading it. And you could be incubating the virus for up to 14 days without displaying any symptoms…”

APRIL 2021

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covid: ready for business

CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

be bought in bulk from suppliers such as Mask Brothers, which supplies boxes of 50 masks for as little as £10. These can also be sourced via Driver Bubble’s website. https://maskbros.co.uk/ Alternatively, chauffeur operators might prefer to offer a PPE kit to customers. PPE Company Care, a company started in 2020 by the Choudhury family, owners of the Reliance and Hyride chauffeur brands, is offering in-car safety PPE packs specially designed with the needs of chauffeurs in mind. Each kit contains a disposable FFP2 mask, a Surgical Type IIR mask, a 60ml bottle of hand sanitiser, a 10-pack of 75% alcohol wipes and a pair of latex-free disposable gloves. The packs cost £9.99 each for a pack of 10. https://ppecompanycare.com/ product/ppe-care-kit/ Remember to always carry an alcoholbased hand sanitiser with you. We recommend using this to periodically rub down the door handles and steering wheel, as you may have touched a contaminated surface. Finally, if you need to fill up your car at the petrol station, make sure you wear gloves when handling the petrol pumps as these too might be contaminated.

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“Partition screens have been have been subject to some very poor advice from a number of local authorities, including Wolverhampton City Council and TfL...”

4: FIT A SCREEN Partition screens have been one of the most contentious items, and have been subject to some very poor advice from a number of local authorities, including TfL and, in particular, Wolverhampton City Council.

We’ve covered these borderline idiotic authorities in depth in previous issues.

TfL has insisted on cumbersome and costly approval processes for the fitment of screens, fearing that they might interfere with airbag operations in the event of a crash.

Average 10mph speeds around London mean airbag deployments are rare, the likelihood of death through such an incident is infinitesimal compared to the risk of death from Covid – just ask the families of those 209 drivers who died last year. And Wolverhampton Council’s policy of forbidding screens because there was

“no evidence” they prevented Covid was irresponsible to the point of criminal. The authority is not fit for purpose, and heads should roll.

Because make no mistake, screens are effective and are a vital weapon in the fight to keep car occupants safe. We see chat on social media from drivers who are reluctant to fit a screen because their customers don’t like them.

The customer might be king, but that does not give them the right to endanger the driver’s life. So while the screen might be ugly and impersonal, it does provide a vital barrier between the passenger cabin and the driver, and aerosol-borne viruses will collect on the screen, where they can be hygienically wiped away and destroyed.

The Department for Transport recently released long-overdue guidance for the fitment of screens to their vehicles to reduce the spread of coronavirus.

The DfT guidance states that fitting a screen can help to reduce the risk of virus transmission and “should be one of a number of measures you consider”, but dodges the issue of compulsory fitment, adding that the decision on whether to use a screen “rests with you and the local licensing authority”.

The guidance states: “Licensing of taxis and PHVs is a local government responsibility. If a licensing authority

APRIL 2021

covid: ready for business decides to specify requirements in respect of screens, they are encouraged to consider this guidance in developing their own licensing requirements for the fitment of interior screens to help prevent the spread of coronavirus.”

While complicated, it is to be hoped that the guidance will encourage councils that have been reluctant to approve screens, such as TfL, or those that have been hostile to the concept, such as Wolverhampton, to take a more enlightened approach.

The guidance covers screens that are fitted to vehicles not originally designed to have a screen. It does not cover screens that are included in the vehicle as part of their original design. https://www.gov.uk/government/ publications/coronavirus-covid-19safety-screens-for-taxis-and-phvs/ There are plenty of suppliers, both national and local, that will supply and fit screens safely. Some local authorities, such as Liverpool, will provide funding for drivers to fit the screens through an approved supplier.

In London, thanks to TfL’s jobsworths, the choice is more limited. Unless a screen has been developed by a vehicle manufacturer (Toyota and Ford have done so), it must be approved by testing carried out at either Millbrook or Horiba MIRA. The biggest screen supplier, Driver Bubble, has so far had approval for a range of Toyota screens to fit cars including Prius, Auris, Corolla and Camry, and has recently gained approval for another popular London private hire car, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class.

Manufactured by FixiCover, this new version of the partition screen was also subjected to impact, light fire and chemical resistance tests to meet legislative requirements. The Driver Bubble FixiCover TfL Shield – Mercedes E-Class is made from 1.5mm polycarbonate and fits all Mercedes E-Class W213 models built from 2017-21. It costs £95.57 ex-VAT. “Based on our clients’ recent feedback and the demand, the Mercedes E-Class was the second-most popular PHV in London.

Therefore, it was only right for us to process the E-Class as the next vehicle for the inspection and TfL approval,” said Driver Bubble business development manager Will Cattrall. “After a close discussion with potential clients who have fleets of E-Classes, we wanted to understand their take on TfL approved screens for the E-Class, and the response was very positive.”

APRIL 2021

Driver Bubble had to make one change to receive approval from TfL. The upper left and right corners of the screen have been replaced with a more flexible material to allow side airbag deployment.

Driver Bubble has also teamed up with London-based valeting firm American Carwash to offer a professional installation service at its car wash centres. Customers can now choose this service when buying the TfL-approved shields. The installation service costs £18. https://driverbubble.com/ 5: CLEAN YOUR CAR THOROUGHLY Keeping your cars clean and disinfected will reduce the chance of the coronavirus being transmitted through commonly touched surfaces such as the steering wheel, gearstick, radio and door handles.

You should do a “deep clean” as often as possible, preferably daily, in addition to wiping down between each job any surfaces that the customer might touch, or that you touch as well. This includes interior and exterior door handles, grab handles, seat belts, steering wheel, gear lever and, if fitted, the partition screen.

Make sure that you have the correct cleaning products. Alcohol-based disinfectants, Lysol wipes and similar are ideal, though good old soap and water is effective against Covid-19. Products marked as “anti-bacterial” are unlikely to be effective unless they are alcohol-based and contain at least 60% alcohol.

When choosing an antiviral cleaner, look for products confirmed to be effective against all enveloped viruses as defined in European standard EN 14476:2013 + A2:2019 Annex A, which includes all coronavirus and SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). Products such as CarChem Viracare Interior Cleaner contains an active biocide that can destroy

bacteria, fungi, yeast, algae and viruses.

If you are using disinfectant on leather surfaces, such as the wheel or seats, use leather-care products (ideally ones that contain moisturiser) to protect and maintain the leather – and your warranty.

Products to avoid include bleach and peroxide-based cleaners. These kill germs, but also damage vinyl and plastic, and probably discolour your car too. Chlorine bleach could cause serious damage to the car’s interior. If it gets on the seat belts, it could weaken the fabric and affect the safety. Also avoid using ammoniabased cleaners inside your car. They can break down the vinyl, particularly on the dashboard, and make it sticky under heat and light. And don’t use glass cleaner on touch-screen displays, as they can affect anti-glare coatings.

Before cleaning your car, put on protective gear, including a pair of highquality rubber gloves and a face mask if you can, as there will be a lot of dirt particles in the air as your dust surfaces.

Apply a generous amount of alcohol-based sanitiser to your hands before putting on the gloves so that you have an extra layer of protection.

Valet the car as you normally would, and then use an alcohol-based disinfectant to rub down all plastic parts including the door panels, centre console, dashboard, the pillar covers between doors and around your windscreen.

Don’t forget to clean up the boot of your car as well, as this is one place that sees the most foreign items. Remember to apply the disinfectant/sanitiser to all the most commonly touched parts of the vehicle including the steering wheel, gear stick, power window buttons, rear view mirror, fuel lid opener and bonnet opener.

After you’ve finished your valeting job, dispose of the vacuumed dirt effectively,

29

covid: ready for business preferably in a bin bag you can throw into your main bin immediately. Dispose of the gloves, waste cloths and other disposable material effectively. All your clothes and car wash cloths and sponges should go straight into the wash and you should take a long shower.

6: U SE AVAILABLE CLEANING TECHNOLOGY There are ways of getting your car clean – and keeping it clean – that go beyond buckets and sponges, car vacuums and bottles of antiviral fluid. One is electrostatic cleaning, which is an effective way of sanitising your car simply and effectively.

In partnership with trade body the LTDA, ComCab, one of London’s biggest taxi fleets, recently used electrostatic cleaning to valet hundreds of London black cabs.

The electrostatic technology was provided by cleaning expert iPurus to ensure all vehicles were sanitised efficiently and professionally. The process involves spraying a disinfectant “fog” inside the car, and this creates a static layer on the surface being treated. The solution used is exceptionally safe, water based and effective against a wide spectrum of viruses and bacteria including Coronavirus, Influenza and MRSA. The electrostatic spray covers every area of the vehicle and kills 99.9% of bacteria, fungi and viruses. The process is quick too it only takes 60 seconds to have the vehicle fully decontaminated, allowing the drivers virtually no downtime from their jobs.

Natasha Nicolaou, Marketing Manager of ComCab said: “The safety of our drivers and passengers is of the utmost importance to us. Travelling in a ComCab black taxi ensures a piece of mind for both parties. We will continue to stay diligent in the cleaning routine of our vehicles under all circumstances and ensuring our ComCab fleet offer a Covid secure travel solution.” ComCab, iPurus and The LTDA are currently planning to offer cleaning events more frequently in future. https://ipurus.co.uk/ Other technologies will do a similar job, such as the Sany Car, a portable device that uses ozone gas to sanitise vehicles, with the cost per treatment as low as 93p per car.

It is a single-box device that pumps Ozone gas throughout the vehicle’s interior, and thus every surface is treated in a uniform manner.

Sany Car is powered by a standard 13amp plug or car cigarette lighter socket. It

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“Keeping the air within your vehicle clean while on the move is another way of minimising risk. Covid-19 is spread in small water droplets – or aerosols – from breath or sweat...”

of a similar size, AirLabs says the Airbubbl can remove the airborne virus particles from the air circulating inside the cab.

AirLabs claims the device can remove more than 95% of airborne particles that pass through the filter.

Airbubbl is a compact, 310mm long cylindrical device with pre-installed filters.

It plugs in to a USB socket inside the car and can be easily attached using a crashtested strap, around the headrest supports can be placed inside any vehicle and can complete the sterilisation to a medical grade of one of the front seats. Operation is standard within 22 to 44 minutes depending simple – a quiet internal fan sucks air into the cylinder, through the filters and expels on car size. freshened air out of the other end at a rate www.sanitysystem.co.uk/ of 30cu m per hour. Once the virus becomes sany-car-ozone-generator/ caught in the filter, it dies off after a period of 24 hours.

Keeping the air within your vehicle Already the devices are being adopted clean while on the move is another way by a number of private hire operations, of minimising risk. Covid-19 is spread in including Ed Halil, managing director small water droplets – or aerosols – from of Byfleet-based chauffeur operator EA breath or sweat. These aerosols provide an Chauffeurs. He said: “We felt that the environment in which viruses can remain Airbubbl was the only item on the market alive for hours before setting on surfaces, at the moment which, combined with our contaminating them too.

In the enclosed space of a car interior, the existing sanitising measures, would instil effect can be devastating. Of course, modern complete confidence in our customers that we were doing everything possible to protect cars are fitted with effective filtration their health during this unprecedented systems in their air conditioning systems, period.” designed to keep particulate emissions, https://www.airlabs.com/ pollen and other nasties out – but they’re of product/airbubbl/ little use when the nasties have entered the car, carried by the passenger.

7: BE THOROUGH The Airbubbl device, developed by It’s important that everyone on your AirLabs, is designed to reduce pollution levels within vehicles by extracting harmful team buys in to this. The last thing we pollution particulates from the atmosphere all need is another lockdown later in the and filtering them out, thus cleaning the air year. Transport is a known Covid spreader, and many people will be relying on cars inside the car. But as the Covid-19 virus is rather than trains, buses or even planes to get around – because the environment is cleaner and safer.

So your customers are relying on you to keep them safe. Which means you might still have to have uncomfortable discussions about mask-wearing or why you have to have a screen. You’re doing your best to keep them – and your drivers – safe and alive.

So you might need some training, or a policy document setting out how to do all the things you ned to do. There are good examples of best practice throughout the industry London-based chauffeur company – and Professional Driver Gold QSi winner – iChauffeur has an excellent guide on its website, which is as close to best practice as you’ll find. https://www.ichauffeur.co.uk/safety/

APRIL 2021

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congress live: webinar report

ProDriver Congress Live Series 2021

Beyond the Passenger

Mark Bursa

delivery business? dominic moyes: We started off promoting

tom shanks: We always had it in the

pre-packed packages for vulnerable people, and we needed to get things such as food parcels to them quickly, within an hour.

We started using the Delivery Point app from Autocab – but we didn’t know how to take it to market. So we went and tapped on some doors as passenger job figures had fallen off a cliff. We targeted 15 restaurants that we knew in Nottingham in hot food

back of our minds that as a taxi fleet we could repurpose ourselves to deliver other things. A few months ago we had a job delivering a package of car parts for Nissan from Newcastle to Paris.

But there was a cultural barrier. Drivers saw themselves as taxi drivers, not delivery drivers. But pandemic meant sink or swim, so it was integral to be part of it.

O

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MODERATOR: u M ark Bursa, Professional Driver PANELLISTS: u D ominc Moyes, DG Cars u T om Shanks, Blueline u M atthew Young, Shrewsbury Eats u Z oe Walsh, GLH u S afa Alkateb, Autocab

takeaway. We tried to create a market – now we have 180 restaurants signed up.

DG Delivery is now a completely different arm of the business. We’re onboarding drivers specifically for the delivery business.

We brought some of the team back from furlough to manage the operation. Now it’s a successful business with three or four people managing it.

VER THE PAST YEAR OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, Professional Driver has reported on some tremendous stories of innovation and renewal, where smart operators have come up with fresh and new ways to replace lost work.

The most dramatic shift has been the way the taxi and private hire sector has taken on the delivery business, compensating for a lack of passengers by bringing the things they need to them – everything from takeaway food to shopping, pharmaceuticals and parcels.

In our first Professional Driver Congress Online webinar, we focused on a number of operators that have already built new business divisions from deliveries – and asked them about the ups and downs of this strategic change.

The Panel

mark bursa: How did you get into the

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congress live: webinar report safa alkateb: This started for us in

We started in a similar way to DG Cars, partnering with a local fruit and veg company to help vulnerable people. We ordered stock in and shipped it out, but it became a lot to manage – 200-300 dairy boxes a day becomes a bit of a challenge to store and ship.

We thought there must be a way to manage it as we do thousands of taxi journeys a day – so there must be a way to upscale. We saw that City Taxis in Sheffield were doing a similar thing so we partnered with them and used their Caboodle app that links with the iCabbi system.

March 2020. We looked at where the market was going – and asked our customers what was the best way forward?

The delivery market is as large as – or perhaps bigger than – the taxi market.

It’s a big opportunity all of us were missing.

If you’d told people that their business could have grown 130% in the pandemic, they’d have said you were crazy. But that is what has happened.

Business may look flat now, but when people journeys shoot back up to where they were before the pandemic, then the delivery business will make those companies 50% bigger than they were before.

We think three years down the line you won’t recognise the taxi industry.

Companies will do both taxi and delivery, and if we do that we have the potential to double the size of our industry, which is quite amazing.

matt young: The delivery sector is

dominated by national brands, Uber Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo. But the most important thing for us was the reputation we had as a taxi business. Shrewsbury Taxis had a good local reputation, and being a smaller town the incentive for drivers to work for the “big three” is less. There’s a lot of work in Wolverhampton or Telford, but the delivery apps have a small operating radius of around three miles, which is quite limited. We can go much further.

We try and serve as many people as we can – we can operate a 7-10 mile radius to capture towns and villages around Shrewsbury – suddenly the people who lived there had a facility they didn’t previously have.

We also did a lot of advertising to get the brand out there. Restaurants knew the Shrewsbury Taxis name so they trusted us.

Shrewsbury Eats is linked to Shrewsbury Taxis so people who trust us to get their daughter home safely were pretty sure we could deliver them a bag of chips!

It was a lot of work to get up and running – don’t underestimate the effort needed.

But once it’s going, the momentum is definitely there. mb: What’s it like competing with the big national brands? They take a big chunk of the restaurants’ revenue so how do you structure your business to compete? my: Competing directly with them we

could see their commission is high, and we can offer a cheaper commission.

We undercut them as an inroad to the restaurants. We charge 10-15% because that’s what the market dictates. But some areas are more competitive, for example Birmingham, where there is plenty of undercutting rates to get business. You’ve got to know your own town and work out

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what people are prepared to pay for delivery. dm: We had to work out rates and what

was feasible. The groundwork started with businesses we knew in order to get support.

Start talking to restaurants and then they’ll tell you the commission – we’ve had some restaurants that have ditched Just Eat or Deliveroo and gone with us.

Restaurants also have issues with their own delivery drivers. If the driver is out doing drops for an hour, it limits what the restaurant can cook. That’s where we come in. We have biggest network in our area – we’re starting to see patterns building up in suburbs and outlying areas.

mb: How do you manage demand?

As normality returns, won’t the peak demand times be the same for taxi journeys and deliveries? ts: We see that as a challenge. Our solution

is to recruit a delivery-only fleet but with work that can spill over into the taxi fleet if needed. We don’t see it as being a killer problem but will need a bit of attention to service both pools of customers.

It’s not always food items that are being delivered.

We’re looking into the retail delivery space, and that could be daytime focused. Everyone loves Amazon Prime and Mark Bursa Asos Direct. But we can take ts: We saw that our partner City Taxis has through its delivery platform deliveries from store to door in an hour. put £7.5m into the local Sheffield economy – and recruited 300 delivery-only drivers. We dm: It’s ever-evolving – drivers will go back adopted their Grab brand – calling it Grab to taking passengers so we’ll get delivery

by Blueline. drivers on board. We’re already doing cold How did we get the thing off the ground? food and hamper deliveries.

It needs a lot of advertising, marketing, We’re always looking to fill the void social media – our Facebook page was a between 10am and 2pm – looking at motor fantastic place to shout about it. factors, pharmaceuticals, prescriptions.

We also had android screens in the back Always looking to find ways to fill the gap. of the cabs which we can use to market to customers – we have a captive market in the mb: Is it difficult to manage a mixture back of our cabs for an average 12 minutes of food and passenger work? Any at a time. They can scan a QR code and complaints about cars smelling of food? download the delivery app.

Yes, it’s important to have a competitive my: It’s not been an issue so far – we edge with low commissions, but it needs some resource on top to scale it up.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

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congress live: webinar report CONTINUED ON PAGE 33

Autocab Delivery Point added a merge orders function – so drivers can collect multiple deliveries and drop off via other drops. Getting multiple deliveries gives the drivers the fare they want. They are starting to see they don’t win on every job but there is a follow-on with multiple drops. It’s feasible to get fares to where the drivers want them to be.

are still taking passengers and the same drivers also deliver food. Don’t underestimate the potential for day deliveries as people have their lunch delivered too – this tends to be sandwiches and not temperature sensitive.

The food goes in a bag – some smell stronger than others but no mb: How difficult is it to keep one has come to us and said “your the food jobs and passenger cars smell of fish & chips”. When jobs segregated? passenger transport comes back some Dominic Moyes of the drivers will not want to do food sa: Delivery point jobs come in like again – instead we will hire food delivery drivers. normal jobs – they can go to a delivery fleet first, then be offered to the taxi fleet.

The system also allows invoicing mb: Is insurance an issue? to restaurants and also shows the dm: We do have our own onboarding team to ensure customer where the car is so they can track the delivery. It’s a great the drivers meet the correct criteria. opportunity to go to restaurants and outsource the entire service – so my: You can get a pay-as-you-go insurance option drivers working for restaurants go for deliveries, but it’s not the easiest thing to get. and work for the taxi firms But insurance companies are accommodating on hire & reward insurance. Just go and talk to them, or talk to a broker. If the driver is delivering parcels mb: Is VAT a problem? for Hermes, they are covered for food delivery too.

Matt Young ts: We charge restaurants a percentage commission plus VAT, but there’s no mb: Have you had any problems with food hygiene issues with restaurants, and how do you complication on VAT with food – we just do the transit element so it’s classed as a makes sure it doesn’t reflect badly disbursement. on you? dm: We’re not a food-ordering

platform, just a delivery company. It depends how order is placed. Food hygiene ratings are something we’ll need to consider.

mb: What about looking beyond the food sector? Are there any retail deliveries – even something for chauffeurs? ts: When it comes to more expensive

mb: How do you define the price

instant ticketing. So we’re looking to expand our urban offering with electric bikes over the next three months. We think we can combine delivery with a low-carbon option – that’s the future.

Average fee is £5, and the average journey is 2.7 miles. Using an e-bike means less congestion and fewer emissions, so we’re on to a winner. ts: “We’re seeing a massive national and global

push toward cleaner vehicles. Large fleets have to build more sustainable fleets. We need to find ideal affordable vehicles for taxi use – drivers can’t afford considerable sums for a fancy EV. Once there is a solution in the market it can be applied to both the taxi and delivery sides.

Not sure licensing will be the same for delivery. If you can find a workable model with electric bikes, as they are long as clean, hygienic and efficient and can get food there on time, there’s no point in ruling any business out. mb: Where will you be in two years’ time when normality returns? my: Shrewsbury Eats will be its own entity with its own fleet – we will have a relationship with Shrewsbury Taxis when there’s an overflow of work. But it will be two separate companies with links – Shrewsbury Eats will always need some help from the taxi business. dm: Our initial launch has been encouraging

– now we’re looking at our own app and ways to develop the market further. Electrification in urban areas will be crucial. It’s not just about food – the more we explore, the more opportunities we see – store-to-door in an hour.

Builders’ tools – a whole host of applications.

We tried to break in to the supermarket delivery sector but have taken a back seat as there are only a few of us doing it. We see delivery as a separate entity. We could have our own hub with storage.

items, for example a diamond bracelet, it comes down to the risks you’re prepared to take – maximum Safa Alkateb liability for damage or lost items.

We’ve looked at luxury market and there’s more dm: We started with subsidised rates – but we soon financial risk, so naturally some found the rates were too low. All part of the learning operators might steer away from curve! Now have a pretty standardised structure in that because of the extra level of line with meter rates. People are prepared to pay for complexity. But there’s nothing to ts: It’s an ongoing project with stop high-end chauffeur cars doing a delivery service. We were curious and sceptical many twists and turns in the road. delivery from a logistical point of at first. Would people pay £6, £10 or £12? Yes they Will there be a higher demand for will. We’re now doing 3,500-4,000 jobs per week and view. Whether the market can take it other products as well as food? is another issue. we’ve seen £20-30 delivery charges. Depends on One thing to understand is that what it is, but we were surprised. It’s not far behind the taxi fleet is very well positioned meter rates. to repurpose in the delivery space mb: There’s a lot of pressure to go – whether scooters or cars. electric, or use cleaner vehicles.

Does it change the way you work?

Tom Shanks my: We’re still testing tariffs to pitch it right.

We’ve found that as we collect money for deliveries, sa: Taxi and Private Hire is better the drivers will do the job for a little less. But suited than big multinationals for delivery. The dm: We’re looking at electric bikes – Nottingham then again, a sandwich isn’t going to run off companies are intrinsically more competitive and city centre is chaos, with strict restrictions on without paying! have local know-how. picking up, double red lines everywhere and

point for food compared to passenger rates? How do you get a sustainable pricing structure?

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APRIL 2021

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first look

Mercedes-Benz EQS

All-electric luxury Mark Bursa

M

ercedes-Benz has released

details of its much-anticipated EQS model – the first all-electric luxury chauffeur car to hit the market.The EQS goes on sale in late summer, and at that time, UK pricing and specification will be announced, ahead of first UK deliveries, which are expected before the end of the year.

It’s expected to cost somewhere north of £80,000 – comparable to a current S-Class.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 36

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Mercedes-Benz EQS

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first look

37

first look

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 38

The EQS is the first Mercedes-Benz model to be based on the company’s new modular architecture for luxury and executive-class electric vehicles. Although the EQS is a close relative of the new S-Class, it is built on an all-electric architecture. Nevertheless, it is built alongside both the S-Class and the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class at Mercedes’ new carbon-neutral ‘Factory 56’ at Sindelfingen, Stuttgart, the company’s most modern automotive plant.

The styling is very different from the new S-Class. Mercedes calls the body shape “one bow” and the lack of an internal combustion engine up front means a shorter bonnet and a cab-forward design with fastback rear. There’s no radiator grille – instead a black front panel sits where you’d expect to find the Mercedes chrome grille. It has a Cd value of just 0.20, making it one of the most aerodynamic cars ever made.

Mercedes has released specifications for two

38

Mercedes-Benz EQS

specification levels, but only the lower-powered, rear-drive EQS 450+ will be coming to the UK. It doesn’t look like we’ll be getting the highperformance EQS 580 4Matic, with all-wheel drive and 385kW of power – the equivalent of 516hp.

It’s unlikely that chauffeurs will be looking for performance, and the EQS 450+ still has plenty of power – 245kW equates to 328hp, giving the car a 0-62mph acceleration time of 6.3sec.

New-generation batteries provide a range of up to 478 miles on a full charge. These batteries have significantly higher energy density than those used in current Mercedes EVs, such as EQC and EQV. The larger of the two batteries has a usable energy content of around 26% more than those fitted to the EQC 400 4Matic.

The EQS can be charged at fast charging stations at up to 200kW with direct current. A 180-mile (WLTP) recharge takes just 15 minutes at this power, Mercedes claims, though 200kW chargers are few and far between at the moment.

The charging time for a 10-80% charge is 31

minutes, using a DC rapid charging station with a voltage of 400V and current of at least 500A. Charging overnight from a home wall box via the standard 11kW onboard charger is slow - about 10 hours. You can pay extra for a 22kW onboard charger that will cut that to an acceptable 5 hours.

By using the Mercedes me Charge function, it’s simpler than ever to recharge – simply plug in at a charge point and the current starts flowing without messing around with cards or apps. Mercedes has cut a deal with charging giant Ionity, and all European Mercedes me Charge customers can use the fast charging network free of charge for one year.

Inside, the entire dashboard is a one-piece screen called the MBUX Hyperscreen, revealed at the CES show in January, and now shown installed in the car. It is a concave screen that stretches across the entire dashboard, from the driver’s side to the passenger’s side.

The MBUX Hyperscreen is integrated into the instrument panel in minimalist fashion, with only

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first look

Mercedes-Benz EQS

a thin silver frame, a vent band and a narrow leather border surrounding it. The systems can be upgraded by downloading new versions, and Mercedes says the in-car systems will be kept up-to-date for the life of the car.

The satnav system is highly sophisticated, and can plan the fastest and most convenient route, including charging stops. It reacts dynamically to traffic jams or a change in driving style, for example.

The EQS includes a visualisation in the infotainment system showing whether the available battery capacity is sufficient to return to the starting point without charging. Charging stations along the route that have been added manually are given preference in the route calculation.

Suggested charging stations can be excluded. The estimated charging costs per charging stop are calculated.

Among driving features are rear-axle steering with a steering angle of up to 4.5 degrees. An alternative rear-axle steering angle of 10 degrees

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can be ordered or subsequently activated by an upgrade over the air (OTA). This enables a turning circle of 10.9 metres for the EQS, impressive for a car that is more than 5 metres long.

With the optional Drive Pilot, the EQS will be able to drive in conditionally automated mode at up to 37mph where traffic density is high or in tailbacks on suitable motorway sections, initially in Germany only. Autonomous features also include the ability to park and unpark the car via smartphone using Remote Parking Assist.

Mercedes-Benz is working on offering a carbonneutral new car fleet within 20 years. By 2030, the company wants more than half the cars it sells to feature electric drive systems, including fully electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.

Christoph Starzynski, vice-president electric vehicle architecture, gave some clues as to forthcoming models: “Our electric initiative is in full swing. With the EQE business saloon and the SUV variants of the EQS and EQE, further models based on the new architecture will follow soon.”

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performance engine Permanently excited synchronous electric motor power torque

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328hp 568Nm 6.3sec 130mph 200 kW 478 miles (WLTP) 0g/km

dimensions length width height loadspace turning circle (rear steering @ 4.5°) turning circle (rear steering @ 10°)

5,216mm 1,926mm 1,512mm 610 litres 11,9mm 10,9mm

39

the knowledge

T

The road to Hell

HEY SAY THE ROAD TO HELL IS time and undertaking tasks during that period. littered with good intentions. But now The opportunity to do other things wasn’t there, the do-gooders and tub-thumpers have the opportunity to take the kids to school, take filled that particular highway, they’ve their mum shopping, do things they loved when decided to start dumping their indignation on our they could or just chill out and just work when a industry. bill came in was gone. The trade-off was flexibility We increasingly seem to occupy a world where the and freedom versus some constraints and security. minority rules. A kind of reverse democracy. If we This now appears to be treated as some kind of can sharpen the story with a little David and Goliath hoodwinking; a con. These group of people, often or good and evil, all the better. The problem-solvers Dr Michael Galvin square pegs, who struggled with the constraints often appear to be people with little appetite for and strictures of employment were to be pitied https://mobility detail, for nuance and worst of all perspective. poor things who are being exploited.

Instead, they seek an apparent injustice and Well, I have been self-employed a great deal serviceslimited jump in with their size 15s regardless of whether longer than I have been employed in my career and .com anyone is interested in their solution or not. To what I am not sure I ever felt exploited. I also know many do I allude? To worker status – to that mythical no man’s land hundreds possibly thousands over the years of people who were that sits undefined in the middle of nowhere claiming to be the cheerfully self-employed and I am very confident they never felt answer to every ailment, even if nobody has actually contracted they were being conned either. the ailment!

Likewise, I know many people who are happily employed. And isn’t that the crux of the matter we live in an environment where WHO WANTS A JOB AND THE there is choice? If you want to be employed you get a job, if you NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE? want to be self-employed you start a business. Isn’t that the Well, lots of people and my very best wishes and good luck to perfect solution? them. But there are also many people who don’t, who never did Well, it appears not. Why because a self-appointed band of and probably never will. Who are these people? Many are taxi guardian angels have decided that grown men and women who and minicab drivers. Pre-Covid, if you asked most people in this know what is best for them don’t really. industry if they wanted to be employed, the answer would be no.

Business partners now need to navigate the crazy world of Why? Because they joined this industry for the flexibility, for worker status.

Holidays, sick pay and minimum national wage but the ability to choose when they worked, where they worked and, no supervision and control – don’t ask people to do this, don’t to an extent, how they worked. Technology has enabled this group ask people to do that otherwise they will be employed. of entrepreneurs to become even more entrepreneurial. They If you thought that was what worker status is, you are can now work for multiple apps, they can work for a traditional mistaken it is 50 shades of grey, but not in a good way. The circuit or a mixture. employment version of a horse designed by a committee, AKA a They are free to be daymen, night men or flexy. Will they always camel. earn the national minimum wage? Probably. Sometimes they will earn much more; other times less. But hey, isn’t that what entrepreneurs do?

Minicabbing has always been a part-time, temporary type of industry. Yes, some worked full-time as drivers and made a career out of it, but many, perhaps most, were between jobs, earning extra money, paying off some debts, saving for their daughter’s wedding or whatever.

The bar was low, the money was pretty much instant and whether their service was long or short it dug them out of a hole, provided a service when car companies were busy and provided a helping hand. The guys who worked full time could not flex up to satisfy the demand on a Friday and Saturday nights, so the parttimers filled the gap.

SO WHAT CHANGED? Maybe little has changed at all. But now we have a band of concerned people convinced that this industry, which has survived very well on its flexible workforce who, horror of horror, were happily self-employed. I add the word ‘happily’ because it is true. If people did not like self-employment they went and got a job. That job, unlike driving a cab, would mean being at their place of work at a certain time, until a certain

40

IF YOU DON’T HAVE AN ENEMY……..INVENT ONE! I don’t know how many idiots there are in this industry but if we listen to the tub-thumpers it must be close to 300,000! Among our ranks there may be a few who are employed, but the rest are self-employed and appear to be the unwitting victims of cons, victimisation and abuse.

I despair! Maybe instead they are happy doing what they do.

So why do our tub thumping friends feel the need to force these people to change their preferred lifestyle and get a job?

My experience of this industry, gained over forty years, is that anyone who does not pay drivers enough finds themselves with no drivers. Likewise, people who charge their customers more than they want to pay ends up with no customers.

That all important balance is difficult to achieve and difficult to maintain and requires flexibility all round. It used to be called business, entrepreneurship or even economics. Now it is almost a target of abuse. The big bad operators, the poor drivers. Circuits, cab companies or if you like operators have always had to work hand in hand with drivers while keeping a weather eye on customers and competitors – we all understood how it worked and if you got it wrong it was, and almost certainly is goodbye!

APRIL 2021

the advisor

I

What does the Uber workers judgement mean to you?

f you’re an operator engaging self-employed drivers, SO MUCH NOISE… the Supreme Court’s ruling on Uber drivers’ status So, for main contractors with sub-contractors who do you as workers may be a cause for concern. listen to? And what is the urgency?

But, to abuse a quote from ‘Hitch-hiker’s Guide to Well, what we are hearing from the press is a lot of the Galaxy’… “Don’t Panic!” Well, not yet. I’m not going to “this could happen… this might happen…. widespread give you a forensic analysis of the judgement in this column, speculation believes…we think the significance is...” although be warned, I am working with other experts on Let us look at what this actually means to you today. just that, and a detailed white paper from Eazitax is on its If you have already taken the time to bring in a suitable way. But here’s a rough guide to how it might affect your professional and addressed the engagement of your Gary Jacobs business. self-employed workforce, taken into consideration In a nutshell, after a tribunal, an appeal and a final your working practices, and the importance of those Gary Jacobs supreme court decision, a group of Uber drivers led by the practices being properly reflected in a written contract, runs Eaziserv, an charismatic union duo of Farrer and Aslam won a case that contract is as relevant as it was before the Uber accountancy firm against a passenger transport app. This meant they were judgement. specialising in entitled to class themselves as workers therefore entitling Many of the points picked up by the judgement are the taxi and private them to still be deemed as self-employed for status purposes usually already in the sights of employment status hire business but entitling them to minimum wage and holiday pay. professionals like us. It has been observed that Uber’s Uber pleaded that they did not, actually, engage the selfcontract was not the traditional ‘Contract for Services’ eaziserv.co.uk employed drivers. They insisted that they merely provided a that many of you have or should have, with your subbies. piece of technology and acted as agents between driver and This means the Supreme Court judges actually made their passenger. The judge disagreed. decision based on the specifics of the Uber arrangement.

WHAT DID WE LEARN? Many commentators are pointing to the decision being relevant to all The judgement teaches us that ‘superficial’ changes to contract terms are engagers of self-employed and sub-contractors, yet we know that all cases simply not sufficient when deciding to treat people as self-employed. which might come before tribunals, will need to be forensically examined Many issues were touched upon, such as what and where is ‘work’. In based on the specifics of their own contracts and working practices. this example, does an app driver’s engaged and unengaged (passenger This court was just the natural end of an appeal procedure for a tribunal or no passenger) travel, add up to their total working hours? If so how do and therefore did not create law, just something to be ‘considered’ for the their earnings show per hour, pro rata, and therefore when does national next tribunal. minimum wage kick in? A purely self-employed driver does not actually start Uber’s action in accepting the judgement, at least in part (the waiting earning until his punter is in the back. time aspect is challenged) may have stopped Messrs Farrer and Aslam There were also some grey areas regarding app drivers accepting work taking more Uber drivers through tribunals, though they have other from multiple apps and whether that affects their worker status during the companies such as Amazon in their sights. They could go for a class action waiting time. lawsuit, which would possibly lay the groundwork for a sea change in subTHE ACTUAL FINDINGS contractor to main contractor relationships. This could possibly influence Although the drivers were free to determine when and where they worked, the lawmakers to revisit status law. the Supreme Court highlighted five points from the tribunal’s judgement as That is however a little way off. A closer issue will probably be copycat worthy of note: tribunals brought by sub-contractors to other companies – ride-hailing 1 The remuneration was fixed by Uber, and drivers could not determine firms, delivery companies or couriers - motivated to try their luck. how much passengers were charged.

IN CONCLUSION 2 Not only was Uber’s agreement with the drivers entirely dictated by Uber, so too were the terms on which drivers transport passengers.

3 Uber, not the driver, retains absolute discretion about whether it accepts a ride: the driver is not informed of a destination until a job is accepted, removing their right of refusal due to drop-off location. Moreover, the driver is penalised if they refuse too many jobs.

4 Uber exercises a significant degree of control over the way in which the driver provides services, with rating systems tantamount to performance management.

5 Uber restricts communication between driver and passenger: it is Uber’s passenger, not the driver’s.

In short, these points showed enough of an element of control for the Supreme Court to find against Uber.

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Do not be fooled. Uber’s loss did not happen because of some glitch in the legal system. They lost their initial tribunal but had the money and legal clout to appeal again and again to keep this sideshow going. What they had were complicated and unclear working practices hidden behind lots of tech talk and weighty legalese.

Nothing has really changed for us, advice-wise. I have always said that a standard templated contract which does not reflect reality will not protect businesses from employment status and worker status claims.

Your contract terms, media, contractor handbooks or training manuals for subcontractors as well as your day-to-day working practices must be considered as a whole to establish whether your subcontractors can legitimately be seen as self-employed.

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the negotiator

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Where to now for Uber and its workers?

AMIE HEYWOOD, UBER’S REGIONAL general manager for Northern and Eastern Europe has a problem with Law Lords, the GMB and other trade unions and professional drivers. This is because of the Supreme Court decision in Uber BV vs Aslam (2021).

A Brief recap: in 2016 the GMB launched an employment tribunal claim against Uber, alleging that the drivers working for the ride-hailing comapny were workers for the purposes of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and similar legislation. If the GMB was correct, this would give “workers” rights, such as to be paid at least the National Minimum Wage; to receive annual paid leave; and to benefit from certain other protections.

Uber argued that the drivers were selfemployed and that Uber was merely a facilitator between the drivers and passengers.

The GMB was correct, and the tribunal found in our members’ favour. Uber appealed the decision to the Employment Appeal Tribunal. They lost. Uber then appealed to the Court of Appeal. They lost.

They then appealed to the Supreme Court.

Finally, they lost there too.

At the Supreme Court the question of what time counts as working time for the purpose of the relevant rights, was also considered. As I have explained ad nauseam in previous columns, Uber’s business model only works if their drivers take all of the risks of the working relationship. So, the cost of hiring/owning the vehicle falls on the drivers. The cost of insurance falls on the drivers. Sickness falls on the drivers. Pensions fall on the drivers.

Provided that pesky issues such as how much the drivers earned, did not feature in their calculations, then Uber was smiling.

However, he Supreme Court’s findings has put the kibosh on Uber’s version of reality.

Is a driver a “worker”? The Supreme Court found that drivers are workers. Using the relevant employment legislation, whose purpose is to give protection to individuals who are in a weak position compared to their “employer”, the Court decided that the legislation precludes employers from avoiding the effect of the legislation.

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Dennis Bartholomew GMB representative for Uber drivers

“Uber’s business model only works if their drivers take all of the risks of the working relationship.

So, the cost of hiring/ owning the vehicle falls on the drivers.

The cost of insurance falls on the drivers.

Sickness falls on the drivers.

Pensions fall on the drivers...”

When are the drivers “working” for Uber? Significantly, the Supreme Court also found that the time spent by drivers working for Uber was not limited to when they were actually driving passengers to their destinations but covered all times when the driver was logged onto the Uber app.

What now? Uber’s business model is in a mess. Unless it puts measures in place to limit drivers on the app, effectively its 40,000-plus UK drivers are entitled to NMW once they log on to the app, which could be at any time of day.

This is unsustainable for two reasons.

Drivers may log on in anticipation that there is no work available, yet claim NMW during such periods. Likewise, drivers logged on to two or more companies may try to get NMWs from all of the companies that they have logged on to.

These are “straw men” arguments that Uber will use to avoid the decisions of the court. So, what will Jamie Heywood do?

Jamie has steered Uber into challenging the decisions of the Supreme Court. Uber has declared it will pay the NMW only when a driver has a passenger on-board.

This drives a coach and horses through the decision of the Supreme Court.

Uber should pay all drivers the NMW when they log on to their app. This obviously means that drivers logging onto their system has to be restricted, meaning that the willy-nilly hiring of drivers by Uber has to stop and a more rational process of recruitment and driver management has to be introduced by the company.

Will Uber do this? No. Their business model cannot sustain this change. They will, instead, challenge the decision of the Supreme Court, in the Mr Micawberish belief that something will come along.

So, prepare for another legal challenge to Uber’s decision. Eventually we will all, Uber included, emerge into reality.

—Dennis Bartholomew n D ennis Bartholomew is the GMB

trade union representative for driver/ members working for Uber. He is an author and broadcaster with a strong knowledge of the private hire industry. dennis.bartholomew@yahoo.co.uk

APRIL 2021

the insider

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Disrupting the disruptors

ELL… DID YOU WATCH IT? INITIALLY, not to sit back during the first lockdown and tend to I had no great compunction to waste their gardens but had instead come off the ropes like a any precious time listening to a couple wounded boxer seeking revenge. of moaning, over privileged bores crying Dazed and bloodied they fought back to save not on about how much they wanted out of an institution only their own business but also the livelihood of those I love. But then, as luck should have it, I found myself drivers who had come to rely on them. They took to with a little down time (who hasn’t these days?) which delivering parcels and takeaways as a way to subsidise enabled me to tune into what must go down as the the drop in passengers rides and had, ironically, found must-see interview of, if not the decade, then certainly themselves taking the fight with the likes of Uber full the year so far.

Kevin Willis circle when nicking the App giants’ business.

My initial cynicism proved to be totally unfounded What impressed me further was that they were not once I had my head around the fact the interviewer then satisfied with pinching a bit of work in the hope knew, and was indeed friends with, the people in the Everyday problems of earning a basic wage and stay afloat. Nothing like it, ‘hotseat’ and so I found myself drawn in to all that was from the operator’s they now geared up to compete with and beat the big said by the contributors to the ‘Beyond the Passenger’ boys of UberEats, JustEat and Deliveroo at their own point of view... webinar (hosted by this magazine), apart from some game.

Leeds United fan who had more to say for himself than Just as their taxi business had to scrap it out with Piers Morgan (any more of that and you’ll be facing relegation, rather Uber by presenting a better, safer service to clients, now the same had like Newcastle United, Mr Willis – Ed). to be achieved when stepping back onto the shoes of the established Sadly though, my growing admiration for the stories being aired app-based concerns in the delivery game. The disrupted had become morphed to an uneasy ride for me that saw my face scrunch to the disruptor. a similar expression displayed by Meghan Markle (in that other Cards on the table, a few months back I did consider taking the interview) the moment Harry sat down next to her and asked “what seats out of my people carrier in order to deliver Amazon parcels have you girls been talking about then?” instead of passengers but drew back when I was told how much they Forgive me father, for I have sinned, as for the first time in my were paying per delivery. Shocking! Though, and if I am being totally seasoned chauffeur career I must concede to the realisation that I had honest, I wrongly regarded myself as a cut above having to drive lost my drive and ambition at some point during this pandemic. I have around cardboard boxes and curries. After all, I am (was) a chauffeur been caught napping and stand before you all accused of that heinous and not a mere delivery man. crime, complacency.

‘Don’t you know who I think I am?’

In past years I have prided myself by continually looking for ‘an My hat goes off to these new movers and shakers, and I find myself a angle’ or an alternate way to add strings to both bows and revenue little jealous of their ingenuity and their balls in achieving all they have streams. achieved at a most difficult time. They have not only seized market Having reminisced in last month’s column on past conquests you’ll share but some have gone on to create further jobs in order to cover have to please excuse this continued wander down memory lane when I tell you that my willingness to ‘assist’ saw me once organise a Shaggy the new workload. Very impressive stuff.

Really, who cares if we call ourselves a chauffeur over that of a taxi concert in Port Harcourt, Nigeria for the marriage of a tribal Chief’s or delivery driver? The aim of the game is to stay in business and daughter. that can only be achieved by being adaptable and flexible. Surely, I On another occasion, hope sprang eternal when I was to be found admonished myself, it is better to be a solvent delivery driver than a sitting in a Mayfair Art gallery brokering the sale of the Picasso bankrupt Chauffeur? painting, Maternitė (Mother and Child) which, as most of you know, As well as self-flagellating as punishment for my snobbery, I learnt and I googled on the train up to London that day, was from Pablo’s from this webinar. I have learnt I need to get my flabby backside Rose period. I revelled in the glare of disillusioned multi-millionaires moving off the chair and start applying the same determination I had as they tried to work out who the hell was this bloke sat opposite them witnessed from the speakers and that in which I recognised in my old in the Marks and Spencer (Collezione) suit. self.

Now all of us chauffeurs have ticket touts on speed dial and The world is not going to change anytime soon because it has restaurant flunkies awaiting their palms to be greased, all for the already changed. Our passengers might still be out there, somewhere, pleasure of securing a table in their over-priced eatery and, for me any but they are frozen in time and awaiting the thaw; until then we will way, not many of these ‘add ons’ ever materialise to generate any real all be required to adapt to what we know is a different landscape while income. knowing that landscape can change again without due notice.

My big break was to have come when I arranged for a shipping Giving myself a good talking to for my complacency and for waiting container loaded with coal ready to sail Indonesia to Turkey. This like an abandoned puppy for my master(s) to reappear and give me a apparently was an order direct from the Turkish government no less, rub behind the ears has focused me to ensure I am ready to get going which was to be repeated bi-monthly. The financial rewards promised again with added vigour. to be as huge as the jail time I would have served having discovered So watch this space people, because I am not finished quite yet. the coal was destined to be diverted to Libya, a country under an Though my garden does now look amazing... international trade embargo at the time.

Anyway, I digress.... n K evin Willis runs Chirton Grange, My (continued) reminiscing on past ventures was triggered when contact@chirtongrange.co.uk watching the webinar, when I discovered how these guys had chosen

APRIL 2021

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Eb

Google maps integration