Professional Driver Magazine October 2021

VOLUME 15 ISSUE 06 £4.95

Electric Green

plugging the gap:

Travelhire group weathered the pandemic storm better than most

Mercedes E300de AMG Line

THE ALL-ELECT

Mpg (l/100km): Not applicable. CO2 emissions: 0 g/km. Electric energy consumption (combined): 20 to 21 kWh/100Km / 2.9 – 3 miles/kWh. The iX xDrive40 e a battery electric vehicle requiring mains electricity for charging. Figures shown are for comparability purposes. Only compare electric range figures with other starting charge of the battery, accessories fitted (post-registration), variations in weather, driving styles and vehicle load.

TRIC

iX QR

Search: BMW iX #bornelectric

electric range: 246-257 miles. The iX xDrive50 electric range: 366-380 miles. These figures were obtained after the battery had been fully charged. The iX is r cars tested to the same technical procedures. These figures may not reflect real life driving results, which will depend upon a number of factors including the

contents

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COVER STORY electric green – an all-EV fleet and a new approach to fares are helping Travelhire rebuild

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B usiness News The latest from around the UK private hire sector

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N ews Analysis Driver shortages and fuel supply issues are threatening to derail the recovery

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R unning Report On the road with a BMW 745Le

24 R oad Un Test Licensed Exe Self Drive Hire of PCO Licensed and Plugging the Gap. The revised Mercedes E300de plug-in hybrid Mercedes S-Class , Mercedes V-Class , Mercedes C urrent Affairs Tesla Model S30 , Nissan Leaf Our new regular column about electric vehicles, infrastructure 01707 649and090 issues : info@chauffeurrentals.com REGULAR FEATURES 32 The Knowledge 33 The Advisor Daily , Weekly Hires The Monthly Negotiator 35 The Insider 34 or

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EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Mark Bursa 07813 320044 VOLUME 15 ISSUE 06 £4.95

Electric Green

markbursa@prodrivermags.com COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR Paul Webb 07807 133527 paulwebb@prodrivermags.com ART DIRECTOR Alan Booth 07817 671973 alan.booth@calixa.biz

Travelhire group weathered the pandemic storm better than most

Kevin Willis, Peter Panayiotou, Iain Dooley, Mike Stone, Denot Nyack, Adam Bernstein, Dr Mike Galvin WEBSITE MartinCoombes 01959547000

profile: Travelhire

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CONTRIBUTORS Ian Robertson, Tim Barnes-Clay, Glen Holder, Phil Rule, John Coombes, Gary Jacobs, David Self Drive Hire of PCO Licensed and Un Licensed Executive Cars Wilkins, Phil Huff, Craig Thomas, Mercedes S-Class , Mercedes V-Class , Mercedes E-Class

[FROM LEFT] JONNY GOLDSTONE AND JOE BITRAN: “We held most of the contracts with the NHS trusts in London, we got hit with an avalanche of work because all the doctors and nurses were told to call us to get a taxi in to work...”

Electric Green

Travelhire group weathered the pandemic storm better than most. Now it’s restating its eco credentials with a shift to EVs Mark Bursa

T

RAVELHIRE GROUP WEATHERED THE PANDEMIC STORM

better than most. Now it’s restating its eco credentials with a shift to EVs. We last sat down with Joe Bitran and Jonny Goldstone just 20 months ago, but it feels like a different age. The C-word had yet to enter the vocabulary; pandemics were not something we expected to experience.

Bitran’s Travelhire company had just acquired Green Tomato Cars, the eco-centric private hire fleet founded by Goldstone in 2005, but which had been taken over by French transport giant Transdev. A corporate restructure saw Transdev exit the UK private hire sector.

The pair were tackling the problems that had become evident under Transdev, and the outlook was positive. Then came Covid, and the world changed.

Like everyone in the sector, it’s been a struggle. But for the Travelhire group, it’s been less of a struggle than it has been for some.

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ESTABLISHED SINCE 2005 PLUGGING THE GAP:

Mercedes E300de AMG Line

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“The furlough scheme was amazing for a business like ours,” says Bitran, “and when the full lockdown was announced it meant no one could travel on public transport. Because we held most of the contracts with the NHS trusts in London, we got hit with an avalanche of work because all the doctors and nurses were told to call us to get a taxi in to work.”

“On top of that, the roads were empty, so cars could move about freely.

And that basically saved us. I’m sure that if we’d been corporate only, we’d have shut down, because our corporate work declined by 97%.”

The group was operating at around 50% of pre-pandemic turnover, putting it in a much better position than many competitors. Bitran adds: “We also did a lot of work for the train operating companies, and the trains kept running on a reduced level.”

Now, with lockdown over, Goldstone says the expected September work resumption has happened. “We’re busier than I can remember us being,” he says. “But there’s a chronic driver shortage and it’s not going to go away.”

Further cost-cutting saw the company move out of the rented offices on Western Avenue and back into the old Green Tomato Cars depot offices in

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OCTOBER 2021

OCTOBER 2021

comment

Taking charge of the problem

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s most private hire drivers sat in fuel

queues during the recent unnecessary panic at the pumps, the smuggest drivers were those at the wheel of an electric car.

For once, the tables were turned. Range anxiety was the domain of the diesel driver; no queues at the charge points. The recent announcements that two of London’s biggest fleets are switching to all-electric fleets shows the clear direction of travel.

The momentum has shifted. Electric cars are available in sufficient numbers, with enough range and enough internal capacity, and crucially, at cheap enough prices, for the private hire sector to start the switch to EVs now, just like Addison Lee and Green Tomato Cars are doing.

The penny may be starting to drop with the environmental lobby and the car manufacturers too.

Replacing a petrol or diesel private hire vehicle with an electric one is a far more effective way of cleaning up the environment than targeting the private motorist.

A private car buyer may replace a petrol hatchback that does 7,000 miles a year with an EV. A private hire car can do 10 times that mileage per annum – thus replacing a single diesel PHV with an EV is the equivalent in pollution terms of replacing 10 private cars.

There were 250,000 private hire cars on Britain’s roads before Covid. Of course, that number is down now, for a variety of reasons. But the demand is coming back now and in time, the market will surely recover to its 2019 size.

Turning all those cars electric is the equivalent of taking 2.5 million private cars off the roads. That’s the sort of target that makes a real difference in air quality terms, especially as the bulk of those quarter of a million taxis and PHVs operate in towns and cities.

There are still obstacles to overcome. Infrastructure is the main one. It’s not easy for the typical private hire driver to install a charge point at home. Few have detached houses with private drives or garages.

Many live in flats or shared houses, with no off-street parking.

These drivers would have to rely on commercial networks – which are not cheap – unless more

OCTOBER 2021

enlightened local authorities install dedicated charge points for the taxi trade.

And even if network availability does become better, and EV take-up continues to gather momentum, there’s no guarantee that prices will remain as low as at present.

Fuel prices are on the up – and you still need fuel to generate electricity, unless you are going to spend a lot more money than the government seems prepared to do on renewable energy sources.

And even if that happens, as EV usage replaces petrol and diesel, another elephant enters the room. At present, fuel duty is worth around £30 billion a year to the exchequer. And that is subject to VAT, so add a further £6bn. If everyone went electric, what will replace that lost revenue?

Road pricing is an option, but would be an unpopular one. Taxis are unlikely to be exempt, so further upward pressure on fares would be exerted as the charges are passed on to customers. Drivers of petrol and diesel cars might justifiably be upset at being double-taxed too, having paid their fuel duty at the pumps before being charged again for the privilege of actually driving somewhere.

Putting some form of electricity duty on at the charge points would also be an option, but this would increase EV fuelling costs, acting as a potential brake on sales. And it would be a tax on those on lower incomes, as those who cannot charge at home would be paying even more to use the charging networks.

The end of petrol and diesel sales is just over eight years away. Hybrids will be able to linger on for another five years, but the momentum has now shifted inexorably toward electric cars.

For the private hire sector, we are likely to be the early adopters; how many diesel cabs will be left by 2030? This government, and the next one, which may be of a different stripe, has got to get to grips with these issues. The sooner the better.

Mark Bursa Editor markbursa@prodrivermags.com

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news

Addison Lee and Green Tomato Cars choose Volkswagen for fully electric fleet switch Mark Bursa Addison Lee has formed a strategic alliance with Volkswagen as part of a plan to go all-electric by 2023, while London rival Green Tomato Cars has taken delivery of the first of 100 electric cars from the German automaker.

Addison Lee has chosen the Volkswagen ID.4, recently chosen as 2021 World Car of the Year, to begin its transition to a fully electric fleet. Over the next two years, Addison Lee will invest £160 million to shift its 4,000 strong fleet to electric. The process will begin in November 2021, and from then, 200 fully electric vehicles will join the fleet every month. The commitment is the largest single order of electric vehicles in the private hire industry.

Meanwhile Green Tomato Cars has opted for the slightly smaller ID.3 as its EV flagship, with the first five of an initial 100 cars arriving at its offices last week. “We’ve bought them outright,” said Joe Bitran, head of Travelhire group, which owns both Green Tomato Cars and Brunel. The first cars have been delivered and are already in service with employee drivers at the wheel.

They will replace a fleet of BMW 225xe plug-in hybrid MPVs, which were only acquired in the past 12 months to replace Green Tomato Cars’ Toyota Prius fleet, as from October 25 even PHEVs lose their congestion charge exemption, so the only way is pure electric. “They’re going to start costing us £15 a day from October 25 because of the Ccharge,” Bitran said.

He added: “We’ll be fully zero emissions by Q2 next year in all categories except MPV. All our standard cars will be zero-emissions by the end of the year.” Green Tomato Cars also has 70 Toyota Mirai hy-

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drogen-electric cars, and these will remain.

Green Tomato Cars managing director Jonny Goldstone said the ID.3 is the right solution at the moment – though with increasing numbers of EVs being launched that might change. Goldstone said the ID.3 was a better option than the larger ID.4, which has been selected by rival Addison Lee as its zeroemission car. “You can’t get more passengers in – there’s a tiny bit more leg space and luggage room, but it’s massively more expensive, and we think the carbon footprint of building it is bigger.”

Meanwhile, Addison Lee’s switch

to EVs will help build on its existing carbon neutrality and will establish the firm as the leading green transport provider in London, the company said.

Addison Lee CEO Liam Griffin said: “Over the years, we have invested in our vehicles and technology to ensure we do all we can to make London a greener place. We are now going even further, by partnering with Volkswagen to invest in a rapid transition to electric.”

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps welcomed the move, saying: “As we continue working tirelessly to decarbonise our transport network, I am thrilled to see Addi-

son Lee lead the way through pledging to electrify their fleet by 2023.

This Government has committed to reach net zero by 2050.”

To deliver on its commitments, Addison Lee has invested into a Future of Mobility Fund, which will provide £3.5 million to support drivers with charging infrastructure.

The fund will be used by Addison Lee to invest in key areas for a greener London, including the firm’s transition to electric vehicles, carbonoffsetting for non-electric vehicles while the transition is underway, and environmental projects in London.

Addison Lee has also vowed to play an active role in bolstering the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles and supporting drivers with access to charge points, which are both critical to the success of a full fleet transition to electric.

Griffin said: “We know that there is strong appetite from passengers, businesses and drivers for electrification, but there is still more to do to ensure that the right infrastructure is in place to overcome the unique challenges around transitioning fleets. We are leading the industry in making electric vehicles viable for large fleet operations and have found innovative ways to support drivers with their charging needs.”

Volkswagen UK’s head of fleet Nick O’Neill said: “We have a strong and positive relationship with Addison Lee. Over 1,000 vehicles have been provided in recent years and we understand the high demands the company places upon all the cars in its fleet. That Addison Lee has chosen the ID.4 as its initial route to large scale electrification is a huge vote of confidence in this exceptional new car, the support available via Volkswagen UK, and the quality of our brand.”

OCTOBER 2021

news

Uber announces pension plans for drivers; pressures rivals over worker status Mark Bursa Uber has announced it will roll out its pension plan to all eligible UK drivers.

The move is another outcome of the March 2021 Supreme Court ruling that it must reclassify its 70,000-plus drivers in Britain as workers. Uber has previously offered guaranteed holiday pay and minimum wage rights – though only when the drivers are actually carrying out jobs, not while waiting for work.

Uber has also recognised the GMB Union as its drivers’ representative body.

Uber said it would contribute 3% of a driver’s earnings – the minimum required under UK employment law – into a pension plan, while drivers can choose to contribute a minimum of 5% of their qualifying earnings. The payments will be back-dated to May 1 2017, or from the date of the first job a driver carried out if they joined the company after that date, the company said.

Uber also urged ride-hailing rivals

such as Bolt, Free Now and Ola – as well as major private hire fleets such as Addison Lee – to offer similar benefits to their drivers.

Uber head of north and east European operations Jamie Heywood (pictured) said: “I am extending an invitation to work with operators such as Bolt, Addison Lee and Ola to create a

cross-industry pension scheme. This will enable all drivers to save for their futures whilst working across multiple platforms,” The GMB Union echoed Heywod’s call, with national officer Mick Rix adding: “Uber’s pension scheme is a massive step in the right direction and will no doubt help thousands of drivers as

Osprey Charging to invest £75 million in 150 electric vehicle rapid charge hubs Osprey Charging has announced a £75 million plan to open 150 high-powered electric vehicle charging hubs across the UK over the next four years.

The rollout is a major boost to the UK’s public EV charging infrastructure and will support drivers with EV charging ahead of the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles.

Each hub will host up to 12 rapid chargers with a max power of 150-175kW, totalling 1,500 chargers nationwide.

The hubs will be conveniently located on A-roads and motorways, and will be capable of adding 100 miles of range in as little as 10 minutes.

Construction is already underway at four sites and Osprey’s first hub will open next month in Wolverhampton on the A4123 near the M6. Construction will commence on the first 10 hubs before the end of the year. Each hub will be located

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near food and drink amenities for drivers to use while they charge their car. Osprey’s first four hubs already under construction are next to well-known and popular retailers, including Costa Coffee, Lidl, Aldi, Pizza Hut, KFC and Currys PC World.

Osprey Charging will use Kempower’s ground-breaking charger optimisation technology to enable more locations to host rapid chargers on a single site.

Kempower charging technology allows every vehicle to charge at its maximum rate throughout its entire charging cycle, without impacting other vehicles. The technology optimises grid connections, meaning more chargers can be installed

they reach retirement age. GMB urges other platform-based operators to follow Uber’s lead.”

In May, Uber set aside $600m to cover the cost of retrospective pay claims from drivers. The UK Pensions Regulator (TPR) said it noted the “positive steps” taken by Uber and called on all gig economy employers to enrol eligible staff in pension schemes.

“The gig economy is set to grow further as the UK emerges from the pandemic and businesses recover and it is only right that all workers contributing to the economy receive the pensions they are entitled to,” a TPR spokesperson told Reuters news agency.

Uber drivers will be auto-enrolled in a pension scheme provided by NOW: Pensions and managed by workplace solutions provider Adecco, the company added. Patrick Luthi, chief executive officer of NOW: Pensions, said: “This is a landmark step forward for this sector and we pledge our support to develop a cross-industry pension scheme.”

per site than traditional chargers, without a need for more power.

Ian Johnston, CEO of Osprey Charging, said: “The EV market is booming, with sales up over 117% year-on-year and EV adoption continuing to grow exponentially.

In less than nine years’ time, buying a new petrol or diesel car will be impossible, so it’s crucial that public charging infrastructure stays ahead of the curve.

Through this rollout we will make charging anxiety a thing of the past.”

All Osprey chargers are compatible with every rapid charging EV on the market today and do not require a membership or subscription to initiate charging – drivers can simply tap their contactless bank card or smart phone.

The first 10 locations are as follows: u Banbury, M40 u Birmingham, M6 u Suffolk, A14 u Croydon, A23 u Essex, A127 u Crewe, A534 u Glasgow, M8 u Brackley, A43 u East Lothian, A1 u Wolverhampton, A4123 —Mark Bursa

OCTOBER 2021

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news

Uber extends Local Cab service as national roll-out gathers pace Mark Bursa Uber has announced a tranche of new UK towns into which it is launching its Local Cab service, which gives local operators on Autocab’s iGo platform the opportunity to take on Uber jobs.

Among new Local Cab partners is John Coombes, whose Kirkham Mac’s Taxis company has taken on Uber work in Kirkham and Lytham St Annes. Coombes admits he was sceptical at first, when Uber bought Autocab. “I wasn’t happy at first and wrote to Safa Alkateb at Autocab, saying I was thinking of switching dispatch systems.”

But the effects of the pandemic on his other business, Fylde Executive Cars, and the ensuing dialog with Autocab over the Uber deal, persuaded him that the switch is worthwhile, especially given the proximity to Blackpool, which attracts thousands of out-of-town visitors in the summer. “We’re effectively the only iGo operator on the Fylde Coast,” Coombes said.

Uber’s app will now also locate a cab for tourists visiting the Lake District via local operator Lakeside Taxis, which has operations in Windermere and Kendal.

And Local Cab is now live in Northampton, Aylesbury and and Ipswich, while the first Scottish areas have also opened up. Stranraer, Dumfries are the first Local Cab launches north of the border, quickly followed by Hamilton and East Kilbride.

The launches follow on from a successful pilot of the Local Cab product earlier this year in a number of UK locations including Plymouth, Bedford, Gloucester, Cheltenham and Oxford.

Passengers in Aylesbury can now book a trip with a local operator via the Uber app, which connects them with local taxi firm Jet Taxis. In Northampton, the Local Cab partner is local taxi firm Amber Cars and in Ipswich, Hawk Express is the partner.

Bolt partners with CMAC Group to bolster travel service provision Mark Bursa CMAC Group has announced that European ridehailing firm Bolt has signed up to provide taxi services via the CMAC platform.

Accrington-based CMAC provides managed surface transport and accommodation for businesses in 300 cities across 45 European and African countries.

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In the first two Scottish locations, McLeans Taxis has been named as the Uber partner. Company boss William McLean said the Uber app had been opened on average 3,000 times a month in Dumfries and Stranraer.

He said: “This provides another way for customers to book with us. For anyone visiting Stranraer that already uses the Uber app, Local Cab will make it easy for them to book a ride with a local operator.”

In Hamilton and East Kilbride, Local Cab connects customers with cars from two local taxi firms,Hastie Cars and Kelvin Kabs.

Northampton represents a strong opportunity with Uber claiming an average of 34,000 app openings in the town, while in Aylesbury there were 12,500 fruitless clicks on the app and 10,000 in Ipswich, Uber claims.

Uber UK General Manager Ash Kebriti said: “The

Local Cab pilot has proved to be a success for local operators, riders and local economies. Local operators have seen increased demand for trips and are now actively recruiting new drivers, which is having a positive impact on the local economy.

We are now excited to roll the product out to more towns and cities across the UK.” Uber has indicated it will no longer open its own operations in UK towns and cities – it already has direct services in 40 locations – and all future growth will be via the Local Cab service.

Uber’s app integrates with Autocab’s iGo network, which has the potential to connect passengers with 80,000 private hire and taxi drivers in the UK. The Local Cab system has been developed since Uber acquired Autocab in August 2020.

and on-demand commuting options.”

Announcing the collaboration, CMAC CMAC CEO Peter Slater added: “We said: “Bolt’s innovative platform will acare thrilled to have formed this partnercommodate both planned and time-critiship with Bolt. This collaboration will cal passenger transportation for CMAC, significantly strengthen CMAC’s ability supporting clients across a multitude of to respond to the needs of our clients, sectors including business travel, aviaespecially during emergencies, enabling tion, rail and onward travel.” us to utilise Bolt’s services and experNick Powell, Director of Bolt Business, tise to provide customers with a fast, said: “The nature of business travel still safe and seamless solution.” remains uncertain. In today’s time, air- Peter Slater “Aligning Bolt’s innovative platform lines and railways need to have a contingency plan in place. We are looking forward to tak- with CMAC’s unrivalled transport solutions will ening advantage of our well-established presence in sure that customers can enjoy a hassle-free, enover 300 cities and providing CMAC Group with ac- hanced travel experience they will want to use again cess to Bolt taxis for its passengers for both planned and again,” Slater added.

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news

Uber, Bolt demand equal TfL licence conditions for ride-hailing companies Mark Bursa Ride-hailing operators Uber and Bolt are calling for a level playing field in regulation after it emerged that rival Ola is operating under less onerous conditions – despite having lost its operator’s licence last October.

A Freedom of Information request has revealed that Uber has 21 conditions attached to its most recent London licence, while Bolt has 15. But Ola, which is expecting to hear later this month whether or not it has won back its licence following an appeal, has just seven conditions. Even Free Now, which has never been refused or lost its licence, has nine conditions attached to its licence, two more than Ola. Uber lost its licence in 2019 following multiple rule breaches, but won an 18-month licence in October 2020. Bolt lost its licence under its previous company name, Taxify, following a botched attempt at starting in London several years

ago, though it was finally approved in 2018.

An Uber spokesperson said the company was not complaining about its own conditions, just the fact that not everyone was having to abide by the same rules adding: “We believe that safety conditions attached to licences lead to better industry standards. Not only do they represent the way Uber already operates today, but they also reflect what we believe should be the minimum safety standards that all operators in London should meet.”

Dominick Moxon-Tritsch, head

of policy at Bolt, also believes the current situation is unfair. “Ola has been operating at a lower regulatory standard than everyone else in the markets for potentially up to 18 months while the litigation over its license runs its course,” he said.

As part of its conditions, Uber has to send a monthly report to TfL setting out all investigations into safety incidents and driver suspensions/deactivations. “Other operators, as far as we know, do not,” the spokesperson said.

Uber is also required to report all safety-related complaints to

TfL within 48 hours, a condition that is not required from Ola or FreeNow. Additionally, neither Ola nor FreeNow are required to have or maintain arrangements for reporting crimes to the Metropolitan Police.

Jamie Heywood, Uber regional general manager, Northern and Eastern Europe said: “At Uber we are absolutely committed to raising safety standards across the industry. We believe that ensuring a high bar which every operator must meet is critical in making this happen and offering the people who use private hire vehicles the safest possible experience.”

Uber maintains it has made fundamental changes to its operating practices in order to improve customer safety. By raising the issue now it is pressurising TfL to match the conditions on Ola’s licence – if it decides to formally restore it if Ola’s appeal is successful.

Transport for London said it was looking into the issue.

‘Outdated’ national taxi rules are bringing down local standards, York councillors claim in call for change Councillors in York have called on the Government to look at changes to laws governing taxi and private hire vehicles, claiming the rules are “outdated”.

Licensing committee members Rachel Melly and Keith Orrell have written to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps on behalf of City of York Council seeking national reform of taxi and private hire licensing law.

Cllr Melly said the law was outdated, even though the current Deregulation Act only dates from 2015. She said it was creating incentives for York-based operators to get licensed in other areas with lower standards.

Referring to the ongoing issue

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of Uber drivers licensed in Leeds operating in York, she said: “Operators licensed elsewhere in the region and who have drivers operating for significant periods in York is one problem, and

York-based operators who are circumventing York’s rigorous safeguarding and knowledge test by getting licensed in Wolverhampton is another.”

“In both cases we have drivers

operating in York either to lower standards or without sufficient knowledge of our city to offer a proper service.”

She continued: “The whole purpose of taxi licensing is to ensure the public’s safety, yet in both cases public safety is being compromised by perverse incentives within the current regulatory regime. The law is outdated and ambiguous.”

She added: “At the moment enforcement action is difficult and many of the reported incidents we are seeing in York are unfairly tarnishing the vast majority of properly trained and licensed Yorkbased drivers.”

—Mark Bursa

OCTOBER 2021

news

Unions accuse Uber of racist software to remove drivers via face recognition Mark Bursa A group of Uber drivers have protested outside Uber’s London offices in support of a legal claim against the firm’s automated face recognition software, which unions claim is a “racist algortithm”.

The protest was in support of an unnamed Uber driver of BAME origin, who lost his job when automated face-scanning software failed to recognise him.

The driver has filed an employment tribunal claim alleging his account was illegally deactivated when the software decided he was not who he said he was.

The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) is backing the action, and claims at least 35 other drivers have had their registration with Uber terminated as a result of alleged mistakes with the software since the start of the pandemic.

The software, which has been used

by Uber since April 2020, has been developed by Microsoft, and the software giant has previously admitted that it is not as effective in recognising black or Asian faces as it is with white faces.

Uber strongly refutes the claim that its software is “racist” and said there were two manual human reviews prior to any decision to remove a driver.

“The system is fair and important for the safety of our platform,” Uber said in

a statement. It has also said anyone removed from the platform could appeal against the decision.

In London, nine out of 10 private hire drivers are black or black British, Asian or Asian British, or of mixed race, according to a recent survey by TfL. “Uber’s continued use of a facial recognition algorithm that is ineffective on people of colour is discrimina-

tory. Hundreds of drivers and couriers who served through the pandemic have lost their jobs without any due process or evidence of wrongdoing,” said Henry Chango Lopez, general secretary of the IWGB. Uber is facing further similar claims in cases being brought by the App Drivers & Couriers Union. One driver, Imran Javaid Raja, who was dismissed in October 2020 after failing an Uber facial recognition test, then had his licence revoked by TfL for a month.

Uber admitted it had made a mistake, and the licence was reinstated, but Raja has not been compensated for lost earnings, the union said.

James Farrar, General Secretary of the ADCU, said: “All of the drivers that we’ve represented that have been to the magistrates’ court when they’ve had their licences revoked – we’ve appealed every one of them, and won every one of them.”

Southampton drivers ask council for multiple operator door signs Private hire drivers licensed with Southampton City Council have asked the licensing committee to allow them to display multiple operator door signs so they can accept jobs from more than one operator.

Members of the licensing committee discussed the request during their latest meeting, but decided that the current rules, which allow just one operator door sticker to be used, should be retained.

Cllr Graham Galton said: “We are aware of the door signage issue, that is something that is being looked at and hopefully we will come to a decision in the not too distant future.”

Currently all private hire drivers licensed with Southampton City Council must display door signage which shows both the name of the operator and licensing authority. Drivers have stressed that this limits them to just one operator, when in reality they could work for multiple

firms, increasing their earning capacity.

Southampton private hire trade representative, Ali Haydor, said that the industry was not saying vehicles should no longer have signage, but instead requesting that drivers be allowed alternative signs which don’t limit their options and helps offer them job security.

Licensing committee members said they were not willing to make a decision without looking at the overall impact a change could have on the taxi and private hire industry as a whole.

—Mark Bursa

Fewer than half of taxi licensing authorities using NR3 database Fewer than half of the licensing authorities in England are submitting data to the National Register of Taxi and Private Hire Licence Revocations and Refusals scheme (NR3), according to government data.

NR3 allows councils to record de-

OCTOBER 2021

tails of hackney carriage or private hire vehicle licences that have been refused or revoked. It also allows local authorities to check new applicants against the register and decide that a person is “fit and proper” to hold a licence.

However according to sources only half of licensing authorities were using the NR3 database when making licensing decisions at the end of March 2021.

In response to a question from Richard Holden, Conservative MP for

North West Durham, Transport Minister Rachel Maclean responded: “As at March 31, 2021 48% of authorities submitted data to the NR3 scheme, and 50% used NR3 when making licensing decisions.

—Mark Bursa

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news analysis Peak pricing, wage inflation and a move toward full-time employment are likely to be outcomes of the post-pandemic driver shortage

The price of a perfect storm Mark Bursa

A

s the pandemic’s stranglehold on normal life

gradually loosened, the beleaguered travel sector looked optimistically to September as the month where the comeback truly started.

Schools were back, holidays – or staycations – were over, and travel corridors began to come back to life. More planes at airports means some of the lost demand for lucrative airport runs was likely to return.

And while many of the predictions came true, with private hire operators reporting a significant uptick in September, a whole new set of issues had flared up to kick demand firmly where it hurts.

Joe Bitran, head of Travelhire group, said: “We thought there would be an avalanche of work at the beginning of Sepember – but now everyone is chasing drivers.”

Jonny Goldstone, managing director of Green Tomato Cars, said: “We saw a massive uptick in September by around 25% – we’ll see over the next three months if it sustains.”

Dominic Moyes of Nottingham’s DG Cars said the driver shortage meant the company had to cancel thousands of jobs – “in our busiest week since before Covid”.

The shortage of drivers is something we knew about, and we’ve reported here in some depth. There are a number of reasons behind it, not least Brexit, which saw legions of East European drivers depart the unwelcoming environment created by the ill-advised decision to leave the EU. The pandemic played a role too. With work disappearing under lockdown, many drivers simply did not renew their licenses and took jobs elsewhere. Driving a delivery van provided regular pay with a lot less hassle for

16

many drivers, and luring them back to the taxi trade may not be as easy as it was to lose them.

“If your licence expired during the pandemic you were not going to cough up the £700 for the licence. – they could go and drive for Amazon at £15 an hour,” said Jonny Goldstone.

With HGV drivers in short supply, some might even consider training to drive heavy trucks, given the current high wages available. Steve Garelick of the GMB union recently reported that he had secured a temporary 17.6% pay rise for HGV drivers in Yeovil – and truck drivers could be earning £30-40 an hour.

How bad is the driver shortage within the taxi trade? LPHCA chair Steve Wright told delegates at the recent LPHCA conference that it could be as much as 75% down on pre-pandemic driver numbers. “The critical shortage of drivers is the biggest issue facing our industry today,” he said.

“Our assessment is there are 25% of the drivers in the trade that there were two years ago,” he said. Not everyone agreed with the assessment, with one operator in the audience saying his numbers were down 25%, not 75%. Either way, it’s causing problems. “I’m sick of hearing about tanker driver shortages as our industry is in a far worse situation,” Wright added.

Ah, yes. The fuel “crisis” provided another unwelcome curve ball for beleaguered driv-

ers and operators. A local driver shortage meant a handful of BP service stations had to close, but the story quickly gathered momentum. Soon it was at the top of the news media, government ministers were telling people “don’t panic”, which of course is the simplest way to cause panic.

Within hours there were queues at forecourts up and down the country, and that had a significant impact on drivers who need fuel, as most of it had been siphoned out of the service station tanks by drivers who didn’t.

John Coombes, owner of Kirkham Mac’s Taxis, based near Blackpool, said his drivers were having to make long detours to motorway services on the M6 to be sure of getting fuel – wasting fuel while getting there and paying inflated prices once they found supplies.

Provisions were put in place after the previous fuel crisis in 2000, which would prioritise private hire and taxi drivers. But these require an executive order from government declaring an emergency – and the Department for Transport’s view is the current problems are nowhere near that – despite its own role in sparking the panic.

OCTOBER 2021

news analysis

So calls for drivers to be given priority treatment fell on deaf ears, with the DfT maintaining that it believed the crisis would be short term.

GMB National officer Mick Rix said: “The private hire industry has been hammered by the pandemic. Just as it begins to recover from the devastating effects of lockdowns, drivers are unable to work because they cannot get fuel. These drivers take patients to hospital, take children to school and are often the only way people with disabilities can get around.”

“Private hire drivers are on their knees.

They need help. We urge the Department for Transport to enable taxi and private hire drivers to be classed an essential service.”

As Professional Driver went to press, the panic had receded in most of the UK, with supply and demand at normal levels in most of the country, apart from London and the south-east.

The principal effect of this perfect storm – a surge in work, coupled with a dearth of drivers and a shortage of fuel – is price inflation. Fares are going up. The ride-hailing companies’ algorithms go into overdrive, putting up prices and offering better pay-

OCTOBER 2021

ments in a bid to encourage drivers to take more jobs. “We recently saw Uber charge £350 to take someone from Nottingham to Sheffield,” said DG Cars’ Dominic Moyes.

LPHCA’s Steve Wright saw the irony in the situation. “Fares have gone through the floor because of the disruptors. Now they’re charging obscene prices.”

Wright said there needed to be a resetting of prices in the private hire industry. “The price needs to go up. People are charging less than 20 years ago. We can’t form a cartel but we have to get the fares up. Fare increases are a necessity.”

For operators, this creates new headaches. The business bounce-back means operators have plenty of work. Goldstone said: “It feels like we’re above pre-pandemic work levels. We’re now in a situation where we have sufficient work for 40% more drivers.”

He added: “Driver shortages means you have to pay drivers more. Our drivers are earning on average over £800 per week so there is definitely wage inflation. That’s going to push through price inflation.”

Travelhire’s solution has been to offer secure employment on a PAYE basis, and Goldstone believes up to 100 full-time drivers

could be on strength by next year within 18 months.

And the company has already started introducing peak pricing for times when demand is highest. Does this mean Uber’s surge pricing was right all along? Not really – Goldstone and Bitran are keen to differentiate what Travelhire group is doing from Uber’s algorithm-driven automatic surges.

Bitran said: “We’re talking to all our key clients, and one client is now going live with fixed pricing uplifts during peaks, and that is passed to the driver. It gives some certainty to both client and driver, unlike the Uber model which may or may not surge, depending on the algorithm.”

He added that it was possible for groups of Uber drivers to “game” the system, by systematically rejecting jobs, in order to prompt the system into surging – and they then accept the same jobs at higher rates.

“A fixed price uplift that goes to the drivers makes drivers think they’re better off working for us than Uber,” Bitran adds.

And with peak pricing something travellers are used to on trains, planes and hotels, why shouldn’t ground transfers be the same, he asks.

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Dp

Delivery Point

profile: Travelhire

[from left] JONNY GOLDSTONE AND JOE BITRAN: “We held most of the contracts with the NHS trusts in London, we got hit with an avalanche of work because all the doctors and nurses were told to call us to get a taxi in to work...”

Electric Green

Travelhire group weathered the pandemic storm better than most. Now it’s restating its eco credentials with a shift to EVs “The furlough scheme was amazing for a business like ours,” says Bitran, “and when the full lockdown was announced it meant no one could travel on public transport. Because we held most of the contracts with the NHS trusts ravelhire group weathered the pandemic storm in London, we got hit with an avalanche of work because all the doctors and better than most. Now it’s restating its eco credentials nurses were told to call us to get a taxi in to work.” with a shift to EVs. “On top of that, the roads were empty, so cars could move about freely.

We last sat down with Joe Bitran and Jonny Goldstone just 20 months ago, but it feels like a different age. The C-word had yet to enter the And that basically saved us. I’m sure that if we’d been corporate only, we’d have shut down, because our corporate work declined by 97%.” vocabulary; pandemics were not something we expected to experience.

The group was operating at around 50% of pre-pandemic turnover, Bitran’s Travelhire company had just acquired Green Tomato Cars, the putting it in a much better position than many competitors. Bitran adds: eco-centric private hire fleet founded by Goldstone in 2005, but which had been taken over by French transport giant Transdev. A corporate restructure “We also did a lot of work for the train operating companies, and the trains kept running on a reduced level.” saw Transdev exit the UK private hire sector.

Now, with lockdown over, Goldstone says the expected September work The pair were tackling the problems that had become evident under resumption has happened. “We’re busier than I can remember us being,” he Transdev, and the outlook was positive. Then came Covid, and the world says. “But there’s a chronic driver shortage and it’s not going to go away.” changed.

Further cost-cutting saw the company move out of the rented offices on Like everyone in the sector, it’s been a struggle. But for the Travelhire Western Avenue and back into the old Green Tomato Cars depot offices in group, it’s been less of a struggle than it has been for some.

Mark Bursa

T 20

OCTOBER 2021

profile: Travelhire nearby Isleworth. “We’d talked about moving into one office for some time,” says Bitran. “With our own fleet team under one roof it’s much more joined up.”

Indeed, the group is emerging from the pandemic in a stronger position, with a bigger fleet than before, and additional business through the acquisition earlier in 2021 of Brunel.

For Bitran, this deal had echoes of the Green Tomato Cars takeover. A well-established London private hire operator with a strong brand, which had also been taken over by a French group with ambitions for the UK private hire world, but no idea how to turn them into reality. “We’d looked at buying Brunel before,” says Bitran, and we got a call last Christmas asking if we’d be interested in buying it.”

Brunel had been taken over by car rental giant Europcar, which had wanted to add a chauffeured service to its offering and saw Brunel as a way to achieve this. But with the pandemic hitting the car rental business extremely hard, Brunel was an easy cut to make.

“It had been losing fortunes,” says Goldstone.

“They didn’t have anyone to run it and Europcar had to go to the French Government for a bail-out.

One of the conditions of that was they had to get rid of all non-core assets.” After a competitive tender process, Travelhire group was chosen and the deal was completed at the end of March 2021.

The Brunel office in the East End has been closed and the business has been integrated into the group, and is now run out of the same office as Green Tomato Cars. Operations director Beth Sampson has stayed with the business, and a handful of sales and logistic people – but the vast majority of the staff took redundancy rather than relocate to the other side of London.

The car fleet was easier to sort – all the cars were owned by Europcar, and the cars simply went back to the parent company. “A decent number of the drivers stayed, as they’re obviously less sensitive to the head office change,” says Goldstone.

The approach so far is to take the Brunel model and make it more sustainable. Clients are demanding green vehicles including zero-emissions cars, so that’s what is being offered. “We reassured them and it’s gone as well as we could have expected,” says Bitran. Brunel’s Catalina system has been ditched and the fleet is now on the Green Tomato Cars bespoke system.”

The three brands sit in different niches, says Goldstone. Travelhire is luxury chauffeuring; Green Tomato Cars is “sustainability and volume”, and Brunel fills a space in the middle, focused on corporate work. It means pitches for work can be done using all three brands.

Not that there’s much pitching going on. “At the moment, it’s clients chasing operators,” says Bitran.

“At the moment, there are only two operators who can really fulfil – us and Addison Lee.” The other change at the moment is the relationship between operators and drivers. This

OCTOBER 2021

has been a dramatic switch, says Goldstone. “During lockdown, drivers were desperate for any work they could get. Now, they can choose which operators to work for.”

This is reflected in the group’s approach to drivers. Rather than going down the “worker” route, Travelhire Group has started hiring drivers full-time as PAYE employees. And those drivers will be driving electric vehicles, as Green Tomato Cars seeks to restate its eco credentials.

As a pioneer of clean transport in London, Green Tomato cars built up a fleet of more than 300 Toyota Prius hybrids. But with TfL’s rules now preventing the standard, non-PHEV Prius from being registered, the fleet has been disposed of – amazingly, there are no Priuses left on the fleet. In their place came a large number of BMW 225xe plug-in hybrid MPVs, but even these are now on borrowed time. From this month, PHEVs lose their congestion charge exemption, so the only way is pure electric.

Thus, Green Tomato Cars has ordered 100 Volkswagen ID.3 cars as the new mainstay of its fleet. “We’ve bought them outright,” says Bitran.

The first cars have been delivered and are already in service – with employee drivers at the wheel.

Ultimately the plan is to convert the entire fleet to zero emissions, though it’s not easy to find suitable vehicles. The company’s executive fleet is mainly BMW 530e PHEVs, but there isn’t an obvious EV replacement at the moment. Nevertheless, Bitran says: “We’ll be fully zero emissions by Q2 next year in all categories except MPV. All our standard cars will be zero-emissions by the end of the year.” The fleet of 70 Toyota Mirai hydrogen-electric cars is part of that mix, and will remain.

But that means the BMW 225xes will be gone, having spent less than a year on the fleet. “They’re going to start costing us £15 a day from October 25 because of the C-charge,” says Bitran But as they were purchased rather than leased, this is not a problem, “We’re a healthy business,” he says. “So we don’t have to get stuck into leases. We can buy cars and that gives us flexibility.

The VW ID.3 is the right solution at the moment – though with increasing numbers of EVs being launched that might change. Goldstone believes the

ID.3 is a better option than the larger ID.4, which has been selected by rival Addison Lee as its zeroemission car. “You can’t get more passengers in – there’s a tiny bit more leg space and luggage room, but it’s massively more expensive, and we think the carbon footprint of building it is bigger.”

The problem with the MPV fleet is a source of annoyance to Bitran. The group still uses diesel vehicles, because it can’t find an adequate replacement. Mercedes-Benz EQV is too expensive; Vauxhall Vivaro e-Life doesn’t have the range. The Ford Tourneo Connect PHEV isn’t C-Charge exempt.

Bitran and has written to TfL asking for common sense to prevail. “We’ve got a crazy situation where they are making us run old diesel cars. The idiot that wrote back to me hadn’t realised that the point I was making was about MPVs, not cars. They’re idiots, and they just don’t care. It took a month to reply and they just sent a boilerplate letter.”

“Rather than running diesels that can be up to 10 years old, let us replace those with cleaner petrolor diesel-powered cars and we’ll run them for seven years, not 10.”

Replacing the executive fleet is challenging.

Travehire’s requirement is for 100 cars, but right now there’s not a lot in the executive EV space.

Tesla has been rejected on the grounds of poor service. “We talked to them about buying 100 cars, they said we could do it online. It’s like dealing with children.”

The Jaguar i-Pace is an option, and indeed, Travelhire has won the contract to run the VIP transport for the COP26 environmental summit in Glasgow. Jaguar is providing 220 cars; Travelhire is sourcing the drivers and running the fleet. But Bitran has reservations about some of the car’s features and technology.

Bitran says the choice is more likely to be BMW. “We’re looking at the iX3. We have a grown-up relationship with BMW and can talk to them in an adult way.” Proper luxury BMW EVs in the 5-series and 7-series class are on the way, but not for 12-18 months, and the same goes for the Mercedes EQE. As with the volume fleet, Bitran is prepared to be flexible, and the fleet may change as more suitable cars appear.

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running report

BMW 745Le xDrive MSport

Crisis management Paul Webb

L

ast weekend involved a mercy mission

for a family member who needed picking up in Nottingham and transporting backdown to Worthing on the south coast, close to where I live.

Normally it’s not something that would cause too many problems. We tend to think nothing about a relatively simple 390-mile round trip. But when there’s a sudden problem with fuel supply as the gullible and foolish panic into filling up their cars and any jerry cans they could find in the garage, such a journey becomes potentially more fraught.

When I was driving a BMW 730Ld, I would fill up and have a range of 790 miles, Which is enough to do the Nottingham trip twice. But TfL has decreed that diesels can no longer be registered in London for private hire; you have to have either an electric car or a plug-in hybrid.

So the 730Ld has been replaced by a 745Le petrol-electric PHEV. It’s a comfortable, smooth and near-silent drive – but there is a drawback. The battery pack takes up much of the space previously occupied by the fuel tank – which means the 745Le has a petrol range of 300 miles with an additional 30 miles of electric range once fully charged. How would I get on? I would need to fill up at least once.

The journey itself was a dream. There was very little traffic (no fuel means no traffic!) so we could set the cruise control to achieve the absolute maximum fuel efficiency.

As the trip progressed, I started to check every

22

filling station, while watching the fuel gauge like a hawk. All Isaw on the motorways were signs saying “no fuel”, so I was understandably starting to worry.

Luckily as I entered Nottingham I found a petrol station with fuel and – even better – no queue of cars, so I filled up the meagre tank to the brim,

BMW 745Le xDrive MSport £90,465

price

C

ved band

36 months /

warranty

unlimited mileage

performance 3.0l inline, 6-cyl, petrol

engine

transmission

w/electric motor 8-speed steptronic, AWD

power

394hp

torque

600Nm

combined fuel economy co2 emissions zero emissions range

134.5mpg 52g/km 32-34 miles

dimensions length

5,260mm

width

1,902mm

height

1,479mm

wheelbase

3,210mm

loadspace

420 litres

giving comfortable range for the return to Worthing.

Despite this attack of range anxiety, the 745Le is quite a machine. Its stately appearance turns heads – the admiring glances and comments underline just how good looking and fit for purpose this car is. I set the back seat to full executive recline for the journey home and watched a very tired passenger fall fast asleep enjoying a massage while the car ate up the motorway miles.

I decided to fill up again on reaching Worthing, as I had further trips to make in the week. This time, I had to queue for an hour to re-top the tank.

There are plenty of advantages to running a PHEV – it may be pricier than a conventional-engined alternative, but you’ll pay no or very little road tax, and if you keep the batteries topped up and only do shorter journeys it’ll cost at least 50% less on fuel.

It’s also reassuring to know you have the back-up of a combustion engine for longer journeys which for chauffeurs is still a must.

On the downside, TfL has removed the congestion charge exemption for PHEVs from October 25, 2021, and this could spell the beginning of the end for chauffeuring PHEVs once pure electric luxury saloons such as BMW i7 and Mercedes-Benz EQS arrive in thecoming months.

We know that the good old days of 800 miles on a tank of diesel have gone for ever, so let’s hope that technologies will mean we will soon be enjoying that again. I don’t like filling stations, as they have too much temptation – something my waistline really doesn’t need.

OCTOBER 2021

road test

Mercedes E300de AMG Line

Plugging the gap

24

OCTOBER 2021

road test

ere’s a clever, sophisticated and practical car that

ticks every box for executive chauffeuring. Comfortable and bristling with safety technology. It has low CO2 emissions thanks to diesel rather than petrol powering the internal combustion component of the hybrid powertrain. Diesel also means a decent range even without plugging in, yet if you do top up the battery, it’s capable of enough zero-emissions mileage to satisfy TfL’s licensing wonks. continued on next page

Mark Bursa

OCTOBER 2021

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road test

continued from previous page Yet the Mercedes-Benz E300de feels like the end of something rather than the obvious choice. With electric cars gaining traction in the car market, what’s the future for the plug-in hybrid? PHEVs even lose their Congestion Charge exemption from October 2021, so even though you can licence a new one, it gains no special treatment any more in London.

But for now, what’s the alternative? BMW’s 530e is in the same boat. Tesla is the obvious executive EV, but the Model S is not available at the moment, and in any case, it’s priced more like an S-Class than an E-Class. The Model 3 is available, but for all its futuristic feel, it’s a long way short of executive luxury. There are several electric SUVs, but not everyone wants to ride in one – they just don’t have the same prestige as a saloon.

So for now, if you’re looking for a replacement for that ageing diesel E220d or E250d, here’s the best option for the time being. And make no mistake, it’s a very good car – with one or two obvious failings.

Mercedes-Benz considers the E-Class to be at the heart of its range, and is continuing to refine it in parallel to its EQ electric vehicle programme.

The current 10th-generation E-Class was launched in 2016, and this final facelift will carry the E-Class into the EV age – an EQE is due to break cover some time next year, and this all-electric model will surely become the standard.

Externally, it’s not easy to spot the revisions on the E300de. The styling has a more sporty touch, with the front sections in particular being given a fresh look. The all-LED headlamps have been given flatter housings, while the LED tail lights have been reworked too.

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Mercedes E300de AMG Line

The big revisions are under the skin. What’s new under the bonnet applies mainly to the pure petrol and diesel models, where integrated startergenerators add a degree of mild hybridisation. And there’s a new petrol engine with 48-volt electrics – a signpost to the future for all ICE Mercs.

But these vehicles cannot be licenced for London. The cars that can be are the ULEZcompliant, “zero-emissions capable” plug-in hybrids with both petrol and diesel engines, which came on stream in 2018.

data price as tested warranty ved

£51,790 36 months/unlimited mileage B

performance engine

1,950cc 4-cyl turbodiesel w/electric motor

transmission system power system torque

0-62mph top speed combined fuel economy

CO2 emissions electric range (WLTP)

9-speed auto, RWD 306bhp at 3,500rpm 700Nm 5.9sec 155mph 235.4mpg 33g/km 33-35 miles

dimensions length width height wheelbase fuel tank loadspace

4,935mm 1,852mm 1,481mm 2,939mm 33 litres 370 litres

The E300de uses the 1,950cc, 194bhp version of the OM 654 four-cylinder diesel engine introduced in 2016. Pure diesel E-classes have an upgraded 1,993cc version with integrated starter-generator, giving it a partial 48-volt electrical system, but the PHEV powertrain remains the same.

Other significant changes are to the electronics, where the E-Class now boasts the next generation of driving assistance systems and the latest MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience) infotainment system. MBUX is based around two large 10.25in screens mounted side by side to give a widescreen look. As an option, two larger 12.3in screens are available. The high resolution of the screens means the information in the instrument cluster and on the media display is extremely clear and legible.

The E300de’s 2.0-litre diesel engine produces 194bhp and 400Nm of torque. It is mated to an electric motor with 122hp of power and 440Nm of torque, giving a combined system output of 306hp and 700Nm. The diesel hybrid powertrain is available with estate body too, which may be preferable if you need more luggage space.

The battery pack is centrally mounted, and low down in the structure below the back seat. But there is some loss of boot space – it’s 370 litres against 540 litres for a standard diesel or petrol model – with a notable “step” half-way back into the boot. This restricts luggage-carrying abilities, which is not helped by the two charging cables, each housed in a bulky bag. We were able to get our test cases into the car – but only just.

The E300de has a claimed a fully electric range of 38 miles for the saloon. It has a battery capacity of 13.5 kWh and can be charged from 10 to 100% in under two hours with a 7.4 kW charger. The E 300 de AMG Line Edition saloon starts at £47,480 while the Estate costs £49,480.

OCTOBER 2021

road test

The 2016 E-Class was launched with a large amount of autonomous features, and although the law doesn’t yet allow them to be used to the fullness of their capabilities, the latest facelift adds a new steering wheel with sensors, which means that the driver just has to touch the wheel, without any steering input, to maintain “handsoff” steering, for example when negotiating road works. If the system detects that the driver is not touching the steering wheel for a certain time, visual and audible warnings are issued, and finally Emergency Brake Assist is activated if the driver continues to be inactive.

In addition, the E-Class now has major enhancements to the anti-theft systems. The Urban Guard packages enable all-round monitoring of parked vehicles. Urban Guard comprises an anti-theft alarm system, tow-away protection with visual and audible warning in the case of a detected change in position, an alarm siren, interior monitoring (which triggers in the case of movements in the interior) as well as preinstalled theft and parking collision detection.

Vehicle sensors register when the parked and locked vehicle is bumped or towed – or when someone attempts to break in. If the service is active, the driver immediately receives detailed information via the Mercedes me App. This tells the driver how severe the parking damage is and in which area of the vehicle it occurred. As soon as the vehicle is restarted, this information is also shown once on the media display.

Urban Guard Vehicle Protection Plus contains a hidden tracker system for pinpointing the position of stolen vehicles, making it possible to recover the vehicle even if the thief has deactivated the vehicle tracking function. This takes place in cooperation with police.

OCTOBER 2021

verdict

T

he diesel hybrid mercedes-benz e300de is the most economical e-class of all time.

It gives diesel fuel economy and range, while being compliant with London licensing requirements. You will avoid ULEZ charges until TfL realises it needs another revenue stream, but Congestion Charge exemption will go in October 2021, so it’ll cost £15 a day to drive into Central London. Improvements this time around are subtle. The introduction of 48v electrics will give greater capabilities across the range going forward, though this change doesn’t apply to the E300de model.

Nevertheless, more user-friendly autonomous systems will come in handy when you’re grinding your way through 50mph motorway contra-flows, while improved anti-theft systems are something that hopefully will only deliver peace of mind, and remain untested in daily use. The visual displays are improved, though the Mercedes display was the best on the market even before this facelift. On the downside, the replacement of the old rotating Comand controller with a pinch and stretch touch pad takes some getting used to – though in practice the new steering wheel controls are easier to navigate.

And the battery pack still creates a problem in the boot – the shape is awkward and capacity is reduced significantly, especially with the need to carry two charge cables.

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Get ready The Eighth Annual Professional Driver QSi Awards Celtic Manor Resort, Newport, Thursday November 25, 2021

T

HE QSI AWARDS ARE BACK! We know how much you’ve missed the only awards that count in the private hire, taxi and chauffeur sector – and the 2021 edition will be bigger and better than ever.

We’ve missed you during the lockdown – and now, at last, we can get together again in 2021 at our two flagship events for the chauffeur, private hire and taxi industry.

We’re keeping to our regular spot in the calendar – the event takes place on Thursday, November 25, 2021. But for our comeback, we’re moving to a new venue – the prestigious Celtic Manor Resort, Newport.

As usual, we’ll be presenting Gold, Silver and Bronze awards to the best of the best among the operators and drivers – with a special focus on how the sector contributed to the fight against Covid-19.

We’ll also reveal our 2021 Cars of the Year on the night – so prepare for a great party!

Details of the awards categories and how to apply for the QSi Awards, plus details of how to buy tickets and tables, can be found on our website, so please visit this address for details: https://www.prodrivermags.com/qsi-awards-home/

y for the QSi Awards 2021

current affairs

T

Tesla’s powerplay

will demonstrate its global superiority. its own bubble, going its own way Elon Musk has stated: “The biggest without collaborating with other constraint at Superchargers is time.” Outside automakers.

Tesla, the majority of existing rapid charging But that’s about to change. Tesla’s infrastructure is made up of relatively SuperCharger network, since launch closed sluggish 50kW chargers, which make up to all but Tesla drivers, is to be opened up to around 80% of the rapid charging network. In drivers of rival brand electric cars. This means addition, many have operational faults and owners of other EVs will be able to gain access sluggish maintenance schedules.

Tim Scrafton to Tesla’s large and very fast network by simply By contrast, Tesla’s chargers operate at Founder and COO 250kW – five times faster than most “rapid” using the Tesla app.

This is obviously a carefully thought-out chargers. Tesla has even stated that it will of The Connect strategic move. It will increase the utilisation increase charging speeds from 250kW to Consultancy of the Tesla owned SuperCharger network, 300kW – indicating that its own new EVs will enabling lower charging costs, at least to Tesla owners, and be upgraded to receive this capacity. making the network more profitable. That in turn should Tesla’s network will make almost 80% of the existing enable Tesla to expand its network more rapidly. public charging network obsolete. The car companies are investing in similar technology, including the Daimler/ COUNTER-INTUITIVE MARKETING Hyundai-backed pan-European Ionity charging network The move is great news for all EV drivers outside of the Tesla of 350kW chargers. These have been opening at a rate of bubble. They will suddenly be able to access a super-reliable, around 100 per year – even though only a handful of cars ultra-rapid charging network. But I might feel a bit narked if can use even half that capacity – including Porsche and I was one of Tesla’s existing customers.

Tesla.

Tesla’s phenomenal success is itself putting stress Remember, although its SuperCharger network is on the charging network, and Tesla drivers are already proprietary, Tesla EVs are still capable of using chargers experiencing queues at larger city hubs. The arrival of Fords, outside their own network – they just rarely need to do so.

Hyundai and VWs could make that worse. But that’s not how By opening up his SuperCharger network Elon Musk will Tesla sees it. demonstrate, in one move, a huge market superiority for Tesla has never advertised. It leaves that expense to both vehicle and charging capability. other car brands that are desperately trying to catch up MANAGING THE NETWORK on the road to e-mobility and zero emissions. By opening the exclusive SuperCharger network to other drivers it will It is likely that Tesla will introduce dynamic pricing for expose these drivers directly to the ‘Tesla experience’, and it other EVs incapable of charging at the rate of Tesla EVs. believes that will lead to more Tesla buyers in the long term.

Tesla could also introduce allotted time periods for Tesla owners to have priority at peak times. Whatever happens it LEGACY MANUFACTURERS is likely to be another counter-intuitive marketing play to Legacy car manufacturers are already fighting new EV demonstrate the first-hand benefits of Tesla ownership. manufacturers like Tesla with one arm tied behind their Tesla is used to being a major disruptor in the automotive backs. They are forced to prop up their outgoing petrol and world. This move sets it well on the way to disrupting the diesel car ranges, and these cars are more complex to build, fuelling of all transport, given that it will all be mostly with tens of thousands of parts against just a few hundred electric. in an EV. It’s not surprising that many have decided to place How will the future of charging will look? Tesla took six their EV ranges under sub-brands or even completely new years (2012-2018) to reach 10,000 SuperChargers. But marques such as Volvo’s Polestar. BMW uses I; Mercedesfrom November 2020 to August 2021, it ramped up extra Benz uses EQ; VW uses ID, and so on. production by another 10,000 per year by opening a new At some point they’ll also be fighting against their own Chinese factory. brands as customers debate whether to buy internal Tesla is big on both solar panels and battery storage as combustion engines or EVs. well – it is becoming a major force as a utility company in Meanwhile, Tesla is unburdened by legacy ICE cars, so more and more countries. So Tesla will make electricity, sell it just does product launches and announcements and electricity and is likely to become the absolute dominant markets through social media channels. force when it comes to the charging network. esla has always operated in

MARKET DOMINANCE Tesla’s big move is a potential game changer, exposing the market disparity between Tesla and the rest. By opening up its charging network Tesla believes it

30

n Tim Scrafton is founder and COO of

The Connect Consultancy, the UK’s largest independent EV consultancy and installer. www.theconnectconsultancy.com

OCTOBER 2021

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the knowledge

I

A Dystopian Utopia

am sure I am not alone in allowing What areas are the most lucrative and how a wry smile to cross my face when I I can turn a short job into a long one. This heard this supremely ironic piece of news. industry was built on those aspirations. it Britain’s largest ride-hailing company became successful on those aspirations and spent its time at the Tory Party Conference it ain’t going to change anytime soon! last week, telling anyone who would listen how SILICON VALLEY IS NOT virtuous they were, paying £25 per hour to THE FONT OF ALL WISDOM drivers and offering pensions and other benefits as their standard fayre.

The big mistake people always make when Dr Michael Galvin they come into this industry is to assume Meanwhile said company’s drivers were planning a strike on October 7. Uber has also after two days that they know it all. I don’t https://mobility taken to repeatedly urging others through the know how many billions venture capital serviceslimited broadsheet press to follow their model of worker companies have collectively poured down .com status and union recognition. Frankly I don’t the drain (the last estimate I saw was give two figs what they do, say or urge people to do but £50bn), clapped and applauded by well paid consultants I do wish to look at why worker status and benefits are who marvelled at these “new business models”. never going to fly in this industry.

Well, guess what? They were never “business models”.

They were nonsensical. Meanwhile the bright young SQUARE PEGS AND ROUND HOLES things with their appreciative consultants lost licences, A leader of one of the biggest trade associations once said lost fortunes, put the public at risk and on the way to to me: “This trade is full of square pegs.” It was not meant court scoffed at people running responsible businesses as an insult, just an accurate description of why many that actually made money. Now they want to lecture the people end up in this industry. The more I have thought rest of us about how we should manage drivers. It seems about this statement over the years, the more I agree. to me that some of these people need to change their If people in the industry wanted jobs they would have medication. gone and got one. The decision is not about intelligence, The luck of the draw, swings and roundabouts and most it is about aptitude, fulfilment, personal choice and important of all being able to suit yourself is why people aspiration. Being at a particular place at a particular time came into this industry, why it ran so well and why it will is not for everyone. continue to run when this pantomime has moved on to Knowing what you will earn each month has its benefits food deliveries, groceries and whatever comes next. but without fear where is the fun? Working hard when Balancing the needs of customers who want ad hoc you want/need to and relaxing, following a hobby or just services with drivers who want to provide services on slobbing out when you don’t appeals to many. Then there an ad hoc basis is the secret of this industry. Trying are those that fit caring, education, religion, studying and to straight-jacket free spirits into becoming pseudo a million and one other things around work. Fitting life employees may look good on white boards in swanky around work isn’t everyone’s desired state. No one (a few offices; it might make shareholders feel like their PAYE drivers aside) I would suggest joined this industry management are in charge; but it won’t fly. expecting to be treated like an employee and if they did, This industry is about balancing, operational stretch, they were mistaken. probability and seeing what happens. It’s a complex world that doesn’t want to be organised and constrained. Apart BUT IS IT RIGHT? from a tiny minority, customers don’t provide jobs every The tub-thumpers, rabble-rousers and idealists may day on a regular basis and drivers don’t provide their believe that everyone should be treated ‘fairly’, but that is services on that basis either. where the wheels come off. Many, perhaps most, drivers What management theory describes how two chaotic expect fairness; a straight box/plot, decent rates, being inputs (customers and drivers) operating in a city that paid on time and being safe on the is increasingly congested streets. But they don’t expect that and difficult to get around each of the drivers in their firm transforms into a super service gets the same.

I don’t know. But it does, and it No, this is a grittier profession has done so for years and if left than that – I want more than the alone without government or rest not the same! I want to see anyone else’s interference myself as luckier, smarter and it will continue to do so. a whole lot more streetwise and reap the rewards. I want to work n www.mobilityservices out which hours are best for me. limited.com

“Balancing the needs of customers who want ad hoc services with drivers who want to provide services on an ad hoc basis is the secret of this industry...”

32

OCTOBER 2021

the advisor

Touch My Crystal Ball

T

HE NEXT IMPORTANT ITEM ON ANY accountant’s horizon is the forthcoming budget, due on October 27.

Obviously, 2021 has been a year like no other. We have just come to the end of the pandemic furlough scheme; which means the redundancies are just about to start. Our industry has been crippled like its cousin, hospitality, by a lack of travel both internally and externally. Even though we are still waiting for overseas travel to bring our passengers in, internally operators have been hit by massive labour issues, both pandemic and Brexit-based.

Many drivers were forced to give their vehicles back to their rental companies. Even worse, many owners had no choice but to hand back their keys to their vehicle financiers, and because cars and certain parts were not being made through the pandemic, we have massive waiting list for new ones and a price hike for second hand.

WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW

Taking that into consideration, there must still be money for the Covid health response and some specific business pandemic recovery help.

We still need to know what recovery will actually look like for us.

The Government has already said that it will be looking at strengthening public services, levelling the playing field (in opportunity) within Gary Jacobs the UK, promoting Britain globally and moving forward its ‘Plan for Growth.’ I await how the Gary Jacobs government will define this ‘plan’ post Brexit runs Eaziserv, an and in a pandemic recovery period. accountancy firm Thanks to some work by the hilariously named specialising in Office of Tax Simplification, there may well be the taxi and private changes to Inheritance Tax and Capital Gains hire business Tax. This has been a big win for HMRC: simple means easy wins for them without affecting the eaziserv.co.uk average tax payers’ bottom line.

The other easy win, not universally popular, will probably be the freezing of personal tax HMRC IS SHARPENING ITS CLAWS allowances which normally rise (to our advantage) annually.

To top it all HMRC is starting to think about how the self-emFinally, let’s see if the government can keep its promise on ployed are going justify their self-employed grants, if by good freezing fuel duty for the 11th year running. I suspect that in grace they managed to earn nearly the same as the last year in the mind of the chancellor, it may be time for it to rise. a last minute ‘back to work’ frenzy. And they will be asking for A BIT OF WHAT WE WISH FOR their grants back if they don’t think you deserved it. (More on u FOR OPERATORS: Maybe some help for medium-sized that next month, or ask an accountant).

It is with this in mind we wonder whether the govt will put a businesses (turnover of more than £1m) with cash-flow sticking plaster and some cooling ointment on our pains or just problems by increasing the ceiling for the VAT cash accounting rip the scab off and pick the wound, in this ‘technical budget.’ To system, which allows you to pay VAT only when your client pays be fair, Making Tax Digital, the massive new HMRC digitisation your bill. A simplification of the now ridiculously complicated process and all of its prospective headaches, has been pushed EU VAT laws post-Brexit. The ability to easily reclaim overseas back again to 2024, allowing all of us accountants and normal sales tax which is also (post-Brexit) unclear and in need of people alike, a little breathing space. work by HMRC. u FOR EVERYONE: The hospitality industry benefitted from THE PROFESSIONALS’ VIEW a reduced VAT rate of 5%, so shouldn’t passenger transport get So here are some thoughts both from myself and other a little of that help? Many fleets are significantly reduced, and accountancy pundits on what might be in store for us, or for that the big tech apps get the offshore VAT breaks, so let’s even the matter what we think should be in the budget. playing field a little, even just during our recovery.

WHAT WE KNOW CONCLUSION Well, we know since Chancellor Sunak has already launched To be fair, our government has a tough call between refilling a spending review pre-budget, there will be tightening of the their coffers to continue their plans and helping us recover purse strings. I think we all knew that. Also, climate change will from the financial horrors of the past 18 months. Let’s almost definitely be on the menu. UN Conference of the Parties just hope they will remember the (COP26) is in Glasgow at the end of importance of this country’s passenger October. National Insurance is definitely transportation industry. increasing by 1.25% to cover health and social care. There will be some n Gary Jacobs is a director of unexpected state pension halts and Eazitax an industry specialist there must be some tax increases to try accountancy service. If you have and reduce the £2.6 billion tax gap, and any problems with the current the further effects on the government’s issues discussed Gary can be pandemic spending, such as the soon to contacted at Eazitax.co.uk or via finish furlough scheme.

LinkedIn.

“To be fair, Making Tax Digital... has been pushed back again to 2024, allowing all of us accountants... a little breathing space...”

OCTOBER 2021

33

the negotiator

I

If your face doesn’t fit…

too much in terms of people and will create a huge layer of bureaucracy. Such a development will add to their existing of its drivers – the people who make the money that negative earnings. The Kleenex approach (other tissues are pays their executives’ fat salaries. I know that a number available) is underpinned by a simple algorithm. A driver who of these Uber executives, as well as a few Professional Driver has any negative comments made against him is given the readers, have asked why I am always “whinging”. boot. No lengthy hearing, no need for statements, no appeal Earlier this year my trade union, the GMB, along with procedures, no nothing! others, won a historic Supreme Court victory. This decided But, I hear you say, this paints the app based company that drivers working for Uber, and presumably other bosses as worse than 19th century mill owners, who also private hire drivers, enjoyed the minimum benefits under sent children up chimneys. I’ve seen the photos of Jaimie employment law, a decision fought against by Uber over Dennot Nyack Heywood and he is clean shaven, nary a whisker on his face, several years. After that, Uber signed a historic recognition The union view no top hat and he does not wear a frock coat. BTW, he does agreement with the GMB that appeared to pave the way from our GMB not send children up chimneys. towards better treatment for all drivers.

Ah, I’ll reply, that is true but when you were kicked out of So why did drivers picket Uber’s London HQ on representative your work as a weaver you did not end up owing thousands of Wednesday, October 6? Fellow trade unionists, the pounds for your car, insurance, medicals, licences, etc.

Independent Workers Union of Great Britain’s United Private However, termination of drivers from the app still occurs on a regular Hire Drivers (UPHD), called the protest over the drivers and couriers who basis. I know because I have personally written emails to one of the major have been deactivated (terminated/dismissed/sacked) following automatic private hire companies for more than a hundred member/drivers asking checks on their identity via the app. that their drivers be told what it is they have done; when, where and at what Research has shown that a huge number of drivers have been terminated time it occurred and who has made the complaint. Not one response have I this way after years of service because the app failed to recognise their received. faces. Earlier versions of the software used by Uber was found to have a I have had drivers terminated for not allowing their passengers to play failure rate of 21% for non-white female faces, 6% for non-white males, but drum n’ bass through the car’s speakers; apparently executing a U-turn on falling to zero percent for white men. Drivers presenting themselves at the the Westway flyover; supposedly leering after female, and male passengers, UBER hub are turned away even when they can prove that they are the etc. As I said in my previous article, I and the GMB are supportive of all person the app claims they are not. measures that get rid of drivers who act criminally, put passengers in danger The UPHD claims that more than 200 workers were affected this way or or are just bad people. summarily terminated. From my experience as a “workplace representative” However, the use of an algorithm to sack drivers and then fail to give them for GMB member/drivers I believe these figures to be an underestimate. What an opportunity to address the charges that led to their dismissal is wrong. is the situation affecting such workers and what is their position regarding I don’t agree with some that say such action is criminal, but it is very poor workplace security? corporate behaviour and certainly against the corporate social responsibility How app-based transport companies work is as follows. They apply a charter of these companies. device-based app that allows customers to call on the service of workers, So what should Uber and others do? I agree with our colleagues in the normally via a mobile phone, be they couriers, private hire drivers, cleaners UPHD. All drivers and couriers demand a fair process for dismissals in line and so on. The companies claim that this is all “new and shiny” and the with Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) guidelines and workers are all independent contractors. the reinstatement of their sacked colleagues. The companies have stated The claim of the companies that these were “gig” workers doing their that they are taking firm action against bad drivers. If that is the case, then thing while engaged in something more serious has now been dropped and there appear to be an awful lot of bad drivers working across the profession. it is accepted that the majority of those providing services are engaged full I don’t think that is the case. time in their work.

What I believe is happening is, as I have said previously, the companies These various apps are not “new or shiny” but are just a new way to put are using computer-based decision-making in order to manage their staff. customers in touch with workers in existing industries. The app companies This is something that I believe is against the law but I will need to check make their money not on the basis of innovation but on good old fashioned this. low wages paid to the workers and taking, at the same time, a slice of their Every worker subject to a process that would lead to their dismissal must workers earnings as commission. So, why do these companies treat their have the opportunity to hear the case against them and then present their bread-earners this way? defence. So companies, adopt the ACAS guidelines and, where necessary, These companies’ business models are based on low fixed overheads. That increase your fares. Do the right thing. includes the cost of humans that are needed many times to resolve problems that the “new and shiny” computers and apps can’t solve. The private hire —Dennot Nyack and courier companies have invented a solution to resolving personnel management, complaints and customer queries. n Dennot is a AGM trade union member and was a former Namely, the “Kleenex” approach to people management and relationships: representative of the GMB’s professional drivers. He is also an author if there are any problems, discard and get a new one. and broadcaster with a strong knowledge of the private hire industry The app companies cannot manage the volume of personnel management and an equality and diversity specialist. issues and customer complaints generated by their success. It would cost email: dennotnyack@yahoo.com — mobile: +44 0740 625 276

34

have written many times about uber’s treatment

OCTOBER 2021

the insider

I

Protesting about protests f I had ever found myself with enough of a

Why is it that we drivers, professional or otherwise, marketing budget, I had planned to arrange to be are forever blamed and punished? We remain the most ‘interviewed’ by several magazines. High end stuff heavily taxed, frequently fined and constantly harassed mind you: the type of rag that gets seductively group in existence today. Which would be bad enough scattered atop smoked glass tables in private jet centres when using the car to simply get to and from work or before being stolen by drivers when out seeking coffee. on the school run but becomes a whole different animal These mock interviews would finish with the article adding when seeking to drive professionally as we do especially “…and do not imagine you can just book Chirton Grange. No, after a global pandemic when we didn’t work for 18 you have to know someone who knows someone before they months!

Kevin Willis even consider you as a suitable client.”

Why are we the ones victimised? How come they leave No contact details would ever be printed. The piece de 10 Downing Street alone? Why are Home Insulation resistance to my cunning plan would require nerves of steel factories not the ones blockaded? What the f*** has this Everyday problems got to do with drivers? that saw us actually turn down high profile and wealthy from the operator’s clients with the ultimate insult of “However, I might be able The answer to my question is simple – apathy. Apathy point of view... to recommend another company who’d better suit someone is drivers loosening trouser belts to bend over so “they” like you.” can shaft us good and proper. Apathy is the “yeah, but Annabel’s nightclub in Berkeley Square, London, operated what can we do?” mentality. When all we actually do this reverse psychology for years and it’s where I stole the idea. To apply is moan and groan like a porn star with toothache and do very little to for membership to this exclusive pub-with-rooms you needed to invest an support our case. initial £2,000 which got you no more than to be considered by a panel of Licensing authorities should be helping their clients, because that seven judges, who, no matter who you were or your net worth, could and is what we are, we are their customers and we dutifully pay the piper. would turn down anyone they pleased for no logical reason.

What is the point of the Guild of this or the Association of that if they Obviously this drove the wannabe members crazy because no one aren’t using their collective strength to challenge the injustice to their had ever said no to them before. So what did they do? They looked for members? any which way to gain access into what had become the must-have I would happily pay any subscription dues for clear access off junction membership in London. Genius!

14 of the M25 over a lapel badge or certificate! Much like my clever “Believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see”’ is advertising idea, when an illusion is created, as the BBC and other media something I wish the morons inhabiting this country at the moment had outlets managed to do a couple of weeks back, then fools will follow. It taken a beat to consider when they listened to the BBC glibly splutter was too easy for those at the Beeb to sit on the red sofa over a cup of forth a news report containing the words “shortage” and “crisis”. breakfast tea and deny they said anything wrong before completing the This came about after BP decided to temporarily close a dozen or so of piece to camera by announcing “now get ready for a shortage of turkeys its 1,200 forecourts due to a lack of a few drivers. The government – and this Christmas”’…watch this space! the media – scurried to light the blue touch paper and let the zombies Where is our fight? Our rebellion? How many of you reading this were out of the asylum to stockpile fuel. punks back in the day, rockers or Mods scrapping on Brighton Beach?

In reality, there is no fuel shortage or any crisis, there is only a driver We need to rage against the machine once more and stop apologising for shortage, but that didn’t stop the companies supplying our fossil fuel being drivers, we have done nothing wrong. from jumping on the opportunity to whack up the prices by as much as Ask yourself, would the younger you be proud of what you have become 10p per litre. Then, when we do manage to get the fuel gauge moving in later life? Some of you fought against racial and religious injustice upwards, we pull on to motorways disrupted by retirees with bollocks all while others stood firm and refused to be judged for your sexuality. We else to do but use their arthritic fingers to squeeze out the last of their need that tenacity now! dentafix and use it to stick themselves to the tarmac.

Let us drive around to the homes of Insulate Britain protesters and These idiots are walking out onto one of the world’s busiest motorways block their streets, their route to work. Let’s stop their ambulance taking without a care or consequence to what could happen should traffic have their sick mother to hospital. Let’s park our cars on their begonias beds, to swerve to avoid them. Arrogant, selfish narcissists. rev our engines and sing ‘I fought the law’ at full volume for four hours.

Believe me, I do not agree with Extinction Rebellion’s modus operandi Let’s see if the police arrest us or enquire as to whether we need sun but can at least respect the fact they are fighting for a just cause like cream, bottled water or “anything else that made us comfortable!” We can climate change. These lobotomised lemmings are championing…home be a force to be reckoned with, there are more of us than there is of them, insulation! Home insulation? Perhaps they think child poverty and we just aren’t shouting the loudest. modern slavery aren’t worthy enough issues?

Stop moaning, stop apologising and start rebelling!

The BBC and other media outlets created an illusion that did not exist.

If you want to get together and kick things off you’ll find me in They created the need for people to crave a full tank of fuel. We have Annabel’s most evenings. seen first hand, on forecourts across the country, punch-ups, arguments, Power to the People! n Kevin Willis runs Chirton Grange, shouting and swearing and even a knife pulled on one guy in south-east contact@chirtongrange.co.uk London. Utter madness!

OCTOBER 2021

35

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