Uber licence 'bad' for city disabled - campaigner

Flick Williams says she is worried there will be fewer wheelchair accessible taxis in York

A disability rights campaigner has said she is disappointed with a decision to grant Uber a licence to operate private hire cars in York again after a six-year ban.

City of York Council's licensing committee voted last week to approve a new application by the online ride-hailing firm to operate there.

But campaigner Flick Williams said Uber had been "quite clear that if they were granted a licence there would be no option to book a wheelchair accessible taxi".

In a statement, a spokesperson for the company said: "Ensuring the Uber platform is accessible for all riders is a key priority for us."

When Uber's licence was refused in 2017, City of York Council gave two main reasons.

The first was that there was a significant data breach in 2016 which affected 57 million users, and the company had failed to report this to the authorities.

There had also been a rise in complaints about Uber drivers in York, which the council said indicated that there were "management issues".

Despite not having a licence in York since the ban, Uber drivers from other areas have been allowed to operate legally in the city using licences granted elsewhere.

Ride-hailing firm Uber was banned from operating in York for six years from 2017

Ms Williams said granting a new licence to Uber "leads directly to a reduction in the number of wheelchair accessible taxis available".

"The council should have refused it. Uber had their licence removed in 2017 and have continued to operate, so granting them a licence now is, in effect, rewarding bad behaviour," she added.

The campaigner described the new licence as "a deeply bad decision for all disabled and older people in the city".

"That's particularly because Uber were quite clear that if they were granted a licence there would be no option to book a wheelchair accessible taxi," she said.

Members of York City Taxi Association held a protest against the application outside the council’s offices ahead of the four-hour meeting last Tuesday.

Arshad Mahmood, the association's chairman, said they were "disappointed" at Uber being given a new licence to run vehicles in the city.

“This decision has definitely overlooked the 44 wheelchair Hackney taxis and wheelchair taxi users. We are already low in numbers of the wheelchair taxis," he said.

Arshad Mahmood, from York City Taxi Association, says the decision to grant the licence ignores the needs of wheelchair users

Responding, Uber said: "We have a specific in-app option called Uber Access which is available in a number of cities across the country. Drivers providing these services are specially trained.

"Our ability to make the Uber Access option available in the app is dependent on the volume of private hire wheelchair accessible vehicles in a given town or city and the number who choose to drive with Uber.

"Should we see sufficient volume of private hire wheelchair accessible vehicles sign up to Uber in the city, we would look to make this additional option available for riders in York."

James Gilchrist, director of transport, environment and planning at City of York Council, said: “City of York Council’s licensing committee met and determined to grant a private hire operator’s licence to the applicant.

"This enables the operator to accept booked fares via their online platform with drivers and vehicles which are both licensed in York.

"Previously, the operator was able to only accept booked fares with drivers and vehicles licensed by other authorities.”

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