London taxi’s protest over lack of regulation with mobile App

London was gridlocked after the taxi drivers took to a standstill protest because of  a rival service Uber, a Taxi payment mobile phone app.

Thousands of cabbies filled the roads stopping the traffic in Trafalgar Square. The protest started at 14:00 and lasted for a whole hour. As you can imagine, with London’s traffic this caused a big problem. The reason that the protest took place is because of the anger the Uber app has generated. They see it as a lack of regulation when using the app. Uber works out the cost of a taxi journey with cab drivers arguing that the app produces the same results as using a taxi meter, which only black cabs are legally entitled to use.

The Licensed Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA) also said part of the demonstration was about highlighting the length of training- between four and seven years- that taxi drivers undergo before being licensed.

Steve McNamara, from the LTDA, “we did not set out to cause disruption to Londoners.”

“It is nothing to do with technology; some of the taxis have been using apps for years. The difference is all taxis have to operate legally, they should have to apply for the same rules as everyone else.”

He added that two drivers had been arrested and 10,000 drivers had attended the protest.

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