A complaint from Gatwick taxi drivers that Uber has been operating from the airport in breach of licensing laws has been closed by Crawley Borough Council.
Over the past few years, drivers for Airport Cars Gatwick have reported that Uber cars registered in London were taking around half of the fares at the airport, ‘destroying the livelihoods’ of the local drivers.
Backed by Unite the Union, drivers also claimed that the company was using its app as a ‘virtual rank’ and was also operating out of Crawley.
After investigating the matter, the council took legal advice, the outcome of which was presented during a meeting of the licensing committee on Tuesday (March 18).
The council was told that the claim that Uber was essentially touting for business at the airport ‘lacks any legal substance’.
In his advice, Philip Kolvin KC said he could find ‘no wrongdoing’ in Uber drivers being sent to airport car parks to wait for their bookings, as this showed the firm was ‘organising its vehicles in an orderly manner rather than allowing them to proliferate in local roads’.
Similar concerns about signage around the airport directing people to Uber-marked bays in the pick-up area were also dismissed.
Mr Kolvin’s report added that Uber was not operating in Crawley and there was ‘nil chance of securing a conviction against Uber for doing so’.
That finding did not sit well with the drivers – especially as one councillor had arrived at a previous committee meeting in an Uber.
Nick Venes, a licensed driver and Unite representative, said: “To turn round and say that they do not operate in Crawley…I think I must be living in cuckoo land.
“We know they operate – we see them every day.”
Committee members were not too happy with the outcome of the investigations, though their hands were tied by the legal advice.
Leader Michael Jones said: “It is most certainly a case where legislation has not kept up with technology.”
He added: “We regretfully end up in a position where the legal advice is almost completely unequivocal. There is no prospect of successful challenging these activities.
“It would require a change in legislation to prevent what is happening, and that is not something this council has any power over. This must be taken up with those in Parliament.”
His views were shared by Conservative leader Duncan Crow, who said there was ‘a chasm between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law’.
Some councillors suggested that the only route left open to the drivers was to complain to the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman. But given that the council was following legal advice, would the Ombudsman even investigate the case?
Committee chair Imran Ashraf said the council would continue to write to Ministers and Transport for London about the concerns – though no response to previous letters had been received.
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