UBER FILES: London’s taxi drivers are the ‘INJURED PARTY’ reminds rep after scandal engulfs industry

A taxi trade representative moved quickly to remind people that black cab drivers are the ‘injured party’ after seeing their ‘hard earned working practices’ eroded as further details around the ‘Uber Files’ emerge.

The comments come after more than 124,000 confidential Uber documents were leaked to the Guardian and other news outlets including BBC Panorama, which has demonstrated the full extent of Uber’s global lobbying powers and more locally its efforts to twist regulation in London.

The documents confirmed many of the things noted in the taxi trade about its aggressive tactics, since it first entered the market over a decade ago.

The leaked files show how the company exerted influence over UK government ministers and advisers, including George Osborne, Sajid Javid and Matt Hancock, in off the book meetings, and hired close personal friends like Rachel Whetstone and Lynton Crosby to help them gain access to the top levels of the Cameron Government, ultimately preventing the then Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, from clamping down on Uber and its damaging operating model.

Trevor Merrells, United Cabbies Group (UCG) General Secretary, said on social media: “Last night’s Panorama didn’t tell us anything we didn’t know. We’re the injured party here, our hard earned working practices.

“The Uber driver recounting driving down Baker St and getting a ping, akin to driving down Baker Street and getting hailed, oh that’s right it’s an E-Hail.”