People in London will be able to order black cabs through Uber from early next year, the company has announced.
A spokesman for the firm said a “small number” of taxi drivers have already signed up to the service and it hopes to recruit “several hundred” by January.
Senior figures in the black cab industry have frequently expressed concerns over the growth of Uber, which has traditionally offered minicab journeys.
Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA), which represents taxi drivers, claimed there is “no demand” from passengers for a partnership, and accused Uber of attempting to use black cabs to “reinvigorate their ailing business model”.
People who book a taxi through the app will be shown an estimated price but will be charged the fare on the meter plus a £2 booking fee retained by Uber.
Uber said it will not charge new drivers commission for their first six months but didn’t reveal what the fee would be after that period.
Uber’s UK general manager, Andrew Brem, said: “We’re partnering with taxi drivers across the world and the message we are hearing from them is clear: Uber and taxis are better together.
“Black cabs are an iconic part of the capital, loved by Londoners and visitors alike, and we are proud to work side by side.
“Partnership is win-win-win: helping London cab drivers earn more, boosting travel options for passengers, and making London’s transport network more efficient.”
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Uber said taxi drivers in Paris, New York, Rome and other major cities in 33 countries already provide journeys booked through its app.
Mr McNamara said: “There is no demand for this partnership from the London licensed taxi drivers we represent or our passengers.
“We are not aware of any drivers having been recruited and don’t believe our members will even consider joining the app, given its well-documented poor record on everything from passenger safety to workers’ rights in London.”
He said taxis can already be booked through a range of apps such as Gett, TaxiApp, FreeNow and ComCab.
The stabbing of an Uber driver and several dangerous approaches to women may be linked, “extremely concerned” police have warned.
One suspect has been connected to several reports of women being followed in the early hours of the morning in southwest London in recent days, according to the Metropolitan Police.
He is also being sought after an Uber driver was stabbed twice in the chest.
Police released a photograph of the man, who is described as being between 25 and 30 years of age, and of slim build with short blond hair.
He was first spotted by a woman on 17 November at around 4am who noticed that a man with a knife was following her along Sisters Avenue, in Clapham.
As he got close, the woman shouted and the suspect ran away.
Image: CCTV footage from 17 November. Pic: Met Police
The second incident took place on Sumburgh Road, in Balham, on 19 November at around 1.40am. The man approached a woman and grabbed her, but she managed to escape.
An Uber driver was then stabbed twice in the chest on Nightingale Lane in Clapham on 23 November, at around 12.20am.
The driver’s condition was not life-threatening and he has since been released from hospital.
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Image: Pic: Met Police
At around 2.50am on 23 November, the suspect was spotted at Clapham Common near the Holy Trinity Church November and chased by officers, before running off in the direction of Clapham Common West Side.
He was later chased again after being spotted on a red bicycle at 4.45am the same day, but officers lost track of him on St John’s Road.
“We are extremely concerned about this man and we need to find him as soon as possible,” Detective Superintendent Dan O’Sullivan, said.
“We know this will cause community concern and we will be carrying out extra patrols at key times.”
Members of the public have been warned not to approach the suspect and to call 999 straight away if they see him.
The “crisis” within England’s GP service has been condemned in a damning new report , saying getting an appointment should not be like “phoning a call centre or booking an Uber driver who you will never see again”.
The Health and Social Care Committee accused the government and NHS England of being “reluctant” to acknowledge issues in the system and warned the “crisis” in general practice was “putting patients at risk”.
Problems are not being resolved with “sufficient urgency”, it said.
And the group of MPs added in the report that the government’s pledge for all patients to see a GP within two weeks would “not address the fundamental capacity problem causing poor GP access”.
The conclusions, which were partly written while new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was chairman of the committee, lay bare a number of significant problems facing the sector, including “unacceptably poor” patient access and GPs being “demoralised”.
The committee has previously spoken about the “uberisation” of the family doctor service. One member Rachael Maskell said: “Seeing your GP should not be as random as booking an Uber with a driver you’re unlikely to see again.”
The MPs raised concerns about “continuity of care” and said the majority of GPs no longer had individual patients “lists”, and the ability to see the same GP has “worsened” as a result.
They also highlighted “unsustainable” workloads for GPs.
Image: Rachael Maskell MP. Pic: UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor
“General practice is the beating heart of the NHS and when it fails the NHS fails,” the report says.
“We know up to 90% of healthcare is delivered by primary care. Yet currently the profession is demoralised, GPs are leaving almost as fast as they can be recruited, and patients are increasingly dissatisfied with the level of access they receive.
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‘Unacceptably poor access’
“The first step to solving a problem is to acknowledge it, and we believe that general practice is in crisis … despite the best efforts of GPs, the elastic has snapped after many years of pressure.
“Patients are facing unacceptably poor access to, and experiences of, general practice and patient safety is at risk from unsustainable pressures.”
“Given their reluctance to acknowledge the crisis in general practice, we are not convinced that the Government or NHS England are prepared to address the problems in the service with sufficient urgency.”
The group says GPs are handling more appointments than ever with fewer staff.
The committee makes a number of recommendations, including scrapping an existing target and reward-based system as it had become a “tool of micromanagement and risks turning patients into numbers”.
It also suggested limiting doctor “list” sizes, looking at ways to support part-time GPs to work more hours, doing more to help hire new doctors, and resolving pension tax issues.
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Workload escalation
Committee member Ms Maskell added: “Our inquiry has heard time and again the benefits of continuity of care to a patient, with evidence linking it to reduced mortality and emergency admissions.
“Yet, that important relationship between a GP and their patients is in decline.
“We find it unacceptable that this, one of the defining standards of general practice, has been allowed to erode, and our report today sets out a series of measures to reverse that decline.”
Professor Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said those in general practice wanted to deliver “safe, timely and high-quality personalised care for patients”, but workload escalations meant the numbers of qualified full-time equivalent GPs had fallen since 2015.
“We need to see urgent action taken, not just to further increase recruitment into NHS general practice, but to keep hard-working, experienced GPs in the profession longer, delivering patient care on the front line and not bogged down in unnecessary bureaucracy.”
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “Patients are finding it impossible to get a GP appointment in the manner they want one.”
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What’s being done?
A spokesperson for NHS England said the primary care workforce had been expanded by 19,000 since 2019 with more new roles such as assistants and digital help introduced from this month.
“Thanks to this additional investment, GPs and their teams have provided 10% more patient appointments this year compared to pre-pandemic, and we continue to implement plans to further improve patient access, experience and care.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said all patients should be assigned a named GP, and practices must “endeavour to comply with all reasonable requests of patients to see a particular GP for an appointment”.
A statement added: “There are nearly 1,500 more full-time equivalent doctors working in general practice now than in 2019, and we are spending at least £1.5 billion to create 50 million more appointments by 2024 – alongside making changes to reduce the workload of GPs and free up appointments.”