Request ID: FOI-0431-2425 Date published: 31 May 2024
You asked
We would like to make a freedom of information request as it is our finding Uber have failed to protect the public from uninsured drivers as part of their app system introduced for PCO drivers at the very least
We have had a tip off that a non national was driving on the Uber app and transporting passengers without valid Hire and reward insurance and Uber allowed the same in December of 2022 .
We therefore wish to make a FOI request to establish since Uber's license was last granted by the magistrate to be renewed that they did fail the court since
Please therefore provide information that substantiates TFL have had notification from Uber that driver/s have been driving on the app without valid insurance
We answered
Our Ref: FOI-0431-2425 / FOI-0432-2425
Thank you for your requests received on 9 May 2024 asking for information about Uber.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we hold the information you require. You asked:
Since the 2020 Magistrate’s Court appeal in 2020 how many driver’s working for Uber have been reported for not having the correct insurance?
These reports will have been done by Uber, Bolt, Freenow, and any other app firms.
If a private hire operator has concerns regarding unsatisfactory conduct in connection with the driving of a private hire vehicle they must, as a condition of their licence, notify TfL in writing with the details of the driver and the circumstances of the case within 14 days.
We provide form PHV/105 for this purpose, however, the same form can be used by an operator to inform TfL of any concerns or complaints they may have about a driver. The form can therefore be used by an operator to notify TfL if a driver has been suspended from working for the operator, but also to provide outcomes of any investigation/review they have looked to undertake with respect to a complaint that was received.
We have identified thousands of forms that were received from private hire operators since 2020, within the timeframe of your request, however, to provide the information you have requested would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described. We have estimated that it would cost in excess of £450 to provide a response to your current request. This is because we would need to manually check each of the forms we have received to determine whether they contain allegations regarding insurance, and are relevant to your request. To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope further by limiting the number of cases or reducing the timeframe.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Gemma Jacob Senior FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
