Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

news

London pedicab cyclist told to repay £180 fare charged for three-minute journey

The unregulated tourist trap added an extra zero to two women's bill, charging them £180 for a three-minute journey...

A pedicab operator who charged two women a £180 fare for a simple three-minute trip has been ordered to repay the extortionate charge by police.

The Evening Standard reports the women, who took a ride with an unregulated operator, were told the journey would cost £18, but were faced with an extra zero and a £180 bill when they came to pay.

A police crackdown is underway and Westminster City Council tracked down the operator, with enforcement officers demanding the cyclist return the money.

Officers ran an operation covering many popular central London areas, including Leicester Square, Covent Garden, Soho, China Town, Mayfair, and Oxford Street, reporting riders for noise pollution offences and antisocial behaviour.

Pedicabs are a regular sight around the capital's busy tourist attractions, often charging inflated prices to transport people short distances in brightly-lit vehicles playing loud music.

However, they are not without controversy with many seeing them as a noisy "nuisance", and they are currently exempt from regulations which cover taxis and private-hire vehicles.

Councillor Heather Acton, Cabinet Member for Communities and Regeneration slammed the operators as an "unlicensed nuisance that have plagued the West End for years, preying on tourists and annoying local residents."

"There is little regulation around them and they are uninsured – there are serious safety concerns around them," she continued.

"As with Saturday night’s operation the council works with the police when criminality is involved, but there are limitations on our powers.

"With the West End beginning to recover from 18 months of restrictions and disruption, it’s time for the government to act and ensure that pedicab drivers undergo safety checks and pay road tax.

"Residents deserve respite from noise and our visitors should be safeguarded from vulnerable vehicles, sharp practice and scams."

 During an operation alongside Soho Police, multiple pedicab cyclists were reported under the Control of Pollution Act 1974 for playing music "likely to an annoyance", while officers also issued written warnings under the Antisocial Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 for blocking a public footway and playing must after 9pm.

A total of 70 riders were moved on from blocking a pavement during the seven-hour operation last weekend.

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

Add new comment

12 comments

Avatar
Roger Geffen | 2 years ago
14 likes

For those commenting on the need for a licencing regime, here's some background (it's mostly copied-and-pasted from parts of a recent Cycling UK parliamentary briefing on the regulation of pedicabs)...

***

Cycling UK would strongly support a proportionate regulatory framework for pedicabs, as well as their operators and riders, with the aim of enabling safe and responsible pedicab operators to flourish, while ensuring they are not undermined (both reputationally and financially) by irresponsible operators.

At present, pedicabs can operate in London (but not elsewhere) under legislation dating from 1869 which permits the operation of Hackney carriages. This is in effect a ‘loophole’ that has allowed pedicabs to operate in London without any effective regulatory framework. It has proved to be a real problem, as it essentially means there is nothing to stop unsafe and irresponsible operators from entering the pedicab market, with unsafe vehicles, untrained and untraceable drivers, unregulated pricing, and a lack of social responsibility or respect for the law. Responsible pedicab operators, represented by the London Pedicab Operators Association (LPOA), have therefore found themselves undermined, both reputationally and financially, by operators who do not invest in procuring and maintaining safe pedicabs or in training and rider registration systems (to ensure their riders act safely and responsibly), and by operators and riders who sometimes charge extortionate prices.

Conversely, in the rest of Great Britain (i.e. outside London), pedicabs are required to operate under the same legal framework as taxis and minicabs. This makes it impossible in practice for pedicabs to operate on a ply-for-hire basis outside London, because the insurance and other requirements for taxis are so onerous, and are entirely disproportionate for addressing the potential risks. Even where local authorities have been keen to support local would-be pedicab operators, they have been unable to operate on a ply-for-hire basis, because the local taxi operators (who view them as competition) start asking questions about whether the pedicabs and their operators have the same insurance etc that they themselves are required to pay.

We would therefore prefer to see a Bill which put forward a ‘national’ regulatory framework, rather than one which merely addresses the situation in London. The aim of this framework should to support the operation of responsible pedicab businesses, and not potentially to kill off the sector. It should be drawn up in consultation with organisations such as Cycling UK and the London Pedicab Operators Association (LPOA, who represent responsible pedicab operators), and should cover:

  • The safety of pedicabs, including their braking systems and safety belts;
  • The safe management of pedicab fleets and riders, recruitment and employment practices, and financial good repute of pedicab operators;
  • The training, geographical knowledge and lawful behaviour of pedicab riders, including an obligation on pedicab operators to maintain a register of riders.

***

The rest of our briefing goes into more detail on how this could be done. However I hope this is enough to inform discussion of what can be a thorny issue for cycling advocates.

Roger Geffen (Policy Director, Cycling UK)

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to Roger Geffen | 2 years ago
9 likes

Good to see you're on this Roger, thanks. I thoroughly agree with your proposed framework, the only thing I would add is a mandatory width restriction: some firms or individuals in London are using cabs as wide as a small hatchback that take up virtually the whole width of many two-way cycle lanes.

Avatar
didsthewinegeek | 2 years ago
0 likes

Do the councils have licencing for these? If not then maybe that's the best way forward with properly controlled meters, and having insurance being precursors to operating them.

Avatar
hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
1 like
Quote:

...ensure that pedicab drivers undergo safety checks and pay road tax.

Are these motorised pedicabs?

Avatar
didsthewinegeek replied to hawkinspeter | 2 years ago
0 likes

No pedal power.

Avatar
BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP replied to didsthewinegeek | 2 years ago
1 like

I think some have electric motors. 

Avatar
Tinbob49 | 2 years ago
4 likes

Cycling people around is a great idea, but why do these things have to be so garish and run by rip-off merchants. 

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to Tinbob49 | 2 years ago
5 likes
Tinbob49 wrote:

Cycling people around is a great idea, but why do these things have to be so garish and run by rip-off merchants. 

Absolute major nuisance in London in the summertime - one of the few benefits of the pandemic has been their absence. Aggressive, frequently stoned, drivers who rip off tourists at every opportunity and the vehicles are so wide that even on the widest cycle lanes, e.g. Embankment, it's impossible to pass them. As far away from a genuine pedicab service, which would be great in London and I'm sure very popular, as one could imagine.

Avatar
Crippledbiker replied to Rendel Harris | 2 years ago
4 likes

They're a pain in the arse, but if I can manage to pass them on the Embankment, you should have no issues.
Very glad they'll no longer be able to use the lane on Westminster Bridge as a rank, though, that was infuriating and dangerous.

PedalMe are, as ever, the model to emulate here - Honestly, if they were regulated to the same level PedalMe self-regulates, I think that a lot of the legitimate concerns would be lessened.

Always going to get the concern trolling from the existing PHV industry, mind.

Avatar
Rendel Harris replied to Crippledbiker | 2 years ago
0 likes

I can pass 'em if they move over, a lot of the time they ride in the middle of the lane and have the music so loud they don't hear (or pretend not to hear) calls to let one through in my experience - quite often found myself having to bunnyhop roadwards to get by. In some other lanes - going round Parliament Square, for example - just impossible to pass as they take both lanes and then some.  I agree the Westminster Bridge waiting zone was a joke. 

Avatar
mdavidford replied to Rendel Harris | 2 years ago
4 likes
Rendel Harris wrote:

they ride in the middle of the lane and don't hear (or pretend not to hear) calls to let one through

I blame the Highway Code changes. 

Avatar
OldRidgeback replied to mdavidford | 2 years ago
1 like
mdavidford wrote:
Rendel Harris wrote:

they ride in the middle of the lane and don't hear (or pretend not to hear) calls to let one through

I blame the Highway Code changes. 

I blame the Association of British Drivers  1

Latest Comments