A taxi operator has complained that business is ‘dead’ for drivers during Reading Festival due to Uber.
Taxis in Reading can either be hailed on the spot for drivers with hackney carriage cab licences or booked in advance through private hire companies.
Cab drivers can be hailed from a temporary taxi rank located on Tessa Road, near the Red Gate, opposite Rivermead Leisure Centre.
People can also book a taxi in advance from a private company, and are even using Uber to get to their destinations.
Although Uber does not have a licence to operate in Reading, drivers have exploited a loophole by registering for their licences in neighbouring boroughs.
Private hire companies have complained about this practice for years, with an operator arguing it is killing trade during the festival.
Naz Akram a manager at Ace Cars based at Cemetery Junction, said: “It’s not very busy at all really, you’ve got all these Uber drivers, it doesn’t help the local companies, it’s pretty diabolical for the festival period.
“It doesn’t help us, over 200 Reading drivers have left and gone to Fareham, and Reading is losing money for that reason. Before, we used to be very busy, the phone wouldn’t stop for every company in Reading. Now, it’s literally dead.
“You get Uber drivers sitting around in Reading, we have to have a manned office, whereas Uber doesn’t need a manned office.”
He then complained that drivers with Uber licences are taking work from drivers who live and work in Reading.
However, Mr Akram added: “We’ve got a lot of loyal customers who won’t use Uber because they want to support a local business.”
Some taxi operators are fully booked with some long-haul journeys to get people back home.
Shabiz Ahmed from Silver Cars based at Regus Green Park said: “It was busy last year, there are definitely more bookings than last year. Most of the journeys are all over the place, Newbury, Guildford, Harlow, London, there are quite a lot around midnight – people have already made bookings for that.
“To be honest, I’ve done local journeys, but because of the traffic, you can only do one or two journeys, going in and out, drivers prefer longer distance journeys, rather than coming back and forth into the festival.”
He then argued Reading Borough Council’s travel plan should be more lenient to allow drivers to pick up and drop off customers where they want, rather than in designated locations.
Mr Ahmed explained: “Customers deliberately want to be dropped off and picked up at other places eg Reading Station and TGI Fridays, so it can be difficult to satisfy everyone at the same time.”
Zan Iqbal, a booking manager, said his company has a booking for Birmingham, a two-hour-plus journey.
Mr Iqbal from Reading Taxis, based at the station, said: “We are getting a lot of bookings from London, Birmingham, Newbury, Basingstoke, High Wycombe a lot of places.
“All of these three days are really busy, we are fully booked for the festival.
“Some people booked a month beforehand. For the festival, we are charging a bit more than standard, so the drivers are really happy to do that.”
