York councillor takes to Twitter after suffering ‘physical and verbal abuse’ from illegally parked U

York Lib-Dem Councillor, Nigel Ayre, has taken to Twitter to vent his anger after allegedly being verbally and physically abused by a number of Uber drivers at York Station.

The Executive Member for Finance and Performance said on the social media platform: "Verbally and physically abused by a group of @UberUK drivers tonight at York Station for pointing out they were parked illegally and not abided by anti-idling legislation. No place for this in @CityofYork." 

The incident, which took place 14 September, prompted a number of responses on both Twitter and Facebook, with @tommomc1 saying: "Good luck Nigel, nobody deserves to be abused for pointing out the law, you need to speak to enforcement officers for private hire! as you will find it difficult to talk with Uber as i doubt if they have an office in York."

The United Trade Action Group concurred with @tommomc1, stating that Uber do not have an office in York and are banned from the city. Wendy Loveday, chair of the York Private Hire Association, said on Facebook: "One of our most influential Executive members, who will be voting whether to investigate Uber with a view to a prosecution, was on the receiving end of this last night. BIG MISTAKE UBER," before publishing Nigel Ayre's tweet. Uber UK Support responded by saying: "Hi Nigel, we're sorry to hear about this experience. Can you please DM us with your contact details, and any information that you have about this, and we can look into this for you as soon as possible. Looking out for your response."

York became the third city to refuse to issue Uber with a licence in December 2017, with Uber dropping its appeal in March 2018, however Uber drivers have still been operating in the city due to the lack of cross-border hiring legislation.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Image Author: Hugh Llewelyn