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Uber Says Thousands of London Drivers Threatened By English Language Test (reuters.com)
Costas Pitas, writing for Reuters: Tens of thousands of London private hire drivers could lose their licenses due to new English reading and writing requirements, taxi app Uber said on Tuesday at the start of a court battle to halt the plans. San Francisco-based Uber, which allows users to book journeys at the touch of a button on their smartphone, has grown rapidly in recent years but faced bans and protests around the world as regulators play catch-up with technology disrupting traditional operators. Uber launched legal action in August after public body Transport for London (TfL) said that drivers should have to prove their ability to communicate in English, including to a standard of reading and writing which Uber says is too high. "It produces the profoundest of human effects. At one extreme it will lead to the loss of livelihood," Uber's lawyer Thomas de la Mare told the High Court in London. There are over 110,000 private hire drivers in the British capital, according to TfL but around 33,000 would fail to pass their renewal test due to the new language hurdle, de la Mare told the court, citing a calculation of data provided by TfL.
I'm an Uber driver and I met a Chinese former Uber driver who got deactivated in the US for not knowing enough English.
The first time he got deactivated, he had to pay for and pass an online English language quiz. Of course, he passed the test (I assume one of his family members helped him). Then, he got reactivated, but that didn't last for more than a week or two, and that second time, he got permanently deactivated, because he couldn't get his rating back up and passengers were still leaving the same comments about him not knowing enough English.
My point is that Uber has a crude rating system. For instance, an average of 4.6 stars can get you deactivated in some cities. But crude as that system may be, it does seem to be working at weeding out the worst Uber drivers (including those that may not know enough English).
And if we're talking about forcing Uber drivers in the UK to pass an English test, I would love to see some of their sample questions, to see how difficult they made the test.
From the article:
"Drivers must have B1 level English, or the equivalent of a GCSE in the subject".
FYI This is nowhere near A level.
The classes for The Knowledge (you have to have this to be a black cabbie) are in English, so you've got no chance of passing if you don't understand the language.
"Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
Bzzzt, wrong!
"Although Hitler lost the presidential election of 1932, he achieved his goals, when he was appointed chancellor on 30 January 1933."
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Obama increased the checks for issuing visas. He didn't retroactively invalidate ones that were already issued.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Mainstream American beers are served ridiculously cold to hide the fact that they don't actually taste of anything.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."