War of words between cabbies and Uber as violence against Uber drivers escalates

A WAR of words has erupted between the taxi industry and ride-sharing app Uber following reports of escalated violence against Uber drivers.

A WAR of words has erupted between the taxi industry and ride-sharing app Uber following reports of violence against Uber drivers in Queensland.

It comes after two Uber drivers were bashed and robbed in Brisbane on Monday, and a Brisbane taxi boss called for his fellow cabbies to “get militant” in a controversial social media rant, as tensions between the taxi industry and Uber appear to escalate.

But Taxi Council Queensland chief executive Benjamin Wash said Uber has opened itself up to “some degree of culpability” by operating outside the law.

“I think Uber coming into any jurisdiction, operating based on a set of rules that they determine, ignoring the rule of law, and just expecting everyone to come on board leaves them exposed to some degree of culpability,” Mr Wash said.

Mr Wash also called on the Queensland government to show political leadership over the issue.

But Uber said it was “very concerned” about attacks on drivers and feared they were part of an intimidation campaign against its operations.

“The taxi lobby and its associates have long used fear, misinformation and intimidation in its campaign against ride-sharing and it would be a very worrying turn of events if these alleged assaults happened as a result of this campaign,” an Uber spokesman said in a statement.

“We call on Taxi Council Queensland to condemn this type of behaviour immediately.”

The debate comes as taxi boss Greg Collins took to the Brisbane Taxi Driver page on Facebook on Sunday to describe how he attacked a Uber driver on a Brisbane street and urge his fellow cabbies to do the same.

The now deleted post.

Mr Collins, who runs Brisbane-based company Complete Taxi Management, made the now-deleted comments in response to another taxi driver who complained on the Facebook page he’d been assaulted by an Uber driver while trying to take his photo, reported Fairfax.

Mr Collins wrote: “F***ing slap him like I did to the pr-ck in Warner St the other night, I am f---ing over them. You wait I will f***ing get them.

“They won’t and can’t defend themselves they are illegal. If it was 30 years ago in my time, they wouldn’t last five minutes.

“We need to get more militant about this issue. The (sic) are the f***ing scabs stealing what we have all worked for.”

Queensland police have refused to comment on whether the apparent incident would be investigated or whether violence between cabbies and Uber drivers was an ongoing concern.

But a police spokeswoman told news.com.au members of the community should ensure their conduct was in accordance with the law.

“There are always appropriate courses of action available to individuals that do not involve the

commission of criminal offences,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.

“The QPS (Queensland Police Service) investigates all allegations of illegal and criminal conduct with the view to prosecuting offenders before the courts.”

When contacted by Fairfax, Mr Collins said he was “mucking around” and that he’d never actually slapped an Uber driver in his life.

His comments and the original post he replied to have since been removed from the page.

But Uber fans have lashed out on the page today, expressing disgust at Mr Collin’s apparent actions.

“Attacking uber drivers?! Bragging about it on social media?! You idiots are digging your own grave now haha,” Facebook user Myles Eaton wrote.

Uber has been a divisive figure worldwide.

“Uber drivers are (on average) far nicer people, offer far better service, and are far cheaper. If you can’t beat them, join them, and you sure as hell can’t beat them so that only leaves one option,” Facebook user Pat Obrien wrote.

“I’m never going to catch another cab again after hearing what you idiots did on the weekend. You’re just digging your own graves.”

But others have rushed to the defence of the taxi industry, such as Karan Singh Thind, who pointed out that “hundreds” of cabbies endured trauma every weekend.

“They are robbed, smashed, hit ... but never any media came forward to help or even to show any courtesy to them,” Karan wrote.

The apparent incident came to light after two Brisbane-based Uber drivers were attacked and robbed by a group of up to five men early on Monday as they sat in their cars in Fortitude Valley and Kangaroo Point.

Both drivers were punched and their cars were damaged, and one of the men had his mobile phone stolen.

Police said the group of attackers, who haven’t been found, also targeted a third person who didn’t work for Uber.

One of the victims of Monday’s attacks told Fairfax he was certain the group targeted him because he was an Uber driver.

“I strongly suspect they were off-duty taxi drivers as they were full of hatred towards Uber and yelling abruptly that our taxis are suffering because of Uber, f*** Uber, et cetera,” he said.

Uber, who has accused the Queensland Government of siding with the traditional taxi industry, also called for the ride-sharing industry to be regulated in response to the attacks.

Yellow Cabs Queensland vice president Bill Parker said he did not condone violence but could understand why it happened.

“If, and this is a big if, someone went out of their way to take the law into their own hands, I could understand that happening,” Mr Parker, who is also vice president of the Taxi Council of Queensland, told the ABC.

Violent encounters between aggrieved taxi drivers and Uber drivers have flared in many parts of the world.

But there appears to be changing attitudes to the controversial service. The ACT last week announced it would be the first Australian government to legalise and regulate ride sharing, with Uber set to start approved operations in the territory from October 30.

The service has also been praised by federal tourism minister Richard Colbeck, who said Uber and non-traditional accommodation sharing service Airbnb needed to be embraced to boost the Gold Coast’s lucrative tourism economy.