Uber rival Hailo drops support for minicabs and goes 'black cab only'

Back to black: Hailo will focus exclusively on London taxis

1 October 2015

Taxi smartphone app Hailo has announced it will stop offering a minicab service to focus exclusively on black cabs.

Chief executive Andrew Pinnington today announced that the firm has “resigned” its private hire licence to go "back to black", meaning it will only offer rides with black taxis.

In a blog post aimed at taxi drivers, he wrote that the firm – which was founded by London cabbies – had “drifted too far” from its roots, but would now be focused exclusively on boosting the embattled taxi industry.

The decision comes amid an ongoing feud between taxi drivers and Transport for London over its licensing of rival minicab-booking app Uber, which has led to a string protests in central London.

It also follows the announcement this week that TfL is considering imposing new restrictions on apps such as Uber.

Mr Pinnington told the Standard: “We can now take a clear position [on the disputes between taxis and minicabs].

“We have always been on the black cab side of the fence and we believe passionately in the black cab service and that it can be a thriving 21st century service.”

Hailo was originally black cab-only but started offering minicab services last year in an effort to compete with the likes of Uber.

The move provoked anger among cab drivers and reportedly led to its office being vandalised at the time.

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