taximeter

TL;DR The technological description of a taximeter is out of date and technically TFL cannot find fault with Uber regarding the letter of the law.

The case hinges on whether the Uber app constitutes being a taximeter despite not being fixed to the vehicle.

However, the use of smartphones in this fashion provides the same functionality as a taximeter.

There is a leaflet in the taxi itself explaining pricing, and there is a taximeter.

As per the regulations, cars using the Uber platform do not have a taximeter – TFL have confirmed that smart phones used by private hire drivers do not constitute the equipping of a vehicle with a taximeter.

In return for complying with all these requirements, licensed taxi drivers are allowed to pick people up on the street and calculate the fare using a taximeter.

(Also, the law says that the Secretary of State gets to define what constitutes a taximeter).

Since Taxis pick you up and start running a taximeter to charge you, that's something that needs to be regulated to make sure that they don't stiff you.

Of course, the goal of the taxi drivers' protest not really about getting people to not use Uber so much as it is about getting the regulators to change their decision that Uber's app doesn't count as a taximeter.

If removed, there are some costs (existing drivers will want to get a refund, then they may want to change occupation, etc.) Finally, as for the car requirements, Uber takes care of the indicator/taximeter.

A lot of the regulations that exist for taxis really do make sense, given a few contexts: 1) you don't know who is coming to pick you up 2) the ability to contact your former driver in the event of a bad experience is almost nil 3) you have to trust the taximeter 4) taxis have to jockey for a visual hail 5) there is no guarantee that a dispatched taxi will actually arrive.

Ruling that any GPS device capable of tracking distance constituted a "taximeter" and was therefore banned from private cars would be an unworkable disaster.

No, it shouldn't; if the rules about taximeters include "fixed to the vehicle" and it's not fixed to the vehicle, then it's not a taximeter.

Their lives must be miserable without The Queen's "taximeter"!

They aren't entitled to "interpret" the law in ways that contravene the text; a phone running the Uber app may well be a taximeter, but it's not fitted to the vehicle.