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Uber hasn’t given up on Denmark!

Ben Hamilton
August 15th, 2017


This article is more than 7 years old.

Car sharing service willing to make concessions to continue operations

Don’t delete the ad files just yet (photo: Uber Denmark)

Car sharing service Uber has not given up on Denmark and is prepared to make two major concessions to re-enter the market, its Nordic/Baltic representative Kåre Riis Nielsen has told DR Nyheder.

Three major concessions
Firstly, it will ensure that all drivers report their earnings to the tax department (if required by law).

Secondly, it is open to discussing a model that will guarantee its drivers sick pay and other benefits normally mandatory in most employment contracts.

Thirdly, it agrees that cars should have a taxi meter and a seat sensor to record passenger numbers, but such equipment should be based in digital technologies such as the Uber app.

We like Denmark, and Denmark like us
“We’re doing this because the Danes want Uber,” enthused Nielsen.

“We had over 300,000 users, which is one of the best [per capita rates] we’ve seen globally.”

Scratching Uber’s back?
But the government will need to meet Uber halfway, contends Nielsen, by abolishing its ceiling on the number of issued taxi licences, which currently stands at 125 per quarter, and no longer outlawing the use of private cars for taxi driving.

“We acknowledge that mistakes have been made,” continued Nielsen. “But we are now ready to play by the rules.

Government unlikely to change law, say MPs
Uber accordingly welcomes a discussion with representatives from the Danish government to find an agreement that satisfies both parties.

However, several MPs doubted the government would budge on its legislation outlined in the recent taxi law, and said Uber’s bid sounded like a desperate 11th hour effort.


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”