Ottawa taxi drivers release 2nd video targeting Uber

A group of Ottawa taxi drivers have ignored a warning fromthe mayor and policeand released a second vigilante-style video online that they sayshowsUberdriversoperating a taxi service without the required licence.

• Uber blitz in Ottawa after taxi drivers release vigilante-style video

The groupsecretly filmedan Uber ride from Barefax in theByWardMarket to the Marriott Hotel, capturing the car's licence plate and questioning the driver abouthis business.

"You don't have your taxi licence?" one passenger asks in the video, titled The Reality ofUBER| Part 2 andposted onYouTubelate Saturday night.

"I don't know. I have nothing, no," responds the driver, who says it's his first week driving for the ride-sharing servicein Ottawa.

According to City of Ottawa bylaws, operating an unlicensed cab carries a $260 finewhile being an unlicensed driver is subject to a $615 fine.

Nearly150 charges have been laid againstdrivers accused of operating an Ubersince the service launched in Ottawa inOctober 2014.So far,37 drivers pleaded guilty to 74 charges, with fines totaling more than$22,000, according to bylaw officials.

AmrikSingh, the head of the union that represents most taxi drivers in Ottawa, has previouslycalled on city bylaw officers and police to carry out a bigger crackdown on what he calls"bandit cabs."

On Monday, the first of the vigilante-style videostargeting Uber was posted online,in what thetaxi drivers say wasan effort tohelp city bylaw officers collect evidence and issue tickets against Uber drivers.

City officials and Ottawa police have denounced the actions of the video-makingtaxi drivers, saying policemust be the ones tocollect evidence against the ride-sharing service.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson compared the taxi drivers involved in the videos to"thugs," whichled one of thedrivers involved,Roy Noja, to call the mayor a "puppet of Uber."