Yes, the time has once again come around to pause and reflect on the year that has past. To reminisce about the good, the bad, and the downright silly.
So without further ado, UKTN presents to you our top ten tech gaffes of the year.
10. A Fresh approach at Amazon
It was hailed as a “seminal moment in the history of the UK grocery market” when Amazon launched its first Fresh store in the UK in 2021 in Ealing – the first of many rolled out that year.
The store showcased the tech giant’s ‘Just Walk Out’ technology, which promised to make queuing at the tills a thing of the past. No need to scan the items in your basket or get a wallet out to pay using a card machine – all would be automated using ‘virtual baskets’.
“Customers have enjoyed the effortless shopping experience enabled by our Just Walk Out technology at our Amazon Go, Amazon Go Grocery, Amazon Fresh stores in the UK, and third-party retailer stores. The feedback has been fantastic, with customers noting that skipping the checkout allows them to save time and reduce contact in stores,” said Dilip Kumar, vice president of Physical Retail and Technology at Amazon.
Fast-forward three years and things haven’t been quite so “fantastic” for Amazon Fresh. Several stores, including the first in Ealing, have now been shut. And among those that remained, a curious message appeared in the shop windows: “Great news, you’ll soon be able to check out with a credit or debit card.”
Sometimes, the old ways are the best ways.
9. Keir Starmer’s favourite EV firm
Politicians are often keen to champion the British tech sector, particularly firms who have a sustainability-led mission. The trouble is, it’s all too easy to back the wrong horse.
That was the case for Keir Starmer, who visited the manufacturing facility of EV firm Lunaz a year ago as leader of the opposition to give a speech about the importance of the transition to electric vehicles, in which he called the company a “world leader”.
But just four months later, in March 2024 the David Beckham-backed business put its commercial arm into administration after it suffered production setbacks. Not such a world leader after all, then.
8. Ts and Cs apply – probably
One thing we’re all guilty of these days is signing up to something without double-checking the terms and conditions.
The Ts and Cs are often far too long to scrutinise every last detail: much easier to hit ‘confirm’ and get on with your day. As it turns out, this problem can be as true with the consumers who read the rules as the people with the unenviable task of having to write them.
Earlier this year, London fintech Curve told its customers it would now process payments that would otherwise have been blocked by their bank (?!) in an email update to its terms of service. What the company meant to say, as it would turn out, was that it would not process payments that would otherwise be blocked. Oopsies.
In fairness to Curve, the original Ts and Cs document on its website did not repeat the error, and the company later issued an emailed correction.
7. Size doesn’t matter
Speaking at London Tech Week in June, Patrick Vallance told an audience of start-ups and investors that receiving support of as little as £1m would mean they were ‘in trouble’ and would ‘spend their lives’ trying to raise money.
The soon-to-be science minister said: “I still think we undercapitalise our start-ups and that really creates a problem.”
“When I was GSK’s head of R&D, I was amazed when I’d speak to people in the US about companies they were starting up and then I’d speak to people in the UK and [they’d] say: ‘It’s really brilliant, it’s a great start we’ve got a million pounds’ – I mean, shit, you’re in trouble and you’re going to spend your life now trying to raise money.”
Just a few weeks later, after being appointed a government minister, Vallance appeared to change his tune. A new government scheme, saw 16 projects winning a share of a £11.5m ’innovation’ pot, amounting to an average grant of just £720k per project.
Lord Vallance then said the new scheme “offers a real opportunity to growth these firms into industry leaders, strengthening our £10bn sector and ensuring it drives economic growth,” adding: “Our support in these projects will promote critical breakthroughs.”
Patrick Vallance could do with a sit down with Patrick Vallance, to reconcile their differences.
6. Bode(n) a fond farewell
Last summer, Starling Bank founder Anne Boden shocked the fintech world after announcing she would resign as CEO, citing what she described as a “conflict of interest”.
The “roles and priorities” of a shareholder and chief executive “ultimately differ” and that, to ensure there was “no potential conflict”, Boden would give up her executive role, she said.
Well that makes complete sense – I mean, in how many companies is the CEO also a shareholder? Apart from most of them, that is. Might there have been other motivations in her decision to step down?
Not long before Boden’s exit, the FCA began an investigation into Starling, identifying “serious concerns with the anti-money laundering and sanctions framework in place”.
Starling was subsequently fined £29m after it failed to comply with a requirement restricting it from opening new accounts for high-risk customers.
So where is Boden now? She’s heading up a new business called AI by Boden – in which, according to Companies House documents, she is the sole shareholder.
5. Please make payment
Don’t you get wound up when someone misses a deadline? This is especially so for UK tax collector HMRC, who in September issued a rare winding-up petition against Bank of London in relation to unpaid sums – not a good look for a registered bank.
Bank of London said the issue was down to “a simple administrative handling delay,” adding it was now “fully up to date with all tax payments to HMRC”.
The issue was followed weeks later by the departure of Labour grandee Peter Mandelson and founder and ex-chief executive Anthony Watson from the company’s board.
A spokesperson put the exits down to an “intention to align its leadership with its strategic direction,” whatever that means.
4. Prudent fiscal management
With tight budgets, government departments have to be extra careful about how they deploy resources to maximise the potential benefit to the taxpayer.
That’s the theory anyway. It’s perhaps less true in the tech department DSIT, however, where former science secretary cost the taxpayer tens of thousands of pounds in costs after writing a bizarre letter to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), urging the organisation to cut ties with two academics which she accused of “sharing extremist views.”
Donelan’s libellous remarks incurred a legal settlement of £15k, plus legal costs £19k. An investigation into the remarks cost UKRI £15,000 and £8,280 on legal advice.
Donelan later said she had been mistaken.
3. Instability AI
The problem with coming up with a name for a tech company, is you have to make sure your actions aren’t in danger of contradicting it.
For example, it would not be a good look if say, Deliveroo didn’t make any deliveries, or Paypal stopped making payments.
Anyway, in entirely unrelated news, it’s been a turbulent year for Stability AI, after the company saw the departure of its CEO; the exit of several key stable diffusion researchers; the head of audio resigning over what he called ‘exploitative’ data gathering practices; its office above a chicken shop being put up for rent; an ongoing copyright lawsuit against Getty; and the appointment to its board of the director of Terminator, a film in which a robot is trained to kill people.
2. Jaguar’s leap into the unknown
One EV firm that was keen to make a big impression this year was Jaguar. Except it may not have been quite the impression that execs were hoping for.
The company plans to stop making petrol and diesel cars altogether in favour of EVs as soon as next year, a move which has come much quicker than other carmakers, most of whom are still eyeing a 2030 switchover.
But the early designs for its new model, coupled with a bizarre marketing campaign, has whipped up more resentment than excitement among hardcore Jaguar fans. The images show a strange, pink, boxy saloon on wheels, rather like a smaller version of the Tesla cybertruck.
Not exactly the kind of suave, svelte, curvy cars of James Bond and Inspector Morse heritage for which the brand is famed.
Jaguar’s sales have been falling steeply since the pandemic. Will the rebrand mark an inflection point? Few are betting on it.
1. Mind the hack
London’s top transport body this year suffered one of the worse cyberattacks of any institution this year.
Transport for London warned customers’ personal banking details may have been compromised in the attack, which disrupted its ticketing services to the extent that applications for new Oyster cards were suspended for months on end.
Who was responsible for this most devastating attacks? Was it a carefully-coordinated plan by an offshore criminal gang? Was it an attack by a state-sponsored terror organisation?
So far, the only person known to have been arrested in connection with the incident is, er, a 17-year-old from Walsall – though the boy has not so far been charged or sentenced for a crime.
