I think he's saying there just isn't much driver availability. I live 40 miles outside of Boston and whenever I've looked there has been little or nothing available. Uber and Lyft might as well effectively not exist in my town although, yes, I can fire up the app and request a ride.
Yes, if you go 5 miles outside of Nottingham city centre, you're usually not getting an Uber back. Unless there happens to be one dropping someone off. It's a bit of a chicken and egg problem.
At least with other private hire firms you can phone them up and they'll be there in 10-20 minutes rather than just saying no drivers available.