Uber stopped from operating in London - The - The Washington Post

Henry Nicholls Reuters A photo illustration shows the Uber app and a bus in London, Britain, June 25, 2018.

LONDON — London’s transport authorities on Monday announced they will not renew Uber’s license to operate in the British capital after thousands of trips were made with someone other than the booked driver.

In a statement, Transport for London (TfL) said that there were “several breaches that placed passengers and their safety at risk.”

Uber’s license expires at midnight on Monday. The company, which announced it will appeal the decision, can continue to operate until a final decision is made. 

This is the second time in two years that transport authorities have rejected the ride-hailing app’s bid to renew its operating license in London, one of its largest European markets.

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The app, which employs tens of thousands of drivers, is hugely popular with users in London — and unpopular with London’s iconic black cabbies.

Uber said it will appeal the decision and that, for its 3.5 million users in London and 45,000 drivers, it will be business as usual during that time. “We have fundamentally changed our business over the last 2 years, setting the standard for safety in the industry. TfL’s decision on our London licence is wrong and we will appeal,” the corporation tweeted.

Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s chief executive, said even though the company should be “held to a high bar,” the decision was “just wrong.”

This is the latest setback for Uber, which has clashed with transport bodies and traditional taxi-driver markets around the world. Uber has been banned, or stopped service in, countries including Denmark, Hungary and Bulgaria.

In London, transport authorities in September 2017 dropped the bombshell that they would not renew Uber’s license amid safety concerns. The company successfully appealed that decision and was granted an extension.

TfL said that Uber had made a number of improvements since then, but they didn’t go far enough. One key concern, they said, was a change to Uber’s system that “allowed unauthorised drivers to upload their photos to other Uber driver accounts.” They said that this allowed at least 14,000 trips where passengers were picked up by someone other than the booked driver.

The transport body also said that some of the drivers that were dismissed or suspended were able to open new Uber accounts, potentially “compromising passenger safety and security.”

Uber’s rivals wasted little time in applauding the move.

The Licensed Taxi Drivers Association, a trade body for London’s black cab industry, said that “The Mayor and TfL have taken the right and only decision to keep Londoners safe.”

Bolt, an Estonian ride-hailing company that has thousands of London drivers on its books, said in a statement that “we continue to pay the utmost attention to the credentials of drivers we permit to use our platform.”

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who will face a mayoral election contest next year, said “I know this decision may be unpopular with Uber users but their safety is the paramount concern.”

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2019-11-25 14:03:00Z
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