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Uber Loses London Licence

November 25, 2019

Transport for London revoked the cab-hailing app's right to work in London after finding that at least 14,000 trips were made with drivers, who were different to the ones shown on the app.

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Ride-hailing giants, Uber, has been stripped of its licence to operate in London, United Kingdom, over its failure to stop unlicensed and uninsured drivers.

Transport for London revoked the cab-hailing app's right to work in London after finding that at least 14,000 trips were made with drivers, who were different to the ones shown on the app.

A change in the company's systems allowed unauthorised drivers to upload their photographs to legitimate Uber driver accounts, the transport body said. 

The company now has 21 days to mount an appeal and can continue to operate during that time. 

It will have to convince a court it is 'fit and proper' by the time of the appeal. 

Announcing the decision, TfL's Director of Licensing, Helen Chapman, said, “As the regulator of private hire services in London, we are required to make a decision today on whether Uber is fit and proper to hold a licence.

“Safety is our absolute top priority. While we recognise Uber has made improvements, it is unacceptable that Uber has allowed passengers to get into minicabs with drivers who are potentially unlicensed and uninsured.

“It is clearly concerning that these issues arose, but it is also concerning that we cannot be confident that similar issues won't happen again in future.”

The move could end up seeing the app's 45,000 drivers looking for other ways to make money, and thousands of customers searching for alternative apps, according to Daily Mail.  

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Travel