Uber has 3.5 million customers and about 50,000 drivers in London, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP) and the transport disrupter has just lost its licence to operate in England’s capital city.
London’s transport authority blamed ‘unacceptable’ safety risks for passengers as the reason that it won’t be granting a licence renewal to the ride-hailing service.
‘Transport for London (TfL) has concluded that it will not grant Uber London Limited (Uber) a new private hire operator’s licence in response to its latest application,’ it said in a statement.
According to the report from AFP, the director of licensing, regulation and charging at TfL, Helen Chapman, said that ‘it was “unacceptable” that Uber had allowed passengers use taxi drivers who are “potentially unlicensed and uninsured”‘.
The TfL said that there had been a ‘pattern of failures’ with over 14,000 incidents where unauthorised drivers on other drivers’ accounts, were allowed to pick up passengers.
In some cases, these drivers were unlicensed or had been suspended or even dismissed.
Uber was given a two-month extension on its licence in September after the previous agreement expired, however, the extension ‘was conditional on passenger safety improvements’ said AFP.
There is a 21 day period for Uber to appeal, during which time it can continue to operate.
Uber sent a brief email to its customers saying ‘We think this decision is wrong and we will appeal. You and the 3.5 million riders who rely on Uber can continue to use the app as normal. We remain 100 percent committed to your safety.’
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