Uber loses its license to operate in London after the Transport for London (TfL) refused to renew the ride-hailing company’s operations over security concerns.
Transport for London is a local government body responsible for the transport system in Greater London.
The Body released a statement saying; “TfL has identified a pattern of failures by the company including several breaches that placed passengers and their safety at risks.”
The body’s director of licensing, regulation and charging, Helen Chapman, in a statement said that Uber’s current licence expires just before midnight on Monday. However, the company will be allowed to continue its operations pending an appeal.
The company has 21 days to mount an appeal and can continue to operate during that time.
It has to convince a court it is ‘fit and proper’ by the time of the appeal.
The Daily Mail reports 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.
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Safety Top Priority
“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.”
She added that one of TfL’s key concerns was that unauthorised drivers were able to upload their photos to the accounts of other drivers. Meaning that customers traveled with unlicensed drivers on at least 14,000 occasions.
Fired or suspended drivers were also able to create accounts, she also said.
The Press Association reports that Uber regards the decision as extraordinary and wrong. It said it will continue its normal operations as normal while it launches an appeal.
Uber operates in 63 countries and over 700 cities worldwide and has 91 million active users each month according to its website.
This month it reported a net loss of nearly 1.2 billion dollars for the most last quarter.
The Company’s share price tumbled some 30% and also made a loss of $5.2 billion in the second quarter.
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