Uber has won the right to continue operating in London after a judge upheld its appeal against Transport for London (TfL).
The ride-hailing giant has been granted a new licence to work in the capital, nearly a year after TfL rejected its application over safety concerns.
One of the main concerns raised by TfL was a flaw in Uber’s system that allowed unauthorised people to upload their photographs to legitimate drivers’ accounts, which then allowed them to pick up passengers.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard that 24 drivers shared their accounts with 20 others which led to 14,788 rides.
Uber’s regional general manager for Northern and Eastern Europe, Jamie Heywood, said: “It was not what we would do now. It was inadequate, we could have done better.”
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said TfL was “absolutely right” not to renew Uber licence last year but acknowledged the company had “made improvements”.
“I can assure Londoners that TfL will continue to closely monitor Uber and will not hesitate to take swift action should they fail to meet the strict standards required to protect passengers.”
Heywood said on behalf of Uber: “This decision is a recognition of Uber’s commitment to safety and we will continue to work constructively with TfL.”
TfL originally refused to renew Uber’s licence in September 2017. The company then won a 15-month licence by a judge in June 2018 after taking the case to court.
However, the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association said it was a “disaster for London”.
“Uber has demonstrated time and time again that it simply can’t be trusted to put the safety of Londoners, its drivers and other road users above profit,” it said. “Sadly, it seems that Uber is too big to regulate effectively but too big to fail.”
Due to lax rules around Uber drivers there have been accusations that the risk of rape and sexual assault by drivers is greatly enhanced and a number of high profile attacks have taken place in Uber vehicles. Uber would point to the fact that they now have a far more stringent policy in place to deal with this.
Lead Correspondent | David Clews is the Lead Correspondent for UNN, with over 20 years of political/campaigning experience and a wealth of social media and communication skills David gets to the heart of what is really important to the real people of the UK.
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