Uber Loses its Licence in London
Transport for London (TfL for short) stripped ride sharing giant Uber of its operating license yesterday. TfL is organization responsible for overseeing all transportation methods in the United Kingdom’s capital city. Uber actually lost its license back in 2017, but has been granted a few extensions to operate. Those extensions expired Monday.
Why? Rider Safety
TfL announced that they were revoking Uber’s license to operate because a “pattern of failures placed passenger safety and security at risk”. In at least 14,000 trips, riders in London took Uber rides with drivers who weren’t registered with the company. This was due to a bug in the Uber driver onboarding that allowed drivers to change the photos in their accounts. This allowed non-vetted individuals to pretend to be Uber drivers, a huge safety risk for passengers. None of these rides would have been insured and Uber would have no way of confirming who the driver was who actually drove the rider.
Uber’s Response
Uber responded to the TfL’s announcement with this tweet:
“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. Uber will continue to operate as normal. http://Uber.com/InLondon ”
Uber will be allowed to continue to operate during the appeal process. London is a huge market for the ride hailing app. When the company went public a few months ago, London was specifically called out as one of the largest markets for Uber. From their S1 filing: “In 2018, we derived 24% of our Ridesharing Gross Bookings from five metropolitan areas – Los Angeles, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States; London in the United Kingdom; and São Paulo in Brazil”. Uber’s public filing also referenced the original 2017 loss of license in London and stated that not only would it be horrible for business, but it could set precedent for other transportation authorities worldwide:
“Any inability to operate in London, as well as the publicity concerning any such termination or non-renewal, would adversely affect our business, revenue, and operating results. We cannot predict whether the TfL decision, or future regulatory decisions or legislation in other jurisdictions, may embolden or encourage other authorities to take similar actions even where we are operating according to the terms of an existing license or permit.”
We will continue to list Uber as a transportation option in London during the appeals process. If there ever comes a time where Uber is no longer allowed to operate in London and drivers are pulled off the road, we will remove it from the site. If you are looking for all the transportation options in London, we’ve got all the options here at Tunnel Time.
