The company, which is unlicensed for the second time in two years, has already considered the measure “extremely wrong.” Uber now has 21 days to challenge the decision of the London regulator.
▲ Uber has about 45,000 drivers driving in London
Uber was unlicensed to operate in London after the British capital’s transport regulator identified a “pattern of security breaches”, according to Reuters.
The Individual Passenger Carrier Company (TVDE) has changed the application, allowing unauthorized drivers to upload their photos to other drivers’ accounts. This way any driver could work for Uber as if he were the driver with the original license. According to regulator Transport of London (TfL), quoted by the news agency, this failure occurred in 14,000 trips.
“TfL has identified a pattern of company failures, including several security breaches that put passengers and their safety at risk,” the transport authority said Monday.
Uber has already considered the regulator’s decision “extremely wrong,” in a statement quoted by Lusa, announcing that it will appeal. The company now has three weeks to contest the decision.
As long as the dispute lasts – a process that can drag on for several months, according to Reuters – the 45,000 drivers working for the company in London could continue to operate in the city.
This is not the first time that Uber has had problems with the London regulator. In 2017, TfL rejected the license renewal, accusing TfL of failing to comply with the rules for reporting serious criminal offenses and not checking driver profiles.
Following this process, and after the company made several changes to its business model, a court eventually granted, in 2018, a temporary license of one year and three months. In September, the London regulator also renewed the license for two months so that Uber could solve the problems.
Prior to this decision, Uber promised to move forward with several measures, such as the creation of a button that both drivers and passengers could carry in case of a problem; more safety training for drivers; and a direct call to emergency services. However, while acknowledging that some of the problems were addressed by Uber, the regulator suspects that the problems will continue: “TfL does not believe that similar problems will not occur in the future.”
