London Not Renewing Uber’s License; Company Appeals

Transport for London, the city’s transit authority, says it is not renewing the operating license for the ride-hailing giant Uber because of safety and security concerns.Uber says the authority’s decision is “extraordinary and wrong” and the company will appeal the decision.Uber will be allowed to operate in the British capital during the appeal process.Transport for London said in a statement Monday that “A key issue identified was that a change to Uber’s systems allowed unauthorized drivers to upload their photos to other Uber driver accounts.  This allowed them to pick up passengers as though they were the booked driver, which occurred in at least 14,000 trips – putting passenger safety and security at risk.  This means all the journeys were uninsured and some passenger journeys took place with unlicensed drivers, one of which had previously had their license revoked by TfL.”Transport for London said it “currently does not have confidence that Uber has a robust system for protecting passenger safety, while managing changes to its app.”Jamie Heyward, Uber’s chief in Northern and Eastern Europe, said the transit authority had found Uber “a fit and proper operator just two months ago, and we continue to go above and beyond.”  He continued, “Over the last two months we have audited every driver in London and further strengthened our processes.”
 
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