Victory for London’s Black Cab Drivers – No Uber For You!

I woke this morning to a series of alerts on my phone informing me that UK regulators, Transport For London (TFL) have decided NOT to renew Uber’s license to operate in London which expires on September 30th. TFL ruled that Uber was not a “fit and proper” business. Uber promises to appeal. (see, NBC article).

The full decision can be read on TFL’s Twitter feed.

I’m not surprised, given the political strength of London black cab taxi drivers. In challenging Uber, they “challenged Uber’s insistence that its drivers are self-employed and raised concerns about Uber passenger safety” (see, CNN article).

CNN further reported that:

Uber said in a statement that it would “immediately challenge this [decision] in the courts.”

It can continue to operate while it appeals.

“Transport for London and the mayor have caved in to a small number of people who want to restrict consumer choice,” Uber said. “If this decision stands, it will put more than 40,000 licensed drivers out of work and deprive Londoners of a convenient and affordable form of transport.”

About 3.5 million Londoners have used Uber.