Court bans Uber services in Israel

An Israeli court has ordered global ride-hailing app Uber to stop two of its services here in the absence of proper travel insurance.

The court banned UberDay and UberNight, the company's private-car services, while UberTaxi that takes requests via licensed taxi drivers has not been affected, Jerusalem Post reported late on Monday.

"If they won't get insurance, I won't let them drive a meter," Tel Aviv District Court Chief Justice Eitan Orenstein was quoted as saying.

The ruling came after the Ministry of Transportation issued an indictment against Uber in May, alleging it was operating without a government license.

"It remains illegal for unregistered private drivers to ferry passengers in return for payment, as many of the private Uber drivers operate without studying safety regulations and undergoing any form of testing," the report added.

"We are committed to continuing to cooperate with the authorities, to examine how our technology can provide reliable, cost-effective and safe transportation options," Uber Israel said in a statement.

In September, Uber was banned from operating in London for flouting safety regulations.

The company is under scrutiny after it revealed in November that two hackers "inappropriately accessed" names, email addresses and phone numbers of 57 million customers and drivers and the license numbers of around 600,000 drivers.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said that the company in late 2016 became aware that two individuals outside the company had inappropriately accessed user data stored on a third-party cloud-based service that it uses.

--IANS

na/in