Uber Technologies gets 18-month London license after passing court test

Uber Technologies was awarded an 18-month London license after a judge ruled that the ride-hailing app is “fit and proper” to operate in its biggest European market.
 
“Despite their historical failings, I find them, now, to be a fit and proper person” to hold a London license, Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram said in his ruling on Monday.
 
The duration of the permit was decided after submissions by Uber and its regulator Transport for London. When the company appealed the loss of its license the first time around, in 2018, it was granted a 15-month license by the court.
 
In his ruling, Ikram said that Uber “does not have a perfect record but it has been an improving picture.” He said the test as to whether Uber “are a ‘fit and proper person’ does not require perfection. I am satisfied that they are doing what a reasonable business in their sector could be expected to do, perhaps even more.”
 
Uber shares were up 7.7 per cent at 5:28 am Monday in New York during pre-market trading.
 
The license review is just one of a number of legal battles the California-based firm is fighting. It is facing other lawsuits, including in its home state, that would give drivers expanded employment rights that could wreck its gig-economy business model. Ahead of Monday’s ruling, Uber said it had improved its operations in the UK capital.

 
“This decision is a recognition of Uber’s commitment to safety and we will continue to work constructively with TfL,” Jamie Heywood, Uber’s manager for Northern & Eastern Europe, said in a statement. “There is nothing more important than the safety of the people who use the Uber app as we work together to keep London moving.” TfL’s lawyer Marie Demetriou said it “considers it important to retain a close eye on Uber” given “the serious historical breaches.”
 
The Judge ordered Uber to pay TfL 374,770 pounds ($483,400) in legal fees within 28 days.
 
Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association, which represents some of the city’s black-cab drivers, called the ruling a “disaster for London.”
 
Uber “has demonstrated time and time again that it simply can’t be trusted to put the safety of Londoners, its drivers and other road users above profit,” he said in a statement. “Sadly, it seems that Uber is too big to regulate effectively, but too big to fail.”