Uber won its legal fight to continue operating in London today, as a judge overturned a ban on the ride-hailing app by the city’s transport regulator.
Judge Tan Ikram said in a written verdict: "Despite their historical failings, I find them, now, to be a fit and proper person to hold a London PHV (private hire vehicle) operator's licence."
He invited lawyers in the case to make submissions about what conditions should be attached to the licence and the length of it.
Last year, Transport for London stripped Uber of its license for a second time — it first declined to renew Uber’s London license in 2017 — citing a “pattern of failures” that had put passengers at risk.
The watchdog said a glitch in Uber’s systems allowed unauthorized drivers to upload their photos to other driver accounts and fraudulently pick up passengers in at least 14,000 journeys.
Uber had tried to allay the regulator’s passenger safety concerns, introducing a new system in April to verify drivers’ identities through a mix of facial recognition and human reviewers.
The judge said he had taken into account Uber's record "on breaches of regulations and impact on public safety", adding that "public confidence in the licensing regime is a clear consideration".
"Some breaches in themselves are just so serious that their mere occurrence is evidence that the operator is not fit and proper to hold a licence," the judge said.
"I do not find this to be one of those cases."
The judge said concerns about Uber's systems and processes had now been "adequately addressed".
London is Uber’s largest market by far in Europe. The company has racked up around 3.5 million users and 45,000 drivers in the U.K. capital since launching there in 2012.
It is the city’s top ride-hailing player but faces heavy competition from several new operators including India’s Ola and Estonia’s Bolt.-CNBC/Sky News. Photo: Sky News
A court in London rules that Uber is fit and proper to hold a London private hire vehicle operator's license.
