Transport for London announced on Monday that it will not be renewing Uber’s (NYSE:UBER) licence to continue to operate in the nation’s capital.
Uber is not “fit and proper,” said the body responsible for travel in London.
TFL recognised that Uber has made several positive changes to its culture, leadership and systems since it was granted a license in June 2018.
However, TFL said that “a pattern of failures” have occurred.
These failures include “several breaches that placed passengers and their safety at risk,” TFL said.
Uber is not “fit and proper” at this time, TFL said, and the body responsible for travel in London added that it has little confidence that these issues will not take place again in the future.
An example identified by TFL was that unauthorised drivers could upload their photos to other Uber driver accounts, allowing them to pick up passengers as if they were the booked driver. This occurred for at least 14,000 trips.
Another safety and security breach was that dismissed or suspended drivers could create an Uber account and carry passengers.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, commented on the news in a Tweet:
My statement on TfL’s Uber decision. pic.twitter.com/uMDjoIlqOW
— Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) November 25, 2019
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
“As the regulator of private hire services in London we are required to make a decision today on whether Uber is fit and proper to hold a licence,” Helen Chapman, Director of Licensing, Regulation and Charging at TfL, said in a statement.
“Safety is our absolute top priority. While we recognise Uber has made improvements, it is unacceptable that Uber has allowed passengers to get into minicabs with drivers who are potentially unlicensed and uninsured.”
“It is clearly concerning that these issues arose, but it is also concerning that we cannot be confident that similar issues won’t happen again in future.”
“If they choose to appeal, Uber will have the opportunity to publicly demonstrate to a magistrate whether it has put in place sufficient measures to ensure potential safety risks to passengers are eliminated.”
Helen Chapman continued: “If they do appeal, Uber can continue to operate and we will closely scrutinise the company to ensure the management has robust controls in place to ensure safety is not compromised during any changes to the app.”
Earlier this year in May, Uber drivers in the UK were set to strike against pay and work conditions just days before the company launched its initial public offering.
The ride-hailing app’s past is filled with controversies; from its poor workplace culture to the treatment of its drivers.
