Uber Is So Unsafe That This City Has Banned Every Uber Cab, License Cancelled! Share Price Crash By 6%

On Monday, the ride-hailing services, Uber couldn’t able to renew its license to carry paying passengers in London for the second time in just over two years.

Its appeal is pending over a “pattern of failures” on safety and security.

How Did This Happen?

As per the news, today London’s public transport operator directed that Uber does not meet the “fit and proper” requirements to be a license holder for taxis in the capital.   

The license for the Uber’s private-hire operator was due to expire today and it got rejected by TfL as the company has applied to extend it for another five years.   

What Will Happen Now?

The ride-hailing company will continue to operate for several months. It has already indicated its appeal for the ban.

Also by law, the company is allowed to continue operating while the appeal process takes place. 

This whole process is supposed to take several months time. Also, a London ban represents a massive blow for the embattled company.

How Will This Affect The Ride-Hailing Company Uber?

In May, the company has lost a third of its value after launching a disappointing initial public offering at $45 per share. 

Apart from that, the company also has trimmed hundreds of jobs which also includes a third of its marketing department as part of the restructuring process globally in order to become profitable again.

Why Did This Happen?

   According to TfL, They had identified a “pattern of failures” by Uber, including several instances where passengers and their safety were put at risk. 

Uber also got criticism for enabling a change in its systems that allowed unauthorized drivers to upload their photos to other Uber driver accounts, which implies that the journeys were uninsured for users.

TfL said that this frequently happened for almost 14,000 journeys and one of these included a driver who had previously had their license revoked.   

The transport body also criticized Uber for accepting the dismissed or suspended drivers to create an Uber account and carry passengers. 

What Would Be The Future For The Company?

 The positive part is TfL acknowledged the steps that Uber had put in place to prevent this type of activity, it said it was concerned that the tech company’s systems were “easily manipulated”.   

“Safety is our absolute top priority. While we recognize Uber has made improvements, it is unacceptable that Uber has allowed passengers to get into minicabs with drivers who are potentially unlicensed and uninsured,” said Helen Chapman, the director of licensing, regulation and charging at TfL. (Reference)

The decision is the latest in two years of argument between TfL and Uber over whether the company is “fit” to hold a taxi license.

So far, TfL had refused to give Uber a five-year license in September 2017, before a judge granted a 15-month extension in June 2018 while Uber appealed the decision.

After that again Uber was given a further two-month extension in September 2019.    

What Does Uber Has To Say?

The company’s regional general manager for northern and eastern Europe, Jamie Heywood, said that TfL’s decision today is “extraordinary and wrong” and confirmed the company will appeal.    

“We have fundamentally changed our business over the last two years and are setting the standard on safety. TfL found us to be a fit and proper operator just two months ago and we continue to go above and beyond,” said Heywood.

He added, “On behalf of the 3.5 million riders and 45,000 licensed drivers who depend on Uber in London, we will continue to operate as normal and will do everything we can to work with TfL to resolve this situation.”