Uber Drivers Face Criminal Case as Cabbies Try to Block App

By Jeremy Hodges -
Jul 3, 2014

The Licensed Taxi Drivers Association
has filed criminal proceedings in London against six Uber
Technologies Inc. drivers, blocking transport officials from
seeking guidance from a civil court on the mobile-phone app.

The move is the latest by local taxi drivers to block the
approval of Uber’s app, which connects passengers with cars.
Transport for London said that its bid to have a civil court
clarify rules for what constitutes a regulated taxi service
would have to wait until criminal cases are finished.

Uber has come under fire by traditional taxi drivers
worldwide who say they are bound by rules that don’t apply to
the smartphone-based system. Last month cabbies in London
snarled traffic, protesting what they saw as the government’s
failure to hold Uber to the same standards as other car
services.

“The reason we have gone down the private prosecution
route as opposed to the judicial direction routes is that we
have no confidence in TFL’s legal team,” Steve McNamara, the
general secretary of the LTDA, said today in a phone interview.
“TfL as a regulator are not fit for purpose.''

The Uber drivers are scheduled to appear at Westminster
Magistrate’s court towards the end of the month, McNamara said.

Uber said the LTDA’s action will stop the civil review and
unfairly drag its drivers into a drawn out legal process.

Common Sense

‘‘We’re confident that common sense will prevail
eventually, but it is shortsighted that the whole process has
now been extended considerably which isn’t helpful to anyone,
not least the partner-drivers involved,” Jo Bertram, general
manager for Uber in the U.K. and Ireland, said in a statement.
“Needless to say we stand right behind them and will give all
the support they need”

In the U.K., individuals or groups have the right to bring
a private prosecution directly to criminal courts.

Transport for London said today that Uber apps that
calculate fares aren’t the same as taxi meters, which
traditional black cabs use to determine the cost of a journey by
means of time and distance.

“Smart phones that transmit location information (based on
GPS data) between vehicles and operators, have no operational or
physical connection with the vehicles, and receive information
about fares which are calculated remotely from the vehicle, are
not taximeters within the meaning of the legislation,” the
London transport agency said in a statement.

Uber, based in San Francisco, said the decision by TfL to
approve the app was a “victory for common sense, technology and
innovation.”

‘Rubber Stamped’

“Following another round of scrutiny, Uber has yet again
been rubber stamped by TfL as a fully compliant operator,”
Uber’s Bertram said in a separate statement.

TfL’s attempts to have a London High Court judge validate
this view have been put on hold until the resolution of the
LTDA’s criminal complaints.

The criminal court decision “will almost certainly be
appealed (by someone), which inevitably means the matter will
end up, rather later than sooner, in the High Court,” Leon
Daniels, TfL’s managing director of surface transport, said in
the statement. “I regret therefore that the essential, and
binding, clarity about how the law should be applied in these
circumstances will not be delivered for some considerable
time.”

Traditional taxi drivers have won civil court rulings in
European cities including Berlin and Brussels in cases
challenging Uber’s ability to operate.

Backed by Google Inc.’s investment arm and Amazon.com Inc.
founder Jeff Bezos, Uber is working to expand from the U.S. into
Europe and Asia, and is available in more than 140 cities. The
network was valued at $17 billion after it raised $1.2 billion
last month in a financing round so it can build operations.