Uber says London regulator won't fight appeal on licence ban

Uber got an unexpected boost at the start of its court battle to continue operating in London: the regulator that originally banned the global ride-sharing firm has given it a tentative backing.

Transport for London’s (TfL) position has "moved to one of effective neutrality," Uber lawyer Thomas de la Mare said on Monday, at the start of the highly anticipated hearing in the UK capital.

In September, TfL said Uber wasn’t "fit and proper" to operate in the city and refused to extend its permit.

"We accept the onus is on us," De la Mare said. "We accept that TfL’s decision was the right decision at the time."

The list of issues with Uber remains relevant, but they are "no longer live matters of concern to TfL. They have either been addressed by changes introduced by [Uber] or they relate to an historic course of conduct that has now been abandoned," lawyers for TfL said.

However, the judge should take into account Uber’s historic conduct.

London is Uber’s biggest market outside of the US, with more than 3.6 million people using the app regularly. The ban sent shockwaves through a business that was already scrambling to head off multiple lawsuits and probes around the world.

Since then, Uber has attempted to allay the safety and governance concerns the regulator had in a series of public moves including new limits on the hours drivers can operate and board-level appointments.

Scepticism

"It’s neutrality with some degree of scepticism expressed at various junctures" regarding whether changes will work in practice, De la Mare said.

TfL's move to ban Uber sent a clear message to technology companies that government agencies are becoming more aggressive in balancing the interests of the so-called gig economy’s new business models against workers' rights and more traditional operators.

As of March 2018, Uber drivers represented 38% of the 114 054 active private hire drivers in London, TfL said in documents prepared for the trial.

"TfL recognizes these commitments to embed change within" Uber, the regulator said in court documents.

"However, embedding these new norms, and transforming the corporate culture of Uber London, will take time. It will also take time to repair TfL’s impression" of Uber as a licence holder.

It wouldn’t be unfair to think "Uber London has tended to say whatever it thought was most helpful in the circumstances," Martin Chamberlain, TfL’s lawyer, said while questioning Tom Elvidge, Uber’s general manager in the UK.

After the previous UK general manager, Jo Bertram, left the company, "[i]t was clear that the change would give Uber London the best possible chance of moving forward," Elvidge said.

Over to you

"The decision if Uber is now a fit and proper person is for you," the regulator’s lawyer told Judge Emma Arbuthnot in court on Monday. "If you conclude a licence should be granted, we invite you to make it a short licence and subject to very strict conditions."

Arbuthnot will have to rule whether Uber has done enough to earn a licence. If she does, she also has the power to decide the length of any permit. At a hearing in April, lawyers for Uber suggested that an 18-month licence would perhaps be more appropriate than a five-year one usually given.

"I would have thought an 18-month licence is too long," she said at the start of the hearing.