Uber regains license in London after winning its legal pulse with the British capital

A man uses the Uber app outside a tourist postcard shop in London.SIMON DAWSON / Reuters

Uber, the private rental car company with a driver, has recovered its license to operate in London on Monday.

The Magistrates Court has ruled in favor of the company, almost a year after London's transport regulator TFL rejected the renewal of the contract.

The reason that justified the ban was an alleged fraud whereby up to 14,000 trips were detected by drivers without the required permission to operate.

The way to recognize the person who performs the service is the photo that appears in the app.

In all of those cases, the identity of the actual licensed drivers to which the personalized photo had been changed had been used.

The magistrate, Tan Ikran, has assured in the ruling that the court now has "sufficient confidence that Uber no longer poses a safety risk, despite its past history of infractions."

The company, understand the judges, has carried out a process of review and improvement of its security measures, to avoid possible fraud in the license or insurance documents, “to the point of now being at the forefront in dealing with the challenges of the transport sector ”.

The new license will last 18 months, but the court has not specified whether it will be subject to new conditions.

“In recent months we have worked very hard to respond to the concerns raised by TFL.

We have implemented real-time identity checks of drivers and remain committed to ensuring that our transportation in this city is carried out in a safe manner, ”said Uber's regional director, Jamie Heywood, after learning of the ruling.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who backed the denial of the license at the time, has complied with the decision and acknowledged the improvements made by the company.

"I can assure Londoners that TFL will continue to monitor Uber closely, and we will not hesitate to take drastic action if they breach the strict security measures that exist to protect the safety of passengers," Khan said.

About 45,000 drivers use the company's application to offer their services in the metropolis, according to Uber, which ensures that it serves more than three and a half million customers.

The Licensed Taxi Drivers Association has expressed disappointment with a ruling that they consider a "disaster" for the city of London.

“Uber has shown time and again that it does not offer sufficient confidence and puts its own benefits before the safety of travelers, their drivers and other users of the public road.

Unfortunately, the company is apparently too big to be able to regulate it in an effective way, but at the same time too big to let it go down, ”the association said in a public statement.

The drivers of the famous London black taxis have staged in recent years roadblocks and various protests on the main arteries of the city, in their attempt to curb competition from Uber.

The selection system to obtain an official license, known as The Knowledge, is particularly tough, and involves knowing every last alley of a city with more than 12 million inhabitants.

It can take two to four years to pass the exam, and any user in the city has been able to see how a taxi driver rarely uses the gps or navigator to reach the required destination.

Uber, which has already been banned from cities like Barcelona and has faced justice in several countries, was regularly accused in London of security problems, such as attacks on its users or their drivers.

This contributed to overshadowing a reputation also marked by controversies over the insufficient remuneration of their drivers and competition that traditional taxi drivers consider unfair.

London is one of Uber's biggest markets in the world, and if he permanently loses his license here it would have serious consequences for his already battered finances.