TfL bans Uber from London following security breaches

Transport for London (TfL) has stripped Uber of its private hire operator's licence following security breaches which it says put passengers at risk.

Uber slammed the decision but TfL says that a change in the ride-hailing giant’s systems allowed unauthorised drivers to upload photos to other driver accounts.

This enabled the drivers to fake their identity and pick up passengers - in at least 14,000 trips.

Helen Chapman, director of licensing, regulation and charging at TfL, says: “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.”

TfL says that another failure allowed dismissed or suspended drivers to create an Uber account and to pick up passengers.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan expressed his support for the move, saying: “I know this decision may be unpopular with Uber users but their safety is the paramount concern. Regulations are there to keep Londoners safe, and fully complying with TfL’s strict standards is essential if private hire operators want a licence to operate in London.”

In response to TfL’s decision, Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi tweeted: ”We understand we’re held to a high bar, as we should be. But this TfL decision is just wrong. Over the last two years we have fundamentally changed how we operate in London. We have come very far — and we will keep going, for the millions of drivers and riders who rely on us.”

During this two-year period, the ride-hailing company began updating its app, allowing riders to assign up to five trusted contacts to track their journey, connect with emergency services and receive alerts to make sure they are getting into the correct licensed vehicle.

Uber now has 21 days to appeal, during which it can continue to operate pending any appeal and throughout any such process. It may also seek to make changes to demonstrate to a magistrate that it fit and proper by the time of the appeal.

'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,” Chapman continues. “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, other serious breaches which included several insurance-related issues prompted TfL to prosecute Uber for permitting the use of vehicles without the correct hire or reward insurance in place. It then commissioned an independent assessment of Uber’s ability to prevent such incidents from happening again.