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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Nick Tyrrell

Mayor Joe Anderson gives Liverpool Uber update as company faces London ban

Mayor Joe Anderson has responded after calls from taxi drivers to follow in London's footsteps and ban Uber.

Uber's licence to operate in the capital will cease just before midnight after Transport for London refused to grant it a licence due to safety breaches.

TfL found that in at least 14,000 Uber trips drivers had uploaded photos of themselves to the app linked to cars which they were not registered to drive,

They said this meant passengers were being picked up by drivers not named or authorised by the company, putting them at risk.

Your rights as a passenger in a taxi

The company has said it will challenge the decision and will be able to operate during the appeal process.

Replying to a taxi driver who asked whether Liverpool would follow in the capital's footsteps, mayor Anderson said the council would await the outcome of the review before taking any action.

He tweeted: "There is an appeal, we will await the outcome and look at the decision and the implications of it. We will then look at what we can and should do."

Black cab drivers in Liverpool have long complained that they are held to different standards than Uber drivers and urged harsher licensing action against them.

(Matt Alexander/PA Wire)

The mayor has also regularly voiced his frustration with the ride-sharing app before, warning last year that if licensing violations by drivers continued then he would look at banning the app in the city.

Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi hit back against the ban in London on Twitter this morning.

He said: "We understand we’re held to a high bar, as we should be. But this TfL decision is just wrong. Over the last 2 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."

In a statement released after the decision, London mayor and LFC fan Sadiq Khan said he backed TfL, saying keeping Londoners safe was his "absolute number-one priority".

Mayor Khan said: "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."

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