London court rules Uber app is legal
October 16, 2015London's taxi drivers association, the LTDA, was quick to lodge an appeal on Friday after the court said Uber drivers' fare-calculating software did not amount to a taxi meter and was therefore in accordance with British law.
London transport authorities had asked the court to clarify the law which prevents private for-hire vehicles from charging passengers the same way as the capital's famous black cabs.
Judge Duncan Ouseley ultimately ruled that Uber's app could not be classified as a taxi meter because it relayed GPS information to a server, which then determines the fare - something a regular taxi meter does not do.
"A taxi meter … is not a device which receives GPS signals in the course of a journey, and forwards GPS data to a server located outside of the vehicle, which calculates a fare … and sends the fare information back to the device," he said.
Uber has drawn the ire of taxi drivers and some regulators around the world who contend the San Francisco-based company is undercutting the traditional taxi industry.
Two Uber managers are on trial in France over accusations they subverted pro-taxi laws with the company's UberPop services. The European Commission is also examining bans on the ride-hailing app in France and Germany.
cjc/uhe (Reuters, dpa)