Company has 15 days to stop the service after which it will be fined $22,000 a day
A taxi sign during a protest against Uber in Turin, Italy, in April.
Uber said it would appeal a Milan court ruling on Tuesday that the company discontinue its Uberpop service, which uses drivers without commercial licenses, in all of Italy.PHOTO: ZUMA PRESS
Uber Technologies Inc.’s legal woes in Europe continued as a Milan court Tuesday ordered that the car-hailing company’s low-cost Uberpop service be discontinued in all of Italy.
Uberpop, which uses drivers without commercial licenses, constitutes unfair competition for traditional taxi drivers, a Milan judge said in his ruling. Uber has 15 days to stop its Uberpop service in Italy after which the San Francisco-based company will be fined €20,000 ($22,000) a day. Uber also must post the ruling on its website.
Uber said it would appeal the court’s ruling and that Uberpop would continue to be available in Italy until the two-week window expires.
“This is an important victory, but it is just the first battle in what will be a very long fight to make sure the rules are followed in Italy,” said Pietro Gagliardi, a representative of Unione Artigiani’s taxi trade group. “Once this verdict is confirmed we will go after Uber Black.”
Uber Black, which uses drivers with professional licenses that have been vetted by the company, will continue to be available in Milan and Rome. Uber Black is legal in Italy, but the cars are supposed to be parked in designated places when they respond to requests from users, something that isn’t respected, according to Mr. Gagliardi.
The legal troubles facing Uber span Europe—particularly relating to Uberpop—and include cases in Germany, France and Spain. Uber has filed its own complaints with the European Commission in relation to cases in the three countries. The battles are crossing borders, with taxi drivers in different countries sometimes coordinating their protests.
“This ruling in Milan will create waves across Europe and will give our colleagues in other countries the strength to keep fighting,” said Mr. Gagliardi.
Uber drivers have been slapped with more charges for alleged breaches of the Taxi Act
More charges have been laid against some 19 Perth drivers of the ride-sharing app Uber after they ignored orders to produce appropriate documents to show they could operate.
The Department of Transport confirmed to Fairfax Media on Monday that a further 19 prosecutions had been issued to motorists on May 6 – for allegedly “failing to comply with a lawful direction of an authorised officer”.
The Uber drivers’ actions are alleged to be in breach of the Taxi Act 1994.
Taxis clog Parliament House in protest against the Uber service. Photo: James Mooney
“These prosecutions are a result of previously issued notices to produce orders,” a department spokeswoman said.
“As these matters are now before the courts, [the department] is not able to provide further comment.”
The Google-backed driver hire service burst onto the Perth market in May last year and appeared to catch the state government off guard.
The smartphone app launched in Australia, first in Sydney in 2012, followed closely by Melbourne and Brisbane, as an alternative to the conventional taxi service.
Its appearance brought an instant reaction from state taxi companies, which responded with anti-Uber campaigns and industrial strike action.
In April, Perth taxi drivers took to the streets with hundreds of vehicles leading a convoy from the Perth Airport to Parliament to protest against the ride sharing service.
Several present at the protest told Fairfax Media their incomes had dropped by about 30 per cent and they were struggling to feed their families.
“There is a lot of anger out there and a lot of anxiety because this has taken quite a while and I think everybody would agree with that,” Taxi Industry Forum of WA chief executive Howard Lance told Radio 6PR.
“I have to confess that we were getting rather concerned, but our patience is being rewarded.
“We have been constantly telling our members that stuff has being done and I think they sort of felt it was going on ad nauseam, but we were quite pleased to hear this news yesterday.
“I’ve put it up on our Facebook page yesterday, I’ve spread the word amongst the drivers – generally it’s been well received. You get those who say it’s not enough, but it’s a very good start … 19 drivers, that’s not messing around.
“These people have been running throughout the world and the department here in WA wanted to get it right, so they took the time in a measured way.”
He said he believed the Uber drivers charged had been unable to produce appropriate records for department officials.
“Our records are provided for in our system … that’s one of the functions of a taxi dispatch service, and this mob won’t comply with those things because they don’t seem to think the law applies to them,” he said.
“My understanding is that – and I’ve heard this anecdotally – that they consider this serious enough to fly over one of their lawyers from the east.”
He said TIFWA had not been behind public taxi protests but had lobbied the Department of Transport for 12 months to act on Uber’s illegal operations.
An Uber spokeswoman provided a statement in response to the news of the 19 drivers being charged.
She did not respond to questions about if Uber planned to pay their drivers’ fines if they were prosecuted, or whether Uber had flown in a lawyer to contest the cases.
“We don’t believe anyone should be penalised for providing safe reliable rides in their own city,” she said.
“It is disappointing that the government decided to target everyday Perthians [sic] who are trying to earn additional income at a time when prices are going up for families everywhere.
“Uber has created over 1000 new jobs in Perth since July last year and opened up a safe and affordable transport option for tens of thousands of riders.”
Mr Lance estimated there were about 5000-6000 professional taxi drivers in Perth.
Numbers dwindling: Black cabs during a protest in London over smartphone app Uber (Picture: Getty)
Boris Johnson has been warned the death of London’s black cab trade will take place “on his watch” unless he revokes the licence of controversial car-booking app Uber.
During an angry question time at City Hall, the Mayor was heckled by taxi drivers and told by London Assembly members that he did not “have the guts” to stand up to the firm. Cabbies are calling on Transport for London to create a level playing field with Uber drivers.
Mr Johnson said he understood the “unfairness and anger” felt by the black cab drivers, adding that there was “nothing he would like to do more” than ban Uber.
But he admitted he was powerless to stop the company as it would just find a way to continue operating. “It would make no difference whatever. They’d go to a magistrate and be back on the roads tomorrow,” he said.
“Everywhere I go I see yellow lights on. I can see the business is dying and that grieves me. But it is very difficult to fight a huge change in consumer preference.
“You’ve also got to face the desire of millions of people in London to travel more cheaply.”
TfL has announced plans to cap the number of minicabs in London, currently increasing by around 1,000 a month.
Mr Johnson has rejected claims that he has launched an “Uber witch hunt” by limiting the number of drivers on the capital’s roads. But in an extra- ordinary attack on the US firm, he said: “I don’t like their attitude, I don’t like how they went about trying to disrupt life in this city.”
Assembly members criticised the Mayor for a lack of enforcement on Uber and warned that the safety of passengers could be put at risk.
Lib-Dem leader Caroline Pidgeon urged him to revoke the firm’s licence and said: “They are not just pushing the boundaries of legislation, they are breaking it.They must just be laughing at you, quite frankly, because you haven’t got the guts to enforce the legislation. If they take you to court, so what? TfL should stand up to them.”
Labour’s Val Shawcross added: “In the long run this is a race to the bottom that we’ve seen in too many industries. The black cab business is falling off a cliff.”
Black cab drivers, who plan to protest outside TfL’s Victoria offices on Tuesday, stormed out of City Hall shouting at Mr Johnson: “You’re a joke, Boris” and “You’ve let us down.”
In a letter to the Mayor, Uber’s UK boss Jo Bertram said: “Capping the industry’s ability to grow would mean higher prices and less availability for the millions of people who rely on Uber and services like ours to get around.” She said new regulations should not hamper innovations which make people’s lives easier.
An investigation into claims that Uber customers have fallen victim to hackers on the dark web has widened as one user told how his account had been used for a ride 3,000 miles away.
US authorities are said to be probing complaints of phantom Uber rides in the States after reports British users of the car-booking app had been charged for journeys they did not make.
After TV presenter Anthea Turner claimed her account was “hacked”, French photographer Antoine Doyen told the Standard he was having lunch in Montreal, Canada, when he received a message saying an Uber car was ready to pick him up — in west London.
Mr Doyen, 32, who lives in Paris, cancelled the cab but found it had recently been used for a £5.70 journey in the area. He removed his credit card from the account and “it seemed to stop”.
US website Motherboard has claimed 2,884 Uber accounts have been sold on the dark web market AlphaBay. But Uber says it has no knowledge of an FBI investigation and says it reports any fraudulent activity to US authorities.
It came as black cab drivers threatened to blockade Transport for London’s Victoria HQ today to force it to impose tougher rules on minicabs.
Hundreds of taxi drivers marched through Mexico City, Monday, and used their taxis to block traffic in a protest against online private car service Uber.
The taxi drivers are angry that Uber and other similar private hire services avoid the proper taxes, registration and safety regulations that normal taxis must abide by.
Uber drivers have been slapped with more charges for alleged breaches of the Taxi Act
Taxis clog Parliament House in protest against the Uber service. Photo: James Mooney
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