Quentin Hunt acting on behalf of Transport For London has concluded the successful prosecution of the controversial App based Private Hire Vehicle Operator Uber for road traffic offences.
Uber is an app based minicab company which has been the subject of protests from the London Taxi Drivers Association and a strike by black cab drivers causing disruption to the centre of London. The company were accused of offences relating to record keeping and lack of insurance of one of their drivers.
Following significant legal argument the Court ruled in favour of Transport for London which led to the defendant Uber pleading guilty to an offence of causing or permitting a person to drive without a valid certificate of insurance. The court sentenced the defendant company to a financial penalty and ordered the payment of costs.
Taken from Quiten Hunt website.
Editorial Comment:
WHERE DOES THE BUCK STOP?
It is a fact that if a private hire driver is convicted of this type of offence, under the one strike and your out policy, the drivers PH licence will be revoked.
TfL have taken Uber London Ltd to court and won. But they have stopped short of going all out to revoke Uber's operator licence....WHY?
Surely the same policy is applicable to a private hire operator found guilty of causing a person to drive without valid insurance. If this were a small minicab company, operating from a small shop on a high street, with the ever escalating number of offences being logged up by this company, they would have had their licence revoked long ago.
But it seems that when it comes to a multi national company worth billions of pounds, TfL lose their bottle big time.
Not only are TfL woefully inadequate, they are spineless cowards.
