Over 10.5 thousand London taxi drivers filed a class action lawsuit against Uber on Thursday, accusing it of breaking taxi booking rules and deliberately misleading city authorities in order to obtain a licence. Taxi drivers are demanding £250 million in compensation.
Uber intentionally misled Transport for London?
In their lawsuit filed in court, they argue that Uber allowed its drivers to accept bookings directly from customers rather than through a centralized system like those used by licensed taxis, in direct violation of private hire rules.
Taxi drivers say Uber was aware of the rules but deliberately misled public transport operator Transport for London (TfL) about its booking model when it obtained its operating license in 2012, which resulted in taxi drivers being unlawfully deprived of revenues. .
The claim is estimated to be worth at least £250 million, with each of the 10,500 taxi drivers potentially eligible for compensation of up to £25,000. pounds, informed RGL Management, which filed a lawsuit on their behalf. She added that all London taxi drivers who worked full-time or part-time between June 2012 and mid-March 2018, including those who have since retired, can join the lawsuit.
Resumption of claim from 2018
The lawsuit is a revival of a claim first filed in 2018 that was put on hold due to the pandemic. Uber denies the allegations and says they are baseless.
However, this is another in a series of disputes regarding Uber's operations in London. In 2017, TfL refused to renew his license, saying he had demonstrated a “lack of corporate responsibility” which had an “impact on public safety”. Two years later, TfL again refused to renew the license, but the company successfully appealed. The current license expires at the end of September.
And in 2021, the UK Supreme Court upheld a landmark employment tribunal ruling that Uber drivers should be classified as workers entitled to the minimum wage and paid holidays.
From London Bartłomiej Niedziński
