Uber CEO, London mayor face off after allegedly fraudulent drivers citywide ban

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has responded to London’s transit authority saying it is not renewing Uber’s license to operate in the British capital.

Transport for London cited “several breaches that placed passengers and their safety at risk.”

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In response, Khosrowshahi called decision "just wrong."

"We understand we’re held to a high bar, as we should be," he said in a tweet. "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."

The ride-hailing company’s license expires at midnight Monday. Uber vowed to appeal the decision. The company can continue operating while it does.

“On behalf of the 3.5 million riders and 45,000 licensed drivers who depend on Uber in London, we will continue to operate as normal and will do everything we can to work with TfL to resolve this situation," a statement from Jamie Heywood, Uber's Regional General Manager for Northern & Eastern Europe read.

Heywood also mentioned steps the company has taken to increase safety and public trust. "Over the last two months we have audited every driver in London and further strengthened our processes. We have robust systems and checks in place to confirm the identity of drivers and will soon be introducing a new facial matching process, which we believe is a first in London taxi and private hire," he wrote, adding that the London transit authority had just two months ago found the company's operations acceptable.

The transit authority said that despite addressing some issues, it “does not have confidence that similar issues will not reoccur in the future.”

As a result, Transport for London has deemed Uber “not fit and proper at this time.”

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London Mayor Sadiq Khan stood with Transport for London, saying that keeping "Londoners safe is my absolute number-one priority, and TfL have identified a pattern of failure by Uber that directly put passengers' safety at risk."

Khan continued that "it has been established that 14,000 Uber journeys have involved fraudulent drivers uploading their photos to other driver accounts," creating a potential safety risk for drivers. Khan acknowledged the decision may be unpopular, but stressed that he saw the step being necessary.