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| Uber ride-hailing app does not break law, High Court rules | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The ride-hailing app operated in London by the US firm Uber does not break the law, the High Court has found. | |
| The court had been asked to decide whether the company's smartphones were considered meters, which are outlawed for private hire vehicles. | The court had been asked to decide whether the company's smartphones were considered meters, which are outlawed for private hire vehicles. |
| The phones use GPS and external servers to calculate the cost of a journey. | The phones use GPS and external servers to calculate the cost of a journey. |
| Transport for London said taking the case to court had been "in the public interest". | Transport for London said taking the case to court had been "in the public interest". |
| The app-based company allows users to order cars via their smartphones, which often arrive within minutes and can cost a fraction of the price of a black cab. | The app-based company allows users to order cars via their smartphones, which often arrive within minutes and can cost a fraction of the price of a black cab. |
| Mr Justice Ouseley declared that taximeters do not operate in the same way as the app as they do not depend on GPS signals or include the app's other new-tech characteristics to calculate fares. | |
| 'Emphatic' call | |
| TfL and Uber had both argued at a one-day hearing earlier in October that the app was not a meter, and both organisations greeted the decision as a victory. | |
| An Uber spokesman said: "This was not a marginal call; it is quite emphatic. In fact, it is contemptuous of the case brought before it. | An Uber spokesman said: "This was not a marginal call; it is quite emphatic. In fact, it is contemptuous of the case brought before it. |
| "Uber will continue going about our business and making sure customers have choice." | "Uber will continue going about our business and making sure customers have choice." |
| Transport for London also welcomed the ruling, saying there had been "significant public interest in establishing legal certainty in the matter". | |
| The Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association (LTDA), which represents many of the 25,000 licensed taxi drivers in London, asked the judge to rule it was a meter and ban its use. | |
| The Licensed Private Hire Car Association (LPHCA) backed the LTDA and said the app was "an attempt to circumvent the statutory prohibition" on minicabs using meters. | |
| Black cab drivers argue that the app poses a risk to public safety and customers being overcharged, with no opportunity to challenge fares before the money is automatically taken out of their bank accounts. |