A Paris court has ordered app-based taxi service Uber to pay €1.2 million, or £910,000, to the National Union of taxis. There were complaints that Uber drivers were not following the 2014 minicab services law by waiting in the streets and not returning to their bases in between rides.
BBC News reported that the court in Paris ruled that Uber drivers waited in the streets to get passengers and fares. This is a violation to the law, because only taxi drivers are allowed to do this with their more expensive licenses. The ruling came as taxi drivers protests against the impact of Uber to their livelihood. Uber argued that the union is just trying to limit the competition by pressuring the government.
According to the Financial Times, Uber confirmed that it was ordered to pay the fine to the rival taxi companies, but it plans to appeal the decision. "This dates back to 2014 and the practical way in which we used to talk about how driver-partners use our service - it is not about the Uber app or the way it works," said Uber. "The merits of the case on which today's decision was based are already under appeal. Clearly, we will appeal this particular outcome, too."
The Guardian wrote that Uber France accused the unions of being unclear with its rules for private hire cars. The rules states that these cars should go back to their garage after transporting each passenger and not circulate or park on public roads. Meanwhile, Uber denied that it violated the rules, since it regularly notifies its drivers to head back to their garage every after fare.
Just last year, France Uber head Thibaud Simphal and its Western Europe head Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty were charged with "misleading commercial practices" and "complicity in the illegal exercise of the taxi profession". Both were detained and are awaiting trials in February.
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