It insisted it has robust systems and checks in place to confirm the identity of its drivers
Uber has vowed to appeal Transport for London’s (TfL) decision to revoke its licence in the city declaring it as “extraordinary and wrong”.
It will continue to operate In London as normal with the appeal process underway.
The taxi and private hire firm’s regional general manager for Northern and Eastern Europe Jamie Heywood, said the firm “will do everything we can to work with TfL to resolve the situation”.
He said that this is on behalf of the 3.5m riders and 45,000 licensed drivers who depend on Uber.
“We have fundamentally changed our business over the last two years and are setting the standard on safety. TfL found us to be a fit and proper operator just two months ago, and we continue to go above and beyond,” Heywood added.
Uber has “robust systems and processes in place” in terms of insurance for its staff and that this was to ensure that drivers only operate with valid cover. It has made significant improvements including real-time checks as well as working with the insurance industry to improve its practices.
Insurance Times contacted Uber’s insurance partner AXA Group for comment but it declined to comment.
Safety
Speaking about driver ID, Heywood explained: “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.”
It has also an introduced emergency assistance button, as well as its first ever 24/7 support line with new features like Trusted Contacts which allows passengers to share journeys easily with loved ones.
It worked with TfL to define many of the conditions attached to Uber’s last London licence which had 20 industry standards, however other app based operators have no more than nine, it claims.
Meanwhile the UK business has an independent board chaired by Laurel Powers-Freeling and its business practices are regularly reviewed by an independent auditor. All of this information is shared with TfL.
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