Uber's troubles have continued with Manchester City Council revealing it has requested an urgent meeting with the company over concerns regarding licensing rules.
The licence granted to Uber to operate in Manchester will expire on July 31 2021.
The city council requested a meeting with Uber in light of Transport for London's (TfL's) decision to strip the company of its licence to operate in the capital.
TfL complained that a change to Uber’s systems allowed unauthorised drivers to upload their photos to other Uber driver accounts for as many as 14,000 trips.
Cllr Rabnawaz Akbar, executive member for neighbourhoods at Manchester City Council, said: 'Whilst Uber as an operator provides many beneficial services to customers and has transformed the private hire industry, their business model does cause some concerns.
'Local licensing standards are undermined by the volume of drivers and vehicles working on the Uber platform - as well as some other operators in Manchester - that have been licensed by authorities with much lower standards and licence conditions.
'We work hard in Manchester to ensure that our residents and visitors are driven by drivers that are fit and proper to hold a licence, and in vehicles that are safe and high quality; but that is made immeasurably harder by drivers and vehicles flooding the city from other local authorities over whom we have no direct control.
'Whilst current legislation facilitates and allows this practice, we would hope that our licensed operators who wish to trade in the city, would work more closely with us and support the high standards that Manchester aims to provide to the travelling public.'
An Uber spokeswoman said: 'We work closely with licensing authorities across the country and want to reassure all councils that we have robust processes. TfL’s decision not to renew Uber’s licence is extraordinary and wrong, and we will appeal. We have fundamentally changed our business over the last two years and are setting the standard on safety across the UK.'
This article first appeared on Transport Network
