Uber loses license in London over safety, vows to appeal

London’s transit authority on Monday refused to renew Uber’s operating license over concerns about impostor drivers, with the ride-hailing company vowing to appeal the decision as it struggles to secure its future in the British capital.Transport for London (TFL) cited “several breaches that placed passengers and their safety at risk” in its decision not to extend Uber’s license, which expires at midnight Monday. Among other things, unauthorized drivers carried out thousands of rides, the regulator said.

The company fired back, pointing out that TFL had found it fit and proper in its most recent license renewal in September, The Associated Press (AP) reported.

“We understand we’re held to a high bar, as we should be. But this TFL decision is just wrong,” CEO Dara Khosrowshahi tweeted.

One key issue was a change to Uber’s systems allowing unauthorized drivers to upload their photos to other driver accounts.

This let them pick up passengers as though they were the booked Uber driver on at least 14,000 trips, which means all those journeys were uninsured, TFL said.

TFL faulted Uber for another “failure” that allowed dismissed or suspended drivers to create a new account and carry passengers. And it cited other “serious breaches” involving unspecified insurance-related issues.

Uber said it has audited every London driver over the past two months and will soon launch a new “facial matching process” for its Microsoft-powered verification system, which requires drivers to periodically take selfies for comparison with their account photos.