Dutch Prosecutors Launch Criminal Investigation Against Uber For Flouting Ban

An anonymous reader writes Dutch prosecutors have announced that they are prosecuting taxi-hailing giant Uber for continuing to disregard last December's ban on the company offering its unlicensed UberPOP service in the Netherlands. The statement declares 'The company Uber is now a suspect...This means a preliminary examination will be started to collect evidence that Uber is providing illegal transportation on a commercial basis,'. Dutch police presented evidence to the prosecutors of UberPOP drivers in Amsterdam ignoring the ban, and at the time of writing the UberPOP service is still available via Uber's Amsterdam website [https://www.uber.com/cities/amsterdam]. Though Uber inspires new litigation on a weekly basis in the territories in which it is seeking to consolidate its services, this is the first time it has been the subject of a criminal prosecution.

Comments

What's bad about Uber drivers?

[SuperKendall]

The Uber drivers I have used have all been great. Complaints I've seen have all been about Uber the company, not the drivers... the drivers are just normal people trying to earn a living by making use of what they have.

Most taxi drivers I have encountered on the other hand, have ranged from standoffish to incredibly rude and sometimes hostile, frequently lying about fares to get more money. Taxi drivers can be that way in most places because they have no competition, no reason to provide anything like good service at all - and it doesn't hurt that in a number of areas they are tied to organized crime.

Re:What's bad about Uber drivers?

[burne]

The Uber drivers I have used have all been great.

Under Dutch law taxi drivers need a number of additional courses and successful completion of the certifications associated with them. In addition they are required to be screened for previous convictions pertaining to alchohol- or drug abuse, traffic violations, and inter-personal violence convictions.

There's no 'uber' in the Netherlands, just 'uberpop' which is an illegal taxi-driver with none of the training and none of the safe-guards 'normal' taxi drivers have to conform to. 'Uberpop' is promoting illegal taxi services.

Taxi drivers in the Netherlands behave themselves because the first DUI means they will never drive a taxi ever again. They don't beat up customers because they will never again, ever, work as a chauffeur, not even on a freight lorry. Run a number of red lights in a few years and you'll lose your VOG and with it your license to drive a taxi.

We used to have an America-styled mob company in every city. For instance: the TCA, Taxi Criminals Amsterdam, required large fees from its drivers, to protect them from 'damage' and to assign them rides. Heavy-handed law-enforcement did a lot of good. Uberpop seems to be determined to re-establish the New York-style cabbie from the late seventies.