Uber has licence suspended in Sheffield

Taxi firm Uber has had its licence suspended in Sheffield licence in Sheffield after the council said it has failed to respond to requests about the management of the company.

Uber, which is already fighting a ban in London, can operate until December 18 and can appeal against the decision.

The decision taken by the council centres around what it said was the company’s failure to change the name on the licence from that of the former UK boss Jo Bertram, who left Uber in October.

Bertram announced her departure after Transport for London (TfL) stripped Uber of its licence in September.

A Sheffield City Council spokesperson said: “Uber’s licence was suspended last Friday (29 November) after the current licence holder failed to respond to requests, made by our licensing team, about the management of Uber.

“It is legally allowed to operate up to 18 December, and if it chooses to appeal this suspension it can continue to operate until the appeal is heard. If it decides against an appeal the suspension will come into force.

“We received a new application, for a licence to operate taxis in Sheffield, from Uber Britannia Limited, on 18 October 2017 which we are currently processing.

“Any new application is dealt with by the Licensing department who will decide if those applying for the licence meet the criteria. It will only be referred to the licensing sub-committee if a decision by the committee is required.

“The legislation does not allow for the transfer of an operator’s licence.”

An Uber spokesperson said: “We informed Sheffield City Council on 5 October that we would need to change the name on our licence as the named individual would soon be leaving the company.

“The council told us they couldn’t change the name on the licence, as most other councils have done, and that we would instead have to apply for a new one.”

Uber said it had submitted an application for a new licence which was still being processed.

“While we are in regular contact with the council, we did not receive the correspondence the council refers to as they sent the letters to an incorrect address,” the company said.

“We hope this administrative error can be quickly resolved so we can continue serving tens of thousands of riders and drivers in Sheffield.”