Brighton and Hove has become the third British city to reject Uber, after the council decided not to renew the firm’s licence to operate private hire cars.
A licensing panel announced on Monday that Uber was not a fit and proper company to continue operating in Brighton. Uber will appeal against the ruling.
The panel cited concerns over a data breach in which Uber customers’ personal details were leaked, and the number of Uber drivers who were not licensed in Brighton but were operating in the city.
The decision, made unanimously at a hearing on 23 April, echoes that of Transport for London, which turned down Uber’s application to renew its licence in the capital last September. York also rejected Uber’s licence application last December.
The chair of the licensing panel, Jackie O’Quinn, said: “Our priority is the safety of residents and visitors and, due to the data breach and the lack of commitment to using drivers licensed here, we were not satisfied that Uber Britannia Ltd are a fit and proper person to hold an operator’s licence in the city.”
An Uber spokesperson said: “This is a disappointing decision for the thousands of passengers and drivers who rely on our app in Brighton and Hove. We intend to appeal so we can continue serving the city.”
As in London, Uber will be able to continue to operate in Brighton until the outcome of its appeal.
The firm says it complies with all national private hire legislation, which allows drivers to work across England and Wales if they, their vehicle and operator are all licensed by the same authority. However, such “cross-border” working has become a growing issue with ride-hailing services such as Uber.
Brighton said out-of-town drivers posed a risk to public safety, with regulations elsewhere failing to meet its own standards, including safety aspects such as CCTV in cabs. The council also pointed to a rush of licence applications in nearby Lewes, after a comparison page was publicised on Uber’s website.
It said it expected that the majority of those applying – 130 in a month – would attempt to work in Brighton, and it accused Uber of “breaching the spirit” of its commitment to use local drivers, as well as misleading the authority.
Uber is licensed to operate in 80 areas across the UK, having succeeded with 35 applications in the last year. The firm has complied with various initiatives in London to improve safety, and its appeal is due to be heard in the high court in June.
Fresh concerns over Uber have emerged since TfL’s decison, including the disclosure of an attempted cover-up of a data breach in 2016 in which 57 million users’ details were leaked.
Uber’s chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, has said he “will not make excuses for it [or] erase the past” and would change the way the firm operated, “putting integrity at the core of every decision we make and working hard to earn the trust of our customers”.
