This is a new condemnation for the company Uber France. Prosecuted for “unfair competition”, the company was ordered, Friday, September 10, to pay more than 180,000 euros in damages to more than 900 taxi drivers and their union.
Uber France, condemned definitively in December 2015 by the Paris Court of Appeal for deceptive commercial practice, this time was condemned in civil. The court ruled that Uber, through its UberPop offer, violated market rules and “Necessarily caused moral damage, consisting in particular of damage to the image and reputation of taxi drivers”.
The company will therefore have to pay 200 euros for non-pecuniary damage to 910 taxi drivers as well as 5,000 euros to the union of cooperative societies of taxi drivers in the Paris region.
Wave of protests in 2015
This case concerns an activity “Which was suspended in France in 2015”, reacted a spokesperson for Uber, ensuring that the application now only used licensed drivers “Who pass the same exams as taxi drivers”.
It is the UberPop service offer, offered between February 2014 and July 2015, which is at the origin of this conviction. It allowed users to be put in contact with vehicles whose drivers were private individuals, not holders of a taxi license or transport car with driver (VTC).
The offer resulted in Uber running into trouble with the law and a wave of protests from taxis. It was eventually withdrawn, Uber having been fined at the end of 2015 to 150,000 euros.
“It’s a very good decision, it will prevent other platforms from making illegal transport”, greeted Christophe Jacopin, vice-president of the taxi union. “Not only is it a spoliation in relation to those who exercise this profession legally, but also in relation to the passengers who are in danger. When you are transported by an average person, without insurance, it puts people’s lives in danger ”, he noted.
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